Dancer by Emma Clark

you my best friend's life?
    Fresh anger welled within me.
    "That is your phone, right?" His slender brows arched as he peered at me in a sideways glance.
    Could this motherfucker be any more sarcastic?
    "Fuck you."
    "Sure, an encore would be nice." His sensuous lips pulled to a smirk.
    "So—you do remember me."
    "How could I forget? You were pretty goddamn hot." Huge white grin. Shit-eating.
    " What do you want, Chase?" My whole body tensed.
    "I got your email a few weeks ago. I want to be in my baby's life." His obnoxious grin collapsed.
    "You do?"
    "Why not? As long as it's my baby. It is my baby, right?" He narrowed an eye.
    Fucker .
    "Yes Chase. It's your baby. I promise." Please just leave before I smash your goddamn face.
    "Good, because Sherrie—my wife—can't have kids. If you agree to give us the baby I won't press charges for you breaking and entering, or for scratching the fuck out of my car." His mouth twitched.
    "Is it a deal?" He questioned when I didn't answer. I almost laughed.
    Is it a deal?? The infuriating nerve of this motherfucker!
    "While you're mulling that over, you mind if I smoke? I quit for a while but fell into old habits once this shit started."
    Aww! Poor you!
    Stuck in disbelief over his proposal, I wasn't thinking when I said 'okay' about his smoking. Though I did take a step back.
    And then another step.
    As he puffed on his cigarette, acrid smoke floated to me.
    No consideration whatsoever for my pregnancy. And he wanted custody?
    "I can take you to court and sue you for custody, thanks to Sherrie's money. I'd win too, so it wouldn't do you any good to fight. I hope you realize that." Another drag of his cig as he stared.
    That's when it dawned on me. "You're only doing this because Sherrie wants you to. If you don't do exactly as she says, she'll dump you and take away your money and precious mansion. You don't give a damn about this baby and you know it." Instinctively I embraced my sloped belly.
    He glared and took a hit of his cigarette. "You don't know shit, sweetheart."
    "What's wrong, Chase? Did I hit a nerve? Is your wife still pissed at you for getting another woman knocked up?"
    "I said— you don't know fucking shit, you stupid bitch ." His lips curled as he spoke.
    And something snapped where I literally saw red. Awful events of past months flickered within my imagination. Everything in slow motion.
    In that instant I made plans. Plans of exactly what I was going to do to him.
    It'd be perfect, very diabolical and delicious. Self-satisfaction swelled and I hadn't felt this joyful in a while.
    "Sherrie doesn't know you're here, does she?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could.
    "What's it to you?" Fingers faintly trembling, he took a drag.
    "No reason." Brief pause. "You know, I never wanted this baby anyway. I almost got an abortion but chickened out. So—why don't we go upstairs and talk more about it?" I warmed my expression but didn't smile. I couldn't get that far.
    Just being nice to him made me wanna barf.
    "Upstairs?" His brow quirked. "Okay I guess."
    He threw open the front door, flicked his cigarette stub outside. There came the sun's platinum gleam which brightened his hair, then abruptly darkened when he shut the door. Golden strands still glittered, to my intense disgust since it made him devastatingly attractive. Ugh .
    Why the fuck did I have to be partial to blond men? Let alone blond men who could expertly dance. Fuck .
    He followed me upstairs.
    "Would you like a drink? I have some pinot noir," I offered.
    "A little early, but sure." His low tone hinted of suspicion.
    Yeah. He had good reason to be suspicious.
    Once he settled on the loveseat outside Mom and Dad's bedroom, I returned downstairs.
    In the kitchen I smiled, hummed as I carefully used a spoon to crush three Unisom tablets.
    I sprinkled the powdery results in the dumb blond's drink.

9
    C hase stirred. How precious he looked while he slumbered like a baby. An angel.
    A devil.
    Satan .
    Sea green eyes