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Then there’s Kaisin. He’s barely removed his arm from the back of Lex’s seat since he sat down next to her. I’ve lost count of how many times he’s “accidentally” brushed her hair, or worse, bare skin.
By the time dessert is served, I’m clutching my fork so hard my knuckles are about to pierce through my flesh.
I’m glad Phil’s wife made him sit at the other end. If I had to deal with him groping Lex too right now, I’d stab a motherfucker. Any motherfucker.
Maybe I will anyway. This is bullshit. Lex didn’t give me any kind of heads-up that she’d be affectionate to this pompous prick while her chickenshit brother-in-law gets to rub on her.
Either the Nightshade isn’t working or I didn’t use enough because Kaisin has yet to show any signs of drowsiness and it’s been almost two hours since the first application.
After clinking her glass, Lex asks everyone to raise theirs in a toast to Kordin while her dessert remains uneaten. She didn’t eat much of her dinner either. She was too busy using her hands to stroke Kordin.
Why the fuck is there so goddamn much touching going on? Fuck!
“Before we get to that…” Kordin says, cutting off his wife. “I’d like to give a couple of my own. Lenox, my dear, will you please stand up?”
Lex hesitates before eventually indulging her husband.
Gazing up at her, he says, “Give us a smile, love,” like she’s his marionette.
Her chest rises and falls twice, but then she cracks the smallest, fakest grin I’ve ever seen. It’s nothing like the ones I’ve gotten from her. The ones I earned.
Hand to his heart, Kordin croons, “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I was taken off the market. One smile from Lenox and I was forever changed.”
“Oohs” and “aahs” surround me like an obnoxious laugh track as spots fill my vision.
The CEO lifts his wineglass. “To my wife. Lenox has taken on so much recently. More than any one person should. I’m grateful to have such an intelligent, capable wife.”
Capable. A capable wife. It sounds like a compliment but I’m having a hard time believing it is.
Dabbing under her eyes, Lex half bends to kiss Kordin. Before she can make contact, he picks up his wineglass, and says, “Cheers,” putting it to his lips.
While everybody takes sips off their drinks, Lex doesn’t. She waits for Kordin to finish with his. Keeping eye contact with her, he drains more than half the glass of red wine despite lecturing someone not ten minutes ago for doing the same thing. Apparently the good stuff’s supposed to be “savored.”
My mom drinks wine from a motherfucking box, and the best way to drink that shit is to chug it. No glass required. You can straight pour it right from the spout into your mouth.
Kordin finally takes a break, lowering his glass.
Like she can’t wait another second, Lex immediately leans in and presses her lips to his.
With his eyes squeezed shut and a noise in his throat, Kordin savors his wife like an eighteen-thousand-dollar bottle of vintage French wine.
I know this is all an act and there’s no way she was actually crying over being called a capable wife, but a kiss? A fucking kiss. In front of me?
Next chance I get I’m erasing Kordin from Lex’s mouth, too. Soon, there’ll be no trace of Kordin Debrosse left.
Inches from his lips, Lex tells him, “I love you,” then she settles back into her seat, flipping her hair over a shoulder.
My eyes fall to my ring, picturing the carved Lemon Blossoms just beneath. She doesn’t mean it. She told me herself she doesn’t love him.
“And now, my brother.”
There’s a brief pause, and then a throat being cleared.
“Kaisin, your glass.”
I glance up to find Kordin glaring at his brother who’s waving a hand above his wineglass.
“Kaisin, raise your glass,” Kordin bites out.
