Page 74 of The Nice Guy
“Are you dating that lug you were dancing with?”
My hands ball into fists as I actually begin to shake. I don’t know that I’ve ever been this angry before. He can’t defend anything, so he wants to change the subject. “Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Rhett.”
“Rhett? What kind of a name is that?”
I count to ten, but the trick doesn’t work like it usually does. “The more you open your mouth and let the sounds come out, the more you prove everything I’ve just said to you. Everything you refuse to hear.”
“You’re settling for a man like that. We both know it. Hell, I’m sure he knows it, too!”
I’m in no mood for this. “No, Kevin, going with you and forcing myself into the fake world you call your life would be settling.”
“What would your mother think right now?”
“Mama would be right here with you trying to pull me back by my hair. But guess what? Mama’s gone. She doesn’t get to run my life anymore, and I refuse to let you step into that place. My decisions are finally mine to make.”
Laughing in frustration, he almost runs a hand through his styled hair. Almost. If he does, the expensive product he uses will lose its efficacy, not to mention how greasy his hands will be. Then, he risks getting grease on the leather of the car and his expensive suit.My God, I’ve spent too much time with him.
“My family loves you.”
“Your family loves how I look. They couldn’t care less about me as a person. All I am to you and them is a pretty face, but there is more to me than that. A lot, and I’m finally with people who see that.”
“I can give you everything you could ever want.”
“Except for orgasms every time we have sex,” I snap.
I didn’t mean to say it. I never planned to actually tell him how much I faked it with him, but my patience is nearly nonexistent.
His jaw drops, and the snickers behind me remind me we’re not alone out here. It’s a low blow, even if it is the truth, but I just really want Kevin to leave. He’s done nothing but ruin my life since yesterday.
“You’re sleeping with him?” he growls.
“That’s what people in committed relationships tend to do. The difference is, we only sleep with each other. There are no other partners for either of us.”
“He can’t satisfy you. There’s no way.”
Shrugging, I cross my arms under my chest. “If that’s what you need to believe, that’s fine.”
“Be serious, Brynlee.”
“Every single time. He has yet to see the incredible acting skills I perfected with you to keep your ego in check. But if I’m being honest, it really should have beenmestepping out onyouconsidering how dissatisfied I was in the bedroom, but cheating isn’t who I am. And I have even less of a desire to be a kept woman. A good little wifey who looks the other way when her husband screws every young woman wearing a skirt because she has his black card to use. I’m not interested in a trade-off.”
“That’s not how it’ll be once we’re married!”
“We’re not getting married!” I scream at him. “And it would be exactly that. You’ll be just like your father, and the last thing I want is to need happy pill prescriptions and drinking myself into a stupor to deal with it. I have more self-respect than that.”
Kevin steps closer to me, and I don’t know why, but I fixate on how smooth his chin is. There’s not even a hint of stubble on his chin, and I force myself not to shudder remembering how hair-free the rest of his body is. He really is a walking plastic doll. “You think that hillbilly in there can give you anything I can’t?”
“I don’t think he can. I know he can. Because he does.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“For the first time in my life, I’ve thought about children without being terrified. With him, I wouldn’t have to worry about how quickly my body bounces back. That man would worship me no matter what I looked like. With you, I’d have to schedule a tummy tuck as I leave the hospital with a baby while you point out how fat I am.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
