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As I get closer to the house, I see a car parked in the driveway. It takes a minute for it to register as Malachi’s.
“Where the hell have you been?” he demands after I park and get out of the car.
“Driving around.” I shrug. “Didn’t wanna come home.”
“I’ve been sitting here forever,” he complains.
“Don’t know what to tell you. Maybe try not letting your wife wear the pants in the family.”
Pain radiates through my jaw when his fist plows into my face. He shifts to a fighting stance, but I only shake my head.
“Do whatever you want to me. I don’t care anymore.”
Malachi’s shoulders slump. “She doesn’t wear the pants. Not all the time anyway. And I can go home in the morning.”
I chuckle, but there’s no humor in it. “I’m happy for you. I’m pretty sure Peppermint will never speak to me again.”
“I take it she’s at my place?”
“Yep,” I confirm.
I unlock the front door and quickly disarm the security system. After locking the door behind us, I stride to the kitchen.
“Wanna drink?” I ask as I retrieve a bottle of Jim Beam from the cabinet.
“Make it a double.”
I pour our drinks and we retreat to the couch. I switch on the television and flip through the channels until I find a news station. I doubt we’ll see anything about it on the local news, but curiosity has me wondering if Brazen was really able to clean up our mess.
“You’re gonna have to fix this, Nico.”
“Not sure it’s fixable.”
“It better be. I love Peppermint, but I don’t exactly want to share my home with a third wheel so early in my marriage.”
“Fuck, what does everyone want from me? Maybe I should go back to Seattle. Things were simpler then.”
“Quit feeling sorry for yourself,” Malachi snaps. “Couples fight. It happens. And then the man apologizes, and things return to normal.”
“I’m not apologizing when I did nothing wrong.”
“Ever heard the term ‘happy wife, happy life’?”
“Peppermint’s not my wife.”
Malachi slaps me on the back.
“Relax. Everything will look better in the morning.”
Malachi’s a damn liar. Everything did not look better in the morning. Or the morning after that and the one after that. In fact, things couldn’t get worse.
Or so I thought.
CHAPTER24
Peppermint
TWO MONTHS LATER…
