Page 10 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

My mother’s quarter-millennial birthday blowout had been nearly two years ago now. She would have teleported me there against my will if I’d tried to skip it. “That wasn’t the best visit.”

“The Cove’s changed a lot since then.”

“I’ve heard.” The recent rapid expansion of Nightshade Cove had been a big story for months, though I’d been doing my best to ignore it. I found it impossible to visualize the hidden and repressive enclave of my childhood transformed into a sprawling tourist town “where every night is spellbinding,” as the latest commercial claimed.

But now, the thought of returning to a home so altered from what I knew was both thrilling and terrifying. I had never made my way in the world publicly as a witch. My relationship with Maddox had started so soon after witches revealed themselves to the wider world. I had lived in a secret world with my coven into my twenties, yearning to escape it the whole time. Then I had gone straight into living a different kind of secret existence among humans with Maddox. Witches may have just become public, but in the first days, all that meant was more open prejudice and bigotry against us. There had always been some part of myself I had to keep hidden away.

Not anymore. For the first time, I was going to get to be fully myself. No more hiding. Anxiety and excitement roiled within me at the prospect.

But I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself. There were matters that needed attending to first.

“You’re right, a visit is overdue. I’ll be there soon.” I smiled. “But first, I have a cheating husband to dump.”

I couldn’t believe how devastated I had been just an hour ago, feeling like I’d lost everything. Now I was practically vibrating with anticipation. Soon, I’d get to reveal to my scumbag husband that he was the one who’d actually lost it all.

CHAPTER 6

MADDOX

Ididn’t understand it.

My first sexual failure.

This had literally never happened. Never! No matter how tired I was, how much I wasn’t really that into her, how many times I had already gone that day, I had always been able to get it up.

I was seething behind the wheel as I drove home, still burning with the humiliation of my escape from Gwen’s. I had tried to pull myself together as much as possible, and failed. When I at last slunk out of the bathroom, I found her busily texting her next backup guy. I apologetically claimed food poisoning while fumbling around for my scattered clothes. She occasionally flicked her eyes in my direction with a look of bored disgust.

As I awkwardly hopped into my pants, she answered an incoming call. “Hey Jeremy,” she moaned seductively into the phone. “You want to tell the wife you have a work emergency and get over here? Yeah, I was supposed to see someone else tonight, but something didn’t come up with him.” She stared straight at my crotch, malevolent rage in her eyes.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, my lunch just isn’t agreeing with me,” I had mumbled pathetically while struggling with my shirt buttons.

When I’d finally made it back to my car, I had just roared in frustration and punched the steering wheel over and over before I could even get back on the road.

Maybe one night like this was inevitable? Wasn’t that the line I’d heard in dumb comedies with erectile dysfunction plotlines? “It happens to everyone!”

But I was not everyone! I was Maddox Lockwood! This dick was special!

Gwen’s parting look flashed into my mind. I suspected the contempt in her cold eyes would haunt me for the rest of my life.

And judging by that look, my affair with her had probably come to an end. I wasn’t optimistic about getting a chance to prove to her what a once-in-a-lifetime outlier this had been.

I tried to console myself with reminders that there was always going to be another Gwen out there. Maybe not as exciting and sexually inexhaustible as she was, but they’d have their own selling points.

And of course there was always Callie. On a night as rough as this one, there was something incredible about having someone like her to come home to.

I felt a wave of appreciation for my wife. Whatever she lacked in newness, she compensated for in her caring nature and her steadfast predictability. And, most importantly, she loved to indulge me. Whenever I was in a mood, she was always ready and waiting to give me whatever I needed to feel better.

And this was one of the worst moods I had ever been in. I needed a pick me up, badly.

I really had to make sure to appreciate Callie more. And not only with more sex.

I should also get her some flowers. I made a note to tell my assistant to send her some tomorrow.

These thoughts of Callie finally released some of the tension from my body. The tightness of my grip on the steering wheel loosened. I relaxed back into the supple leather of the seat.

It was funny to be reminded of it, but when we’d gotten married, I really had believed I could be a one-woman man. For her, it had seemed possible.

She had definitely fallen for me first, and it had taken me longer to get there. But once I fell for her, I had felt so complete being her man. Taking her to the farmer’s market every Sunday morning and keeping my arm around her so everyone knew she was mine. Cuddling through our weekly movie nights, trading off between my bad action movies and her bad rom-coms.