12. Brantley
B rantley~
When I saw Keris at the bar, talking with Ares Cormac, anger quickly bloomed in my chest. He had no business talking with my wife, and when Keris walked off, heading towards the front doors, I looked back at Ares, and the motherfucker saluted me with a smirk on his face.
Fuck.
I quickly chased after her, damn near running behind her, and when I found her outside, she was already on the sidewalk, looking like she was going to walk home. I couldn’t imagine how furious she was to choose walking home when there were plenty of cars available to her.
“Keris,” I called out, but when she ignored me, I sped up until I had her arm in my hand, stopping her. “Keris, stop-”
Keris slapped me with enough force to snap my head sideways, and I could feel the immediate sting burning across my face and down my neck. Ready to unleash holy hell on her, I turned to look down at her, but I hadn’t expected to see her green eyes wet with unshed tears of rage.
Wrenching her arm from my grasp, she seethed, “You know, I’m not a fucking idiot.
I knew that this marriage was going to be a joke when I agreed to it.
I knew that we were going to be civil roommates at best. I knew that love was never going to be in the equation.
However, I had expected some level of respect.
” Her eyes were shooting fire at me, and I’d never seen a more beautiful woman.
“I had expected the same level of respect that you offered all your business associates.” Her body was practically shaking with rage, and it was hard not to be impressed by her strength.
“I am not your fucking whore, Brantley. I might be bought and paid for, but I am not some piece of ass that you can pass around to your little buddies.”
I was going to kill Rochelle.
“If you want to pass your girlfriend around to your friends, then that’s your business,” she continued to hiss.
“But you will not offer me up to them like some contract bonus. I might have been sold to you like some cheap piece of furniture, but you got your fucking island, so it’s not like you didn’t get your money’s worth. ”
“Keris-”
“Go to hell, Brantley,” she snarled. “Better yet, just stay the hell away from me. Keep your money, your island, your girlfriend or girlfriends, but just stay the fuck away from me.”
“You’re my wife-”
“I’m not your wife!” she yelled, and I knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before this shitstorm was recorded, then shared on social media. “I’m a signature. I’m the receipt for the island. I am not your wife. If I were, then Ares Cormac wouldn’t have first dibs in between my legs.”
My entire body turned ice-cold.
“What?”
“What kind of man gives other men the green light to fuck his wife without even asking her permission?” she kept raging, and there was no doubt that I was going to kill Ares Cormac.
I’d been under the impression that the conversation that she’d overheard between me and Rochelle had been the cause of all this, but I was wrong. “That’s called trafficking, Brantley-”
“I did not offer you up to anyone,” I growled as I snatched her up by her arm again. “And if I ever were to lose my fucking mind and do such a thing, it sure as fuck wouldn’t be to Ares Cormac.”
Keris’ green eyes slid past my shoulders, and when she pursed her lips, the first tear of anger and humiliation fell down her face, and I could feel myself falling under whatever fucked-up spell that her pride and anger were weaving around me.
I’d never wanted to kiss a woman so damn badly in all my life.
Her tone sounding cold and final, she said, “The least you could do is take off that ridiculous ring.” She yanked herself out of my hold again as she glanced back over my shoulder. “That woman deserves better.”
When I turned to see what she was looking at, I saw Rochelle standing at the top of the steps into the hall, a concerned look on her face.
I also noticed other people staring at us, though no one had their phones out to preserve this fucked-up moment.
Magnus was also coming down the steps of the building.
Looking back down at Keris, I said, “I’m not fucking her-”
“Don’t lie,” she snapped. “There’s no reason to lie. This isn’t a real marriage.”
“The signed certificate in my safe states otherwise,” I shot back.
“Leave me alone, Brantley,” she ordered. “You were right about everything. We only need to be married on paper, and we did that. Now leave me the fuck alone.”
“Hey...uh...hate to interrupt, but it’s starting to get crowded out here.” We both turned towards Magnus’ voice, and he gave me a knowing look. “You might want to finish this at home.”
Before I could agree or disagree, Keris had taken advantage of the distraction, and she was inside one of the service cars before I could stop her. I slammed my fist on the hood of the car, but Magnus quickly pulled me back, doing his best to keep me from making a spectacle of myself.
However, it was too late.
“Brant-”
“Cormac told her that I gave him permission to use her,” I told him, my voice barely containing the rage that I felt.
“Fuck,” he sighed, shaking his head.
I turned, then ignoring all the prying eyes, even Rochelle’s, I stormed back into the hall, looking for that sonofabitch. I didn’t give one fuck that I was about to get arrested, either.
As if he’d been waiting for me, I found him still at the bar, that motherfucking smirk still on his face.
I had no idea what his game was or how he knew about Rochelle’s sexual proclivities, but it hardly mattered right now.
Plus, since Rochelle and I hadn’t been exclusive, it stood to reason that she’d been the entertainment at more than just my business meetings.
The woman liked dick, and the more, the merrier as far as she was concerned.
That’s what made her such a good fuck; nothing was off-limits with her, and before tonight, she had come with no drama.
Ares straightened, bracing himself for my wrath when he saw me barreling his way, and as soon as I was close enough, I grabbed his suit with one hand, the other hand cracking a fist against his face.
Gasps and shocked outrage erupted all over the room, but that didn’t stop me.
It also didn’t stop Ares from fighting back, and we both knew that this fight had been a long time coming.
Evenly matched, we went hit for hit, and while we might not ever be invited to another charity event ever again, neither of us were going to jail, and we both knew it while fist continued to fly.
When security finally arrived and pulled us apart, it felt like the entire building was crowded around us, dying to be a part of the action and the gossip.
Ares had three security guards holding him back, and I had the same, only Magnus was also standing in front of me, already doing damage control in his head. However, I didn’t give a fuck about the PR right now.
Not satisfied, still willing to finish what we started, I made my personal business public. “Stay the fuck away from my wife, Cormac,” I snarled from across the space between us, and the announcement of my marriage did what my wedding ring hadn’t, and that was cause gasps to erupt everywhere again.
“Maybe you need to keep a better eye on her, Kingston,” Ares fired back as he wiped the blood off his lip, and I felt Magnus grab my arms, pushing me back.
“Go near my wife again and see what happens,” I threatened. “If you think that I’m vicious when it comes to protecting my business interests, just wait until you see what I’m willing to do in order to protect my wife. I’ll fucking kill you.”
Even though we weren’t, I knew that this spectacle was making it seem as if we were engaged in some kind of love triangle, but I couldn’t stop myself.
It looked bad, and the gossips were going to have a field day with their runaway speculation, but that couldn’t be helped.
It was already too late to shut the barn door.
However, Ares surprised me when he said, “I was merely introducing myself, Kingston.” He said it loud enough for everyone to hear, and that actually pissed me off more.
He was trying to protect Keris’ reputation, and that bothered me a fucking lot.
It meant that he liked her or respected her on some level, and that made me all the more curious about their conversation.
“So, you can fucking relax.” A quick smirk played on his face.
“Of course, if you want to continue this pointless discussion, we can easily step outside.”
“This conversation isn’t pointless,” I snarled. “Innocent introductions or not, stay the fuck away from my wife.” I looked around the room like a lunatic. “That goes for every fucking man that has no business being around my wife.”
“Brant, man, forget these people,” Magnus murmured under his breath. “You need to get home. Keris is probably already packing her shit.”
Fuck.
Shaking the guards off me, I muscled my way through the crowd, jumped into the first car that I saw, then ordered the driver to take me to my house. If Keris was there, then she better not be fucking packing her shit. In the mood that I was in, that wouldn’t be a good thing.
I still wanted to fucking kill someone.