Page 76 of This Woman Forever

“And?”

I wave for another water. “And... we cleared a few things up.”

The woman in the red dress appears again, coming in close to me, and Sam recoils, looking her up and down as she virtually sticks herself to my side. I pick up my water with one hand and, because I’m not done proving to my wife that she does actually fucking care, I put the woman’s arse in my other.

Sam’s eyes widen. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asks.

I could never explain, and I could never expect anyone to possibly understand. Not that I have time to even begin fathoming how to defend my actions. I feel a force, like a whirlwind, and Ava bursts through the crowds, the sexual flush gone, an angry one in its place.

“Oh, Jesus,” Sam breathes, moving back, getting out of the way, revealing Drew as he does. When the fuck did he arrive?

Ava looks pretty fucking lethal as she swipes the glass from my hand and drinks it. Checking if it’s vodka. Did she hope it was because that would explain why I just fucked her coldly like I’ve fucked every other woman in my life? I can only conclude it angers her that it’s only water when she smashes it on the floor before getting up in my victim’s face, screaming a clear and dangerous, “Fuck off.” I release my hand from the woman’s arse. No more action is required. The woman in the red dress retreats, leaving me at the mercy of my wife. I’m grateful. It’s time to get some things off our chests.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she yells.

Oh, and here she is. The woman who definitely cares.

I try to hide my smug smile. A little.

“Answer me!”

When she’s screaming at me? No. Stew. Fucking stew, just like I’ve stewed since you walked out on me.

I turn away, ordering more water and advising the staff there’s some glass on the floor, looking over my shoulder when I hear Drew release a despairing curse. Sam catches my eye, looking... what’s that look on him? Pissy? I turn back toward them, wondering what’s going on. Then I see Ava’s brother and it all makes sense.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” I say, spotting Kate hurrying to the dance floor.

“I don’t know,” Drew answers, his head batting back and forth between everyone, while Sam sneers at Ava’s brother. “I’m sensing some couple’s therapy is on the cards.”

“You dick,” I mutter, as Dan spots me. I hold back my snarl. Only just. He makes his way over, determined. Here we go. I haven’t got time for this. Where the hell is my wife? I push off the bar. Scan the crowds.

Nearly bite my fucking tongue off.

“What the hell?” I whisper, seeing her hauling some tall, dark-haired dude into her body. Then onto her mouth.

I double over to try and stem the pain in my stomach, my eyes on the floor, my body heaving. Did I just see my wife kissing another man? Nausea grabs me, and I look up, hoping I imagined it.

I didn’t.

I slowly unbend my body, standing up tall, watching as she virtually eats the bloke alive.

What. The. Fuck?

“No, Jesse,” Drew yells, practically circling my waist with his arms to hold me back.

I’m like the Hulk, my whole body expanding, the red mist not creeping up on me, but attacking.

I can’t stop it.

And no one can stop me.

I steam through the people before me, enraged, and grab him, hauling him off my wife and launching him halfway across the dance floor with a right hook that’s loaded with a week’s worth of anger and frustration. How the fuck it doesn’t knock him out cold, I don’t know. Trust my wife to pick the one man in this bar who’s as tall and built as me. Tactical.

The brave bastard comes back at me, taking me off my feet and slamming me onto the hard floor. I grunt, winded, blinking, feeling disorientated. This fucker has just kissed my wife. I roar and fling myself up, going back at him, cracking his bloody nose again before getting him up against the wall and finishing him off, sinking a knee into his stomach.

It ends the brawl, and he folds to the floor, coughing, his face a mess, and I sniff, wiping my nose, trying to control my shakes. Another epic fail. I need to leave before I kill someone.

I turn to find Ava but get tackled from the side and shoved through the crowds. “I fucking told you, Ward,” Jay seethes.

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