After kissing Felix and telling him I love him and I’ll be back soon, I head back over to my mom’s. I’m almost to her house when David pulls up. I try to rush inside, but he’s faster and catches me before I can make it.
“Were you just at the Blackwood’s?” he hisses, pushing me against the front door. “Were you over there fucking him? Is that why you’re divorcing me? Because you’re fucking that loser?”
“I’m not fucking anyone,” I hiss, the vision of him forcing himself on me hitting me hard. It feels like every time I close my eyes, I can see him, feel him, hurting me. “I’m divorcing you because you turned into someone I don’t know. You hit and raped me.”
“I didn’t mean to,” he says, his tone softening into the man I used to know. “I was just so upset. The guy’s had a hard-on for you for years, and then we move back here, and not even a week later, you’re in pictures with him and getting tattoos of his songs on your body.”
“It doesn’t matter if I got a tattoo of his name on my body. You don’t have the right to ever put your hands on me violently. You raped me, David. You hurt me.”
“You’re my wife! I had sex with my wife. I didn’t rape you.”
“I begged you to stop. You hurt me. You made me bleed.”
“You’re overreacting,” he scoffs. “Please, Layla.” He raises his hand, and I flinch, afraid of what he’s going to do. “Don’t be afraid of me. I messed up. I was upset, but I love you. You know I love you, right?”
“I know that you hurt me, and I can’t let that ever happen again. I want a divorce, and I’m going to live with my mom until everything is final.”
He looks at me in pain, reminding me of the man I married, and my heart cracks. We created a life together, a family, and in one day, it all got blown to bits. “I told you moving here was a bad idea,” he mutters, scrubbing his hand over his face.
“You can’t blame the move or anyone or anything for what happened. You did this.”
He nods solemnly. “I don’t want you to uproot Felix. You can stay in the house. It’s your home. I work a lot anyway. I can stay in the office until it all gets sorted.”
I release a sigh, grateful that he’s calmed down and is acting maturely. “Thank you.”
“Maybe you just need some time,” he says. “We can go to therapy.”
“I don’t think so. After what happened, I can’t be with you.” I don’t apologize because I’m not sorry. I didn’t do anything wrong, nothing that would ever make it okay for my husband to hurt me the way he did.
He nods and leans in, kissing my cheek. “I’m not giving up yet, but I’ll go with the flow for now. I know I fucked up, and you need some time. But I love you, and I’m not giving up on us.”
With those final words, he walks back to his vehicle and drives away, leaving me wondering how my life got so messed up so quickly.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CAMDEN
TWO MONTHS LATER
“Oh, my God, yes! Just like that. Fuck me harder!” an all too familiar voice screams out as Declan and I walk into the penthouse suite we’re sharing with Gage and Braxton. Sometimes, we get our own rooms, but at this hotel, in order for security to stay tight, they had to book the only penthouse available, which meant the four of us sharing.
“Yes, yes. Harder!” she yells, moaning loudly.
“Oh, shit,” Declan says with a laugh. “I’d recognize that voice anywhere.”
Of course he would because we spent the past several months listening to it every damn day. Sure enough, when we step into the living room, we find Everly, our publicist, sandwiched between Braxton and Gage, getting fucked in both her holes. Gage looks like he’s barely involved, aside from his dick being part of the equation, and Braxton is angry-fucking her ass with his eyes closed as he pulls on her long brown hair.
“Seriously?” I bark. Both guys glance over at me at the same time, and Everly squeals in embarrassment. “Again?” This isn’t the first damn time one of these assholes has fucked a member of our team. And it always ends the same way—her becoming attached and getting her heart broken or us having to fire her because she turns crazy.
“It’s the last day of the tour,” Braxton says, continuing to fuck her. “She wasn’t even all that good at her job. It’s not like we’re going to hire her back.”
Everly gasps in outrage, and I groan, knowing what’s coming next.
Pushing Braxton back, she climbs off Gage, who’s so high that he doesn’t even bother moving. Gage simply lets his head drop back, and his eyes close, leaving his condom-covered dick out in the open for everyone to see.