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Chapter Twenty-One

SKYLA

I don’t sleep all night. Can’t.

Joshua never came home. Just called to say he would be spending more time working at one of the warehouses, waiting for a shipment to come in after something went wrong.

I don’t believe it.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, I sigh and shake my head.

It’s just after four in the morning.

I’m a patient woman, but this is getting to be a bit much.

Whatever he’s up to and trying to hide from me is only going to get him killed, because if nothing else, I’ll kill him myself if he went back on our agreement.

I don’t take kindly to being made a fool. Never have. Never will.

The front door creaks open, and Joshua steps inside.

I remain sitting on the couch in the dark.

He flicks on the light and jumps nearly a foot in the air. His hands clench into tight fists when his gaze locks on mine before he relaxes slightly.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He kicks off his shoes and slings his coat over the chair in the corner.

Seriously, what is it with this guy and coats on chairs?

I cross one leg over the other, leaning back into the cushions. “Have a good time with Emily today?”

His eyebrows pull together before understanding dawns on his face. “You think I was out cheating.”

Shrugging, I bounce my foot. “I don’t know what you were doing.”

Joshua strides into the living room and sits on the edge of the coffee table in front of me.

“My brother was an idiot who didn’t know the worth of the person standing right in front of him, but you can be sure as hell that I know it.

I’m not interested in anyone else, and I wouldn’t ruin what we have. ”

“And I’m supposed to just trust that?”

He shrugs. “You can trust it or not, but you know that I’ve done nothing to warrant your suspicion. I was at the warehouse all night, though there are things you and I need to talk about.”

“And if I decide that I can’t trust you?”

“Then that’s your problem to decide what to do with.” Joshua leans forward, his hand cupping my calf and pulling my foot into his lap, massaging the tense muscles in my leg. “I’m not going to jump through hoops to try and prove anything to you. I don’t need to.”

I study him for a moment, and damn him.

I have no idea how I know this, but I do know without a doubt that the last thing he was doing last night was cheating on me.

Though I may not know Joshua as well as I once thought I knew Logan, the man I stupidly let myself fall for isn’t the kind of man to cheat. I don’t think he’s the kind who would even consider doing that.

Not when it would come back to bite him in the ass one way or another.

His grip tightens on my leg to the point of being almost painful. “Now, you and I are going to have a long overdue chat, and you’re going to tell me exactly what the fuck it is you’re hiding from me.”

Shit.

I kick out, catching him in the chest with my foot, but he braces, barely shifting more than a couple of inches with the impact.

“Nice try.” He digs his fingers deeper. “You’re going to tell me the truth, and you’re going to tell me now.”

This is it. This is the moment I lose him.

Because I have to tell him the truth. I can’t delay it anymore.

And when I do, he’s going to think I’m a monster and write me off. Just like everybody else. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

But maybe I can persuade him to let this go. I sure as hell will give it my best shot.

The corner of my mouth twitches as I lean forward, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing hard. “You don’t want to know. You think you know what you’re talking about, but you don’t have the slightest clue, do you?”

He yanks back out of my reach before shifting and leaning over the couch, grabbing me by the hair and forcing my head back until I’m looking at him.

I love and hate the effect he has on me.

He narrows his eyes. “This isn’t foreplay. You’re going to tell me what the fuck is going on, and then I’m going to decide what it is we do with you.”

“I don’t think your stomach is strong enough to know.” Reaching between us, I cup his hard cock through his jeans, running my thumb over the bulge until he presses deeper into my hand. “And for what it’s worth, this is the best kind of foreplay. You’re so cute when you’re pissed at me.”

“Funny. Too bad we’re not laughing. Now, the truth, Skyla. I want it.”

He keeps holding my head in place with his grip on my hair.

I grin, gripping his cock tighter through his pants, watching fear flash in his eyes.

His other hand hovers close to the gun on his hip, but he doesn’t reach for it, nor does he ease his grip on me.

Part of me wants to provoke him more.

I want to give him a reason to bend me over and spank me until I can’t think or feel anything other than him. The darker part of me is craving the way he takes control.

I want him to snap, to show me the deepest and darkest parts of his own personality that might match mine.

