SEVER Jane, Melissa (management books to read .TXT) 📖

the corner of the room. I watch as he removes his shirt, the silver glow caressing his muscled chest and back.

I miss touching him.

I miss him touching me.

He’s a lying bastard!

Shawn flicks on the bathroom light, its warmth now illuminating me. He catches my face staring back at him in the mirror and spins around, eyes wide with shock.

“Hello, husband.”

“Jesus… fuck, Blythe. You scared the shit outta me.”

“Because you don’t expect to see your wife in her own home?”

“No, because you’re sitting there like the fucking Godfather.”

Oh how I wish I could make you swim with the fishes right now.

“Where have you been, Shawn?”

His shoulders straighten, a sign he’s already on the defense. “I told you. Work. More to the point, where the fuck have you been? I don’t owe you an explanation as to my whereabouts when you’re the one who left our marital home.”

“Let’s not go through this again, Shawn. We both know why I left and it’s because you broke our marriage a year ago, so spare me the guilt because it doesn’t lie with me.”

“We could have worked it out, Blythe. You didn’t have to leave.”

“I tried working it out but my husband wanted nothing to do with me. But that’s not actually why I’m here. Had I known you were going to be a lying, cheating bastard, I would have left much earlier and ensured all our affairs were in order.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about how you’ve drained our joint account, maxed out the credit card, and re-mortgaged the house… all without my written consent.”

I hear him sharply inhale.

Did he never expect me to find out?

Did he think he wouldn’t be caught?

“What you’ve done is illegal, Shawn.”

He shakes his head and runs a hand over his face, a trait I’m seeing more of lately. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? We have no more money left for you to take.”

Again, he shakes his head. “Not that. Look, Blythe… it’s not what it seems—”

“When were you going to tell me you quit your job at Usher and Gainsburg? It’s already been a year, so I’m taking a stab in the dark that you were never actually planning on telling me. The same as you were never planning on telling me you’ve defrauded every dollar we shared. Or is that why you’ve stolen all this money, because you can’t meet repayments? Do you even have a job? Why do you dress in a shirt and tie every day? Is this some kind of fucked-up Girl on the Train bullshit? Keeping up appearances that you still work?”

“Your mouth is good for a lot of things, babe, but right now you gotta shut it.”

One side of me wants to smile at his comment, the other side wishes I could throat punch the fucker.

When I don’t say another word, he moves to sit on the edge of the bed.” I know I’ve fucked up, Blythe, and I know I have a lot of unanswered questions and you deserve to know everything—”

“So, tell me. Tell me what the fuck is going on. Because the Shawn I married is not the Shawn sitting in front of me right now.”

“I can’t tell yo—”

“This is bullshit!” I go to stand, but his bark has become as bad as his bite. Another side of Shawn I haven’t yet seen until now.

“Sit the fuck down, Blythe. Just sit down and listen.”

Again, I do as he says. Not because I’m an obeying wife, but because for once, I might actually get some answers.

“I do have explanations for every single accusation you can throw at me. But…” he pauses, the words to follow tinged with remorse, “but none of them will save us. If anything, they will tear us further apart.

“Try me.”

“It’s not worth the risk, Blythe.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You have to.”

“I think you’re being a coward.”

“I probably am, but it’s to keep you safe.”

I laugh at his incredulous statement. “I know what you’re doing, Shawn. This isn’t about me. This is about you trying to save face. You’ve ignored me for a year, you’ve lied, you’ve stolen money, you’ve intentionally deceived me, and for all I know you’ve been cheating on me all this time.”

In a heartbeat he’s on his feet. Lunging forward, he wraps his large hand around my wrist and pulls me from the chair. I crash hard against his muscly chest, feeling the heavy rise and fall. His lips linger dangerously close to mine, eyes gleaming with a passion I’ve so missed from him.

“I wake up with the biggest hard-on every fucking morning because I haven’t fucked my wife for a year, much less anyone else. I go to bed with the biggest hard-on because my cell screen saver is still of you in your fucking pink bikini at Cabo. So, a truth I can tell you, Blythe, is… I have not laid a single finger on another woman.”

My knees weaken with his intensity, and I feel a familiar fire in my belly.

I want to hate him for all he’s done and is still doing. I want to hurt him the same way he has me. But my traitorous body still responds in the same whorish way it always has with Shawn.

He snakes a hand around my neck and through my hair, inching our lips closer. A battle wages within—I want him to kiss me hard and passionate, but I also want to kick him in the balls.

I’m now breathing heavy, the same as Shawn, our hearts racing at the identical speed.

His lips finally crash to mine and I fall against his body, allowing him to claim my mouth the way he so expertly does. We both groan,