Chapter 18
Edie
Fury churns in my chest as I stride down the dimly lit hallway past several rooms filled with couples fucking.
At the end of the hallway, I jam my feet into my shoes, capturing a glimpse of a dark-haired woman dancing sensually before a man.
Her hips sway to the relentless beat that throbs through the speakers as she performs. The man’s back is to me, but something in the set of his shoulders stops me cold.
I edge closer, my stomach churning as I press my palm against the cool glass.
Thick blonde hair brushes his collar, and he turns his head to the side.
“Robert?”
The beautiful woman locks her eyes with mine, and in that split second, my anger explodes into white-hot rage, not at her, but at the man she dances for. Robert catches her sudden stillness and follows her gaze, his expression flicking between shock and confusion.
I should walk away. After all, he’s nothing to me now, but all I can think about is the woman he left me for and the baby she carries for him. Without a second thought, I shove open the door and storm inside.
“You fucking bastard!” I yell, shoving him against his chest. “Have you no shame?”
“Edie, what the hell are you doing here?”
My fingers curl into fists as I glare at him. “You have a baby on the way with a woman you profess to love, and yet you’re here. You prick.”
I don’t care I’ve lost all control. I am done with men who break promises, who can’t master their own desires or emotions.
I’m tired of women being tossed aside and treated like shit.
I’m sick of women being handed empty promises, only to have them shattered by cowardice and utter disregard for their feelings.
“Should I leave?” the beautiful woman asks. “Or perhaps you would like to join us?”
I shoot her a glare that cannot be interpreted any other way.
She nods once, then strides past me, shutting the door behind her.
“What the hell are you doing, Robert? Haven’t you learned your goddamn lesson?
” I shout, shoving him in the chest. “You have a baby on the way. You’re going to be a father, and instead of being with your pregnant girlfriend, supporting her, loving her, you’re here, about to fuck another woman. ”
He actually dares to smile, and every part of me aches to wipe that smug grin off his face.
“Are you jealous, Edie?”
“Jealous? Are you insane? I’m furious. You’re a piece of shit, and if you think for one second I’m going to keep this from Lucette, you’re very much mistaken. She deserves to know exactly what you are.”
“I’m a man with needs, and Lucette is too tired, too heavily pregnant to tend to my needs right now,” he whines, and not for the first time, I wonder what the hell I saw in him. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I know exactly what you need—a lobotomy. Or maybe just your dick cut off and tossed away.”
“Fuck, I didn’t know you had it in you,” he retorts, reaching down to adjust himself. “If I knew you had this much fire, or that you’d enjoy a place like this, I’d never have asked for a divorce. Things could have been so very different, Little Duck.”
“Don’t you dare call me that,” I shout, and before I can stop myself, I slap him across the face.
His head whips to the side, my handprint reddening his cheek.
I don’t care that I’ve slapped him.
Right now, I want to hurl myself at him, to tear that smirk from his too-handsome face. Beneath it, he’s nothing but a monster, a liar, and a fucking cheat.
He steps towards me, a menacing smile lifting his lips as he slowly turns his head. “All these years you’ve been hiding from me, Edie. I can’t deny this turns me on. The fact you’re here in this club tells me everything I need to know.”
Something shifts inside me; anger and pain melt into a shred of fear. I take a step back. When he reaches out to touch me, I smack his hand away. “Don’t you dare come any closer.”
“Come now, we both know you’re still in love with me. Why would you be so angry at seeing me here if you weren’t?”
“Because I’m a decent human being. Because I’m disgusted with you,” I spit.
“Are you though?” he persists, taking another step towards me as I take another back.
“Do not fucking touch me.”
Just as he always did, he ignores my wishes, seizing my arm and pulling me hard against him. “I’ve missed you,” he lies.
“Get the hell off me,” I yell, struggling against his hold, but his grip tightens as he shoves me up against the wall, pinning me there. Leaning close, he runs his lips against my cheek, his hips pressing against mine, his dick hard between us.
“If I’d known you liked it rough and dirty,” he snarls, curling his hand around my jaw, his fingers digging into my cheeks, “I would never have fucked all those other women.”
“Get your hands off me.”
But he just smiles and slams his lips against mine in a brutal kiss.
The kiss lasts just mere seconds before cold air rushes between us, Dorian hurling him across the room as though he weighs nothing at all.
“Keep your motherfucking hands off her!” he roars, stalking towards Robert, who scrambles backwards on his arse. “You dare to take what hasn’t been freely given.”
Robert’s panicked gaze flicks to mine as he shakes his head furiously. “She came onto me,” he accuses, the fucking liar. “She’s my ex… She’s infatuated with me.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me. I know exactly what you are.”
“It was a mistake,” Robert begs, holding his hands up.
