Men are pigs.
But before I have the opportunity to tell him where to shove it, Tiernan’s gaze lands on me, and he realizes who the ill-formed pick-up line was intended for. It all happens so fast after that. Tiernan swings his arm back and sucker punches his opponent so hard under his jaw that the over two-hundred-something pound behemoth falls flat on the mat, knocked out and probably in need of medical assistance. Tiernan doesn’t even flinch at the comatose body lying at his feet, using his teeth to tug his boxing gloves off, staring daggers in my direction.
“What is she doing here, Shay?” he accuses with a repugnant tone.
“Hey, I tried to stop her. Col was the one who narced where you were,” Shay explains, lifting his hands in the air as if absolving himself of any crime committed in bringing me here.
Tiernan slants his eyes at Colin.
“Your defiance lately is starting to piss me off, Col.”
Colin doesn’t reply, but I can tell he doesn’t like being the target of Tiernan’s rage.
“Get her out of here. Now,” he orders, like his command is duty-bound to be upheld.
I look around and realize that the whole gymnasium has gone eerily quiet. If I don’t do something now, then someone will drag me out of here before I’ve said my piece.
“No!” I exclaim, getting inside the ring with him. “You are going to hear me out, even if it has to be in front of all your lackeys.” I point to all the men that are drawing closer to the ring to get a better view.
Tiernan snarls, throwing his boxing gloves to the mat.
“Rosa,” he grinds my name through his teeth, chopping it into tiny bits, as if he could swallow me up just as easily. “I won’t repeat myself. Go back to the apartment with Shay and Colin if you know what’s good for you.”
“Enough!” I yell, having reached my wit’s end.
My unladylike outburst startles him, and there is a part of me that takes pleasure in the fact that I’ve shocked him.
“You are my husband. It might not have been of my choice or doing, but the fact remains the same. We vowed in front of God and family that we are now one. I promised to obey and be faithful to you until death do us part. But in that vow, I expect the same form of loyalty. You have obligations that you must comply with.”
“Obligations? You make it sound like this is some form of business arrangement?” He scoffs.
“And isn’t it? Was I not sold to your family to keep mobsters like you in business? Is my wedding ring not proof of such a transaction?”
His nostrils flare as I point to my ring finger.
“My family isn’t in the business of selling women,” he spits out.
“Really?” I laugh maniacally. “If that were true, I’d be back home in Mexico with my brothers. No matter how you want to paint our circumstances, this is exactly what it is. I was sold to you for the price of peace. And that peace can only prevail by the combining of your blood with mine.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Rosa? Stop with the fancy wordplay and just speak your mind already.”
I fist my hands at my sides, hating that this man would make me spell it out for him and humiliate myself even more than I already have.
“How am I supposed to bear an heir if my husband refuses to live in the same house as me? To even touch me?”
His stare goes dark and he eats up the distance between us in such a way that my heart literally jumps to my throat. I don’t dare move, not wanting him to think I’m weak or that he intimidates me.
But he does.
I see the boss of the family when he places his hands around my neck and slams me against one of the boxing ring’s ropes.
“Is this temper tantrum just your way of saying you want to get fucked again, Rosa?”
His crude words whispered in my ear should offend me, but instead, they make the lower part of my belly twist in anticipation. “Is that all this is? Are you so cock-hungry that you’ve decided to come to my gym and make a show of yourself in front of my men? Is that what you want? For me to fuck the insolence out of you, once and for all?”
“I want you to fulfill your oath to me and my family.”
“I don’t remember fucking your brains out being in the terms and conditions of the agreement,” he taunts, just adding to my humiliation.
“No. But if there is any other scenario you can come up with where I can bear a child of your blood, then I’m all for it.”
His features change from mocking to downright lethal. This must be the face his enemies see up close when he’s about to cut them down and steal their life away.
Tiernan leans in even closer to me until his sweaty chest rubs against mine, coaxing a trace of a shiver to run rampant within my body, making it impossible for me to stand still. His breath kisses my skin, my heart running a mile a minute at how close he is. But while his body is running hot, his gaze is as cold as the Antarctic.
His eyes look like a thunderstorm, ready to electrocute me where I stand.
He doesn’t say a word, but in this very moment, he doesn’t have to.
He hates me.
Hates everything about me.
And my heart withers up inside and dies, mourning the life I could have had with a husband who actually cared for me. I don’t cower and lower my gaze, although I’m sure he sees the sadness written in it. But to look away would mean defeat. Let him read how miserable I am. Let him choke on my misery just as I have since I set foot in Boston. I have felt like a stranger and an enemy from day one. His dark glower only serves to confirm what I’ve known all along.
I’ll never make a home here.
I’ll never find a sliver of happiness or joy.