The First Taste (Slip of the Tongue 2)

“I don’t want you to be afraid—”

“Yes, you do. You like me insecure and weak. That way, you can coerce me into anything and make me believe it’s what I want.”

“You’re talking crazy, Amelia. Frankly, I thought we were finally getting somewhere, but what you’re saying concerns me.”

It’s taking everything in me not to fight him off, to try to pull away again, but that’s what he wants. He loves the struggle of emotionally wrestling with his prey, of fighting for the win. I keep my arms and hands limp. “You have five seconds to let me go,” I say.

“Then what? You’ll go to the police? You’d look like a fool charging your own husband with rape.”

“Five.”

He shakes his head at me. “You’ve lost it. I don’t even know you anymore.”

“Four.”

“You’re not acting like the woman I married. You think I can’t get any twenty-year-old I want? And I was willing to take you back?”

His words sting, even if I know that’s the only reason he says them—to hurt me. Even if I don’t love him anymore. I clear my throat. “Three.”

We both startle at a knock on the door. “Amelia. It’s me.”

My breath catches. The deep voice is clear, calm.

“Andrew,” Reggie growls under his breath. He cuts his gaze to me. “Don’t say a word.”

My heart hammers. “He knows I’m in here,” I say. “We were supposed to meet tonight.”

“Amelia?” Andrew calls. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. Please open the door.”

I hear the emotion in his words. I desperately want to see his face, to tell him I need him. I open my mouth to call out, but Reggie clamps a hand over it and the other around the back of my head.

“Don’t even think about it,” he says. I could practically get buzzed off his pungent, bourbon-soaked breath. “This isn’t his business.”

“I’m not leaving, Amelia,” Andrew says, trying the handle. “Not until we talk.”

“Huh.” Reggie digs his fingers into my cheeks. “Trouble in paradise?”

I shake my head hard.

“Sure sounds like there is.” His jaw ticks as he stares behind me at the front door. I can practically see the wheels in his head turning. “Answer the door,” he says.

I widen my eyes. Andrew’ll fly off the handle if he finds Reggie in here, trying to intimidate me. Doesn’t Reggie realize how badly Andrew could hurt him?

“Tell him you don’t forgive him,” Reggie says. “Send him on his way. For good.”

I choke back a sob and shake my head again. Andrew won’t buy it. He’s too stubborn.

“And make it convincing,” Reggie says, as if reading my mind. “Because if he suspects I’m in here, he’ll come after me like he did at the flea market. I don’t think I need to tell you what’ll happen if he so much as plucks a hair off my head.”

I stare at Reggie as the truth sinks in. He does know how badly Andrew can hurt him. Andrew warned me he never wanted to cross paths with Reggie again—because he can’t afford to get physical. If he does, Reggie would press charges in a heartbeat. If not out of wounded pride, then to get Andrew out of the picture.

“I already have footage of him grabbing me,” Reggie says, calmer now. “That, plus an arrest charge, would be enough to take his daughter away.”

Bell. Footage. What? My throat closes. This is my fault. I should’ve been more aware this past month. Reggie’s fallback plan is always blackmail. Intimidation. Extortion. Of course he’s been keeping tabs on us, accumulating anything he can use. I suck in a breath as best I can with his hand on my mouth—and nod.

Reggie releases me. “I’ll be listening.”

I work out the ache in my jaw and stagger down the hall. As much as it kills me, Andrew can’t know Reggie’s here. He told me himself—he treats an asshole like an asshole, and that’s exactly what Reggie is. Andrew’s threatened to kick Reggie’s ass for less. I’ve heard it with my own ears. I have no idea how far he’d go in the heat of the moment, especially finding Reggie in my home. Reggie knows it too. I tighten the sash of my robe, inhale deeply, and open the door.

Andrew’s leaning both arms on the doorway. He looks me over. “Finally. I was getting worried.”

“Hi.” My voice is scratchy, so I clear my throat. “Sorry, I was in the shower.”

He furrows his eyebrows. “Your hair is dry.”

I touch my ends. “I mean, I was about to get in.”

“Can I come in?”

“No,” I say quickly.

He nods a little. “I don’t blame you for being upset. I’m late. Really fucking late. I’ve had a weird and shitty day, but that’s no excuse. I don’t deserve a chance to explain since I didn’t give you one, but I’m asking anyway.” His makes a fist with one hand. “Let me in for a little bit before you kick me out for good.”

I have to bite back the urge to cry. He’s disheveled, obviously upset, and I can’t comfort him. I can’t ask for his comfort. I grasp for strength. Everything in me is screaming to tell him the truth: I don’t want him to go; I need help; I don’t know if I can handle Reggie on my own. But Bell needs her father more than I do, and I can’t put them at risk. “I don’t forgive you. Please leave.” It’s as much as I can say without breaking down.

He closes his mouth, tilting his head. “What’s wrong? Why is your face so red?”

“Please, Andrew,” I say, allowing more emotion into my voice. “Just go. Don’t make this harder.”

He pleads with me, his deep-blue eyes sad, beaten down like I’ve never seen. “Just a few minutes.”

“No.”

“I rode all the way here—”

“You should learn that when a lady says no,” Reggie says behind me, “she means no.”

My heart leaps into my throat. What the fuck is he doing?

Andrew looks past me, pushing off the doorframe. “What is this?”

Oh my God. Andrew might think Reggie’s here because I invited him. “I can explain,” I say.

“There’s only one explanation,” Reggie says. He comes up behind me and grabs my ass so hard, I inhale a sharp breath. “She chose me. Didn’t you, muffin?”

Andrew looks between the two of us. “Is that true?” he asks me.

My mind is spinning. I don’t know the right answer. If I say yes, it’ll kill Andrew. But if I tell him Reggie’s blackmailing me, Andrew might snap and do something stupid. I can’t have that. From the start, Andrew and I had an understanding: hurt me now to save me later. I owe him that. My urge to protect him trumps my fear.

“It’s true,” I say with as much confidence as I can muster. “I asked him here.”

Andrew narrows his eyes. “Why?”

I don’t have to reach too deep. I know how to hurt Andrew, and that’s what I’ll have to do to get him to leave. To stay away until I can deal with Reggie. “I thought about what I said earlier, and I was wrong. I can’t be what you need,” my voice cracks, and I clear my throat, “what she needs.”

“She . . .?” Andrew asks.

My stomach drops. “Bell.”

Andrew’s jaw ticks. “I see. You can’t, or you don’t want to?”

“I don’t want to.”

“You don’t want me,” he says. “Don’t want my little girl.”

I have to look away from his scrutinizing gaze. Hot tears scald the backs of my eyes. “No.”

“Well. Fuck.” He shakes his head. “I’ve been an idiot, haven’t I?”