Reaching down, Dorian grips him by the throat and slams him against the wall.
“A mistake? Was it a mistake you cheated on Edie over and over again? Was it a mistake that you continually broke her heart? Was it a mistake you spent many nights here fucking other women when you should’ve been at home with Edie, huh? ”
Stunned by his unnatural strength, I barely process Dorian’s words until icy dread seeps through me, making every muscle lock tight. Wait, what did he just say?
“Robert came to this club during our marriage?” I ask, my voice controlled, even though my stomach churns and the ground seems to undulate beneath my feet.
Dorian releases Robert, who collapses on the floor in a heap, coughing and spluttering as he tries to catch his breath. “Edie, let me explain,” he says, whirling to face me.
Pressing my palms against the wall to steady myself, I meet Dorian’s fierce gaze, matching it with my own. “How long have you known?”
“I realised he was your ex-husband the night I turned up at your house uninvited,” he admits. “He’s been a member for years.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“He’d hurt you enough. I didn’t want this to hurt you more.”
I laugh bitterly. “So, you brought me here to the same place where Robert cheated on me? Did you know he’d be here tonight? Is this some sick joke?”
“No, I didn’t know he’d be here tonight—”
“But he is a member of your club,” I snap, shaking my head in disbelief. “And given what you just said, the likelihood he’d be here tonight was high.”
“He’s not going to be a member for much longer,” Dorian replies.
“W-what? You can’t do that,” Robert splutters, pushing to his feet. “I pay good money to be here.”
In two strides, Dorian has Robert gripped by his arm and is hauling him across the room, shoving him out the door. “Fuck your money, and fuck you. Your membership has been revoked. Get the hell out of my club.” Then he slams the door and takes a step towards me. “Edie—”
I throw my hands up. “You’re no better than he is.”
“I’m nothing like him. I would never treat you the way he’s treated you.”
“And yet you just did,” I reply, shaking my head. “Robert wasn’t just a lying, cheating prick, he was incapable of emotional regulation, blowing up at the slightest thing.”
Dorian flinches, but he doesn’t speak, instead he swipes a hand through his hair, and grits his jaw.
“Outside of the marital home, Robert was charming, attentive, the life and soul of any party we attended. He spun a web of lies to make himself look good. Yet, behind closed doors, I spent the majority of my marriage behaving a certain way to keep the peace, making myself small so he could feel comfortable, suppressing my wants and needs, only serving his,” I yell, my past trauma bubbling out of me in a torrent that I can’t, that I won’t hold back.
“I never felt emotionally safe with him. The way you just behaved, withdrawing emotionally, that’s exactly what he used to do to me. I won’t put myself through that again.”
I try to push past him, but he steps to the side, blocking my path.
“You don’t understand. I was protecting you. You’ve no idea how dangerous I am,” he murmurs, his gaze haunted.
“I do now,” I whisper, stepping around him and pulling open the door, only to come face to face with Sybil.
“Hello again, Edie,” she says, stepping towards me and forcing me back into the room.
“Dorian didn’t tell me he had a visitor tonight.
It seems he’s intent on keeping secrets from me,” she adds, swooping past me as she sashays over to him, her long, floaty dress swirling around her legs as she moves.
“Sybil, now’s not the time,” Dorian grinds out, his gaze flicking to mine as she presses a kiss against his cheek, her hand trailing down his chest possessively.
There’s something about the way she circles Dorian, like a predator, as though any minute now she’s going to rip him to shreds and, despite my better judgement, I stay.
“What secrets?” I ask, looking between the two.
“Or perhaps it’s you he’s keeping secrets from,” she continues, a wicked smile slanting across her beautiful face as the hair on the back of my neck rises.
“Sybil, enough,” Dorian says, his voice low with warning.
“You know, I can’t deny I was surprised Dorian would play with such a…” her voice trails off as she looks at me slowly up and down, “dull creature, but I guess his tastes have evolved over the years. Less of the nubile young things he usually goes for, and more aged.”
Her insult hits me like a slap to the face, just like she’d intended.
“I said enough,” Dorian roars, the room swelling with his anger. The weight of his command is oppressive, as though his words alone can stop her in her tracks.
Surprisingly, she doesn’t respond with another cutting remark as I expect her to, but that doesn’t prevent the scathing look she gives him before she plasters on a smile so sweet it could rot a person from the inside out.
“What secrets are you referring to?” I ask, perhaps a little foolishly, given the way Dorian grips her arm and shakes his head.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you, but what I will say is this; Dorian is incapable of love,” she warns, the look in her eyes softening just a little, just enough for me to see a shred of sympathy hidden within them. “I should know.”
Dorian opens his mouth to speak, but I don’t wait to hear what he has to say. I’ve seen and heard enough already. Forcing strength into my spine, I stride from the room, refusing to look back.