Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
The guys muttered an ascent.
“Sterling will tell you that his happiness is dependent on the way a plethora of women feel about him.” Logan arched a brow at the resident playboy of the Reapers, but hey, none of us were perfect our rookie years. “I also think that girl is a good one. She’s the kind of woman you don’t fuck around on. The woman you hold on to for the rest of your life. And you, my friend, are carrying about three tons of damage like it’s nothing. I’m not saying that she won’t help you dig through your shit, because I think she will. But I am saying that if you’re going to use that damage as an excuse to run, then you do it now before either of you gets hurt.”
I nodded, knowing that what he said made the most sense out of any of them. Then I stood and headed for the door.
“Hey, are you going to tell us what you decided?” Connell asked.
I turned in the doorway to face down the friends that had become my family over the last two seasons. “Really?”
“We could vote,” Sterling suggested. “But I should get to show everyone the videos of you guys in Vegas. It seems only right to put the evidence out there.”
“Everyone’s already seen the videos,” Axel countered.
My temper snapped.
“Sure, we could vote. You know, if my life was a fucking democracy that you guys ran.” I folded my arms over my chest and glared them down. “But it’s not. It’s my life to fuck up, so while I value everyone’s thoughts, let’s just all agree that you’ll never give them to me again unless I ask, okay? Because the last time I checked, there are only two people in my marriage, and lucky for me, none of you are my wife.”
My wife. While part of me rebelled against the term, kicking and screaming in all of my stubborn glory, there was an annoying warmth that filled my chest, too.
“You’re a little too dominant for me,” Connell replied with a smirk.
“You don’t have to listen to us,” Axel agreed. “Hell, I’m not really sure you’ve listened to anyone in your entire life. But I hope you give this a chance. You deserve your shot at happiness, too.”
And that warmth shriveled and died.
“It’s not about what I deserve. It’s about what she deserves. I am more fucked up than any of you know. You think she’s going to want me all tatted up and hair-triggered at her fucking country club? I’m the guy you fuck on a spring break weekend so you can brag about it to your sorority sisters, and the only reason a woman would ever introduce me to her daddy is to piss him off so she can work out her own issues. Trust me, she wants this annulment just as badly as I do, and the press has to be killing her.”
“She wants the annulment too?” Logan asked, concern shining through his eyes.
“Of course she does! Who the fuck would ever want to stay married to me? Definitely not someone like her, who’s been raised on her daddy’s money and high society. That woman is everything I loathed growing up. I got shipped from foster home to foster home praying that I’d get placed with my sister in the next one. Hoping they wouldn’t mind feeding a teenage boy, let alone clothing me during a growth spurt. Don’t even get me started on trying to play hockey during those years.”
“Cannon,” Axel started, but I cut him off.
“Persephone hasn’t struggled for a single thing in her life. She’s been handed whatever she wanted the minute she wanted it. She has no idea what it’s like to come from my background or deal with my damage. You honestly think two people that different have any business sharing a last name?”
By the time I finished my tirade, the guys were all looking anywhere but at me. Or the doorway behind me.
My stomach hit the fucking floor.
“She’s standing right behind me, isn’t she?” I snapped.
They had the nerve to mutter and nod.
“Well, now that you’ve covered every reason I’ll never be what you want, do you think you have a couple of minutes to talk, husband?”
I turned around slowly, steeling myself for what I’d find.
Persephone stared me down despite my height advantage. She wore a different dress than the one she’d worn home on the plane a few hours ago. It was pink, like the color rising in her cheeks, and the simple sheath clung to every elegant line the woman had.
“If we must,” I agreed, then walked right past her, heading for the locker room.
How the fuck was I married to her? Of every fantasy I’d ever allowed myself to have, my ring on her finger had not been one of them.