Page 116 of All the Forbidden Things

“Don’t tell me to calm the fuck down. You didn’t see her face. They accused her of being a drunk and neglecting Layla. They examined Layla for signs of neglect . . . Billie’s fucking neglect! She looks after Layla better than her own mother ever has. You didn’t see the look on Billie’s face, and it’smyfault. They’ve gone after her because of me, and I can't have that happen again. I can’t and I fucking won’t. I want out of this marriage, and I want out now.”

I watch as he chews on his lip, pulls his head back, narrows his dark blue eyes, and studies me. “What am I missing here?”

“What are you talking about? What do you mean, what are you missing? I just told you everything.”

“Is there something going on between you and Billie?”

“Yes,” I snap. With my hands on each of my hips, I face him. “Yes. Aaron. Yes, there fucking is. I’m bang in love with that girl, and she’s been through enough. I won’t add to that. It stops now. It fucking stops now. I won’t have those bitches publicly attack her in that way because of me. You didn’t see her face, Aaron, youdidn’tseeherface.”

I slide my arse down to the floor and sit with my back against the wall, knees raised, elbows resting on them, and press my thumbs into my temples as my fingertips massage my forehead. “I knew they’d come for us,” I tell him, using a much calmer tone. “We’ve discussed it, but not like this, not accusing her of something like this. We expected a character assassination, but not this. This is worse, don't ask me why, but this just feels so much worse.”

“How long? How long has this been going on, you and Billie, I mean?”

“Since she stepped out of Mel’s car and I laid eyes on her last Sunday.”

“A week? That was last Sunday, right? A week ago?”

I look up so my eyes can meet his. “Yep. One fucking week, Al. One week ago, Billie walked up my drive and straight into my fucking heart, deal with it.”

“Are you fucking mad? Please tell me this is a joke. Straight into your fucking heart? Can you hear yourself? This isn’t a song or one of your mum’s cheesy insta-love romance novels—”

“Fuck you!” I stand up and shout. “How can it be insta-love when I’ve known her for her entire fucking life?”

“You’ve known her for her entire life because she’s your best friend’s little sister, the sister he raised, the sister who’s only twenty years old.” Aaron stands and gets right in my face as he shouts.

“Twenty-two. She’s twenty-fucking-two, and I don’t care. I don’t care whose sister she is, or how old or young. I don’t fucking care. I love her.”

We’re both breathing heavy as we stare at each other.

“Callum is going to kill you. Mel will feed you your own balls, and don’t even get me started on what Lennon and the rest of management at the label are gonna say. Leaving your wheelchair-bound wife is gonna be a publicist nightmare, but leaving your wheelchair-bound wife for your twenty-two-year-old nanny is career suicide.”

I bury my fingers into my hair and dig my nails into my scalp just so I can focus onthatpain instead of the one in my chest.

Aaron lets out a long breath, flops back onto the sofa, and states calmly, “Right, if you’re sure, if you’re absolutely positive this is what you want, then we need to think about how we’re gonna handle this.”

I move to Billie’s kitchen, pull a glass from the cupboard, and fill it with water from the tap. Once I’ve drunk it, I turn back to Aaron. “What are you thinking?”

“Aside from the fact this is going to be one big clusterfuck, I’m thinking we keep your relationship with Billie under wraps for as long as possible. I think we should get her and Layla out of here—wait . . . does Whitney know? About you and Billie?”

“Not as far as I’m aware. I think she’s gone after her just to show me that she can. Whitney’s jealous by nature and has filled Billie’s head with a load of shit about what I’ve supposedly said about her in the past. Then Deana told Billie some crap about Whitney and I flirting and spending time together and toldmethat Billie had a hot date the other night.”

“Whitney’s far from stupid, as we’re finding out. She’s onto you, or at least has her suspicions. We need to get Billie out of here send her to Jay’s early, like today.”

“If she leaves, Layla leaves with her.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind? Billie’s just been accused of neglecting Layla, you can’t pack her off and send them away together. Whitney could fucking ruin you with this in a custody battle.”

“I don’t want Layla here without Billie. What’s stopping me from just kicking Whitney’s arse out?”

“Nothing, technically. We might need to go to court to make it happen though. She’s still your wife, this is her home.”

“Look into it.”

“Really? That’s the path you want to go down?”

“Yep, I’m done. I don’t care how it looks, I want her gone.”

“They’ll crucify you, you know that right?”