Page 61 of Kings Fear No One
There’s no mistaking where this is headed.
I scrub a hand over my exhausted face, taking a moment to absorb the setting. How different the dark, quiet apartment feels to the noisy, chaotic barbecue restaurant. It eases the sensory overload I’d felt earlier, trapped on a quadruple fucking date I didn’t agree to.
Then I head for the second bedroom, where the rustling noises Teysha’s making are coming from. I stop in the doorway, unsurprised to find her things being crammed into her duffle bag.
“Are you gonna attempt to leave every other day? ’Cuz this charade is growing old.”
“I wouldn’t have to attempt it if you’d just let me.” She’s on her knees, her back to me. Her shoulders droop with the sigh she releases. “Logan, I’m going to call my mama and ask her to come get me.”
My insides give an unexpected twist. “Call her now? After avoiding her?”
“It’s the only option left. I can’t… I can’t stay here anymore. I can’t do this.”
“You’re not having to do anything. We’re getting it dissolved. That’s why you’re still here.”
She chokes out a laugh that’s shaky and dark. Almost like she’s laughing at herself. She’s the joke. “Please stop reminding me.”
“Once we get it annulled?—”
“I GET IT!” she screams ’til her voice breaks. She leaps to her feet clutching her duffle bag and rushes past me out of the room, her head bowed. “I get it, okay? I understand. Don’t worry.”
Thrown by the outburst, I track her down the hall into the living room. “You don’t get that I’m only doing what’s best for you. The marriage was a mistake. It was never supposed to happen. I’ve told you I’ve got no interest in being a husband. Some kind of family man with a wife and kids. I’m too fucked up for that shit. Will you put your bag down? Didn’t we already establish you’re not going anywhere tonight?”
“You don’t want me… but you don’t want me to go either!” She throws the bag to the floor and spins around to face me. Anguish rubs her voice raw, her eyes shining enough to show my reflection. “You don’t want me to go ’cuz you want to make sure it’s done! The mistake’s erased from ever existing. I get it!”
“You’re confused!” I shout over her. My patience vanishes, my glare narrows. “You think you’re supposed to be with me, but you can’t see you’re wrong! I’m not the kinda guy you should be married to?—”
“You are who I’m married to!” She raises her voice to match mine, unafraid as tears finally fall free. “You’re the man I’ve exchanged vows with, but you won’t take them seriously!”
“Because it wasn’t a real ceremony.”
“It was under God’s view! It was for his eyes to see. It was real to me!”
“You don’t believe in divorce, that it?” I ask. “You think ’cuz some freak cult married us off it means we’re forever?”
She shakes her head, the pain fresh on her face. “You’ll get what you want. You’ll be rid of me. You won’t ever have to be with me again.”
“You’ll be better off for it.”
“Just let me leave. Just let me go then.”
“We’ve been over this, it’s the middle of the?—”
“Why does it matter if it is?” she screams in interruption. “You don’t want me so what do you care?!”
“I want what’s best for you!” I lose all restraint, my hands coming out to grip both of her arms. I’ve stepped closer, giving her a shake, glaring in her face. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you see? I want what’s fucking best for you! Stop being so damn hardheaded!”
“I know what’s best for me! And I know that I wanted to be with you. But you shut me out at every turn. You make it clear you want nothing to do with me. Then you won’t let me leave. I have whiplash from it all!”
“It’s got nothing to do with wanting you or not?—”
“It’s got everything to do with it! Because if you did, you would have me! But you don’t. You don’t want me. So I’ll find some man out there who will!”
A trigger inside me is pulled like you would a gun. It goes off with a bang from the deepest, basest part of me and sets off a chain reaction. I growl, gripping her tighter. My pulse has surged, my body crackling from the heat that rushes me.
For a wild, unpredictable moment, I want to break her. Show her how misguided and foolish she is for ever wanting me. For thinking I’m the man she belongs with.
“You want me to have you?” I grit out. “You want me to show you what I’m really like? You think you can handle it?”
