The Ritual

“What are you doing here, Blake?” he snaps. “I gave you what you wanted. Take your shit and go.”

I smile up at him, refusing to let his words get to me. Ryat has challenged me every step of the way, and now I’m going to do the same to him. “What if I want something else?”

Reaching behind him, he pulls out his wallet and grabs a hundred-dollar bill. “Need money to run this time?” He tosses it onto my lap.

I flick it off onto the floor like a pesky little gnat and ignore the insult that a hundred dollars would get me far. Standing, I say, “I’m not leaving, Ryat.”

He runs a hand through his hair aggressively. “Blake …”

“What if I told you I fucked a guy while I was gone?”

His teeth clench, shoulders stiffening. Exactly the response I was wanting. “You didn’t,” he argues.

“What if I told you I fucked two guys?” I hold up my right hand, showing him my pointer and middle finger.

“Blake.” He growls my name, making my heart race. He doesn’t understand that he’s giving me exactly what I want. “You better be lying.”

“And if I’m not?” I ask, arching a brow. I’m baiting him.

Reaching out, he yanks me to him. “Then I’ll hurt you.”

I can’t help the smirk that spreads across my face. He doesn’t seem like a man who wants a divorce. A man done with his wife doesn’t give a fuck what she does, let alone what dick she’s been riding around on. “It’s only fair, baby. You get pussy, and I get dick.”

His brows crease, confusion marking his gorgeous face. “What?”

I pull away from him and walk into the laundry room. I open the door and reach in, grabbing the blonde who I tied up and tossed in there two hours ago. Thank God she was actually wearing something under that trench coat, or I would have had to dress her too. “Here.” I shove her forward into him.

She trips and he reaches out, grabbing her before she can fall on her face. Pity. “What the fuck, Blake?” he snaps, holding a crying and blabbering Cindy. Thankfully the tape over her mouth keeps her somewhat quiet.

“Consider it your wedding gift.” I repeat his words and cross my arms over my chest.

“What the fuck did you do?” he demands, yanking the tape from her mouth.

“Ryat … Ryat, please,” she begs him, big crocodile tears running down her face, ruining her once flawless makeup and dried blood from my ring to her cheek. “Help me. She’s crazy—”

“Cindy showed up to get her nightly fuck—you know, the one she’s been getting for the past three weeks while I was away—and was surprised to see me here,” I interrupt her rambling.

He looks at me, his green eyes wide with disbelief. I can’t even begin explaining the feeling of relief I have in my gut that he’s confirming what I already knew. He hasn’t touched her. “Are you serious? You honestly think I’m fucking her?”

I shrug. “It is what it is. Call it leveling the playing field.”

“You’re fucking crazy!” she screams, struggling in his grip. “You fucking bitch …”

He slams the side of her head into the wall, knocking her out, and I bite back a smile of satisfaction. Letting go of her, she falls to the floor, and he steps over her to me. I stay planted in my place, not afraid of him. Not anymore. My husband is powerful, but if I’m going to be a Lady, then I need to raise myself to his level. I’ll start by going head-to-head with him.

“I haven’t had an affair,” he growls, getting in my face.

“She proves otherwise.” I point at the unconscious woman.

“So, you’re going to believe her just like you did Matt?”

I say the only words that I know will push him even further. “Well, Matt wasn’t wrong.” He said that Ryat paid my father five hundred thousand, but that wasn’t actually true. However, Ryat did offer that much for me. So, it’s true enough if you ask me. The tracker in my cell, controlling who I talk to, all that was true.

He steps into me, nose to nose. Bring it. I’m all in. I didn’t throw those divorce papers in the fire for nothing. Ryat wants a Lady? I’ll give him a motherfucking lady.

CHAPTER FORTY

RYAT

TRYING TO WRAP my mind around what I came home to, I shake my head. “I haven’t fucked her in over three years.” Back before I took my oath. Blake is the only woman I’ve been with since I joined the Lords my freshman year at Barrington.

“Sure. And I didn’t fuck anyone while I was away.” She winks at me, nibbling on her bottom lip playfully.

The fuck?

Giving me her back, she goes to walk off, but I reach out, grab her upper arm, and spin her around. I grip her neck with my free hand. “You better be fucking lying, Blake.” I will chase down and dismember any man who she touched. Then I’ll beat that fine ass black and blue until she remembers who owns it.