by Dori Lavelle
I shake my head. The color of his eyes is not the most important thing right now. After what he said, there’s no stopping us from launching into our first big fight. How could he think it’s okay for him to just disappear?
“I don’t get you, Hunter.” It’s a struggle to keep my temper from flaring. “I’m your wife. I have the right to know where you spent the night.”
He tosses his hands into the air. “What’s the big deal? I’m here now. Stop the whining.”
Laughter explodes from me. “Whining? You think I’m whining? What happened to you? Why are you acting strange? You seem different.”
He gets to his feet. “What if I’ve always been this way and you were too blind to see it?”
I charge through the room and plant myself in front of him. “You really think there’s nothing wrong with this? You think it’s okay for you to disappear and not contact me?”
He cocks his head to the side. “Do you think it’s okay for you to speak to me like a child?”
I’m silent, unable to speak anymore. What happened to my husband? He’s right in front of me, and at the same time, I can’t reach him. He does not only look different, he also smells different.
“Are you drunk?” No wonder he’s acting like someone I don’t know. I can smell the booze on his breath.
It’s all clear now. He drank too much at the event, and since he’s not much of a drinker, the alcohol must have overwhelmed him and made him do things he wouldn’t normally do.
“I had a few drinks, yes, but it doesn’t affect my sense of judgment.” Before his words sink in, his arm is around my body and he’s holding me too tight against him.
“Let me go,” I shout. “You smell of alcohol. I didn’t even know you drink to get drunk.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, baby.” He pulls me even closer, making it hard for me to breathe. “We’ve only known each other for a year. That’s not a long time to know someone well, is it? But we were in love. I thought we would have a perfect marriage.” He brings his lips to mine and I flinch when he kisses me.
I turn my head away to break the kiss. I try harder to free myself, but he doesn’t let me go. “Who are you?” I whisper, gazing into his foreign eyes. “I don’t recognize you.” I push him away from me again. This time I succeed, but I almost fall back. I catch myself in time. “What happened to you? Who the hell are you?”
Although discovering he’s having an affair would have hurt like hell, his new behavior is way more shocking. Who is this stranger in my home?
“You really want to know? Fine, I’ll show you who I am.” He unzips his pants, then lunges for me again. He yanks me to his body so hard and fast our chests collide. When he brings his lips to mine again, I fight him off, but he’s too strong for me.
“Stop it.” Fear coils itself around my spine when, in a swift movement, he sends me crashing onto the bed with him on top of me.
His lips find mine again and his tongue forces its way past my resistance while one of his hands reaches between us to unzip my pants.
I start to tremble with rage and fear, doing my best to get him off me as he pushes a hand into my panties and pushes a finger into me. Before I find the strength to fight him, he withdraws his finger and replaces it with his dick.
I try to scream from the pain of being invaded before I’m ready and the shock of what’s happening, but he swallows every one of my screams. He slams into me only a couple of times before he stiffens and comes inside me. Only then does he lift his lips from mine.
“This is who I am,” he croaks into my ear, then thrusts one more time. “I’m your husband and I’m in control. And sometimes, I like it rough.”
When he withdraws and rolls off me, I lie on the bed, frozen, confused, and shocked about what happened.
Tears flooding my throat, I finally move to the edge of the bed and shoot him a scathing look. “Don’t you dare ever do that again.” I wrap my arms around my body. “Don’t ever force yourself on me again.” My legs are trembling as I get to my feet, pull up my panties, and zip up my pants.
“Don’t tell me what to do.” He shoots out a hand and pulls me back onto the bed. I gasp with shock when his hand tightens around my chin. “I can to any damn thing I want with you. You’re my wife and it’s time you start acting that way.”
I turn away, yanking my chin from his hand. Then I straighten up and take a few steps away from the bed. “Something is seriously wrong with you.”
Before I burst into tears in front of him, I run into the bathroom and slam the door. After locking myself inside, I sink onto the toilet bowl and drop my head into my hands. I can’t stop myself from shaking.
I never thought I’d be the kind of woman who’s scared of her husband. But here I am, hiding in the bathroom from the man I married. Until a few minutes ago, I was a strong, confident, independent woman. Now all I feel is weak and helpless.
“Bree,” he says outside the door. “Come out. Let’s talk.”
“I think you’ve done enough talking and doing. I want to be alone now.” Alone to do what? I don’t even know. What the hell will I do now?
Yesterday, my husband was a different man. I loved him. I was excited about our future together. But now that he has shown me another side to him, a darker side I didn’t know existed, I have no idea what the hell to do.
It’s all your fault, a small voice inside my head whispers. You rushed into marriage.
I straighten up, press my lips together, and hold my hands to my ears as if I can shut the noise inside my head out that way. Of course, it doesn’t work.
Your friends warned you, but you did not listen.
As much as I would like to ignore the voice in my head, it’s right. Maybe I did make a mistake by marrying Hunter too soon. Clearly, there’s a lot about him I don’t know. How could I have been so wrong?
