Chapter Nine
Laurie
The walk down the hall to my room—I no longer viewed it as our room—was perhaps the eeriest experience of my life. Neither of us said a word. We walked side by side, not speaking or even looking at one another.
My mind was racing. Did he know that I knew? Was he starting to suspect it? Or was he truly blindsided and hurt by the demand to sign a prenup? Was his anger faked, or was he finally showing me the real him?
“What the hell was that about?” he hissed the moment the door closed behind us.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said robotically.
“Springing a prenup on me like that? In front of your family? At least your mother and brother weren’t there, but really, come on, Laurie? That was callous and unnecessary. I haven’t seen you in close to a month, and this is how you greet me?”
I stared at him, in shock mostly. He was still going along with it. Still trying to pretend like I hadn’t overheard him.
“It’s really quite standard. Didn’t your sister sign one?” I pointed out. “I’m pretty sure she did.”
“That’s different,” he snapped.
The tone wasn’t one he usually used with me, and I recoiled, stunned by the vitriol in his voice. Maybe I’d made a mistake, leaving on my own. I shot a look back toward the door but didn’t make a dash for it.
“How is that different?” I pressed. “It’s the same thing, except in this instance, I’m your sister.”
“The man she married was from nothing. He had no money. It was to protect her.”
“That’s not true!” I protested. “Dan does just fine for himself. Sure, he’s not on your level, but he’s not struggling, either.
We’re all extremely privileged and lucky to be where we are, Eric.
Don’t ever forget that. This is something that people in our position have to deal with. You don’t get to get upset over that.”
“Don’t tell me I don’t get to be upset over it when my fiancée bombards me with this news, after an already difficult dinner, without any warning or mention.
If it had come up at all before this, then I wouldn’t care as much.
But you sprang this on me, and that’s not very nice at all. I don’t deserve this.”
I stared at him, longing to fling the phone call at him, but I wanted him to be the one who broke down and outed himself.
“This is normal, Eric. You’re really overreacting.”
I knew that would set him off.
“Overreacting?” he rumbled. “Are you kidding me? That was humiliating. Your father was basically gloating over shoving this in my face like I’m some kind of poor hustler who would steal your money.”
I gasped. “That was uncalled for and honestly disgusting,” I snapped.
“What the fuck did I just say about us being privileged, and then you go act like people who have less money than us are lesser people? That’s pathetic.
I can’t believe you. People down on their luck work far harder than you or I ever have had to in our lives.
They know more about how to live than we could dream about.
Don’t talk down to them. You don’t know a thing about them. ”
Eric worked his jaw several times over as he digested my rebuke.
“You’re acting like I don’t love you,” he said, completely bypassing everything I’d just said.
I should have seen this a long time ago. The real side of you. Judgmental, arrogant, rude, dismissive. Maybe I was love-blind, as Winston said. I’m going to owe him an apology after this is over.
“It has nothing to do with love,” I told him. “It’s a fact of life, that’s all.”
“It’s not necessary, is what it is,” he said, waving his hand as if that could end the conversation. “Do you not trust me anymore? Do you think I don’t love you? I’ve always done my best to try to show you how I feel. Is that not good enough for you anymore?”
Classic victim-blaming, that last sentence. I saw it coming, but it still didn’t feel good to hear, even if I knew the truth. I wondered how many times he did that to me over the years when we argued.
It was repulsive how he could say all that and still keep a straight face.
“It’s a must,” I repeated. “If you do love me, Eric, you’ll sign it.”
There. The gauntlet was put down. It was the real, final test of who Eric was. Not that I had much in the way of doubts remaining. Many of his walls were coming down, revealing many things to me that, even if he weren’t using me, I would have trouble looking past.
“No, I won’t,” he said. “If you love me, you won’t ask me to sign it.
Go tell your father that we’re getting married because we love one another, and he doesn’t need to interfere.
We don’t need a prenup because we have love.
That should be good enough for you, Laurie, if you really do feel the way you say you do. ”
I sighed, grimacing around the pain that was stabbing deeper into my stomach as everything came crumbling down. I was numb, empty, really. There were no more tears. I’d shed them all. Now I was just cold and dead inside.
“I’m going to go outside,” I told him softly. “Get some air. You can stay in here and think about it if you need to. But if you truly want to get married, then Eric, you’re going to sign that paper. That’s my decision, not my father’s.”
I headed for the balcony doors, but Eric moved to block me. “No,” he said angrily. “You’re not running away from this. Not this time. You’re going to go back in there and tear those papers up. Burn them, shred them. I don’t care, but you will tell him we’re not signing that, am I understood?”
“No, you aren’t. You don’t control me,” I said, desperate to rip the engagement ring off my finger for a second time. I’d retrieved it and put it back on, but it had weighed heavily on my finger. Now it was starting to feel like it burned. I wanted it off and him gone and out of my life.
“Get your ass back in there and rip it up,” Eric snarled in my face, advancing toward me. “Now.”
I backed away with a bleat of fear. “Eric, what are you doing?” I whispered. “Stop this. You’re scaring me.”
“Then go back and tell your father the prenup is off,” he said. “We don’t need that shit. We have a good relationship.”
I slipped around him and made for the balcony doors. “You need to cool off. Then we can talk about this some more. Maybe you can come to your senses because you’re taking this way too seriously, and it’s scaring me.”
Yanking open the door, I walked outside, the brisk air immediately puckering my skin and tingling my nose as it made its way into my lungs.
Behind me, Eric barged through the door. He slammed it closed hard enough that I thought it might shatter.
“Final chance,” he growled. “Go back to your father and tell him you aren’t signing it.”
“Final chance?” I said. “Are you going to leave me if I don’t? That doesn’t really feel a whole lot like love to me, Eric. Does it to you? Go away, and calm down. We’ll talk more later.”
I turned away, but he grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me back. “Don’t you turn your back on me,” he snarled. “I’m not done talking to you!”
“Well, I’m done talking to you,” I fired back hotly, stepping away from him. “Now, go away!”
“No,” he said darkly. “I won’t. I’m going to—”
“Leave her alone is what I think you were about to say, don’t you?” a new voice rumbled as a shadow loomed up out of the dark behind Eric.