“Well, good for you. I guess it doesn’t matter much to me anymore.”
Frowning as he pulls me back toward the bed, I ask, “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t it matter to you?”
Before he answers, Theo turns me around and pushes me back onto the mattress. He’s blocking me on this side anyway, so I let him—but then I try to scoot back so I can fly off Brant’s side of the bed.
Theo pounces before I can, yanking me sideways so my head is where Brant’s body normally lies. I try to roll away, but he climbs on top of me before I can, then he shoves my arms down against the bed and pins them.
I’m breathing hard from the struggle and my own fear, but he’s not even winded as he sits on my hips and looks down at me. “I’m sick to death of the fighting and being unhappy. I was so mad at her when I left tonight, I told her I was leaving—like really leaving, and it felt good. It felt damn good.”
Momentarily distracted, I stare up at him. “You left her?”
He nods slowly. “I’ve said it before when I was pissed so she probably didn’t believe me, but I meant it this time. I’m done with this shit.”
Logically, I know it’s absurd to care; Theo is a terrible husband. Bri would be better off if he left and freed her up to find someone better, but now that I’m closer to her, all I can think about is how heartbroken she will be if he leaves.
I’m mulling over the state of Theo’s marriage, but he seems to have already moved on, because then he leans down until his core is pressed against me and reaches between my legs.
“Theo!” I try to kick at him, newly outraged. “What the hell are you doing? No. We need to talk about this.”
“We don’t. It’s done. It’s over. Hey, look on the bright side—you might never even see me again after this. Not unless you want to, anyway.”
I can’t help curling my lips up in disgust. “I’ll pass.”
His eyes narrow with annoyance. “I was fucking kidding, Alyssa. Like I want to fuck around with another baby mama. Like I said, just once, that’s all I want. I want to see if you’re as good as I remember.”
“Get off,” I say, doing my best to raise my hips. I can’t, though. He has me pinned here as well as Brant did that first night he pounced on me in my room—and that night I didn’t have a visible baby bump to protect.
I swallow and fix my gaze on the ceiling, trying to get my bearings as Theo’s fingers dig into my thigh. He’s trying to pry it open with one hand since the other is holding my wrists down, and I must need to do more leg work, because he manages it.
My stomach twists and twists until I think I’m going to be sick. I almost never wear panties to bed, and unfortunately, tonight is no exception. It’s not like the day in the barn when there was at least a thin barrier. Tonight there’s nothing, no protection whatsoever, so his blunt finger carelessly breaches my entrance and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I try to squeeze my other thigh and dislodge his hand, but it only aggravates him and he turns me over.
“Theo,” I say as he rolls me on my stomach. I try to push up, not wanting to put that much pressure on my tummy, but he pushes down hard on my back and flattens me to the bed.
“Stay put.”
I hear fabric rustling and I feel even sicker, but then I’m slightly relieved when his coat flies over my head.
It was just his coat. His pants are still on. Maybe I can still stop him.
My brain tells me that’s not true, that his pants are probably next. My instincts plead with me to try to lessen the severity of this violation, to ask if I can blow him instead.
I can’t, though. I’d rather die than have Brant come home and find me on my knees with Theo’s cock in my mouth. No amount of explaining could ever wipe that mental image from his mind. Even if he understood why I had to do it, he would never be able to shake that, and I’d never be able to shake the shame.
More knots form in my gut as I hear the unmistakable sound of Theo pulling his zipper down. I look at the door, wishing like hell Brant would walk through it and save me, but the door doesn’t move.
Even though I can’t see Theo from this position, I squeeze my eyes shut as he forces my legs apart and positions himself between them. I don’t even want the memory of what it was like to look at our bedroom wall when I have to relive this later. I just want there to be nothing. No sights, no smells, just nothingness.