After spending enough time hiding in the bathroom, I decide I’m not this kind of woman. I won’t allow him to push me around and treat me like his possession.
By forcing himself into me, he had made it clear that I’m his possession, or at least he wants me to be. That won’t happen.
I’m going to face him head on.
I find him in the kitchen, sitting at the kitchen island, watching the door. There’s a bottle of gin on the table.
I move into the doorway, arms crossed, eyes focused on his face. Inside, my heart is beating out of control, but I refuse to come undone.
“I need answers.” I push my shoulders back in determination. “Something changed in you.”
He takes a swig from his bottle and gives me a smile I don’t recognize. “The truth is, this is the real me.”
“What do you mean this is the real you? What’s going on here, Hunter?”
“Sit down,” he orders. There’s a slight slur in his voice.
The bottle in front of him is half-empty, but aside from the slur, he doesn’t look that drunk, just pissed off. Only someone who drinks a lot would drink that much without passing out. Does he drink behind my back?
“I don’t feel like sitting.” I lift my chin in defiance. “I need to know what’s going on.”
“I said sit the fuck down.” His words are so hard they make me jump.
I know if I don’t obey, he might do something to hurt me, maybe hurl the bottle at me.
I sit a safe distance away from him and cross my arms. “Your eyes used to be brown,” I say without thinking.
“That’s because I wore contact lenses...for as long as I’ve known you.”
I nod. There’s nothing wrong with someone wearing contact lenses, but we’ve known each other for a year now. Why did he feel the need to hide his true eye color?
“Your mind is going wild, isn’t it?” He chuckles. “It must drive you mad not to know all the answers. Is that why you chose to be a lawyer? Does being inside the courtroom, searching for answers, make you feel powerful?”
A disturbing realization drops into my mind. “H
unter, does this have to do with my promotion to partner? Do you have something against it?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. I have everything against it.” He sneers. “You’re my wife. Your priority should be our marriage and our home, damn it.” He slams a fist onto the island. “But you’re never here, never present. You’re either at work or you’re talking about work. I’ve had enough.”
Blood drains from my face. “I worked a lot even before we got married. When we dated, I told you about my dream of becoming partner. You were okay with it. I thought you supported my career.”
“I’m a great liar. I pretended to be fine with my wife making me her second priority.” He shoves a hand into his hair. “I thought I could do it. But I can’t. A woman’s place is in the home, not in some office.”
My mouth drops open. “I can’t believe this.” This changes everything. My career means everything to me. If he thinks I will give that up for anything, he’s wrong. “Are you saying you want me to quit my job?”
“I thought once we were married you would come to the realization yourself. I was giving you a few months to transition into the role of the perfect wife.”
“And the perfect wife to you is a woman who stays at home?”
“The perfect wife is a woman who puts me first and doesn’t spend hours and hours outside the home trying to pretend she’s a man.”
I stare at him in shock. “If that’s what you think, Hunter, we have a big problem.”
“Not unless you make this transition difficult.”
I shake my head, confused about what to think or say.
He gets up from his chair and goes to a cabinet, pulling out a brand-new pot we’ve never used.
I don’t remember the last time we cooked something in this kitchen. We’re both so busy that we order in a lot.
“I need you to cook dinner for me tonight,” he says.
I laugh out loud. “You’re kidding, right?”
He turns to face me, his eyes hard, his neck flushed. “Not at all. It will be your first step toward becoming the perfect wife.” He rolls his shoulders. “I’m going out for a jog. When I return, I want to find food on the table.”
I jump to my feet, shaking my head. “If you want to eat, make your own food.”
With that, I walk out of the kitchen and lock myself inside one of the guest rooms, where I call Karen. I need someone to lean on while I decide where Hunter and I will go from here.
Chapter Eight
Hunter
My feet slam hard against the ground, sending a cloud of dust swirling upward. I chose to jog along a dry, neglected path in a nearby dog park.
Even though the contents of my head are swimming from the alcohol, I don’t slow down. Instead, I speed up until my surroundings become a blur.
An image of Bree’s shocked face flashes through my mind.
It will be hard to mold her into the wife I need her to be, but I’m up for the challenge.
Watching her being a bitch earlier made me so furious that I had to get out of the house before I did something I might regret. She needs time to think about what I said. Things will be different from now on and she’s going to have to change along with them.
When I come across a homeless man pushing a cart filled with garbage bags, I shoot out an elbow that comes into contact with the place between his shoulder blades.
The man howls and his body folds forward, but I run past him and continue. My ears are deaf to the insults he’s sending my way.
I’m fucking mad, and I don’t care if the world knows it. Once I get the anger out of my system, I’ll return home to start a new life with my wife. I’ll demand she quit her job as soon as possible.
We have enough money in the bank to live comfortably, millions that she doesn’t even know about. We both don’t need to work.
After running for another twenty minutes, I turn around. My lungs are on fire and sweat is dripping into my eyes, but I run instead of walking back home.
By the time I arrive, I’m out of breath, but at the same time I feel alive and excited about the future.
