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“Let me guess,” began Dax, the words smooth as butter but carrying an undercurrent of something dark, “Grayden felt compelled to convince you to leave me.”
“No, he basically just wanted to communicate that he feels I made a mistake and he worries that my future might one day be his present circumstance.”
“Which means what?”
“He isn’t with Felicity for the right reason; he’d leave their relationship if it wasn’t for their daughters. He feels there’s a strong chance I’ll one day want to exit this marriage but will feel trapped in it by a wish to ensure my children aren’t raised in a broken home.”
Dax pinned me with a probing look. “And what is your view on that?”
“He’s not seeing that the two situations aren’t the same. He and Felicity married for love, later felloutof love, and then wanted a divorce. That can’t happen to you and me, because we married for different reasons and we’re not relying on a sweet, fluffy emotion to keep us together. I’m not saying we might not ever find ourselves unhappy in this marriage—no one knows what the future holds—just that it isn’t the same.”
“So he didn’t pressure you to divorce me, but he put an idea in your head that might make you consider it,” Dax mused, the words again smooth but dangerous.
I pulled a face. “I don’t think that was his intention. He’s mad at me for deliberately putting myself in a situation thatheresents being stuck in. Only, as I said a second ago, my situationisn’tlike his—he just doesn’t see that.”
“Hmm,” Dax said, unconvinced. He planted his hands on the side of the pool and easily clambered out. “Did he say anything else?”
Watching the rivulets of water drip down his delicious body as he crossed to me, I cleared my throat. “No. That was it. The whole thing was over with fast, and it was very low-key in terms of drama. He probably wouldn’t have approached me at all if he wasn’t a mess over other things. I only mentioned it because I knew you’d want to know.”
Dax’s nostrils flared. “You’re going to ask me to let this be because you feel bad for him,” he correctly guessed.
I nibbled on my lower lip. “He’s grieving the loss of his friend. People aren’t always thinking straight when they’re grieving. We know that well, don’t we?”
Dax averted his gaze, a muscle in his cheek flexing.
“Look, if he’d caused a huge scene, it would be different. But he didn’t yell, didn’t touch me, didn’t toss out insults, didn’t talk smack about you, didn’t encourage me to sign divorce papers. He just expressed a very misguided opinion and then left.”
Finally, Dax’s gaze returned to mine, darkly intense. “There’s no need for him tohavea fucking opinion on this—he has no relevance to you, me, or our marriage. Where he gets off on the idea that he’s so important his thoughts need to be communicated to you, I have no clue.”
I nodded. “He had no right or reason to do or say what he did, I know. But he’s in pain, it’s—”
“Not my concern,” Dax finished, a rough note to his tone. “You’remy concern, Addison. And I don’t like that he was lurking outside your place of work. He shouldn’t have cornered you that way; shouldn’t have set out to get you alone. That shit is not acceptable.”
“No, it isn’t. But he likely wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t blocked his number.”
“I wouldn’t have been okay with him contacting you no matter how he did it—via phone, via email, via fucking pigeon post. He’s supposed to leave you alone. He promised you no contact, and he isn’t delivering on that promise. Far from it.”
I exhaled heavily. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Would you?” he challenged. “Would you ignore that one of my exes—or anyone, for that matter—approached me the way he did you?”
“No,” I admitted on a mumble. “No, I’d want to rip them a new one. Iwouldrip them a new one.”
“Then you should get it. You only feel sympathy for him because you still have feelings for him, but that’s not—”
“What?” I burst out, my head flinching. “Whoa, backup. You’re way off base there.” I took a step closer to him, holding his gaze. “Dax, I swear to you, I feel nothing for him. Nothing.”
His eyes searched mine, broody and piercing. “Then why care how I handle this?”
I licked my lips, feeling my shoulders droop. “Because I said and did things I’m not proud of when I was grieving. I got a little lost. I was mad at everyone. At life. At the universe.”
I’d steadily become someone that I didn’t like. If it hadn’t been for the support of my friends and family, I might have continued to grow bitter and resentful. “People were more understanding than I deserved. They made allowances and gave me leeway and were so incredibly patient with me.
“I don’t know if you can relate to any of that. I don’t know how it was for you when you lost Gracie. But there has to have been at leastoneoccasion when you fucked up but were fortunate enough to have someone overlook it when you needed them to.”
The anger in his eyes wavered, faltering in its intensity. “You really think I could overlook what Grayden did?”
“No. But maybe you could just settle for verbally warning him not to do it again?” I suggested. Moments of agonizing silence ticked by as Dax stared down at me, so many thoughts and emotions working behind his eyes.
