Page 8 of An Inevitable Marriage

I wanted to know, but at the same time, I also didn’t.

“Look, it’s not my fault you’re so”—he motioned to my body, his voice dripping with acid—”damn frigid.”

Frigid?

I had a feeling he wanted to use a different F-word.

“Leave,” I growled. “Just fucking go!”

Anthony’s face twisted into something ugly I’d never seen before. His brown eyes went cold, his handsome features hard.

“No.” He crossed his arms and spread his legs. “Last time I checked, both our names are on the lease.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but a voice filtered into the bathroom before I could utter a single word.

“Tony, baby, you know if you’re even a minute over, you still have to pay for the next hour, too.”

More bile pushed up my throat.

“They’re still here?”

He shrugged. “I paid for them to be. Why would I send them away?”

Who was this man I’d been playing house with? “You’re despicable,” I spat. “And if you don’t want to leave, I will.”

Anthony glared at me. “Fine, but you’re still responsible for half of the rent until the lease ends.”

What happened next was a blur. One moment, I was in the bathroom, slapping my cheatingex-boyfriend across the face, and the next, I was sitting on a park bench, a very wet park bench.

But I didn’t care. I had bigger things to worry about than my ratty appearance and thoroughly drenched butt.

How had this happened?

I thought things were steady. Good. We were in that phase where we happily cohabited with no need to constantly talk to each other. He’d edit his photos at the little kitchen table while I was curled up on the couch, lost in whatever book I read.

I thought we made each other happy. That we loved each other.

But did we really?

My gaze locked on to a young couple walking across the park. Fingers laced together; their eyes glued to each other rather than where they stepped.

That now-familiar pang I felt whenever I was with Natalie and Zach hit me in the chest again, growing even stronger when the man stopped walking to tuck the girl’s hair behind her ear and press his lips against her forehead.

Maybe that’s how it was supposed to be, and whatever I had with Anthony was me…settling?

Yeah, because you won’t get anyone better.

The sound of my ringing phone stopped the thought in its tracks. I was so relieved I didn’t even check the caller ID before smashing the device against my ear.

“Evie, honey, I’m sorry to bother you at work.”

I would have told my mom I wasn’t at work and wouldn’t be for a long time if her words hadn’t come out in a stuttering whimper.

I sat up straighter. “Mom, what happened?”

A few sniffles sounded on the other end before my mom spoke. “It’s your dad. He’s been sick… and you know him, he’s just so stubborn. And now—”

The loud whooshing in my ears drowned out the rest of her sentence. My heart thundered to a crazy beat I couldn’t keep up with, and all I kept thinking, kept hoping, was that this entire day had been nothing more than an elaborate prank someone was playing on me.