Shoot! That would have been a good reason to hold Eddie back.
I haven’t opened the window yet, so the room will have the stench of sex still etched into the walls. In the middle of it, the bedding is covered in cum and sweat, and I’m fairly sure there’s a substantial stain of my arousal still clearly visible on the fitted sheet, right where Jake pinned me while we had sex upon waking up earlier.
There’s no way Eddie will miss any of it as he makes his way to the walk-in closet.
My heart’s in my throat while we wait for him to return. The anxiety isn’t because I’m still hoping something might be fixable between us, but because I care about him in some capacity. He doesn’t deserve to see the remnants of my night with Jake. We dated for five years, and if the roles were reversed, I’d feel nauseated and insulted.
When I finally hear his footsteps return, my whole body tenses, my hands balled into tight fists at my sides. If only I’d taken a moment to check my phone this morning or to switch off the Do Not Disturb setting. When he appears again, Eddie is fuming, his jaw tightly clenched, and his face scrunched into a furious scowl. His tuxedo is in its protective bag, thrown over his arm. Instinctively, I make my way around the kitchen island and walk up to him.
“Eddie, I’m so sorry—”
“Don’t,” he stops me. “I don’t even want to hear it.”
I reach out to him, trying to lay a comforting hand on his arm. “Please, I didn’t want you to see thi—”
He grabs my wrist firmly, letting his anger get the best of him. “I said I don’t want to hear it!” he utters.
“Let go of her,” Jake commands, now standing right beside me. When Eddie doesn’t comply, Jake’s voice becomes even more threatening. “Let go, or I will break your fucking hand, you daft cunt.”
That works, and Eddie releases me with a huff. I pass soothing fingers around my wrist, surprised by how hard he squeezed.
“I don’t get it, Genevieve. We spent five years together,five, and I got nothing, barely scraps. Then you meet this guy—what, two weeks ago at the gallery? And you turn into a shameless whore? What the fuck is wrong with—”
Before the words can even hurt, Eddie is shoved away from me and slammed into the wall behind him, held against it by an enraged Jake. The tuxedo drops to the ground as my ex reaches for the tattooed forearm pressed against his throat. I swiftly join them, laying a hand on Jake’s flexed biceps to make him release Edward.
I’ve never seen him like this, with murder in his eyes. The gentle wombat I know is long gone, replaced by a man who looks like he could kill.
“Did you think I’d let you call her that and let it slide?” Jake snarls. “Is that what you would have done? Like a dickless cunt who lets daddy handle all his problems?”
Eddie tries to talk, but nothing comes out except an indiscernible gurgle. He’s barely touching the ground, standing on the tips of his shoes. “Did you ever stop and wonder if maybe you don’t know how to fuck?” Jake growls. “That she only gave you scraps because you had nothing to offer in return?”
Now, Edward’s face is turning an alarming shade of red, so I gently pull on Jake’s arm, using a soothing voice when I say, “Let him go, Jake. Please, stop.”
But nothing seems to reach past the pure rage he’s experiencing.
“Do you want to hear a little secret, nepo boy?” he asks with a sadistic grin. “We started fuckingbeforethe gallery’s opening. We’d already done it a few times like wild fucking animals—not that you’d know what that’s like. And while you were busy networking with the guests like the trust fund little bitch you are, I was making her come all over my tongue and fingers in the restroom. Again, not that you’d know what that’s like.”
“Jacob!” I protest. Now he’s going too far. While I understand why he’d want to protect me, it’s clear that he’s only trying to hurt Edward. Whatever is in my tone compels him to look at me. “Let go of him. Now!”
He glares at Eddie again, and after one last harsh shove, he releases him. Edward slumps down against the wall, barely managing to stay upright. A fit of coughs shakes him, his hand reaching up to massage his throat.
Jake displays no pity as he looks down at my ex. “Give her back the key that you have,” he demands. “And then get the fuck out.”
Edward’s hands tremble as he pats himself to find his key chain. When he does, he takes it out of his pocket and fumbles to unhook my key. He lets it fall on the tiled floor and then bends to pick up his tux. I’m still in shock when he scurries out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.
The silence that follows is deafening, and I don’t know if we’ll ever manage to break it. What the hell just happened? Everything was flipped upside down in five minutes, and instead of getting my way with Jake in the kitchen, I have to deal with a monumental crisis. And my lower half is still bare.
Flustered and confused, I look up at Jake, who’s fuming. “Why were you protecting him?” he asks.
“What?”
“After what he said to you, why were you protecting him?”
“I wasn’t protecting him, I was protectingyou!”
“Really? It didn’t look like it.”
I huff, unimpressed by his lack of trust in me. “People like us sue, Jacob. We don’t care about some honor to uphold. When we get assaulted, we hire the best lawyers in town to sue. So, excuse me for not letting you give Eddie the means to do that to you.”
