Page 41 of Explode
Riley gasped.
I smiled.
This cunt was a dead man. To hell with the deal.
I stepped forward, the nozzle of the gun pressing into my gut as Iglared at Rafe, silently daring him to pull the trigger.
Tension filled the air as the two of us stood glaring at each other,neither willing to back down. He wouldn’t shoot me, there was too much at stake if he did such an idiotic thing, but I could tell he really fucking wanted to pull the trigger.
Stepping out from behind him, Riley placed a hand on his arm. Thefact she was touching another man made me see red, and a muscle began twitching in my jaw, but I didn’t break my stare away from him.
“Kai, please just go,” she pleaded softly, breaking my damn heart.She pulled his arm and he lowered the gun but still held my eye. When after a minute no one said anything, Riley snapped. “Kai! Please, just go, I don’t want you here.”
“You heard her, Wolfe. Get the fuck out of here, all you’re doing ishurting her.”
My eyes flashed to Riley to find devastation etched on her face. Itwas a kick in the gut to realize I was hurting her more than I already had. I stared at my wife as a lone tear slid down her cheek, and as much as I wanted to reach out and swipe it away, I resisted.
Indecision weighed heavily in my chest. I hated to accept it, but Rafewas right, the longer I stayed, the more I was hurting her. But fuck, I didn’t like the thought of leaving her here.
When another tear slid down her cheek, I swallowed.
“I’ll go,” I said begrudgingly. But this wasn’t over, it wasfarfrom over.Ignoring the prick who was standing there doing his best not to smirk, I kept my focus on my wife. “I’ll give you time, Riley, but this isn’t done.Weare not done. So I’ll give you time, but mark my words, you’ll be coming home with me soon.”
She held my eye, nothing but hatred staring back at me.
It tore my fucking heart to shreds.
Giving Rafe one last look, a silent warning to watch his back for thelittle stunt he pulled, I turned and walked out, ignoring every part of me that said I should have thrown Riley over my shoulder and taken her with me.
Chapter 12
Riley
Neveratruerwordwas spoken when someone said ‘misery likescompany.’ Sofia and I spent the rest of the day fucking miserable, thanks to the assholes in our lives.
She’d managed to spend a grand total of five minutes with Milesbefore they got into an argument, during which he called her a spoiled brat, and she understandably stormed off. Of course, I was firmly on team ‘I hate Miles,’ so Sofia had my vote when she spent a solid hour calling him every name she could think of.
As for me, I spent the day hating myself. What the fuck had I beenthinking jumping Kai’s bones like that? The truth was, I hadn’t been thinking. My brain had switched off, and my body was under the control of my greedy pussy, who, the second Kai put his hands on me, wanted nothing more than to be filled by him.
The worst part was, it had felt so damn good that the second he left, Iwas craving him again. I was beginning to get tired of the constant roller coaster Kai kept putting me through, and yet I was like a fucking addict when it came to that man.
I saw the hurt on his face when Rafe told Kai that all he was doingwas hurting me. While that was true, a part of me wanted to walk into his broad chest, wrap his arms around me, and stay like that forever. But my heart was hurting too much to forgive him, and honestly? I didn’t think I’d ever find it in me to move forward from the pain I had suffered believing Kai was dead.
No matter what his reasons were.
And so, Sofia and I locked ourselves away in her room for the day,refusing to speak to any person of the male species, including Rafe, because I wasn’t overly impressed with him pulling a gun on Kai. We spent the entire time eating our body weight in snacks in a pathetic attempt to deal with the anger we were both feeling.
“That should do it,” she said, having finished applying another layer offoundation to the bite mark Kai left on my neck.
Despite our anti-man protest, Georgio had strolled into Sofia’sbedroom uninvited, to tell us we were to get ready for the party he’d arranged to celebrate Antonio’s birthday. Sofia protested, but Georgio was hearing none of it and ordered her to get her ass ready. He also made it clear that if I was staying with them as their guest, I was to attend too.
I had it a little bit easier. As Georgio was leaving, he dropped thebomb that Sofia’s date, Miles, would be in attendance. I genuinely worried Sofia was going to throw herself out the window to avoid spending any more time with Miles.
I’d waited for Georgio to drop the next bomb that Kai was going to bemy date, but I breathed a sigh of relief when he informed me Kai was not coming, and Rafe would escort me to the party. At least I wouldn’t spend the entire night wanting to throttle the man by my side.
I stood in front of the mirror and admired her handiwork. She’d done agood job covering up the hickey, if only I could do a good job at forgetting who had put it there in the first place. Casting my eyes down the mirror at my outfit, I took a breath, not in the slightest bit prepared for spending the evening being polite to people I didn’t know.
The red strapless dress that had been delivered to Sofia’s room fittedme perfectly. The silk material hugged my body and flowed to the floor elegantly, and the slit up one side was high enough to show off my thigh.