Joshua lets go of me and sits back down on the coffee table, taking out the gun and setting it beside him.

My eyebrows climb up my forehead with a smirk before I nod and stand.

As I lean over him, his breath catches in his throat.

I pull the butterfly knife from my pocket, flicking it open and using the tip to clean beneath my fingernails. “Look, what’s going on in my personal life isn’t something you should worry about. It’s better if you don’t know.”

“I’m not doing this with you.” His gaze flicks between the knife and me. “Stop playing pretend and tell me what the fuck is going on with you, otherwise I’m walking out this door right now and our agreement ends. Completely.”

“Ultimatums are how we’re going to handle this marriage now?” I close the knife and put it back into my pocket. “Because if that’s how you want to do things, then be my guest, but don’t forget that you need me.”

As my chest tightens, I just grin, spin, and stride toward the guest room, not bothering to wait and see if he will follow me as I push open the door.

But I know he will.

He wants to know the truth, a truth I wish would never come to light.

But if he insists, he must understand this is my game now.

If he wants to know everything, then he’s going to learn everything.

Just not right now.

As he’s about to turn into the guest room, I slam the door shut and twist the lock into place.

There’s a satisfying sense of peace that washes over me.

It’s time that he learns that he can’t just demand things from me whenever he feels like it.

I’ll submit in bed, but my life is mine to live, and I worked too hard for my independence to have anyone, even him, dictate when and where anything happens in my life.

A loud booming fills the room as he bashes the door with what I can only assume is his fist. “Skyla!”

“Sorry, I spent all night up, waiting for my husband to come home. I’m going to get some sleep!”

He keeps pounding on the door, but when I’m sure he won’t just tear it down, I flop onto the bed and stare at the ceiling.

I know this conversation needs to happen, sooner or later, especially if he saw what I did at Martina’s house.

But I’m not ready to risk losing him yet.

Not when he means more to me than I ever thought he would.

Kalani looks up as I stumble into the laundromat the next morning. “You look like you haven’t slept in a thousand years. That hot husband of yours keeping you up at night?”

“Something like that.” I slink to the office at the back and toss my purse onto the couch in the corner. “We’re fighting right now, actually.”

Without another word, Kalani scurries into the room and shuts the door behind her. She drapes herself onto the arm of the couch beside my purse, holding her head up with her hand. “You’re going to have to tell me more about this alleged fight you’re having.”

“It’s a fight.” I groan and sink down into the chair behind my desk. “I wish it wasn’t, but he’s being stubborn, wanting to know some things about me that I don’t know if I can tell him yet. It’s the kind of thing that makes you look at a person a different way.”

Before Kalani can say whatever is on the tip of her tongue, the door to my office bursts open, and Emily Granville walks in, her expression smug, and her nose tipped up in the air.

“Oh, good. I was hoping you would be here.” She doesn’t bother acknowledging Kalani as her heels click against the vinyl floor to my desk. “It’s time that you and I had a talk.”

I glance at Kalani, rolling my eyes. “I’m so sick and fucking tired of everyone wanting to talk to me.”

Emily sighs and pulls over the wooden chair, looking down at it as if it might be diseased before perching on the edge. She looks at her nails, arching an eyebrow at me when a few seconds pass and Kalani still doesn’t leave.

“Is this going to be over sooner if I ask Kalani to leave?” I give Kalani a pointed look, and she stands, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Emily smirks and leans forward, folding her forearms on my desk. “What’s it going to take to make our little problem go away?”

“And what little problem is that?”

Emily clicks her tongue and shakes her head like I’m some poor innocent person who doesn’t have a clue what the world is like.

I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms. “You’re going to have to explain to me what the fuck you’re doing in my office and what problem you think we have.”

“You know, if I told my father that you were speaking to me like this, he would make sure that we ceased doing business with your husband immediately.”

“I doubt that, but you’re more than welcome to try.”

A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth as she looks seconds away from exploding.

I lean forward, letting the grin take over. “If your daddy is the biggest threat you have, you’re out of luck.”

The color drains from her face, her lips pressing into a flat line. “If you end things with Joshua, I’ll speak to my father about cutting out the middle man and dealing directly with your family.”