Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
When I finally arrived home, I found Dax in the pool. From the patio doorway, I watched him cover the length of the pool with strong, confident laps, his muscles tautening and rippling. He was so at home in the water he was like a damn fish.
I padded outside, careful not to stand in any of the wet footprints—the last thing I wanted was to go ass over tit. Spotting me, he slowed to a smooth stop. I flashed him a smile. “Hey, Nemo. How’s the water?”
Standing upright, he swiped a hand down his wet face and narrowed his eyes on me. “What’s wrong?”
Ugh. He read me far too well. “A little something went down that I figured you’d want to know about. It’s nothing terrible. Just irritating.”
Raising an expectant brow, he came toward me.
I poked the inside of my mouth with my tongue. “I bumped into Grayden.”
Dax’s eyelids lowered slightly. “Bumped into him?”
I felt my nose wrinkle as I jiggled my head a little. “Well, it was more that he was waiting near my car when I left work.”
His jaw hardened. “What did he say?”
“He made it clear that he found out about our pact and wanted to express his thoughts on it.” I gave a wan smile. “Apparently, he overheard Jag and Maverick talking about it.”
“Let me guess,” began Dax, the words smooth as butter but carrying an undercurrent of something dark, “Grayden felt compelled to convince you to leave me.”
“No, he basically just wanted to communicate that he feels I made a mistake and he worries that my future might one day be his present circumstance.”
“Which means what?”
“He isn’t with Felicity for the right reason; he’d leave their relationship if it wasn’t for their daughters. He feels there’s a strong chance I’ll one day want to exit this marriage but will feel trapped in it by a wish to ensure my children aren’t raised in a broken home.”
Dax pinned me with a probing look. “And what is your view on that?”
“He’s not seeing that the two situations aren’t the same. He and Felicity married for love, later fell out of love, and then wanted a divorce. That can’t happen to you and me, because we married for different reasons and we’re not relying on a sweet, fluffy emotion to keep us together. I’m not saying we might not ever find ourselves unhappy in this marriage—no one knows what the future holds—just that it isn’t the same.”
“So he didn’t pressure you to divorce me, but he put an idea in your head that might make you consider it,” Dax mused, the words again smooth but dangerous.
I pulled a face. “I don’t think that was his intention. He’s mad at me for deliberately putting myself in a situation that he resents being stuck in. Only, as I said a second ago, my situation isn’t like his—he just doesn’t see that.”
“Hmm,” Dax said, unconvinced. He planted his hands on the side of the pool and easily clambered out. “Did he say anything else?”
Watching the rivulets of water drip down his delicious body as he crossed to me, I cleared my throat. “No. That was it. The whole thing was over with fast, and it was very low-key in terms of drama. He probably wouldn’t have approached me at all if he wasn’t a mess over other things. I only mentioned it because I knew you’d want to know.”
Dax’s nostrils flared. “You’re going to ask me to let this be because you feel bad for him,” he correctly guessed.
I nibbled on my lower lip. “He’s grieving the loss of his friend. People aren’t always thinking straight when they’re grieving. We know that well, don’t we?”
Dax averted his gaze, a muscle in his cheek flexing.
“Look, if he’d caused a huge scene, it would be different. But he didn’t yell, didn’t touch me, didn’t toss out insults, didn’t talk smack about you, didn’t encourage me to sign divorce papers. He just expressed a very misguided opinion and then left.”
Finally, Dax’s gaze returned to mine, darkly intense. “There’s no need for him to have a fucking opinion on this—he has no relevance to you, me, or our marriage. Where he gets off on the idea that he’s so important his thoughts need to be communicated to you, I have no clue.”
I nodded. “He had no right or reason to do or say what he did, I know. But he’s in pain, it’s—”
“Not my concern,” Dax finished, a rough note to his tone. “You’re my concern, Addison. And I don’t like that he was lurking outside your place of work. He shouldn’t have cornered you that way; shouldn’t have set out to get you alone. That shit is not acceptable.”
“No, it isn’t. But he likely wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t blocked his number.”
“I wouldn’t have been okay with him contacting you no matter how he did it—via phone, via email, via fucking pigeon post. He’s supposed to leave you alone. He promised you no contact, and he isn’t delivering on that promise. Far from it.”