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I call him on instinct, but he doesn’t answer. He must be on his plane already.
With a sigh, I sink to the floor, wincing when the plug jostles. I thunk my head back against the door, my dinner in the kitchen probably cold by now. It doesn’t matter.
Fuck.
There’s no doubt in my mind Antoni is full of shit. Well, not about Teddy being worth a lot of money. I already knew that. Teddy told me as much before, albeit indirectly. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together when he said he had majority shares of a company worth at least seven figures. Probably more than that now.
So yeah, I know Teddy is theoretically rich, even if all that money isn’t in his bank account. But the part about him being abusive? Bullshit. Complete and utter crap.
My chest aches knowing that man is the one who hurt my Teddy. Antoni is a good liar. His voice and expressions screamed sincerity, but I know Teddy. We might not have been married or, hell, on regular speaking terms until recently, but I know that man. I know his kindness. His caretaker instincts. I know his laugh and his smile and even the way he thinks.
I know his heart.
I know he’d never hurt me.
Antoni and Cameron want those shares. They want full control of the company because right now, Teddy holds a cleaver over their heads. He’d never let the blade drop, but they don’t know that. He could cut them off at the head any time he wants. He’s too good for that, of course, but the potential is there.
Assholes.
Part of me thinks they deserve to suffer. They deserve to live in worry after what they did to Teddy.
But part of me wonders if Teddy is only torturing himself, keeping that last tie to his past and the people he once loved. Would it be better for him to just…let it all go?
Not having the answer, I pick my sore ass up off the floor and reheat my dinner. I eat alone at the table, but the picture of that quaint street in Quebec greets me from the wall. Pretty soon, Teddy will be there. I wonder which house is his grandparents’.
Next to that canvas is another in black-and-white. It’s a pond with geese and a few ducks. Two little boys sit at the edge of it. I never asked, but now I wonder if that’s Teddy and Cameron. They’re turned away from the camera, so I can’t see their faces. But it would make sense. The clothes look dated.
I ache all over again, wishing Teddy were here but knowing he’s heading to exactly where he needs to be. I ache for his betrayal, too. For what he lost. He didn’t deserve that. Doesn’t deserve to still be going through it. And they definitely don’t deserve him.
With dinner finished, I watch TV for a bit, the throb in my ass blooming back into pleasure as the minutes pass. I squirm on the couch, knowing I won’t touch myself or relieve the building tension. Not yet. When I go to bed, I shoot a quick text to Teddy for him to find once he lands.
Me: Thinking of you.
I fall asleep imagining Teddy is inside me. And in the morning, I come with his name on my lips.
Whoever said “distance makes the heart grow fonder” was an asshole. It’s true. But it sucks. It’s only been two days, and I already feel like a moping, sad sack of a human being who can’t function without their one true love in their arms.
Goddamn it. I’ve turned into a fictional teenage heroine.
The thing is I went from barely speaking to Teddy to living with the man. To seeing him every single day. To expecting him to be there in the mornings when I wake up and in the evenings when I come home to decompress. He became part of my routine, something I could depend on. And now he’s gone, leaving a big, warm, vanilla-scented gap in my day.
I don’t like it. I miss him. And texting hasn’t been enough.
I still need to tell him about Antoni’s visit, too, which has been grating at me like a sliver in my toe. But you don’t drop a hey, your asshole ex showed up to sabotage our relationship and fuck you over at someone via text. Not that we even have a relationship. Not officially. We’re just husbands. Who fuck. And kiss. And who maybe have feelings for one another.
“My life,” I groan.
When my phone rings, I nearly fall off the couch in my haste to reach it.
“Hello?”
Teddy chuckles. “Hey, Kipp.”
“Sweet Jesus, your face,” I whisper, staring at the man I haven’t seen in two days. He’s smiling at me, all handsome and bearded and looking like he smells good. And fuck. “I miss you.”
His smile softens. It looks like he’s outside in front of his grandparents’ garden. “I miss you, too, sweetheart.”
I try not to whimper.
