Page 52 of Explode
Love and hate warred deep inside me. I wanted to hate Kai, the painI’d felt every day I thought he was dead had been unbearable, and there were days when I didn’t know how I could ever consider getting through life without seeing him again.
But there was no point in trying to deny the love I felt for him. Everytime my eyes landed on him, I couldn’t believe he was really here, alive and breathing. But the two emotions clashed within me, resulting in me wanting to rip my stupid heart out so I didn’t have to feel anymore.
Taking a deep breath, I stared back at my reflection, furious at myselffor not having more self-control and letting Kai make me feel so good. I needed time, time to process his return, time to come to terms withthe fact he wasn’t dead. Time to heal from his betrayal. But he was Kai Wolfe, it didn’t matter ifIneeded time. It didn’t matter what anyone else wanted, what Kai wanted, he took.
But if there was any chance of us reconciling, he needed tounderstand that I needed time to get my damn head straight. Time for my broken heart to heal. Surely he understood if he kept pushing and forcing me into moving past this, all he was doing was pushing us to a point where we’d never recover.
The only way I could begin to heal from the heartache was to get asfar away from Kai as possible, I just needed to make him see that.
Splashing cool water on my face to ease the burning anger bubblingunder my skin, I took a deep breath before unlocking the door, determined to make my stubborn husband take me back to Forest Point and give me the time away from him that I needed.
Kai and Ash were deep in conversation as I stepped out, but as soonas the door shutting alerted Kai to my presence, he broke off, his blazing eyes roaming over every inch of my body. And damn it if my core didn’t heat at the way he was looking at me.
“I want to go back to Forest Point,” I said, holding my nerve.
His eyes instantly darkened, and fury flashed across his face. Iopened my mouth to tell him I didn’t mean I wanted to go back to Rafe, I knew that’s where his mind would go after I taunted him on the plane, but before either of us could say anything on the matter, Ash spoke.
“We’ll be going back in a couple of days, we’ve got shit to do herefirst.”
Fuck sake.
Although, I kinda expected that to be the answer. Of course theassholes weren’t going to bow down and do what I wanted, and it wasn’t like I had the power to make them do anything. It sucked, but seeing as I didn’t have the means to get my own ass back to Forest Point, I knew I’d have to wait it out.
“Fine,” I huffed, sitting down on the sofa. “But can you please hurrythe fuck up and do whatever you need to do so we can get out of here?”
“We, Riley,” Kai said. “That includes you.”
My eyes narrowed on him. “What makes you think I’m doing anythingto help you?”
“Why does everything have to be a fucking argument with you?” hebarked, stomping over to stand in front of me, his best menacing glare etched on his face which only rattled me more.
“I don’t know, dear husband, maybe it has something to do with thefact you pretended to die-”
“I did fucking die!” he boomed. “Three goddamn times the Dr had tobring me back to life!”
“Perhaps they shouldn’t have bothered after the first time!” I regrettedthe words as soon as they were out, especially when Kai flinched as if I’d slapped him.
I didn’t mean it, of course I didn’t. But my whole body vibrated withanger that was about to explode out of me, and him forcing me to be in his presence was only making it worse.
“Fuck sake,” Ash grumbled, coming over to where Kai and I hadentered into a glaring match. “This isn’t helping, and the longer you two fight, the longer this is going to take.”
“Then maybe my wife needs to stop being so fucking stubborn andget over herself,” Kai growled, low and deadly.
“Get over myself? Are you fucking serious?” I said, jumping from thesofa to confront him, my face mere inches away from Kai’s snarling one. “What the hell is wrong with you, Kai? What did you expect, that you’d return from the dead, and I’d drop to the floor and worship at your feet?”
“I thought you’d be fucking pleased I wasn’t dead,” he replied, histone harsh.
“Enough!” Ash bellowed when I opened my mouth to retort. I’d neverheard Ash raise his voice before, and with the sneer of disgust on his face, I suddenly lost the need to say anything. “I get there is a lot of hurt and upset between the two of you right now, but this constant bickering and slanging matches aren’t helping either of you. Riley, I know you’re pissed, and you have every right to be, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for the part I’ve played in adding to your pain.”
His apology took the wind out of my sails, and my shoulder slumped.It was the first time someone had actually uttered the word ‘sorry.’ After all of Kai’s protests that he wanted me to forgive him and he’d never meant to hurt me, he hadn’t once apologized.
“Kai,” Ash said, turning his angry attention to my husband whowas still glaring at me. “I tried to tell you to give her time, but you have to do things your way, so now you can fucking live with the consequences. But right now, there is a bigger picture at play. Every day we waste, Thorne and Hendrix’s hold on Hollows Bay gets bigger, and every day that passes is another day they get away with what they’ve done to you. To both of you. So please, for the love of god, can you stop fucking arguing for five minutes so we can get on with what we need to do.”
Urgh. I felt like a school kid being told off by a teacher. But here’swhere Ash had made a mistake. He tried to make me feel bad about the city going to pot when I had no fucks to give. Hollows Bay was Kai’s problem now, it was his fight, and quite frankly I was fed up with being used as a pawn in this fucked up game.
“And like I said, what makes you think I’m doing anything foreither of you? Hollows Bay is not my problem anymore,” I said coldly.
“So that’s it? You’re going to turn your back on everything Thorneand Hendrix have done?” Kai growled, folding his arms over his chest.
