Say My Name

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. "Look What You've Done" - Jet

Chapter Fourteen: Look What You’ve Done

The silence in the apartment could have possibly exceeded five minutes while Hank stood in the doorway, his hand loosely holding the brass doorknob, his mouth dropped to the floor, and while Sara’s legs were wrapped around Nick’s waist, the straps of her bra off of her shoulders, and her eyes wide with horror. Nick wasn’t sure if he wanted to turn around and see the man he knew was staring at them in disbelief, but he did so anyways. He looked over his shoulder very slowly, afraid that with any sudden movement, Hank would pounce. Hank looked exactly how Nick had figured he would look. There wasn’t as much hurt in the man’s face and eyes as Nick would have expected but there was definitely something there that made Nick knew Hank wasn’t happy to see his girlfriend practically having sex with another man. And that’s undoubtedly the intention of what they were doing.

Hank didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay, leave, scream to the Heavens, or lunge across the room and punch Nick Stokes until the man was a bloody mess at his feet. Hank also wasn’t sure if he was surprised to find Sara the way that he did. She had been detached for weeks and she was barely looking him in the eye any more but other then that, she was a fairly good actress, genuinely happy to see him when he came home and even saying ‘I love you’ like she really meant it.

“What the hell is going on here?” Hank demanded, slamming the door shut behind him.

Shock had been pushed to the very back of his mind while anger and thoughts of betrayal took the reigns. Hank had vowed to himself long ago that he would never hit a woman but he was beginning to wonder if he really cared any more about that particular moral.

“I…umm…Nick was – ” Sara started to stumble over her words.

Her heart was racing in her chest as she watched the livid man not ten feet away from her, staring at her with so much hatred and emotion that it scared her. She didn’t know if Hank would ever hurt her but she was starting to feel very uncomfortable in his presence.

“Nick was what?” he spat, stepping closer to the pair on the couch.

Carefully, Nick untangled Sara’s legs from around his waist, giving her a reassuring look before he stood up to face an angry boyfriend who had just found out his girlfriend was sleeping with another man.

“Just calm down, man,” Nick started, bringing his hands up to accentuate his statement.

“I think you should mind your own business and get the hell out of here.”

Nick thought about it for a moment, looking back at Sara who was shaking on the couch. Nick slowly nodded and made his way to the bedroom to retrieve his things, hoping that Sara would be okay for the couple minutes that she would be out of his sight.

“When were you going to tell me about him, hmm?” questioned Hank, advancing on Sara quickly.

She scurried back as far as she could until the armrest hit her in the back. She tried to say something but incoherent noises were all she could muster.

“How long have you been sleeping with him?” he demanded, his voice raising.

A tear slid down Sara’s cheek and Nick’s name was on the tip of her tongue. She was genuinely afraid of Hank at that moment and she wished that Nick hadn’t left her.

“Answer me,” he seethed, reaching out for her and grabbing her by her upper arms.

Sara cried out and tried to wiggle out of his grasp but she was fruitless.

“Get your hands off of me,” she commanded, pulling and wrenching herself away from him.

“Answer me, you slut!”

Her right hand came out of nowhere and connected with the side of Hank’s face. He dropped her to the floor where she fell and when she looked up at the man towering over her, he was holding the side of his face, glaring down at her with malice.

It was then that Nick came rushing out of the bedroom, pulling his t-shirt over his head while trying to come to Sara’s side.

“Don’t you dare touch her,” said Nick firmly, helping Sara to her feet.

Sara saw the bra, whose owner was unknown at the moment, lying forsaken on the armrest of the couch. No longer was she afraid of Hank but angry with him since he was cheating as well.

“Call me a slut? What’s this?” she demanded, snatching up the bra and then throwing it at his face.

Hank caught it and studied it for a moment, silent as he looked from the piece of lingerie to Sara’s eyes.

“This is yours,” he reasoned, lying through his teeth.

“I don’t own a red bra, Hank. I think I would know.”

“I don’t know how – ”

“Don’t lie to me!” she cried out, tears burning her eyes.

“Oh, like you did to me?” he shouted back at her.

Nick’s hand was resting protectively on the small of Sara’s back. She was wiping the tears away with the heel of her hands and trying to refrain the urge to reach out and strangle the man across from her.

“Who is she, Hank?” Sara asked quietly, her eyes finally meeting his.

“Nick knows her quite well,” said Hank arrogantly, addressing Nick for the first time in the last several minutes. The smirk on his face had Nick worried. “Natalie? That girl’s not as faithful as you thought. Mind you, she seemed to think that you were a pretty trustworthy guy. Guess she’s not the only one who was wrong.”

Nick knew he should have seen it coming. All the times she stayed out late at night and when her “work” asked for her to do overtime, Nick should have suspected something but of course he didn’t. He was too busy thinking about and being with Sara to know otherwise. It was no wonder that Natalie strayed, he thought. He wasn’t there for her as much as she started to not be for him.

“I want your stuff out of here by tomorrow afternoon.”

“I working,” she protested.

“That’s your problem.”

Hank threw the bra back onto the couch and walked out, slamming the door shut behind him.