Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 50828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“Where the hell have you been?”
Gasping, I slap my hand to my chest and whirl to the sound of Eric’s angry voice. He stands in the doorway with a glower.
“Y-you’re here?”
“Thought you’d sneak in?” he sneers. “You fucking leave without even talking to me. I try calling and texting you, but you blocked me. Now you show up and…what?”
I’m confused. “I didn’t block you.”
“Don’t bullshit me.” He bangs his fist against the nearby wall, then focuses his narrow-eyed glare at my hand. “What the fuck is on your finger?”
I glance down. My engagement rock winks at me. My stomach plummets to my toes. “Jewelry.”
“It looks like an engagement ring.”
What should I do? I’m torn between spinning a lie and admitting the truth when he takes my arms. His fingers dig into me brutally as he shoves me against the wall.
“Eric—”
“Give me the fucking truth, Izzy. You had your panties in a twist because I fucked Mariah, but if you’re marrying someone else, you’ve clearly been fucking around behind my back.”
“I haven’t,” I hurl back. “I met him Friday night after I left you.”
“You’re telling me you met some guy and got engaged in less than a week? Bullshit.” He drags me closer, then recoils. “Ugh, you smell like sex, and he left a hickey on your neck. What is he, fourteen?”
That’s it. I’ve had it with his condescending BS. Since it’s definitely over, I’m not holding back anymore.
When I was Eric’s girlfriend, I was too afraid to rock the boat. In retrospect, I should have realized that by sacrificing my feelings and putting off difficult conversations so he wouldn’t leave me, I was only making myself unhappy. I’m mad as hell at Nathan for boxing me into a corner, and I still can’t believe that in roughly twenty-four hours I’ll be Mrs. Price, but I can at least thank him for opening my eyes about a few things.
“He’s forty. And he’s way more man than you’ll ever be. He doesn’t sit around all day, then demand I take care of him when I come home from work. He takes care of me. And he cares about my feelings.” Okay, all that’s a stretch, but Eric doesn’t need to know that. “He’s also so damn good in bed that I lose my mind every time he touches me. I finally know what an orgasm is, no thanks to you.”
“That’s a fucking lie! I got you off.”
“Never. Not once in six years did you ever manage to make me feel good. Worse, you not only never really tried, you never cared. Everything in your life is about you. Your wants, your impulses, your wishes. I’ve grown since high school, but you haven’t. I want a future with a husband and children and a home. You didn’t propose when you said you would. Every time I mentioned children you either sneered or shuddered. And despite having more money than you can spend, you stay in this impersonal apartment out of…what? Laziness? Apathy? Tell me.”
“I’m just not in a hurry for that adult shit. But I guess you and your biological clock got impatient and glommed onto Grandpa. Congratulations for letting a geezer put a ring on your finger, not to mention his cock in your pussy. You hoping he’s got enough sperm left in his shriveled testicles to knock you up?”
“Shut up.”
But Eric has a point. I want kids…but with Nathan? Everything is happening too fast. I always pictured myself having Eric’s babies. I thought about my future with him during my final year of college, about making the perfect family I never had. Now I realize my anger at him the night I discovered him with Mariah wasn’t merely about his cheating, but about the loss of the future I’d envisioned for so long. And when I think about what might have been if I’d never walked in on Eric getting blown by our neighbor, I realize I dodged a bullet.
“This is bullshit. Take off that ring, unpack your suitcase, and stop being a whiny bitch.”
“If being honest makes me a ‘whiny bitch,’ I plead guilty. You were lousy as a boyfriend and worse as a lover. I made excuses for you for too long, and it’s over. We’re done.” I wrench free and reach for my jewelry.
Eric snags an arm around my waist, pulls me from the dresser, and slams me against the wall again. Then he grips my arms in a brutal grip sure to leave bruises and shakes me. “We’re not done. When you gave me your V-card, you promised me forever.”
“Eric, you’ve been sticking your dick in another woman. You broke the promise, not me.”
He grips me even tighter. “A little extra pussy on the side doesn’t mean I don’t want you anymore.”
“That’s exactly what it means, and I won’t put up with it.” I try to wriggle free from his grasp. “You’re hurting me.”