“It doesn’t matter who I am,” I said. “But I’m telling you now, if you don’t take your hands off her, then you’re going to find that answer out very quickly, and I don’t think you are going to like it very much.” It came out far better than I had hoped, as though straight from the scenes of a Clint Eastwood Western. My heart was racing. Deep, slow breaths.

“Yeah, man? You think I’m scared of you?”

“I don’t really give a shit, Jimmy. We’re here to gather Carolyn’s things and we’re not leaving until we do.”

He let her go by shoving her against the wall. She stayed there, her back to the corner, too scared to move.

“Get the fuck out of my apartment!” he yelled.

The cat emerged from beneath the bed and trotted over to Carolyn. She picked him up and clutched him to her chest. He was a large, black cat that seemed indifferent to the tension in the room, while Carolyn was on the verge of tears. I don’t think she believed Jimmy would be home, that it’d come to this. Jimmy glared at her furiously.

“You’re a fucking whore,” he said. “I hope you rot in hell.”

Familiar words. I knew what they meant in the context of my own life, not exactly verbatim, but close enough, and there wasn’t a chance in hell they’d take away the things they did the last time they were uttered. Diplomacy had failed. I stepped forward and swung. A clean punch, square on his jaw with a resounding thud. Carolyn shrieked and dropped the cat. She covered her face with her hands. Jimmy absorbed the punch and tried to counter. He was quick, but I was quicker. I hit him between the eyes and was sure it’d blacken both of them. He fell onto the bed behind him but quickly stood. I gripped him around the throat and pushed him backward until he hit the wall so hard that the drywall cracked inward. I kept my hand on him waiting for him to counter. He didn’t, and instead stayed put while breathing heavily and scowling at me.

“Get your things, Carolyn,” I said. She didn’t move, her hands still over her face. “Carolyn!” She snapped back to attention. “Gather your things.”

She began rushing around the room. I kept my hand pressed to Jimmy’s sternum. The punch had caused his nose to bleed. Blood trickled from both nostrils and dripped onto his white shirt. Some landed on my hand.

“Couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?”

“Fuck you,” he said.

“She’s going to be living with me from now on, you understand? So keep the fuck away from her. You screwed it up, plain and simple.”

“You think I’ll miss that whore?”

“Yes, I do.”