Wife Unwanted (Corrupt Vows #2)

Chapter 21

Thalia

A MONTH LATER and I was still baffled by the storeroom incident. That's what I had dubbed it after thinking about it for too long. He did not say anything when I got back home. He acted as though nothing happened between us. As though he didn't appear at my work, after months of pretending I don't exist, fuck me senseless, and then going back to pretend I don't exist.

A month later and I was still replaying the moment in my head whenever I went to sleep. He was like a tormentor who couldn't be kept at bay. Constantly invading my thoughts, even when he was not around. And when we were together, when we had to pretend to be a loving couple, I wanted the pretense to be real. I wanted to be with him and despised him at the same time.

It was days like today, days when I had to spend time with him, that were the hardest. Darcy was throwing a birthday party and had invited both of us. I only told him of the invite out of courtesy, thinking he would reject it, thinking I would be going alone, until I saw him dressed and ready to go.

Darcy's apartment was two blocks from Carey's and we could have literally walked over there if he didn't insist on taking the car. To his credit the traffic wasn't all that bad, but I was sure we could have arrived earlier if we walked. It was a Penthouse suite and the party was happening on the terrace of the building. Darcy beamed when she saw me arrive, then she frowned when she saw Carey walking in behind me. I shrugged.

Darcy and I exchanged an air hug and kisses. She her hand to Carey. "What a pleasant surprise. Isn't this the first time you've accepted an invitation to one of my parties? Looks like I have your wife to thank."

Carey shook her hand and nonchalantly replied, "Since you two are practically joined at the hip nowadays, I have to be there to make sure you aren't being an awful influence on her."

Darcy pouted. "You make it sound like I'm a villain in a teen movie. I've always been a nice person if you took the chance to get to know me Carey."

Carey shoved his hands into his pockets. "Really? That's not what the tabloids say."

Darcy chuckled. "You of all people should know never to trust the trades. Come darling," Darcy took my hand, "let's leave your sourpuss of a husband," he glare still on Carey, "I have some badness to influence you with."

After we were more than a few feet away from Carey, I asked, "What's the beef between you two?"

Darcy shook her head. "I used to bully Carey when he was a kid."

Oh. That was some brand new lore I didn't know about.

"We were in the same classes. I flunked several times and had to repeat courses. Anyway, I used to tease him in class, mainly because all the girls liked him and I didn't see anything special about him. Not that he's not hot, I see it now, but it used to baffle me back then."

"Oh. No wonder he hates you."

She smirked. "He hasn't gotten over it?"

"He warned me not to talk to you after we met that first time."

Darcy threw her head back and laughed out loud, attracting the attention of a few people around us. "I mean, he was kinda right." She leaned into my shoulder and whispered, "It was because of me you got your first arrest."

My gaze was at the entrance to the terrace and I was able to see Gemma come in. "You invited her?" She could invite anyone she wanted after all, it was her birthday party, but still felt a stab at my heart that she was here. It would have been fine if Carey wasn't there. And to make matters worse, it was as though the two lovers could sense each other. Gemma saw him at the same time he turned to her direction. I watched as she made her way to him, feeling helpless and seething with jealousy.

Darcy cursed under her breath. "I forgot to tell you. Hugh invited her. They went to the same college."

"It's fine." Gemma was now talking to Carey. They looked comfortable with each other and he was smiling, like he has never done before. Not for me. The pang throbbed again. They looked like a perfect couple. They were more compatible than Carey and I would ever be.

"I can make her go away."

I turned my gaze back to Darcy. She looked serious too. She was certainly capable of throwing out a guest for no discernible reason. "You don't have to. I'm fine. It's fine."

Darcy stared at me. "Uh-huh?" Her hand went to my back. "Girl, let's get you a drink. My birthday cocktail will do the trick."

The bar was at the corner of the terrace and Darcy ordered the Darcy's 29th. It was an ombre cocktail of blue and white. I never got to ask what was in it before Darcy handed it to me and commanded that I drink. It was powerful, sweet and had hints of lemon rum, vodka and something else that made my head a little dizzy.

"What's in this?"

"There are no illicit substances, if that's what you're worried about."

Okay. Now I am worried. "What did you put, Darcy?"

But before she could answer, the caterer interrupted us with a kitchen emergency and took Darcy away. The bartender was now too busy taking orders to answer trivial questions, so I took another sip of the cocktail. It was sweeter this time and didn't make me dizzy, but a little heady. I looked around the party for someone I knew and found Jack looking like a fish out of the water, standing stock still in the middle of the crowd. I made a beeline towards him.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" I said to Jack over the music. He was startled and jumped around until he faced me. "You were all alone."

Jack let out an embarrassed giggle. "Let's just say this kind of party is not my scene. Uh, Deb asked me to send her apologies. She said she would not be coming. She has an exam tomorrow."

"I'll pass on the apologies to the birthday girl." I darted my gaze around us. Several women had their eyes on Jack and some even looked mildly jealous. He was handsome and had attracted a number of customers to our store, and it seemed like he still had the same aura on college students and on socialites."I'm surprised you are all alone when you have all this attention coming your way," I said, lightly jabbing his biceps. The white t-shirt he had on was struggling to contain his muscles. He blushed, and it made him even cuter.

