Page 276 of Filthy Elites

This time when I shrug, it’s a little more pronounced. I feel myself getting defensive and try to curb it. “It’s not ideal for anyone, but it’s what you do when bad shit happens, you know? Life can’t always be fun and games, sometimes it’s hard and people have to make sacrifices.”

He nods. “I get it. If my mom got sick, I’d probably drop everything, too.”

“Are you and your mom close? I heard about the split, and I know a little about your dad from just… lore, I guess.” He cracks a smile. “Other than her being a Bolivian beauty queen, I haven’t heard much about your mom.”

Dare lies back on the mattress, his legs still hanging over the edge of the bed. “We’ve always had a pretty good relationship. She moved to Miami after the split. There were some job opportunities for her there, and to be honest, I think she just wanted to get as far away from my father as she could. She wanted me to go with her, but it made the most sense to me to finish out high school here in Baymont.”

“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Same shit that always happens. They’d been together for a long time, but they didn’t actually spend much quality time together,so the spark went out. I guess my dad didn’t feel special enough, so he found a younger model who wasn’t sick of his shit yet and decided to be with her instead.”

“Oh. Wow, I… wasn’t expecting that.”

He smiles faintly. “Yeah, neither were we. Apparently, it wasn’t the first time it happened, just the first time he left. Mom told me when I was about 7, he had an affair, but they got past it. Guess she shouldn’t have.”

“I don’t think I could ever get past something like that.”

“No?”

I shake my head, then meet his gaze. “Could you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been with anyone I liked enough to marry, so it’s hard to imagine. Getting married isn’t something that’s important to me, so if I ever took that step, she’d have to be pretty damn special. If she’s so special, it’s hard to imagine she’s someone who would fuck around on me. But, I guess, assuming I somehow utterly misjudged her character…” He turns his head and looks over at me. “Do I still love her?”

“Yes,” I say, since that makes the decision harder.

He nods, considering his next move. “Well, if I still love her, then I have to keep her. I’m disappointed in her choices, but I’m not going to throw away a toy I’m not done playing with just because some other asshole wants it.”

I grin, lying back against the pillows. “If you liken your hypothetical wife to atoy,I think you’re probably right that you’re never going to get married.”

He smirks. “Hey, she cheated on me. She’s gonna be treated like a toy for a while, whether she likes it or not.”

I bite down on my bottom lip, trying not to smile at such an awful statement. Part of me finds it kinda sexy, and I don’t understand why. “All right, so what do you do then?”

“Well, first, I have to kill the guy.”

My eyebrows rise. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“That escalated quickly.”

He shrugs. “Has to be done. He knew she was married to me, so he should have known better. No sympathy for dumbasses.”

“All right, so first step, murder.”

He nods. “Then, once I’ve bludgeoned her lover to death, I figure she’s probably pretty mad at me.”

“Seems likely.”

“I don’t care, though. She made this bed, now we have to lie in it.”

“Sure.”

“If we’re going to move on, we’ll need a change of scenery. Life wherever we are clearly isn’t going the way it should, so I take her somewhere more remote.”

“With no new men for her to cheat with.”

He smirks. “Sure, but I’m not really worried about that. If she’s such a fucking nympho that I literally can’t let her go out in the world, I have concerns about my judgment.”

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