Page 15 of Without You
Charisse bit her bottom lip and stared at the floor. She had to stay strong. He’d been contrite before, but he always went back to his old behavior. “I’ve moved on with my life. You’ve moved on with yours. We can’t go back now.”
“Who says we can’t? I know you still care about me.”
She looked up at him. “Of course I still care about you. We’re friends and we were married and you’re the father of my children.”
He shook his head vehemently. “Nah, that’s not all it is, and you know it. Deep down, you still have feelings for me.”
She laughed. “What did I possibly do to make you think that I still have feelings for you?”
“It’s not really anything you did.” He seemed to hesitate. “One of the kids mentioned they noticed how you act sometimes after I leave. Like you still miss me. Maybe not as much as I miss you, but you miss me.”
Anger flared to life inside of her, and Charisse pushed off the wall. “Are you serious right now? You’re hitting up our kids for information about me?”
“Calm down.”
“What have they told you?”
“I know that you date.”
“Of course I date. I’m not a nun.” She pointed a finger at him. “I know what this is about. It’s about you wanting to have control over me still. You can’t and you don’t. If I want to see someone, I’ll see them, and if I want to stay out all night, I’ll stay out all night. I don’t have to—”
“Hold up.” His brows snapped together and he put up his hands for her to stop talking. “You been staying out all night?”
Charisse clamped her mouth shut. She’d assumed he knew everything. Austin wasn’t even the first man she’d spent the night with.
“When I took the kids to Miami in January, were you really hanging with your girlfriends over the weekend, or laying up under some man?”
“Forget I said anything.”
“No, no, we’re going to lay it all out on the table right now. Who you been spending the night with? You stay the night with old dude that I saw you with at the Italian restaurant?”
Charisse closed her eyes and took a deep breath to wrestle her anger under control. Then she opened her eyes and stared at him. “What I do on my own time is my business.”
“You’re not gonna answer me?” Terrence asked.
He was breathing hard, the way he did when he held an intense emotion. He could explode at any minute.
He chuckled and shook his head, then stepped away from the wall. “Well, well, well. Dudley Do Right ain’t so righteous after all, is he?” The fake smile snapped off his face in an instant. “What’s his last name?”
“Enough, Terrence! That was cute when we were dating, but the over-the-top jealousy thing is old and outdated, especially since we’re not together anymore.”
“Give me his name.”
“I’m done. You can show yourself out.” She made to walk away, but he slammed his hand against the wall, blocking her path.
“Name.”
She looked up at him. They were within millimeters of each other. If she weren’t angry, she’d sway into his chest. “What are you doing? Are you drunk?” She sniffed but didn’t smell alcohol. Only the stale scent of weed that he probably acquired in the studio.
“I’m not drunk. Tell me his name, Charisse. I deserve to know the name of the man who’s screwing my wife. Give me his fucking name.”
“First of all, I’m not your wife. Second, do I need to call the police and have them escort you off the premises? Do I need to say that I have a trespasser in the house, someone who’s here uninvited?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You think you’re going to make me leave? This ismyhouse. My name is on the deed, too. And I pay the bills here.”
He’d done this before when he was angry, and she absolutely hated it. “You think you can control me because you pay the bills? Would it make you happy if I left this house? Why don’t you put me out, Terrence?”
He appeared startled by the question.
