“What the hell!” he said. It sounded more like butt zee ell.
“You better stay down,” Gavin threatened. “Because if you get up, I’ll do it again.”
When Gavin reached for me, Blake flinched. He pulled me up onto my feet, his eyes softening with concern. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I’m fine. I lost my balance.”
“He shoved you.”
“Who the hell are you?” Blake shouted from the floor.
“He’s the neighbor,” I told him.
“The neighbor?” Gavin said, like it wasn’t the right answer.
I realized then he was wearing a shirt. A nice one. It was a crisp white polo that hugged his shoulders perfectly. With the polo he wore a pair of navy khakis and a pair of suede shoes that didn’t have laces. I glanced up to see his hair was actually combed and not hanging over his forehead. “You’re wearing clothes,” I said, shocked.
He chuckled.
On the floor, Blake began to stutter, “You’ve seen him without clothes!”
We ignored him.
“I had to be somewhere.”
I started to ask where and then I remembered I wasn’t allowed to ask questions. “Oh.”
“Talie,” he said, “I need to explain.”
“Really?” Was he actually going to tell me something about himself? Just the prospect made me all fluttery inside.
“Yeah. I—”
Blake got to his feet, cutting off the conversation I really wanted to have.
“We were in the middle of something,” he said to Gavin. “You should leave.”
Gavin looked like he was going to punch him again, and while that might be fun, I wasn’t in the mood to peel these two off each other. I placed a gentle, restraining hand on Gavin’s arm, and Blake looked like he swallowed a watermelon.
“Blake was just leaving,” I said.
“I was not.”
“Blake,” I said, irritated and weary, “I’m not coming back with you. I mean it.”
Blake began to say something, but Gavin cut him off.
“You’re going somewhere with him?” He looked between us. “Talie, who is this?”
Blake drew himself up haughtily. “I’m her husband.”
21
Talie
It was Gavin’s turn to look like he swallowed a watermelon. The shock on his face was palpable, and it physically hurt to watch an array of emotions cross through his eyes.
Blake’s declaration hurt him.
I didn’t want to hurt him.
I needed to speak to him alone. To explain. I turned to Blake and gave him the death stare I learned from Salty. “Get out.”
Blake’s eyes widened. “Are you involved with him?”
“No,” I answered. “But even if I was, it wouldn’t be your business.”
“I’m your husband!” he shouted.
“Not anymore.” I reminded him. I pushed by and rushed down the stairs, opening up the front door. It was still pouring rain outside and the water was splashing inside and getting the tiles by the door wet, but I didn’t care.
“Get. Out.”
Blake actually came down the stairs, giving me a look like I was a complete stranger. “I’ll fight you on this.”
I drew myself up to my entire height and looked him in the eye. “Go ahead. I won’t give in. Do your worst. When I come back, I will tell everyone in town exactly who you are. By the time we’re done, no one will hire you, much less your father.”
He paled.
“When you get the divorce papers, sign them.”
He stepped out into the rain and turned back. For one fleeting moment, I saw the Blake I fell in love with. The Blake I thought I married. But then he was gone.
I slammed the door in his face and threw the lock. Before going back upstairs, I leaned against the door, trying to catch my breath. It was an ugly scene with Blake. And if I were honest with myself, a scene like that was the reason I was hiding out here at the beach. But it was over. And I handled him. It felt good. And judging from the look on Blake’s face, I was going to get my divorce after all.
I heard a sound upstairs and thought about Gavin. Handling him wasn’t going to be so easy. I cared about him deeply, and this conversation was probably going to hurt.
At the top of the stairs, I stopped and glanced around the room. It was empty. I exhaled a shaky breath, realizing Gavin had left. Tears filled my eyes, and I put my head in my hands. I hoped he would at least let me explain.
I guess that told me everything I needed to know about the way he felt for me.
I wandered over to the couch, using the hem of my tank as a tissue, and flopped down. A sound off to the side had me whipping my head around. Gavin was coming out of the kitchen, a pack of snack cakes and a towel in his hand.
He stayed.
“You have snack cakes.”
“They’re your favorite,” I said simply.
“Tell me he was lying,” he prompted.
I couldn’t tell him that. “I thought you said you wouldn’t ask me any questions.”
He sat down on the coffee table in front of me, looking at my arm where Blake grabbed me. His eyes turned dark and stormy just like the outside sky. “You’re going to have a bruise.”
“It’s not important.”
He lifted the towel. It was wrapped around a bag of ice. Gently, he held it up to the area that bore the marks of Blake’s fingers.
I reached out to take the ice, to hold it in place. Our hands bumped. We exchanged a charged look. I glanced away.
“I need to know,” he said, low.
“He’s my husband.”
Gavin jerked up from the table and moved away. The distance he put between us hurt far worse than the bruise on my arm ever could.
“You’re married,” he said, like it was dirty.
“It isn’t like that,” I said. “We’re separated. We’re getting a divorce.”
“He sure as hell didn’t seem to want one,” he snapped.
“Well, he didn’t seem to care when he was sleeping around.” I said it without heat. I couldn’t find it in me to be angry about it anymore. It was as if that final scene with Blake was all the closure I needed. Now when I thought of him and his secretary in bed, all I felt was sad.
“He cheated on you?” he said, his voice dangerously low.
“Yes. He did. And then he told me he was going to keep cheating on me and I would learn to live with it.”
“So you thought you would cheat on him?” he said. “Even the score?”