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His eyes harden. “If that’s what I want, yeah.”
“You’re making me feel like a sex doll.”
He scoffs. “That’s rich. I’m nothing but a prop to you outside the bedroom, might as well keep things fair.”
I’m about to respond when he gets out of bed and goes into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He turns the shower on, our conversation apparently over.
Nothing hurts more than someone thinking I’m not even worth talking to. I get out of bed and find some clothes, taking a five-minute shower in a guest bathroom with a bar of soap I find with some other toiletries beneath the sink.
I’m dressed and out the door before Colby even finishes his shower. If he wants to give me the cold shoulder, he’ll get the same treatment in return.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Colby
“Did you see that fucking move?” I slap the coffee table and look back and forth between Beau and Ben.
“Good stuff,” Beau agrees.
We’re watching Heath’s first professional game in my basement, and I hold back tears as we watch the replay of him scoring his first goal as a professional hockey player.
It’s completely worth it. All of Mila’s bullshit. Not being able to pump gas for my car without reporters and photographers watching me. My teammates’ nonstop crap about me being Mr. Colby Pavlova.
I’d do it all a hundred times just to witness this moment. My brother’s teammates circling around him to celebrate his goal. His hard work is finally paying off. I can’t give him all the things our childhood robbed him of, but this—this one thing—I was able to be a small part of.
“Where’s the Mrs.?” Ben asks.
“She had a dinner thing.”
“How’s married life?” Beau asks me.
I hold back a scowl. Married life. I still can’t wrap my mind around being married. I can’t just take a break from Mila because we live together and have to make it look like we’re blissfully happy.
For a little bit there, I think we were. Ironic that it wasn’t Mila getting pissed off and blowing everything up, but me.
“It’s good.” I check the food delivery app on my phone. “Is this guy going to make me negative tip him? He’s gonna have to give me twenty bucks to accept the delivery at this point.”
The app said our pizza and wings delivery was ten minutes away half an hour ago. I’m so ravenous I could eat an entire pizza on my own at this point. Good thing I ordered plenty of food.
“You sure it’s good?” Beau asks.
I furrow my brow, confused. I was fantasizing about wings and have no idea what he’s talking about. “What?”
“Married life. You seem more like a guy who’s been married a decade than a week.”
Fuck. A decade? With Mila, that would be ten years of mind-blowing sex, but also ten years of dealing with her moods.
It’s easier to blame her than to take accountability for our argument this morning. I’m more to blame than she is, but if she wouldn’t have been so stubborn and kept pushing the issue, our day would have started a hell of a lot better.
“Colby.”
I look at Beau. “Hmm?”
“What’s up with you?”
“Nothing.”
Ben turns to me. “Fuck it. I don’t mind asking him. Everyone’s wondering about you and Mila. It doesn’t add up.”
Of all days to have to pretend I’m madly in love with Mila, they had to pick this one.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone would have picked up on something,” Beau says. “We know you well. I know you really well, and I know you went home with that woman you met at Mountain Top like six or seven weeks ago. You wouldn’t have done that if you were with Mila.”
Shit. The walls are closing in. I’ve never lied to Beau, but knowing how high the stakes are for Mila, I have to now. It doesn’t matter how angry I am with her. I care about her and I won’t let her be shipped off and left at the mercy of her father’s enemies.
“It started right after that,” I say.
Beau’s jaw drops. “Six weeks? You married her after six weeks of dating?”
I shrug. “I wouldn’t call it dating. More like spending every available moment in bed together. We have a physical connection I’ve never had with anyone before.”
Ben’s looking at me like I’m the craziest fucker he’s ever seen. “You married her because the sex is good?”
I laugh lightly. “It’s not good, man. It’s transcendental.”
“What’s sex got to do with your teeth?” Beau asks.
I lower my brows at him, pretty sure he’s not that dumb.
“I kid,” he says, grinning. “But I’m not kidding when I say that’s fucked up. You can have all the great sex with someone you want without marrying them.”
I want to raise a hand in the air and yell out “testify,” but I continue defending my marriage.
“She didn’t want to be exclusive without a ring on her finger. And I’m not sharing her with anyone else.”