"I don't know what you mean," he said.

"Please. You know at least five women are throwing daggers at me with their eyes for merely speaking to you right now. You should be talking to them."

He chuckled again.

"Is my wife as funny as that?" I felt him approach before he even spoke. Carey came from behind me and slid an arm around my waist in a gesture one might call possessive.

If Jack could deepen to a darker shade of red, he might have at that moment. Was he remembering the incident? He must have guessed what Carey, and I did in that room. Instead of using the back door, Carey had left through the front and stumbled into Jack as he made his way out of the store. The boxes jack was carrying flew all around him, but Carey continued on as if he didn't see it. Or as if it was deliberate. It made no sense, but it looked deliberate.

"How are you Mr. Hawthorne."

"You make it sound like I am an old man. Call me Carey. I don't think I ever got your name, have I?"

"Jack." He extended his hand, but Carey didn't take it.

"First time at a place like this?"

Jack chuckled nervously. "Yes."

"I can tell. Don't make it obvious, or they will smell it on you. Unless of course you don't want to end up in the bed of one them." He jerked his head to a group of women who looked to be about Jack's age. "Maybe you have another woman in mind."

"Uh…"

"Carey. Stop tormenting him."

"Am I?" Carey turned his gaze to me.

I frowned. "Why are you acting like this."

Jack took this as his opening to leave us and made his excuse."What's your problem?" I asked after Jack was gone.

Carey shrugged. "You tell me?"

"Me? I am not the one who made my wife's employee uncomfortable for no reason."

He tilted his chin up. "Did you go to fashion week with him?"

"Fashion week?" What the fuck was he talking about? He has never once shown any interest in what I did and now he wanted to know who I went to an industry event with? "Why are you asking?"

He swung me around so I was facing him. His grip on my waist tightening. I would be scared if heat wasn't pooling at my center. "Did you?"

I feigned nonchalance. I didn't want him to know how much this closeness was affecting me. "We all went fashion week, Carey. Me, Darcy, Jack and Deb."

He frowned. "Who's Deb?"

I rolled my eyes. "Our other employee. The woman you saw before you accosted me in a storeroom."

"Don't act like you didn't like it."

My pussy throbbed. He was right. I enjoyed every minute, embarrassing as it sounded. The surprise. The untamed fire he had. The impulsivity. But that still didn't explain why he was being weird about Jack.

"And what did you do there?"

I looked around us. No one was paying us attention but we were in the middle of a throng of people who had started dancing and I felt like we were in the way of their fun. "Is that something you should be asking here?"

His eyes darted around and he took my hand and marched to the corner of the terrace opposite the bar. The was a sitting area with a lit fire pit in the middle. Carey took me behind the sitting area, right to the corner of the terrace and pressed my back against the railing. He threw his hands on the bars, sandwiching me between him and the rail. The only thing that seperated us was the cocktail in my hand.

The sounds of the city were more pronounced here. The sun had set, and the skyline was all black rectangles with gold squares.

"If you want to kill me, I would suggest throwing me over when there isn't a party going on." I took a sip of my cocktail. His eyes flared. I smiled. So I was having an effect on him.

"You know, I wouldn't mind you having affairs as long as you were discreet about it. You can't rush to your boyfriend, the moment you see him at a party."

I scoffed. "You're one to talk."

Suddenly, he pressed me against the bars. His body flat against me as he bore into my eyes. "I'm being serious."

"So am I."

"Really? When have I kissed someone who's not you at a public event and had rumors spread around me?"

"K-kissed someone?" People were spreading rumors of me kissing some guy at fashion week? And I am assuming the guy is Jack. I raked my brain trying to think of what might have people thinking like that. There was that one time Jack and I were backstage at Bree's show and Jack helped me fix the zipper of my dress. I remember Bree coming in just as Jack zipped up my dress. To anyone walking in, it might have looked like we had just finished doing something illicit, but that wasn't kissing. But then the grapevine had a way of twisting things.

I opened my mouth, about to launch into an explanation when I caught myself. Why should I be the one to explain myself when he wasn't as discreet? I titled my chin,"There are rumors about you as well." I took another sip of my drink. It gave me a buzz I have never felt before. It made me bold. What was in this drink?

"What rumors?"

"You and your long time flame. You and Gemma." Even saying her name was like chewing nails.

His eyes narrowed. "I am not with Gemma."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you would say that. But if you're going to make a song and dance about me and my employee, I have every right to question you ." I jabbed my finger at his chest, and somehow the act felt a little harder than it should. Lifting my finger felt heavy.

"Gemma is not…" Carey frowned. He looked concerned. "Thalia?" His hands went to my cheek, but I could hardly make him out. My vision was blurry. My head. The terrace felt unsteady. I slipped, but Carey caught me in time.

"Gemma zhis naw…" I wanted to say something, but words were failing me. I wanted to ask what was going on, but Carey was now shouting at me even as his voice trailed off. My eyelids felt heavy, too heavy to keep open. The last thing I saw before was Carey's concerned face, before everything went black.