Amy took slow and purposeful steps towards her. Her first instinct was to ignore her, but Amy knew it better than to ignore Shantel. After all, she was the one standing on her front porch.
"How did you get here?" Amy asked her.
"It turns out it's easier to find anyone right here in Louisiana. You're not a top celebrity that is hard to find. Commoners like you are always easy to pinpoint," Shantel replied, scrutinizing Amy from head to toe in disdain.
"What do you want from me?" Amy inquired.
"You're that mistress of my fiancee that needs to needs to be tamed,"
"I am no mistress, miss," Amy replied. "If you don't have better things to say, I'll suggest you leave my house,"
Shantel stared around the house. She broke into a dry laughter. "You call this a house? This is a pig sty. A place inhabitable to humans,"
Amy decided to ignore her. She would not let Shantel rile her up the more. She attempted to walk pass her when Shantel dragged her back.
"I'm not done talking," she barked.
Amy staggered. "What the hell? How dare you lay your hands on me?"
"You should be grateful that my pretty hands touched your irritating skin,"
"I'll call the elders on you if you stop me one more time," Amy warned.
"And watch as I tell him how you've been having an affair with my fiancee because I've been away!"
Amy swallowed. Her accusation was right and yet wrong.
"He's my mate, you know," she said in a low pitched voice. She didn't have the power to argue.
That got Shantel angry. "You little piece of..." She began to say as she raised her hand to slap Amy on the face, but her hand was immediately held by someone, stopping her from doing so.
Amy looked up to see Kayla holding Shantel's wrists. Her eyes were spitting fire. Shantel was taken aback by her boldness.
Kayla flung Shantel's hand down. "Who the bloody hell do you think you are trying to hit my best friend?" She demanded in anger.
Shantel huffed. "So you're the best friend of this dirt bag. That's why they say birds of... "
A slap fell across her face, forcing her to shut up as she gasped.
"Kay, stop," Amy pleaded.
Kayla ignored her. "Say one more demeaning words to her and I swear by the moon goddess, I'll break every bones in your body that even your wolf won't be able to heal you," she warned in a dead serious note.
Shantel felt her cheek as she stared from Kayla to Amy. "You shall pay for this. Y'all shall pay for this!" She said in anger as she walked away.
"Bring it on, lousy mouth!" Kayla yelled after her.
Amy inhaled deeply, tears gathering her eyes. "Mom, who was that and why was she trying to hit you?" Tris asked, entwining his hand with Amy's.
Amy looked down at him. She had not been aware that he was there with Kayla.
"Where are you two coming from?" She asked, dodging Tris question.
"Aunt Kayla and I went to get some groceries," Tris said.
"Alright. Let's go in. And about that woman, you shouldn't worry about her, okay?" Amy replied and Tris nodded.
Kayla said nothing as they went into the house. She was waiting for Tris to be asleep in his room before questioning Amy.
•
Amy spent a long time in the bathroom and as the water from the shower ran down her hair, tears fell from her eyes. Somewhere deep down her mind, she knew this day would come, but she never knew she would be unprepared for it.
After a long hour in the bathroom, she finally came out of the bathroom. She was dressed in her night robe when Kayla walked in.
"Is Tris in bed?" Amy asked as she glanced in her direction.
"Yes," Kayla replied.
"Alright," Amy said and stood in front of the mirror, brushing her hair.
"That was Shantel Jackson, right?" Kayla asked the obvious.
"Yes," Amy replied simply.
"So now she's after you now that she knows about you,"
"Maybe," Amy said as she kept brushing her hair. She needed something to busy her hands with so she wouldn't wind up in tears.
"How does she know about you?"
"The media, who knows? A lot of articles has been flying around lately," Amy said as she dropped the brush and walked out of the room.
Kayla followed her. "You should tell Cole to tell his bitch to back off or I'll break that fake face of hers,"
"He knows," Amy said as she reached the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge.
"What?" Kayla was astonished.
"Not in the sense that he knows she came here tonight," Amy began to explain as she poured the water in a glass. "But, he knows she's in Louisiana. In fact, she came to Cole's office today," she said as she drank from the glass.
"Wait, wait. I don't understand this. Start from the scratch,"
Amy inhaled and leaned on the counter. This seemed to be her longest night ever. "So, Liam and I went to Cole's office today for a business proposal,"
"Okayy," Kayla responded, listening attentively.
"After the proposal, we were about leaving when Shantel came in and kissed Cole on his lips and then proceeded to insult me, Kay. I left with the little dignity I have and then she shows up here," Amy sighed.
Kayla fisted her hand. "The bastard, and Cole just stood there doing nothing?"
"There wasn't more he could do, aside from stopping her from degrading me,"
"Has he called?"
"I switched off my phone the moment I left his office,"
"That explains why I couldn't reach you," Kayla said as she got closer to her. "Listen, I don't know what games Cole is playing, but this time around, you have to stand your ground. You have to know where you stand in his life. It's either you or her and the moon goddess knows if he chooses her, I'll make sure he sees hell,"
"Oh, Kayla," Amy sighed, hugging her close.
Kayla held her tightly. "It's me and you for life, baby girl. I'll always have your back," she assured her.