I’m not naive. I know the next few days and weeks will be rough. There will be bumps in the road, but I’ll make sure to straighten them out. It will take some time for Bree to get used to her new life. But I’m determined to make her completely mine.
When I enter the house, I’m about to call Bree’s name when I hear the sounds of two people speaking in the kitchen. I move closer to the door and Karen’s deep, annoying voice slams into my ears. Fuck. I can only imagine what she’s doing here.
I can hear their voices clearly now. Bree is complaining about me.
My hands curl into fists as her whining hits me like bricks.
“He’s a different person, Karen. I don’t know what happened to my husband.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Karen says. “I know I was worried about you rushing into things, but after watching you together, I saw how much you loved each other. You are supposed to be the lucky ones, the ones with the perfect marriage.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about him anymore,” There’s a faint tremor in Bree’s voice. “I think I made a mistake.”
I shut my eyes, forcing myself not to burst through the door and wrap my hands around her neck.
“Are you saying you want a divorce?”
Bree is quiet for a while. “I don’t know,” she says finally.
“Is he having an affair? Is that why he didn’t come home last night?” Karen pauses. “If he’s a cheating bastard, I totally understand why you would want out of the marriage.”
“I don’t think he’s having an affair, but something happened to him last night. He’s not the man I married.” Bree pauses. “I know it’s weird, but I don’t recognize him at all. The way he speaks, the way he smiles...and he looks different.”
Silence follows and I move away from the door, afraid that maybe they sense my presence. But then Karen speaks again.
“Honey, this is so sudden. I mean, a few days ago you were happy. You gushed over your wonderful husband.”
“He’s not so wonderful anymore. And he’s not as supportive of my career as I thought he was. He actually told me that he wants me to quit my job and stay home instead.”
“You can’t be serious?” Karen’s voice grates my nerves.
Fuming, I step away from the door and take a breath to calm myself. “Honey, I’m home,” I call out.
Bree doesn’t answer. She’s probably wondering how long I’ve been home, how much I heard.
“I’m going to jump into the shower. I’ll be right down.”
After my shower, I put in the brown contact lenses and go down to the kitchen. I’ll pretend until Karen gets out of our house.
Downstairs, I’m met by the aroma of cooked food. Maybe she listened to me. She cooked me dinner.
But I’m wrong. As soon as I walk into the kitchen, I see the Indian take-out boxes on the counter. She’s determined on fighting me. She will have to be taught a lesson for her disobedience.
For now, I swallow down my anger and stand behind her. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and kiss the side of her neck. “The food smells delicious,” I whisper before glancing at her friend.
“Hi, Karen, I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“Yeah,” Karen says, frowning. “I decided to drop by because I was in the area. How are you, Hunter?” She’s asking as if she actually gives a damn. I’m tired of pretending I don’t hate the bitch.
“I’m great. Why shouldn’t I be?” I take a seat next to her and opposite Bree. “I have a beautiful life and a beautiful wife.”
“You must be so proud of her becoming partner.”
I glance at Bree with a smile. She doesn’t smile back. She looks like she wants to say something, but no words leave her lips.
“Of course, I’m proud. My wife is brilliant.” I reach into my back pocket. “This is for you, my love.” I hand Bree an envelope. Instea
d of picking it up, she glares at it.
“Go on, darling. It’s a congratulatory gift.” I pause. “You deserve a reward after all the work you did. It’s amazing how you manage to hold together a marriage and still climb to the top.”
“What is it?” she asks in a tone that makes me want to slap her. She takes the envelope from me and puts it down without bothering to open it.
“Tickets for a luxury cruise to Europe. I thought it would be a good idea for us to go away for a while before you start spending most of your nights at the office.” I force a smile. “I’m sure that’s what they will expect of you now that you’re partner.”
“You’re just the perfect husband, aren’t you, Hunter?” Karen says. “So supportive of your wife’s career. Not many men can do that, you know.”
“I’m one of a kind.” I’m responding to Karen, but my eyes are on Bree. “What do you think, sweetheart?”
“I think I’m hungry.” She picks up a take-out box and opens it, releasing the aroma of curry and meat into the air. “Karen, will you join us for dinner?”
Karen shakes her head. “Nope. I already ate. I actually have to go. There’s some work I still need to do at the office. I’ll call you tomorrow, B.” She gets up to kiss Bree on the cheek.
“I’ll see you out.” Bree follows Karen out the door.
My hands are clenched tight as I watch them leave. They probably want to whisper about me behind my back.
“Great job,” Bree says when she returns to the kitchen, clapping her hands. “You’re quite an actor, aren’t you? You did an amazing job fooling my friend into believing you’re the perfect husband. We both know that’s no longer the truth.”
“I don’t like that you invited her into our home without telling me.” I thrust out my chest. “I don’t want you discussing our marriage with anyone else. What goes on in this house is private.”
“Sorry, Hunter, but you have no right to tell me what to do.” She takes several steps toward me, her eyes dark and angry. The look she has on is the kind she gives witnesses that she interrogates in court. “The kind of wife you want is not the person I want to be.”
