23. Keris
K eris~
Huntley, Dylan, and Faron were all staring at me like I’d lost my mind, and maybe I’d had. Lord knows that I was confused enough to think that it might be possible.
After Brantley had stormed out of my bedroom Saturday, I had remained locked away in my room, wondering how things had gotten so turned around.
From the start, our relationship had been nothing but extremes, trust nonexistent in my marriage, which would have been fine if I’d hadn’t started having feelings for my husband.
Marriage on paper would have been fine with me if he just hadn’t treated me so badly from the beginning.
I hadn’t deserved his scorn for a situation that he had clearly pointed out hadn’t benefitted him.
It’d been my family in desperate need of a bail out, not his.
So, almost a week later, I was still at the house because Lindsey and Pauline had needed a few days to rearrange their living situation to make room for me.
The plan was to finally move in this weekend, and I couldn’t wait.
Though Brantley had gone missing the second that he’d left my room, I still didn’t want to be where I wasn’t welcomed.
Back at the Skipper’s Lounge, a popular bar and restaurant, Faron had gotten tired of my hatefest on all men everywhere, so he had called Dylan and Huntley, dragging me out, demanding to know everything that was going on.
It wasn’t necessarily that I’d been keeping secrets, so much as feeling too damn tired to deal with all the advice that was going to be thrown back my way.
“Jesus Christ, did you really call him a rapist?” Huntley asked, her voice sounding pained.
I shook my head. “No,” I denied. “It...not like that.”
“I’m still confused, Shopgirl,” Faron said. “You didn’t actually hear him say that he was in agreement with his father, right?”
“It wasn’t like Brantley was objecting, Faron,” I reminded him. “Nowhere in there did Brantley argue against it or tell his father that he was with me because he wanted to be.”
Dylan snorted. “Sounds to me like your ego got bent, and then you flew off the handle.”
My head reared back at that. “Excuse me?”
“Keris, you just admitted to having the best sex of your life,” she replied. “You said that the night had been phenomenal, and that you believed you guys were headed to a good place.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, you woke up, went in search of him, then heard half of an argument, and then automatically sided with his father,” she went on.
“You didn’t hear him proclaiming his newfound love for you, so you automatically believed what his father had been saying.
You didn’t even ask him about the whole conversation.
You found him guilty on the parts that you’d heard, never thinking that he might have declared his love earlier in the conversation. ”
“That’s not-”
“You fell in love, then you got butthurt because you eavesdropped on a conversation that sounded like he hadn’t done the same,” she continued with the same blunt force that she always delivered her opinion.
“By your own words, all you heard was Brantley telling his father to stay out of your guys’ marriage.
How did that become Brantley only sleeping with you to get you pregnant?
” She leaned back in her seat. “And let’s not forget, the guy has every right to want children.
Did he ever tell you that he didn’t want them? ”
“Are you seriously taking his side here?” I asked, choosing to be outraged rather than entertain how she might be right.
However, before she could answer, a shadow fell over the table. When we all looked up, it was to see Beau Kingston staring down at me like he wanted to rip my clothes off, and I’d never felt so violated before in my life.
“Well, well, well,” he drawled out, and it was easy to see that he was drunk and/or high. “If it isn’t the woman with the billion-dollar pussy.”
“Excuse me?” I hissed, wondering what the fuck he was talking about.
His blue eyes would remind me of Brantley’s if they weren’t bloodshot and leering.
“You have got to be one hell of a fuck for my brother to pass over billions in potential profits,” he went on, and I really had no idea what he was talking about.
“What’s your secret? I mean...because Rochelle is able to take tons of dick at the same time, and she was about as filthy as a woman could get.
Yet, Brantley hadn’t cared about all that.
So, I’m curious...what is it about you that’s got my brother making the stupidest decision of his life? ”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I bit out. “However, I think you need to leave.”
Beau snorted drunkenly. “Oh, c’mon...you’re going to tell me that you don’t know about the mines? Yeah, right.” Even though Beau was drunk, I could feel everyone at the table hanging on his every word.
“What about the mines?” I asked.
“He’s giving them back to you,” he announced, and I could feel my heart skip a beat in surprise.
“What?”
“I overheard him and my father arguing,” he went on, not caring that he was exposing a private conversation between his father and brother.
“Brant’s going to pay Dad back the money used to bail your parents out of debt, then he’s going to return your mines to you with a nice, neat, uncontested divorce.
” Beau got back to leering at me. “Since an annulment isn’t possible, that can only mean that you were more than willing to spread those legs for my brother, and you have to have one hell of a cunt on you to make him return those fucking mines. ”
“You’re lying,” I automatically replied, but like Brantley had pointed out, he didn’t need the money.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he drawled out drunkenly. “If I were you, I wouldn’t change your last name just yet. Dad’s not so willing to part with those mines, so I hope you don’t mind fucking brothers, because I’m pretty sure I’ll be introducing you as my wife soon enough.”
Faron finally stood up at that. “You need to leave,” he told him. “Now.”
Beau just smirked his way. “Not a problem,” he said easily. “After all, I’ll have plenty of time with my future wife later.”
As soon as Beau walked off, Faron was taking his seat again, Huntley asking, “Do you think that’s all true?”
“He’s...he’s drunk,” I muttered. “Who knows...I mean, it’s possible.”
“Well, I guess alls well that ends well,” Dylan said. “You get your mines back, don’t have to pay back your parents’ debt, and get a nice, quick, uncomplicated divorce.” She grinned. “I say that’s cause for celebration.”
I knew what she was doing.
She was calling me out on my feelings for Brantley, and she sucked for it.
Logically, I knew that I should be ecstatic.
I knew that I should be happy with this new turn of developments.
I knew that it was a way better option than being married in name only.
Still, as selfish as it was, he had promised to pay for Lindsey’s medical costs, and divorcing me freed him from that obligation. Divorcing me freed him from everything.
“He promised to pay for Lindsey’s medical care,” I said to no one in particular.
“Maybe you can make that a condition of the divorce,” Huntley suggested.
“Even I’m not that much of a slimeball to do that, Huntley,” I told her. “With everything that he’s losing with this supposed divorce, the last thing that I’m going to do is ask him to honor a monetary commitment that he isn’t obligated to honor.”
“Or maybe you need to get your head out of your ass and apologize,” Dylan huffed.
“Dylan!” Huntley chastised. “Be nice.”
“Oh, c’mon,” she grumbled. “Everyone here knows that I’m right.
Keris got caught up in her feelings, and she took it out on Brantley because her pride is a stubborn sonofabitch.
” Her head swiveled to look at all of us.
“Tell me I’m wrong? Tell me that Keris Kingston isn’t the most stubborn out of all of us. ”
No one said a word, and it really sucked when someone stuffed crow in your mouth like that. My feelings had been hurt, and anger had allowed me to live in ignorant bliss for an entire week. Plus, there was no denying how my stomach had cramped painfully at Beau’s announcement.
“So, what if I do care about him?” I posed. “You heard his brother. He’s going to divorce me.”
Dylan’s face softened. “Look, Keris, I get it,” she said. “I really do. Nothing sucks worse than having to admit when you’re wrong.”
“No shit,” Huntley muttered, and that’s when everything came crashing down around me. I’d had the opportunity to have something better than what my two friends had, and I had allowed my pride to send me off the rails.
“Call him, show up at his office, do whatever you have to in order to see him,” Dylan went on. “Then be honest. As painful as it’s going to be, you need to be completely honest with him about how you feel, Keris. No half-measures if you really don’t want him divorcing you.”
“Yeah, easier said than done,” I sighed, though knowing that I didn’t have a choice.