Page 120 of Brutal Collateral

Enough. I’ve had enough.

In six months, she’ll be gone, and all I have to do at this point is not kill her. And hope she doesn’t kill me.

All I want is to be alone in my bedroom. A bedroom I’m no longer going to share with her. She and her emotional-support clown can have whatever damn bedroom they want. I’m cutting her and Bozo loose.

Passing the kitchen, I see Ava in the backyard covered in mud and crying. I stop in my tracks.

Damn it.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Ava

Iface the house throughthe glass doors and shudder, seeing Griffin standing in the living room. I worry he’ll get a hose. But from behind his back, he holds out a towel.

Ready to fall apart, I stomp to the door and open it. “Don’t say a word to me.” I grab the towel, but Griffin keeps a death grip on it, snapping me back.

“Not so fast.” He stills me in place, against the glass.

“Get your hands off me.” I push on his tight grip to let me go. All the strength I had for SEAL training is gone, Griffin is so much stronger.

“You’re a damn mess, siren.”

“And everything in this house is white.”

Griffin follows my gaze. “I don’t give a fuck about the furniture. I’ll have it all replaced in an hour.”

“And I guess you’ll find another wife one day, too.” The thought of Griffin signing divorce papers to get rid of me and marry someone else feels like I’ve been knifed in the heart.

“You’re one of a kind, wife. There’s no replacing you. Now, take off those clothes,” he says, low and seductive.

Reluctantly, I strip until I’m naked. Griffin scans my body, then he wraps me in the towel. As he goes to turn away with my wet muddy clothes, I grip his arm and bring his mouth down to mine.

His lips don’t move, surprise in his wide eyes. He staggers back, and I think that’s it, but he hauls me off my feet, carries me up the main staircase to our bedroom, and kicks the door shut.

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