WHAT THE FUCK? I gave her my best sensitive guy routine, showed her I was the only man who could protect her, and it still wasn’t good enough? I blamed that uppity, self-important bitch. I should’ve gone back to her office and choked the life out of her right after I watched Cherish hang herself. What the hell else did I have to do to get her to stop the games? Move fucking mountains?
I couldn’t find the answer, because…I didn’t know what I was doing anymore.
I PUSHED PAST THE speed limit to get to Nikki’s house. The dumbfucks who were guarding her stuck out like sore thumbs. It was easy to slip them…again.
She’d locked all the doors and my key still didn’t work. The lights were off, but I knew she was there because both cars were still in the driveway. I walked around the back but the patio was locked; she always forgot to lock the back patio, and today had to be the day she remembered.
I pounded on the glass. “I know you can hear me, Nikki. I get it, baby. I was wrong. I’ll make up for it. All right?” I gazed through the window when a light flickered on. She stared at me while clutching her phone in her hands.
“If you don’t leave, you will be arrested again.”
Was…she serious? I didn’t understand. Here I was…feeling lost again. I knew her inside and out, why did she keep fighting me? I’ll never be sure. What I did know was I couldn’t pull out everything in my bag of tricks if I couldn’t get her to open the door.
I thought about breaking the window and surveyed the area for something to shatter it. In the middle of grabbing a potted plant, I heard the sound of police sirens. I worked fast and tossed the pot at the glass. It shattered. I kicked at the spot where it fractured, and the glass came crashing down from the metal frame.
As I came forward, she walked backward, clutching her phone tighter.
I stopped walking because I knew my words would bring her back. The fact that she was inching away from me wasn’t the best feeling in the world. “What else do you want me to do? Do you want me to apologize? I’ll do that, my twisted angel. Come here.”
“I want you to leave me alone.”
“I can’t fucking—” Realizing my raised voice was making her clam up, I added in a softer tone, “…do that.”
“Sir, hands behind your head.”
I bit my lip to prevent stomping around like a toddler who didn’t get what he wanted from the store. I almost broke down and did it. She almost broke me down. I couldn’t understand why she was doing this to me after all the things I did for her. I shot a look at the two cops standing in the frame of the sliding doors. Neither of them were wearing uniforms—not even the cheap polyester suits most detectives wore. The handguns they wielded weren’t local law enforcement issued. “Goddamn it, I’m her husband. I’m not the one you should be worried about. She’s stabbed me. Twice.”
“Hands behind your head, sir, or I will discharge my weapon.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Which would be illegal. I’m unarmed.”
“Wait.” Nikki took two short strides toward me, keeping her distance—too much fucking distance between us.
When I tried to move forward to touch her, she shook her head. I dropped my hands down, but they wouldn’t stop shaking. A pit in my stomach started to spread. What the hell…is going on with me?
“Don’t…do this.” The pleading wasn't intended. I’d completely lost control of every damn reaction she brought out of me. “Fuck, Nikki.” I sighed. “What else do you want from me?”
“Ma’am by law we have to arrest him,” the cop behind me stated. I heard the familiar clank of the handcuffs.
“Charlie told you not to get the local police involved, didn’t he?”
The guy behind me took too long to answer. He made a hushed call on his earpiece for a few minutes; I knew the code language they used. Charlie Sanderson teetered the line so well that I didn’t really know which side he favored. Crooked law enforcement officials were a dime a dozen. I figured out which side he stood on pretty fucking fast.
I bit my lip so hard it bled. I’m…fucking…livid.
“Eric.” She looked up at me. “If you don’t go, I will press charges, and those men won’t take you to jail. They will take you somewhere else where you won’t be able to escape and find me, or hurt anyone else in my name.”
My jaw turned hard. I wanted to take her upstairs and make her body pay for every single thing she did to me—what she’s doing to me. I knew she wasn’t kidding, and I’d rather not fuck with the guys Charlie had on his payroll.
“Nikki, look at me,” I whispered.
In that moment, her doll-eyes seemed to grow bigger, tugging at me.
“What do you need from me? What will make you stop this bullshit you’re pulling with me? Do you want the power? Fine. I give in, okay? I’ll be whatever and whoever you want me to be. Tell me what you want.”
It didn’t work. It did the opposite of what I wanted it to do. She changed into the cold-hearted Nikki. She wasn’t moved. It almost read like she didn’t give a shit what I said. She was done…past her breaking point.
“If you don’t leave, I will have them take you away.”
I jammed my hands in my hair, making the “cops” jumpy.
“Don’t,” she said to them. “He’s leaving. Right, Eric?”
“Yeah,” I choked. “I’m leaving.”
She swallowed hard and nodded to the entryway. I turned away from her, brushing past her I leaned in her ear. “We aren’t done, my twisted angel. I will never stop coming for you.”
She slowly tilted her chin up to glare at me. “The deal we made has been rescinded. I don’t care if I never see you again. We”—she touched her stomach—“deserve better.”
I walked back to my car without another word to her.