“Sorry about the wait,” Dr. Gallow says, and I give him a nod, breaking eye contact with Clark just as he says, “Ah, you must be Clark White?”
She gives him a timid nod, not correcting the last name thank fuck. He smiles gently before he looks my way with a brow raised, wanting to know my plan.
I didn’t tell him I was bringing her, I didn’t really have time, Lavender ensured that shit, the same Lavender who is currently unaware that she’s being watched.
Bitch will be out of the club but whether it’s because she was voted out or because I killed her, well that’s down to the brothers.
Sighing, I state, "A club bunny who always wanted me, but I never touched, claimed she was my mistress for six years and showed up at my wife’s place of work with an ultrasound just over a week ago."
“Ah,” he says with a nod, then confirms, “So your time frame has been brought forward?”
I swallow but nod just as Clark asks, “What time frame?”
Dr. Gallow raises a bushy black brow at me, and I clear the lump forming, and I turn to her and say, “The time frame to finally be man enough for you.”
Clark's mouth opens with a gasp, and I give her a sad smile before I turn to the therapist and admit, “I let out in anger that I feel like I raped her, and she admitted that she feels like she assaulted me.”
He nods in understanding and replies, "It’s a perfectly natural human reaction to have. While there are feelings involved–" he looks at Clark before she can deny it, "You wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t." He looks between us. "Your drink was spiked. Trick, as you’ve mentioned in previous sessions, you and Clark have always had this attraction and gravitated toward each other." He looks at Clark again and confirms, "Correct?"
She whispers, “Correct,” without hesitating, and my stomach tightens as my heart pounds at her truth.
“Very good,” Dr. Gallow says, then continues, “When the drugs began to do what they intended, you both went for each other because of your attraction. It is well known that when someone is drugged, they normally pull away from their attacker, whereas you two, because the attacker wasn’t there for the aftermath, gravitated towards each other. Your hearts wanted each other, and while yes, you may feel like you physically assaulted eachother, you didn’t. You just went to the one person you both wanted.”
I nod because I’ve already heard this from him. It’s something he has been working on with me, and I look at Clark on the opposite side of the couch, her brows furrowed.
"I have flashbacks sometimes,” she admits quietly and I suck in a breath, waiting for her to admit she begged me to stop— something I know didn’t happen, but my mind has conjured up. Instead, though, she says, "In those flashbacks, I feel nothing but love and passion, want and need. I feel at home, but I only feel what I feel. I can’t remember what he felt.”
“And that is your mind trying to make you think you assaulted him, but you didn’t,” Dr. Gallow says, and I quickly interject, “I felt love,” trying to help her understand she never assaulted me, that deep down, I wanted it and Clark looks at me sharply.
I smile slightly, move across the couch, and reach for her hand, holding it tight.
"I felt love, passion, a sense of home. I felt like I’d die if I didn’t have you for the rest of my life. When I woke up with you in my bed, at first—fuck, petrified, I felt petrified," I whisper and her eyes tear up, “I thought I took advantage of you. Then I realized we were both drugged, and I shut down instantly. I didn’t think about your feelings or mine. I went into shock and damage control because I felt like I raped you. Then you kept your distance for five weeks and I thought, fuck, it must be true. After you confessed to being pregnant, everything just darkened in my mind because I knew I’d always have that reminder that I raped you even though that reminder is my absolute fucking world.”
“But you didn’t,” she chokes as she squeezes my hand, and I nod slightly.
“I’m slowly beginning to see that, buttercup, but before I didn’t, it’s why two days after our marriage, I tried sleeping withsomeone else,” I confess, and some tears fall down her beautiful cheeks.
I wipe them away, and I admit, “As soon as she put her lips on me before I even shut the door, I felt disgusted, and reality hit me like a ton of fucking bricks. I realized I was in love with you and had been for years. The pranks – the snake – I wanted your reactions. I wanted you, and it fucked with my head because of how I felt after that night…”
“I’m your best friend's sister,” she chokes, and I shake my head.
“No, you were my friend that I fell in love with and tried to push away,” I reply.
“Clark, what did you think of Trick growing up?” Dr. Gallow asks, and my wife snorts while I grin.
She looks his way and admits, "A pest." I chuckle. "He’d play these little pranks on me. Fake spiders in my food, electric shock pens, changing my shampoo color to hair dye, and yanking on my hair when we were young. Then there was the fake snake in my car that I had spent ages saving up for. I ended up crashing thinking the toy was real, and he had to force me back behind the wheel when everyone else failed to do so and drive with me for hours, making sure I wasn’t scared anymore.”
“So, you had a sisterly affection for him growing up?” Dr. Gallow tries, and I bite back a smirk, knowing exactly what he’s getting at.
Devious man…
My girl takes the bite and instantly denies, “No, not at all, I was always drawn towards him but thought it was because he was a brother of the club, that I grew up with him. I mean, I was attracted to him, but I never had thought of doing anything about that attraction. The pranks, as much as they drove me insane, I looked forward to them because in my mind, he wasthinking about me, and growing up, I saw him as my hero, my protector.”
She swallows before she admits, “My friends and I played a game once,” she looks at the therapist, “If you had to marry any brother, who would it be? Obviously, one of my friends chose my blood brother, and the other just shook her head, but me, well, I chose,” she looks at me, “him.”
Fuck, that is one hell of an admission that makes my heart race.
She blinks, then looks back at Dr. Gallow and says, “But again, I didn’t see us being together because I thought he was out of my league.”
