Page 63 of Rebound

She laughs bitterly and puts the tea down. Her arms disappear under the blanket when she tugs it up over her shoulders. “Okay. I get it now. You think I’ve been pretending to go along with the civilized divorce plan, and all the while, I was secretly sneaking around behind your back. Plotting what exactly? To steal all your money? Your precious Jamestech?”

Her tone is calm and even, and I don’t know what to think, so I simply shrug. “Something like that, yeah.”

“And you think I’ve been sleeping with you for, what, spite? To pump you for information? To make you underestimate me?”

Those are all things I considered. She still isn’t angry, and it’s confusing the hell out of me. Maybe she simply lacks the energy, and as soon as the sugar hits, she’ll be across this couch with her claws bared.

“Oh, Elijah. What have we become?” She drops her head back and closes her eyes. “How far have we fallen for you to believe that about me?” When she looks at me, the grief in her eyes guts me, but it doesn’t match her resigned tone. “The irony is that I thought… I thought we might actually make it, you know? I thought we might get back together. But here we are. Again. Me on one side, and you and your family on the other. You never even asked me. You didn’t give me the benefit of the doubt. Instead, you automatically believed your brother, who hates me, and then you believed Freddie Kemp, who…” Her voice falters, and she pulls the blanket up to cover her mouth. Tears fill her eyes again, and she stares down at where they fall in beads on the brightly colored yarn.

“Who what, Amber?” I say gently. I want to reach out and touch her, but her closed-off body language stops me. She needs her space right now. Eventually, she looks back up, and the pain in her expression sucks all the air from the room. She bites her lip and then nods—almost to herself, as though she’s found some inner strength and is acknowledging it.

“Freddie Kemp, who assaulted me today.”

ChapterTwenty-Eight

ELIJAH

My brain freezes and time stands still. All I can do is stare at her. Finally, after what feels like hours, I find my voice. “He didwhat?”

“He assaulted me, Elijah. The man you’re so convinced I’m in cahoots with tricked me into coming up to his office. I was supposed to be meeting Martha for drinks, and he got her to ask me to meet her there instead. I didn’t think anything of it. I thought I was meeting a friend. Like I said, I’m stupid.”

She sounds pissed now, but with herself. Not even half as angry as I am with myself though. “You’re not stupid, Amber. Now tell me what happened. Please.”

“Are you sure you want to know?” she asks, a flash of emotion in her eyes and a tremor in her voice. “Are you sure you’ll believe me?”

This is a fucking shitshow. My wife is in pieces before me, and something horrible has clearly taken place. And now she doesn’t want to tell me about it because she’s worried I won’t believe her. I came here so convinced I was in the right. I’m such a fucking dick.

“I’m sure, Amber. And yes, I will believe you, I promise.”

She looks away from me again, squeezes her eyes shut tight, and starts to talk. “He said he wanted to represent me in the divorce. That’s why he got Martha to lure me up there. That’s how it started—he wanted to sign me, told me you were going to screw me over and only he could protect me. When I told him no, that I already had an attorney, he… he changed. He was so jacked up, so on edge. He took my refusal as some kind of personal attack and started saying all kinds of crazy things. Calling me horrible names. And then, he backed me into a corner, and… he… Fuck! Why am Icryingagain?” She swipes at her eyes, and I can almost hear the pep talk she’s giving herself.

Rage is eating away at my insides, but I force myself to stay calm. “It’s okay, baby. Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”

She runs her hands through her hair and takes a deep, steadying breath. “Okay. I can do this,” she mutters to herself before continuing. “He backed me into a corner. I tried to shove him away, but he pinned my wrists against the wall. He hurt me. Then he… He rubbed himself against me, and… ugh! He was hard. He made me touch it. He held my fingers there while he rubbed it into me. It was… God, it was disgusting! That brought me to my senses, and I managed to get away, but up until then, I was paralyzed. Useless. I can’t believe I let that happen to me.”

She shudders and closes her eyes. I know she’s reliving it right now. Today was probably one of the worst moments of her life, and I didn’t give her the chance to tell me about it. Instead of being there for her, I stood her up. Abandoned her when she needed me most. My stomach churns, and I can barely breathe through the fury I feel for myself. I’m going to fucking kill Freddie Kemp. But her needs come first.

I gently place my hand on her blanketed knee. She’s shaking, but she doesn’t pull away. “You didn’t let it happen, Amber. It was not your fault. You know that, don’t you? It was nobody’s fault but his.”

“I know that logically, Elijah. But I also feel like I should have stopped him. Like I somehow, I don’t know, asked for it.”

“No, baby, you didn’t. I’m so sorry, if I had known…” I don’t finish that sentence, because there are no words to convey how fucking wrong I was and how goddamn awful I feel that I let her down. Again.

She stares at my hand on her knee, and I wonder if she’ll let it stay there. She does. When she looks back up, though, there’s such pain in her expression that it feels like she’s torn my heart out of my chest.

“I wanted you to know, Elijah. The first thing I did when I got away was message you—after seeing Nathan, of course. That was lucky, wasn’t it?” She lets out a hollow little laugh, and I remember my brother saying she was pale and shaky and not herself. We both assumed it was because she’d gotten caught.

“It had just happened when I asked if you could meet me earlier,” she continues. “I was in the ladies’ room, about to throw up. It wasn’t something I wanted to talk about on the phone, and I was in shock. I was desperate to see you. Desperate to be with you and feel your arms around me and to feel… safe again. Like I keep saying, I’m stupid.”

No, it’s me who’s stupid. “And like I keep saying, you’re not. I’m the asshole here, not you. Fuck, when I called Freddie, he was so weird with me…”

“He probably thought I’d told on him and expected you to tear him a new one.”

I nod, narrowing my eyes as I replay the conversation. Yeah, that tracks. Technically, everything he said was true. He made implications that confirmed what I already feared, and like an idiot, I was ready and waiting to accept his lies. Primed by Nathan and my own underlying worries, I swallowed them whole.

Freddie must have known I’d eventually find out it was bullshit, but there was glee in his voice when he told me she’d been there. I gave him the opportunity to cause trouble, and he took it. He probably hoped it would scare her, show her how he could mess with her life. That he could distract us by setting up this conflict. The little shit is probably terrified of a visit from the cops. And that might still happen, depending on how things work out. Right now, though, I’m thinking the cops are too good for him. Justice might come a little more up close and personal. But that will all come later.

She’s rubbing at bruises on her wrist. Bruises put there by Freddie Kemp. I bite down my fury at the thought of him touching her and take her hand in mine. I raise it up to my mouth and gently kiss the discolored skin.

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