The Sinister Silhouette

“Yeah, no fucking kidding,” I growl. “The attending nurse walked in the room when I was there. She thought I was you.”

If possible, his face loses even more color. “Why were you visiting her?”

“That’s moot at this point. Why haven’t you told anyon

e about her? And how long have you been married?”

He blows out a breath and looks down at his shoes, eliciting my anger even more.

“Theo—” I start, but he interrupts me.

“Seven years. We got married the day she went into a coma.”

His eyes look worried and desperate. I count to twenty in my head to try to calm my ire.

“You’ve been married for seven goddamn years and you never thought to tell your family? Why, Theo? And what in the hell are you doing sleeping with other women while your wife lies helpless in the hospital?”

He’s quiet for a minute before he hisses out a breath. “I’ll grab us some beers, then I’ll explain everything.”

I don’t want a fucking beer. I want him to tell me what in the hell is going on. Even so, I give him a curt nod and walk around the couch and sit on the opposite end where Theo just had a girl on his lap.

He comes back into the room and hands me a beer before taking a seat on the recliner. Leaning forward, he puts his elbows on his knees and dangles the beer from one hand between his legs. His knees bounce, reminding me of the day Ella was in the hospital. I thought he was anxious over what happened to Ella and possibly going after Chase. He was anxious all right, because he knew Jules was right down the hall and he or I could be recognized at any moment. It actually surprises me, now that I think about it, that none of the nurses called him by name.

I sit and wait, growing more impatient by the second when he stays quiet. Luckily, he catches my mood and starts talking.

“Jules and I met when she brought her car into the shop. The mechanic on the north side couldn’t fit her in for a few days, and she needed her car fixed immediately. She was from the north side but was sweet and kind and so damn pretty. Being from where we’re from, I never thought I had a chance with someone like her, but I asked her out anyway. She completely took me by surprise when she accepted.”

His eyes glaze over as he looks off in the distance.

“You know how shit is around here, and when you find someone good, you don’t want them part of that. You don’t want it touching them. I wanted to keep Jules as far away from it as possible. I fell hard for her and knew she was the one. We had plans. We were going to leave here and start a new life. I wanted to wait to get married until we left, but she didn’t want to wait that long.”

“So, what? You were just going to leave? Disappear into the beautiful fucking sunset and never tell us?”

He looks down at the bottle in his hand before taking a deep swallow, then lifts his head. I’m not sure what his eyes hold, but the look is dark and pain-filled. There’s also a bit of fear, which I find strange. What is there to be afraid of?

“We were going to tell everyone before we left. The day we got married, which was the day we were going to tell everyone, something happened.”

“What?” I ask when he doesn’t continue.

His eyes slide away. “Someone attacked her.”

“Fuck!” I curse, and lean forward, mimicking his position by resting my elbows on my knees. I snatch up the beer, open it, and down half the bottle.

I bring narrowed eyes to him.

“Why are you shacking up with all these females when you have a wife lying comatose in the hospital? Doesn’t seem like she was much of ‘the one’ if you have no problem breaking your vows.”

He still doesn’t look at me when he answers. “Because she’s no longer here.”

“The fuck she isn’t, Theo. She’s only miles away.”

His eyes come back to mine and they look cold-blooded, like he feels not one ounce of guilt for cheating on his wife for years while she lies helpless in the hospital. As soon as the look appears, it’s gone.

“A man has needs, Luca,” he informs me quietly, like I don’t know that.

I nod, then lean forward. “A man with a wife in the hospital gets real fucking acquainted with his hand. Or as fucked as this sounds, he gets a divorce. What he doesn’t do is repeatedly and unashamedly break his vows by whoring himself out to women.”

He flinches. I know I’m being an ass. It can’t be easy on him having a wife he can’t touch, but fuck if I’ll be okay with him cheating so easily. I’ll never be okay with anyone cheating under any circumstances. And it’s not like he held out for long. He’s been doing it for years. He’s always been a manwhore. Now that I think about it, I can’t remember a lengthy period of time he hasn’t had some woman around.