“You’re a fucking asshole!” West jumps up and races around the table with murderous intent in his eyes. “You take that back!” he yells as I swing around, blocking Bowie with my body and keeping my son at bay. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Vander glaring at Bowie while gripping the edge of his seat. “You can’t hit on my mom, you fucking perv!” West shouts.
“What’s going on here?” Curtis asks, materializing at my side and getting the timing right for once.
“I think Bowie has had too much to drink,” I say under my breath. “Can you arrange a ride home for him and calm West down. I’m going to put Ridge to bed.”
Curtis nods. “I’ve got this. Go.”
I walk off without looking back, pleased when my sleepy nine-year-old doesn’t mount any protest and willingly takes my hand. I am ready for this night to be over.
25
KENDALL
After changing Ridge into his pajamas and tucking him into bed, I head to my bedroom to take a breather. Standing in front of the mirror in my en suite bathroom, I stare at my reflection, wondering how my life got to this point. I attend to business, wash my hands, and brush my teeth before touching up my makeup. I plan to go back outside to say my goodbyes, and then I’m calling it a night.
When I walk into my bedroom, I almost scream in fright as Vander steps out in front of me. “You can’t be in here. You need to leave,” I say when my blood pressure has regulated.
“We need to talk.”
“There is nothing to say. Go back to your date.” I’m pleased I sound calm and not like the jealous shrew who is hiding inside me, waiting to show her claws.
I don’t know what I was thinking, believing he could be into me.
It’s so stupid to imagine I would hold his attention when he’s surrounded by the Gayles of this world. I have nurtured three babies in my womb, and I have the stretch marks to prove it. My body isn’t some blank canvas for him to paint with his mouth and his hands. My body reflects my life experiences, and I don’t compare favorably to girls his own age with their flawless faces, supple skin, and desirable bodies. What happened tonight is inevitable, and it’s best I realize it now before I’m even more invested.
“She’s not my date. She’s just…” Air whooshes out of his mouth as he runs a hand through his gorgeous messy dark hair. He looks good tonight, but I have tried not to notice. Dark jeans hug his muscular thighs and legs, and his black fitted shirt clings to his broad shoulders, taut chest, and sculpted biceps. He has the shirt rolled up to the elbows, highlighting the impressive ink on his arms.
I won’t be distracted by his looks, and I’m in a pissy mood after his behavior tonight. “Someone to make me jealous?” I surmise.
His eyes burn into mine. “Did it work?”
“Oh, it worked like a charm, Vander.” I fold my arms across my chest and fix him with a sharp look. “It proved you are more like my husband than you would care to admit. You have shown me you are manipulative and a lot less mature than I gave you credit for.” Harsh? Maybe, but I’m mad, and I’m confused, and I hate feeling like this. Like I’m a teenager again vying with nasty bitches at school over a man. I left all of that behind me, and I won’t do this. I thought Vander was different, but it seems like I was wrong. “There are plenty of obstacles in our way without adding immature games into the mix, so thank you for making this easier for me.” I point between us. “This ends now.”
“The hell it does!” he snaps.
“Lower your voice!” I hiss. “Ridge is sleeping in the next room.”
He rubs at a spot between his brows. “What’s the problem, Kendall? You can’t hack it when someone gives you a taste of your own medicine?”
Anger burns through me, and I am holding onto my sanity by my fingernails. How dare he try to turn this back around on me. I count to ten in my head before I am composed enough to reply. “If you are suggesting I have been using Curtis, a man who is my husband, by the way, to make you jealous, you are very much mistaken.”
He harrumphs, and I grind my teeth, wanting to scream in sheer frustration. “I know what I saw! He has been all over you all night, and you’ve let him!”
“Because I didn’t want to make a scene at my son’s party by forcibly removing my wayward husband’s hands! If you think I enjoyed it, think again. Tonight has been an exercise in restraint, and I’m about to blow a gasket, so I suggest you get the hell away from me, Vander, before I take it all out on you.”
“You hurt me,” he says, letting his guard down as his anger fades. “You ran away from me, and you haven’t reached out all week, and then I show up here, and you’re playing happy family with that asshole who is cheating on you. What the hell am I supposed to think?”
“You’re supposed to trust me,” I say, working hard to lower my tone. I don’t want to react in anger, but he is making it difficult. “You told me you did, but clearly you don’t.”
“I do.” He steps toward me, and I shake my head in warning, but he ignores me, grabbing me at the waist and reeling me into his body. “I do trust you, Kendall. I just saw red. His hands were all over you, and I wanted to kill him.”
I slide out of his embrace. “I had no choice but to play along. It’s West’s birthday, and I didn’t want to do anything to upset him. But you had a choice, and you chose to flirt up a storm with Gayle Turner and let her paw at you, knowing what it would do to me. You purposely chose to hurt me, so you don’t get to turn around and accuse me of hurting you. It wasn’t intentional, but your actions were.”
He closes his eyes momentarily and wrings his hands together. “You’re right.” His eyes blink open. “I was so fucking jealous, and I didn’t stop to think. I’m sorry. You know she means nothing to me. I was only using her to get back at you.”
“That is all kinds of wrong, Vander. I know you don’t like her, but she likes you, and it’s a pretty shitty way to repay her devotion. I don’t care if she’s a whiny bitch. She doesn’t deserve that. No one does.”
“I will apologize to her, but right now, I don’t want to talk about Gayle. I want to talk about us.”
“Well, I don’t, and you need to leave before someone comes up here and finds you in my bedroom.” I walk toward the door as he wraps his hand around my elbow, pulling me back into his chest.
“I’m sorry for being an asshole. I swear it’s not who I am. You have been driving me crazy all week,” he says as his strong arm circles my waist from behind. My back is pressed up against his front, and heat rolls off him in waves. “It feels like I’m going insane. I can’t live like this, Kendall. I can’t live without a part of my soul. Not knowing how you are feeling is literally making me nuts. I’m sleep-deprived and Kendall-deprived, and I can’t function when I’m running on fumes. I was wrong to do what I did, and I promise it won’t happen again.”
I exhale heavily as I sink into his warmth, unable to avoid temptation. It’s so hard to stay mad at Vander, and to resist him, when he lays his heart on the line and he holds me like this. “I know this is hard for you,” I say, turning around in his arms so I’m facing him. “It’s hard for me too, but I’m trying to do the right thing, and you’re not making it easy.”