Free Homewrecker Incorporated by S. Simone Chavous

up to the porch where Shawn just stepped out.
    "Claudia, please, just talk to me. Don't you think this has gone on long enough?" Robert strode toward me. Jessica wisely joined her family well out of the line of fire.
    "Long enough? How long is long enough to hate the person who killed your mother?" I sneered, keeping my voice low enough that Izzy wouldn't hear.
    He reached for my arm.
    "Don't you dare fucking touch me!" I yanked my arm away and jumped into the driver's seat. He started to say something else, and I slammed the door. Something I would have yelled at anyone else for. That car was my baby, but I was too pissed to care. I revved up the engine, and after a brief moment of seriously contemplating running him over, I peeled out, spraying gravel at his feet.
    ❖
    I sped over the countryside, making my way back to the city. The speedometer approached one hundred miles per hour. Times like that I wished for a manual transmission, the ability to shift, to leave my problems behind one gear at a time.
    My phone chimed in the seat beside me. I didn't have to look to know it was Jessica, a fact confirmed by the screen in the dash a second later. I ignored the call and slowed just enough to make my next turn without going off the road. My gym bag slid across the black leather and red stitching of the backseat. Thank God I'd grabbed it before I left. I needed the run I'd told Grace I was going to take before I went to my sister's. I had a lot of time to kill before eight, and I couldn't risk going back to the penthouse and being spotted by Grace with no excuse to go out again without her. I could have gone to the temporary apartment, but there was hardly anything in there and I needed a distraction.
    As I took another turn, I hoped my dress wasn't getting wrinkled in the trunk. I regretted not hanging it in the car, but with the way I was driving, it probably would have ended up on the floor anyway. Thankfully, my gym had complimentary irons and steamers I could use when I stopped there to shower.
    I should have canceled my date. Shit, not date, business dinner, but I told myself I didn't have Grey's number. Of course I could have called the office or Janet directly to get it or at least leave him a message, but that didn't cross my mind. Or if it did, I ignored it.
    I was too busy stewing over that son of a bitch my sister still called Dad. I was determined to never refer to him as anything but Robert.
    I managed to make it to North Avenue Beach in one piece and without getting a ticket for reckless driving. At one point I think my speed topped out at around 120.
    I grabbed my bag from the back and kicked off my heels before I pulled my dress up around my waist and slipped into a pair of running shorts. I didn't bother to look around before I unzipped and pulled the dress over my head, which elicited an enthusiastic tap on my window and thumbs-up from a couple of college-age meatheads jogging by. I flipped them off. One, who was rather cute, pantomimed being stabbed in the heart as he jogged backward behind his two friends who were heading for the running path. He mouthed, "I love you," before turning around. I laughed to myself and slid my sports bra on over the black lacy number before I unclasped it and pulled it free.
    A few minutes later, with shoes on and earbuds in, I was running through all my frustrations and repeatedly past the pack of frat boys I continuously ignored despite their best efforts. The playlist blaring in my ears wasn't one I listened to often, but the anger in the voice of the metal band's lead singer matched what I was feeling as my feet pounded the trail and I pictured my father's face below them.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7 

     
    "Do you have a reservation?" The host asked when I entered the restaurant. I inhaled the aroma of steak and butter filling the elegant space.
    "No, at least I don't think so. I'm meeting someone, but we only made the plans a few hours ago so I