“What do you mean, why? Because I’m your husband, and that’s what husbands do.”
I forced out a laugh. “I think we can probably cut the act now. Seems pretty pointless, doesn’t it? Chelsea’s wedding is over, and there’s no one left to fool at the clinic. No more fake marriage needed. Bonus was that you got out of it a little early, so you can start bed-hopping again whenever you want.”
He was quiet for long moments, and I finally lifted my gaze to his. He stared at me, eyes hard and jaw bunching, his entire body stiff. “Thanks for thinking the best of me,” he said flatly.
Oh, he had a lot of balls to say that while he had a booty call invitation on his phone from Jan or Judy or whatever the hell her name was.
“It doesn’t matter what I think,” I said. “Your track record speaks for itself.”
“Yeah? What does it say?”
I stared at him, at the eyes I’d grown to love, and felt that hole in my heart expand. The pain seeping into every inch of my body, weighing me down.
I’d never really thought about how this would end. Never concerned myself with it. But I knew, without a doubt, this was it.
We were done.
And there’d be no going back.
“You and I both know you’re not forever,” I said, the words tasting bitter on my tongue. “We’renot forever.”
Ford’s eyes shuttered, his body going rigid, and I wanted to take the words back as soon as they left my lips. Not because they weren’t true—that was exactly what we’d said this entire time…that we were only temporary—but because I so desperately wished they weren’t.
“And here I thought the ring on your finger said differently.” His voice was hard, but there was no denying the thread of hurt woven into his words.
But I’d already been fooled once by him. Tricked into actually believing this had been real. I’d be damned if I’d let it happen again.
I glanced over at his now-darkened phone, recalling what the text had said, and a fresh wave of pain rushed over me, reminding me exactly what this wasn’t.
“We both know the ring didn’t mean anything. You’re the one who put an expiration date on this and said we should get our first divorces out of the way. It’s obvious that’s what you’ve been waiting for, so let’s just get on with it. Consider this my notice. Go ahead and tell your friend you’re free tonight.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
FORD
Go aheadand tell my friend I’m free tonight? What the fuck did that even mean?
I stared out the window as Quinn drove off, wondering how this morning had become so fucked so quickly. Last night, when she’d fallen asleep in my arms, when I’d finally admitted how long I’d wanted her, I’d hoped it was the start of something real. Where we didn’t have to pretend anymore.
And then I woke up to this, and I had no idea where the hell it was all coming from. She was obviously feeling the stress, and who could blame her after the day she’d had?
I didn’t know where I’d gone so wrong that she assumed I couldn’t wait to get out of this marriage. I thought I’d done a pretty fucking good job of showing her exactly how much I wanted her. But apparently not. And that was something I was going to have to rectify, because I’d be damned if my wife didn’t know exactly how fucking much I needed her. Exactly how much I loved her.
But we could talk about everything tonight when she got home. Set things straight. I’d lay it all out on the line and tell her where I was coming from.
As much as I hated that she was already going back into work—especially after the trauma of yesterday—I knew she felt a huge responsibility to the people of Starlight Cove. I just wished she felt that much of a responsibility to herself and her own well-being, because what I said would only go so far.
She was headstrong and stubborn, and they were two of my favorite traits of hers. Seeing her in her element, being strong and confident, turned me the fuck on. But her bullheadedness meant I could push her as much as I wanted, and in the end, she could still decide to dig her heels in. If she didn’t want to do it, nothing I could say would make her change her mind.
So it would’ve been a lost cause trying to stop her from heading into the clinic if that was what she felt she needed to do. But tonight, we were going to talk. Whether she wanted to or not. I wasn’t going to roll over without a fight. Not after I knew what it was like to have her as mine.
She thought we weren’t forever? By the time I was done with her, she’d know forever wasn’t nearly long enough when it came to the two of us.
Scratching my stomach, I strolled over to the kitchen counter, my brows bunching when I found our napkin contract on top of my phone and keys. I normally kept it tucked away in my pocket, along with a hair band she’d flicked at my forehead shortly after she’d moved here, just like she used to do in high school. They were my daily reminder of when she’d come back into my life…when she’d finally become mine. But last night, I’d been in such a hurry to get her settled in and figure out what I could do to help her that I’d emptied my pockets without care.
I picked it up and reached for my phone. The screen lit up, showing a text from Jenny, someone I’d hooked up with a couple times in the past.
Jenny:
