Page 26 of My Ogre Husband
The ogress is next, and she, too, doesn’t hit the board.
She giggles. “Gosh, I’m really bad at this,” she says to Egorr. “You have to reclaim my honor.”
Egorr gives a noncommittal chuckle, and picks up his next dart. “I will try to restore the reputation of ogres.”
I wish Egorr would talk tomeinstead. We were supposed to be here as a couple, to spend time together, but now some stranger has all his attention.
The lion man rolls his eyes as Egorr takes up position and throws again. This time, it lands, though only in the wedge marked “2.”
“Good try,” the ogress says, smacking Egorr playfully on the arm. That heat is spreading into my face, and now my vague frustration is morphing into anger. She’s clearly flirting with him, and he hasn’t done anything to stop her.
I don’t even know if he’s noticed—and if he has, he doesn’t seem to mind.
Thankfully, that’s when our food arrives. I surrender the rest of the game so I can go back to our table and eat, and hopefully return to having our nice dinner out.
“Aww,” the ogress says to Egorr when he turns around to join me. “You’re not going to give up yet, are you?”
He glances between me and her, and I stare into my food, my heart beating faster. Surely he’s going to choose me and give up this silly game.
I should say something. I should ask him to sit and eat with me. But I wanthimto choose that, to decide he’d prefer to spend his time with me. I shouldn’t have to make him.
“It’ll only take a few more minutes,” the ogress presses. “The game’s almost done.”
I stare at my food, too shaky to even pick up my fork. When I remain silent, Egorr sighs.
“All right, we’ll just finish out the game.”
I want to scream into my fish and chips as they return to the game and the ogress takes her turn. This time she hits close to the bullseye, and Egorr congratulates her.
While he steps up to take his next throw, the lion man sits down across from me.
“It’s too bad you gave up,” he says. “You had a killer score going.”
My shoulders curl forward. “Yeah. Whatever.” I couldn’t care less about my score. All I can see is red as Egorr hurls his next dart, and the ogress crows.
“Good throw!” she says, slapping him on the back.
I want to crawl into a hole and die. He still hasn’t told her off, and now I’m starting to wonder if maybe he likes her back. Maybe he hasn’t said anything because he really doesn’t mind the attention of another ogre.
The lion man extends a big paw across the table toward me. “I’m Astor, by the way.”
Not wanting to be rude—and feeling a little uncertain now that Egorr’s left me completely in the hands of another monster—I reluctantly take it and shake. Astor holds on to my hand for much too long, so quickly I withdraw mine.
“I don’t see many humans out here in the world.” Astor cocks his head. “And I’ve definitely never met one in person.”
“Yeah,” I say noncommittally. “We’re doing a trial marriage.”
His eyebrows rise up into his big, fluffy mane. “Oh, really?” Then he frowns at Egorr and the ogress, who are now chatting as they add up their scores. My skin feels like a raging inferno, and every one of my muscles has gone tense. “Doesn’t look like he’s married to you from where I’m sitting.”
There’s a pitying look on the lion man’s face as he picks up a few of Egorr’s fries and eats them.
“Maybe after he sends you back to the preserve, you should do a trial marriage with me instead?” Astor asks with a grin. “I certainly wouldn’t be off flirting with someone else when I had a sweet little human waiting for me.”
After he sends me back?Egorr and the ogress are still locked in conversation, and tears sting my eyes.
It all makes sense. If he’d tried to have sex with someone like her instead, this wouldn’t have happened. Egorr would never have torn someone his own size. Maybe he was kind to me at the doctor’s office, but what if I’m really not suited to him? What if we canneverhave sex, and then he does take me back to New Eden?
That’s the last straw. I refuse to be returned again. If Egorr is going to send me back, I want it to be onmyterms, not his.
