Page 70 of Give Me Forever Love

“No, I didn’t. I honestly thought I was doing you a favor.”

She crosses her arms. “You thought you were doingme,” she points to herself, “a favor?”

“Yes. I knew you were having a hard time telling her, so I thought,why not get it out now?I didn’t think it was going to cause a fight between us.”

“You thought by telling my best friend that we were engaged and have been engaged for months and I chose to keep it from her wasn’t going to start a fight between us?”

“Will you stop asking me questions as an response to what I say?”

“Will I stop asking you questions?” She shakes her head. “I’m asking them because I can’t fathom how you don’t see your fuck-up here, Bryce.” The way she says my name slices me clean in two. Damn, she’s pissed. Earlier, I didn’t regret what I said, but now… Well, now I’m regretting it a whole lot.

“Okay, so I messed up. What’s new? I told you when we first started this, I was going to fuck up. You signed up for me. You knew I was an asshole before we even made it official and yet, here you are.”

“Here I am,” she says as a statement. She drops her arms and looks around. “I hate this apartment. It’s too big and too clean. It needs color and furniture you can sit on without worrying about getting it dirty. It doesn’t match you at all, and I’m not sure why you picked it.”

“I thought you liked it?”

“No. I don’t. And right now, I don’t like you.” Her saying that punches me right in the gut.

“You don’t mean that.”

“Oh yes, I do.” She walks over to the cabinet and grabs the bottle of bourbon.

Reaching for a glass, she slams it down on the counter and opens the bottle.

“Not going to offer me one?” I ask.

“Get it your damn self.”

I lift my brow as she throws back the drink.

“You butted in something that was none of your business. I couldn’t believe it when those words came out of your mouth. And yes, I knew who I agreed to date, but I was hoping,” she looks up, raising her hand, “God, I was hoping that by now you’d have changed.” She pinches her fingers together. “Just a little bit.”

“So, you want me to change now?”

She huffs, “I want you to grow the fuck up.”

“How can you say that’s not my business? Everything about you is my goddamn business. You’re my wife!”

She throws her head back and laughs. “Not yet.”

I narrow my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I pour my drink and toss it back. My heart is beating a mile a minute, slipping on his boxing gloves after rolling up his sleeves. Ready to fight, because that’s exactly what’s about to happen if she doesn’t choose her next words carefully.

Would I hit her?

Fuck no.

But I will put her in her place and make her remember who put that ring on her finger. Which is still missing. My heart jabs at the punching bag, his eyes tight, his back bunching.

“Where’s your fucking ring?”

She shrugs and grabs the bottle, pouring another.

I clinch my jaw. “What the hell did you mean by ‘not yet’?”

“I meant just what I said.” She tosses her drink back and winces. “I’m not your wife yet, so you can’t call me that.”

“But you’re going to be,” I say, reaching for the bottle. She looks down at it, shrugging again.

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