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“I’m your property,” she hisses.
“Damn straight. In more ways than one,” I snap. Keeping my hand on her throat, I straighten slightly and look down into her eyes. “You’re mine. It’s as simple as that. Now go inside and tell Kiplyn that you want to be taken home. I’ll see you there later tonight.”
Releasing her, I take a step backward, crossing my arms over my chest as I look down at her. She squares her shoulders at me and puffs up her chest. I don’t know what she thinks she’s going to say, but I wait for whatever it is.
But she doesn’t say shit.
She starts to walk, and when she’s almost past me, I turn slightly and reach out to take her wrist. She stops and looks at me, her blotchy red face tilted upward. Flexing my fingers around her wrist, I dip my chin.
“It’ll be all good, babe.”
She doesn’t respond. Not a single word. Apparently, she’s going to try and freeze me out. It won’t work. I will break through whatever barriers she thinks she’s going to put up. This is just a slight bump in the road. This ain’t a damn thing.
PIPER
My entire body aches, and not in the usual way when it comes to Kyle.Itch. I’m not sure I can call him Kyle anymore. He isn’t that man to me. He’s the member of a motorcycle club. He’s Itch and nothing more.
I think about the man who he was versus the man who he’s become in my eyes. I’ve lost everything good I’ve ever felt or thought about him. He’s just this man whom I was forced to marry. He isn’t my lover or my friend. Not really. Even if he pretended to be for a little while.
I hate him.
That’s a lie.
I don’t think I could hate him because I’ve fallen for him.
My feelings are more along the lines of being disappointed by him—in him. Every time I get a glimpse of this good man, this man who is sweet and kind, this man I could fall in love with, who I think will take care of me, and maybe even fall in love with me too, he switches into someone I don’t recognize.
I don’t like him at all. And I have a feeling the asshole, the one who has appeared only a couple of times, is more of who he is rather than the sweet man he’s given me.
Itch knows I can’t go anywhere, not unless it’s him who wants to get rid of me. He doesn’t have to be kind in any way toward me. I am stuck here, with him, beside him, behind him. Wherever he wants me to be. And there is absolutely nothing I can do about that.
If I called Raul, he wouldn’t care. Dutch might try to get me to leave, but only to sell me into a life of sexual slavery and abuse. Even if Itch is indifferent to me until the day I die, I know it is much better than the alternative.
I haven’t slept at all. After last night and finding out about this pregnant woman, Kiplyn brought me home and watched me for a good hour before she reluctantly left. I assured her I was fine, that I would be fine.
But I wasn’t.
I cried some more. Then I forced myself into the shower before sliding into bed, and I cried some more. Then I lay in bed, motionless, with tears streaming down the sides of my face until there was no more wetness inside of my body and I just stared at the ceiling.
All while crying, while tears dried up, while I lay immobile, I waited for Itch to come home.
He didn’t.
When I realize that the sun has risen, I turn my head to the side, reaching out for my phone to check the time and take it in. Eight in the morning. All night long. He stayed away, stayed with her, and left me here alone.
This is my life.
I should not complain, but I think the disappointment is truly setting in that this will not be what I thought it could be. This is going to be painful if I continue to allow him to affect me. The only thing I can do to save myself is to separate everything about him from me.
Pushing myself up to sitting, I cross my legs beneath the soft sheets and stare at the blank television screen that is hanging on the wall. I could be depressed about this, about my husband having a child with some strange woman, or I could do what he has mentioned more than once.
Find something for me.
There is nothing to fight for or about. He will be my husband in name no matter what happens. He’s signed his responsibility for me. Unless he decides he is done with me, there’s nothing to be done. I deserve a bit of happiness, too, and I’m going to find it, even if I have to find it alone.
At least that’s what I tell myself in an effort to feel strong and independent. Though, I’m pretty sure that everything about me is the exact opposite.
ChapterTwenty-One
