Page 78 of Forecasting the Forward

The blood chills in my body. “He cornered you? Where?”

“Outside the arena. You walked out right in front of me, and you didn’t see him. The look of hate he gave you was scary enough.”

Fuck. He was in Denver, and we didn’t know. He could be there now. I look wildly at Coach. “What the fuck am I supposed to do? We have a game in Miami tomorrow. I won’t be home for thirty-six hours. He could be there now. Becca might be in trouble.”

Opening up the tracker app again, I breathe a very small sigh of relief when I see she’s in our apartment.

“Do you want to go home?” Coach asks quietly.

Squeezing my eyes closed, I shake my head. “Yes and no. I want to protect her, but I also know she might feel smothered and pull away even more. I need to get things lined up so I can take him down once and for all so she’s safe.”

Heading back to my room, I get undressed, ready to call Becca and see how she’s doing. I can play the nonchalant husband. Ask how her day was, and tell her about mine. Talk about Thunder and the pigs. But an alert pops up on my screen telling me I have every reason to be concerned. I’m close to two thousand miles away from my wife, and there’s nothing I can do to protect her.

I knowI should have responded to Jacob. He’s texted me every morning for weeks, and it was a relief to see that text. Nothing has changed. Except …

The L-word.

So I didn’t respond. I needed time to think. To look at our situation both objectively and subjectively. I deal best with facts and numbers. Matters of the heart are neither of those things, which means I’m definitely out of my element here.

I figured I’d wait until after his game this evening and explain myself. I even made notes to help me stay on topic.

And then my stupid brother showed up.

I opened the door because I assumed it was someone in the building. How my brother managed to bypass the security team downstairs beats me. I’m not even sure how he knew where Jacob lived. But as soon as I opened the door, he barreled inside.

“Got yourself a nice one, Rebecca,” he sneers.

“Why are you here, Rodney? You have to know I’ve blocked you. I thought you would have gotten the message by now,” I answer, irritation evident in my tone. I tossed and turned allnight, then snapped at poor Thunder this morning when my patience ran out. A long day at work followed, and I’m desperate to take a long bath before I collapse in bed.

“I don’t think you understand how this is going to work, Rebecca. I don’t care what you want or how you think. I only care about business. And you’re fucking with that now, you little bitch. Now get your shoes on, because you’re coming back home and doing what I tell you to do!” Spittle flies from Rodney’s mouth as his face reddens with each word. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry before. Aggravated? Yes. Frustrated? Of course. But the absolute disgust emanating from him is new.

“No,” I whisper, slowly sliding my foot backwards so I’m a few inches further away from him.

Rodney’s eyes narrow. “What did you just say to me?”

“You heard me,” I stammer, clearing my throat so my voice is louder. “I said no. I’m not marrying some crony you and Dad wanted me to marry, just to align two families. Besides, I’m already married.”

“I can easily get that annulled.”

“You can only annul a marriage that hasn’t been consummated. Mine has,” I tell him. I honestly have no idea if that’s actually true, but they say it in television shows, so I’m running with it. There are probably a bunch of other reasons a marriage can be annulled, but seeing as how I’ve never had to research it, I really don’t know.

“Just had to whore yourself out, didn’t you?” he hisses.

“I’m not a whore!” I shout, outraged. How dare he! I didn’t sleep with Jacob until we were already married.

“Well, you aren’t telling anyone about it, alright? Ben and Dick think you’re a virgin.”

I stare at him incredulously. “You can’t be serious. I’m thirty-three, Rodney. They have to know I’ve had sex.”

His hand whips out before I realize, and he slaps me harshly across the cheek. Rodney immediately follows the slap with a swift punch to my abdomen, and I double over in pain as I fight to catch my breath. He’s never punched me before. “If they think you’re a virgin, then you agree. Understood?”

Two things happen at once. First, the doorbell rings, jarring our attention. As Rodney turns to look at the door, Thunder takes the opportunity to leap toward us, latching onto Rodney’s groin. Rodney screams, but Thunder doesn’t let go. “Get this thing off of me!”

Sidestepping my brother, I sprint to the door. Opening it, I find two uniformed police officers.

“Ma’am. We got a call about a man in here without consent.”

I point to Rodney. “My dog has him.”

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