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I glanced at Grayden to see that a wounded look had crept over his face that broadcasted so much emotion. Anguish. Longing. Regret. Need.
I was sure there might have been a time when I’d looked at Grayden in much the same way. But those days were over.
Dax turned to me and folded his arms. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.” It was nothing short of a demand.
I swiped my tongue along the inside of my bottom lip. “In short … Felicity saw I was in a children’s clothing boutique, marched inside and—mistakenly assuming I’m up the duff and that’s why you married me—accused me of getting pregnant to trap you, insisting my motivation was to spur Grayden into leaving her and coming back to me.” I shrugged.
“Wait,” began Grayden, his brow creased, “so you’re not pregnant?”
“No.”Yet.
The wrinkle in his brow smoothed out as relief flashed in his eyes, but then confusion flickered across his features. “If that’s not why you two got married out of the blue …” He didn’t addWhy did you?but I heard it in his tone.
Uninterested in soothing his curiosity, I switched my attention back to Dax. He was staring at me, his eyes dark, his face hard.
“She thinks you’re pregnant?” asked Dax, his voice dangerously calm.
I swallowed. “Yes.”
A muscle slightly jumped in his cheek. “She thinks you’re pregnant … and she felt it was acceptable to confront you?” The latter words came out slow but sharp.
“Dax,” began Grayden, raising his splayed hands in a gesture of peace, “Felicity knows she messed up. She’s very upset with herself right now. She regrets what she did.”
Dax’s brows inched up. “Is that so? Then where is she? Why are you here making her apologies for her?”
Excellent question. Not that I’d expected her to show up or anything.
Grayden rubbed the side of his face. “I asked her to stay home. I knew you’d be upset.”
“Upset? That’s what you think I am?” Dax took a deliberate step toward him, the move all the more menacing for how lazy it was. “Under no circumstances at all should your woman feel that she has any right to confront mine,” he stated, his voice still calm yet filled with thorns and barbs. “The fact that she would dare do that while under the impression that Addison’s pregnant makes the matter even worse. ‘Upset’ is a mild word for what I’m feeling.”
Grayden carved a jerky hand through his hair. “Like I said, she knows she messed up. She feels terrible about it.”
Dax raised a contemptuous brow. “I highly doubt that.”
Funny. So did I.
“Tell me, Grayden, why is it she believes she can cross my wife and, by extension, me? I warned her what the consequences would be. Is she under the impression that I was bluffing?”
“She wasn’t thinking.” Grayden nervously rubbed his finger along the edge of his collar. “She reacted on emotion.”
“What emotion? How could it possibly impact her that Addison might be pregnant?” Dax clipped, unfolding his arms. “What in the fuck does it have to do with Felicity? Explain that to me.”
Closing his eyes, Grayden pinched the bridge of his nose. “It has nothing to do with her,” he softly admitted. “Emotions aren’t always rational, though, are they?” His eyes snapped open as he lowered his hand to his side. “Me and Felicity are trying for another baby. We’ve been trying for months. So far, nothing has happened.”
“And, what, she’s been confronting every pregnant woman she sees as a result of how bitter and jealous their condition makes her feel?”
Grayden spluttered. “No.”
“Just Addison, then?” Dax cast him a scathing look. “You said you didn’t come here to make excuses. But that’s very much what you’re doing.”
Yup. It stung to a degree—I’d cared for this man a lot once upon a time. But I wouldn’t expect him not to side with his partner. I’d sure side with Dax.
Loosely balling up his hand, Grayden rubbed a knuckle against his brow. “I just want to keep the peace.”
“Then you should have done as I told you and insisted that she heed my warning,” said Dax with not an inch of mercy. I didn’t view it as cold, though. He simply wasn’t a man who overlooked if anyone wronged him or those under his protection.Everyoneknew that.
In that sense, Felicity had made her bed with full knowledge of the repercussions. If she believed she had a chance of escaping them, she only had herself to blame for that. Particularly since he’d given her a verbal warning already.
