Love isn’t selfish.
The crux is that I have to share her with a man determined to make that feat impossible. Despite needing her, despite wanting her, despite the pact we made to remain unified, we were just divided by an atom bomb. I have to be the man she needs me to be right now, even as it rips me apart.
With a lump lodged in my throat, I’m reluctant to let her go. Heart splintering in my chest, I tip her chin with gentle fingers. “Okay, baby. Go. We will work this out.”
She looks up at me, a glimmer of hope reflecting back. Cupping her face, I dip and kiss her, our tongues tangling in desperation as I infuse it with all I feel for her. I shake my head when her sobs interrupt it and manage a smile, wiping her tears with my thumbs.
“I love you, my beautiful wife.” Even as I say the words, the ominous premonition threatens again. This time, I can’t shake it, even as the fight continues to build inside me.
Jagged, cutting bitterness takes hold for everything that just went down in the same place we made some of our most significant memories. We tear ourselves apart before she grips her suitcase and shoulders her purse. Our red eyes hold when she glances back at me from the open door of our villa. I fist my hands, forcing myself to remain idle while trying not to let her see what’s raging beneath the surface. She does anyway.
“I love you, Easton,” she declares vehemently. “And despite what just happened, I don’t regret it, and I won’t, no matter what,” she re-grips the handle of her suitcase while gliding her thumb over her ring, a new habit that strengthens my pulse just before she turns and walks out of the door.
We Belong
Pat Benatar
Natalie
Dad slams the garage door behind him as I stalk toward the patio, anxious to escape him, if only for a bit of reprieve. I’m halfway to the sliding back door when he sounds up behind me from the kitchen. “You’re suspended from Speak until further notice.”
My gasp is audible as I turn back to see him bracing himself on our island.
“Daddy,” I choke out, “please don’t take the—”
“You invaded an employee’s privacy,” he cuts in, his tone laced with finality. “Not only that, but you completely fucking discarded your ethics to lure a subject into an interview under false pretenses for personal gain.” With that, he lifts damning eyes to mine as he lists off the crimes he deems fit for his punishment. “You used the guise of my paper to do it,” he exhales as if he doesn’t believe the words he’s saying, “and annihilated my trust… Do you really believe you deserve a desk chair right now, let alone still be considered the best candidate to take over my life’s work?”
I bite my lip as my eyes water and shake my head.
“You can work for your mother until I can trust you to help run my paper again.”
“Yes, sir,” I choke out before I flee, unable to take another second until I can handle it. I’d suspected it would come to this, but the reality of it is too much to bear. Dad didn’t talk to me during the short plane ride home as I stared out the window, stifling tears while replaying the devastation in that villa. Since he arrived in Sedona, I try to shield my occupied ring finger from him while refusing to take it off. The act seems impossible and feels more like a betrayal as my heart continues to mourn for the husband I left behind.
Though he tried, Easton failed to hide his fear, which only made me love him more. As much as I wanted to stay, to convince him we were in this together, he was just as much at a loss as I was. The difference is, Reid was right. I had a clear idea of what we were going to face. It’s the aftermath that I could never have prepared for.
As if his silence isn’t enough punishment, Dad drove me straight to our family home to face my mother without a single word of warning of what I am in for. Ironically, when I was young, Dad refused to spank me, even at my mother’s insistence. He would get me behind a closed door and tell me I better start crying and make it sound convincing. That protection is painfully absent now as dread courses through me. Tears brewing, throat raw, I slide the back door open and jump as my father slams a door nearby before I draw it closed. Glancing around the grounds for my mother, I come up empty and begin the trek to the stable, every step draining more than the last.
Entering the barn, I find her brushing Percy’s coat. Like me, Mom always seeks refuge with our horses when she’s too stressed or distraught to people, so it was a given I would find her here.
The second I near her, I feel the charge shift in the air. Standing beside her outside the stall, I nuzzle a greeting to Percy, waiting for her to speak. Silent, agonizing seconds tick past before she finally does, her eyes trained on Percy.