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I pause, wondering if I can go through with this and know it’s the only way to ensure I hurt Lottie as much as she’s hurt me. “My place.”
28: Lottie
It’s gonemidnight and I still can’t get hold of Linc. I put Eric to bed and told him that Linc was working late. I hope he is because I’m getting worried. He’s never been this late and certainly, he’s never gone dark on me this way. I’ve called his friends and they said they’d look for him and if they found him, they’d call me back.
I’m about to call the hospital when my cell rings. I snatch it up seeing Ryker’s name. “Ryker, did you find him?”
“Yes. He’s fine.”
I don’t know why but I sense a hesitation in his voice and maybe a coolness that wasn’t there before. “Are you sure, Ryker? I’ve been worried sick, and he’s never not called me back.”
“I’m sure. You should go to bed.”
Relief is sharp and my shoulders sag. I didn’t realize how much I’d grown used to him being here until he wasn’t. I hang up with Ryker and head to bed knowing I won’t sleep. The bed feels too big without him, and I miss the feel of his arms around me making me feel safe. Linc is my world once more and I decided while I was waiting for him to come home that I was going to take Hudson’s advice and tell him everything, and that included how much I loved him.
I must doze off, the adrenalin of the day and the worry of the last few days catching up with me. I wake abruptly, my eyes going wide when I hear what sounds like someone bumping into something. I sit up, grabbing the robe off the end of the bed, and slip it on. Linc might be hurt and I want to make sure he’s okay and that he doesn’t wake Eric.
As I make my way into the living area, I’m sure I hear a giggle and I pause at the entry to the living room. Linc is standing beside the couch, trying to shrug his jacket off, but it’s the woman who’s helping him get undressed that spots me first.
A squeak pops from her lips and she jumps back from him. I fold my arms and try to hold in the waves of pain that feel like they’re about to take me down. Linc sees me and straightens, and I beg him silently to give me an explanation that I can believe. That he isn’t breaking us in a way that’s so much more permanent than what happened before. His cheeks are covered in pink lipstick and I can smell her perfume mixed with his scent and it makes me feel nauseous.
“Ah, there she is, my beautiful, deceitful, slut of a wife.”
Shock makes me step back as if he’s slapped me. “Linc, what’s going on?” I know the answer, but I want to deny this is happening in front of my eyes and for him to give me an explanation I can believe.
“You tell me, Lottie. You’re the expert on cheating and lies, after all.”
The woman looks at me as she grabs her bag. “I should go.”
“No don’t go, we were gonna have some fun. Lottie can watch. You like to watch, don’t you, sweetheart? It makes her pussy all wet.”
I never thought in my wildest dreams that he’d hurt me intentionally like this. “You disgust me.”
“Yeah, well, join the club.”
I always thought that when people said they could die of a broken heart that it was a figure of speech. But this feeling inside me is so bad, the hurt cutting so deep, that I’m shocked not to see my blood on the floor at my feet. “Why? Why are you doing this.”
Linc looks at me and I wish I could attribute this to alcohol, but I know Lincoln would never make a mistake, especially one like this. He’s doing this to hurt me, to rip me to shreds, and it’s working.
“Because I can.”
Tears rim my eyes as I watch the woman he was going to fuck in our home edge toward the door. I turn, pinning her with my gaze. “Stay. The damage is done anyway. You might as well get some fun out of it. I don’t care anymore.”
“Like you ever cared.”
I shake my head sadly. “I cared, Lincoln. No, I more than cared, I loved you, and you just threw it all away. And for what? A quick fuck.”
“You don’t know how to love. You just lie and betray. You’re nothing but a whore who sells her body for money. You just exact a higher price than most.”
Nothing he could’ve said could have wounded me deeper and I know any love I had for this man is gone, destroyed like a fire turning wood to ash.
I have no words and I’m seconds away from falling apart. So, I turn as the door closes on the woman he’d brought into our home. No, his home. This beautiful place was never my home.
“Don’t you walk away from me, Lottie. I’m your husband.”
I spin on my heel and face him, the man I love with all that I am, the man who has ruined me for a second time. “We could’ve been happy. We could’ve had it all and you just threw it all away.”
“I didn’t throw it away, you did.”
