My fingers rested on my glass, and I listened to a more detailed version of the story I’d heard before in bits and pieces.
“But when you love someone and it feels right at the wrong time, that’s how you know it’s real. I understand the intent behind your decision, that you’re trying to keep a family together, but what you don’t understand is, it’ll never happen the way you’re imagining. If Dex theoretically went back to her, he would be like me in my first marriage. He would be unhappy. He would be with the wrong woman…just to do the right thing.” He waited for me to say something, but I really didn’t have anything to say.
He’d just dropped a lot on me, and I wasn’t a genius like he was, so it took time to process it.
He spoke again. “My son is a great man, and he deserves to be with a great woman. If you want to do right by him, then stay. Because Catherine is half the woman you are. She doesn’t love him the way you do, and she would never make him happy like you have. You deserve a great man too, and you aren’t going to find a better man than my son. Move forward together. The three of you can be a family…just the way Cleo, Derek, and I became a family.”
I knew when Dex was in the city because I tracked his flight. It touched down safely, and he was back in New York. He came and went, and he was obviously well, or else his father would have said otherwise.
Tomorrow, he would show up at my doorstep, and the argument would continue. Kendra was trained and ready to go, but I knew in my heart she would never really replace me.
I was in the living room in my pajamas when a knock sounded on my door.
My eyes shifted to the doorframe, my heart racing.
Then the knob turned, like he was willing to walk into my apartment if he could.
I knew exactly who it was.
I’d expected him to go home after his long flight, to shower and get some sleep, but apparently, this was too important. I unlocked the door then pulled it open, seeing him in sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt, all of his luggage with him because he’d given the driver my address.
He didn’t give me that look of longing, like he’d missed me while we were apart, like he was there to sweep me off my feet and get me back. He looked…angry. His eyes smoldered like the gates of hell, and his jaw was clenched tight, just as it had been when we last talked. All of his anger was trained on me, like he’d come here to give me a piece of his mind rather than pull me into his arms.
I stepped back, my heart thudding against my rib cage.
He came in, dropped all of his shit directly on the floor, and shut the door behind him. His arms were tense by his sides, his shoulders squared, his anger palpable. He stepped forward and came closer to me.
I instinctively stepped back.
“We’re done with this shit, alright? It’s you and me. Period.”
He’d never spoken to me that way before.
“Alright?” He came closer, pushing me backward into the hallway. “I said, alright?”
I finally gave a nod.
“Good.” He pulled his shirt over his head then scooped his arms under my thighs to lift me and carry me into my bedroom. He dropped me on the bed and pulled down my baggy pinstriped pajama bottoms and also my ugly underwear because it was laundry day, but he moved quickly as if he’d picked me up at the club and I was in a short little dress.
He got the rest of his clothes off and climbed on top of me, his thighs separating mine, my baggy top still on with a spaghetti sauce stain on the front. He shoved himself inside me, made me cry out, and then he fucked me like he hated me.
His hand scooped into the back of my hair, and he fisted it as he pressed his face close to mine, his eyes glued to my face as he thrust into me hard, making my bed shake, making me come instantly when I hadn’t been aroused just five minutes ago. He came inside me, got off, got dressed, and then just left.
Just walked out…as if that hadn’t just happened.
Twenty-Six
Dex
I had the next two days off to recuperate from my journey, and when I was awake the next afternoon, totally messed up from the jet lag, I called Catherine. She was the first person on my list, and I would confront her in person but I didn’t want to give her anything I might be carrying, and then, in turn, give it to Ryan. So, I’d have to settle for screaming over the phone.