At that, Manny stands up on his feet, bringing me right along with him. He places me gently on the ground, his crazy eyes watching Cain’s.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, man? Get your goddamned shit together. She’s your fucking wife, you asshole. Now, she isn’t going with me, because she belongs with you. I love you like a brother, dude, but treat her like your damn wife and not like you treat every other asshole around you. Christ, Cain! Sometimes I think I don’t even fucking know you anymore. And fucking tell her the goddamned truth.”
Cain sucks in a deep breath. I feel like shit for putting Manny in the middle like this by suggesting I stay with him. Stepping in between the two men, I place a hand on each of their chests, directing my attention to Manny first.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I did. I’m feeling helpless, ripped apart layer by layer. Thank you for being a friend. I’ll be fine.”
I whirl in Cain’s direction.
“And you! I’m not staying in that house. If you want me to stay with you, then fine, but have the damned decency to take me somewhere else. Preferably with a spare room, because I sure as shit will not be sleeping with you. Leave me there. Lock me up while you tend to your little club whore. Do whatever it is you have to do, and do it fast, because I want the hell out of here.”
“I’m fucking gone,” Manny states before he turns back in the direction we came from, leaving me standing in the dark facing a man who I don’t know anymore. And if I were to be honest with myself, I’m afraid of this stranger standing before me.
“I’m going to let your smart mouth slip just this one last time. If you ever speak to me in front of anyone like that again, I will take you over my knee and beat your ass. And it won’t be the kind of spanking that will bring you pleasure.”
I shake my head, dumbfounded. Beat me? Oh, my God. He’s cracked.
“What happened to you? I’m regretting ever loving you at all, Cain, because you are being so childish right now. So arrogant. Tell me how I’m supposed to act? Do you want me to sit by your side like a good little girl? Do you want me to be the good wife and stay home? Wait for you to come to me at night, hoping like hell you haven’t been with someone else? Or better yet, worry that someone may knock on the door at any given moment and say, ‘I’m sorry to inform you, Mrs. Bexley, but your husband is dead’? I’m your wife on paper only, and you’re the one who made sure of that. I’m not your plaything. And you will never put your hands me. I’m nothing to you. NOTHING!”
Cain hisses at me and grabs my arm hard, causing me to stumble forward. He’s pulling me God knows where, half-dragging me as I teeter back and forth on my bloodied and bruised up feet trying to hold myself upright. I flinch, then cry out in pain.
“Cain, stop! You’re hurting me!”
He isn’t listening.
“Ow!” I scream, my body tumbling to the ground.
“Fuck!” Cain roars, releasing his grip.
I try backing up, to get away, but he’s too quick. He picks me up and carries me in his arms. I want to scream, but my vocal cords are paralyzed. I kick, claw, and escape from this wild animal.
He effortlessly hauls me up a few steps, a light flicking on when we hit the top. I blink my eyes rapidly, adjusting to the light. In no time, the door is flung open. Cain kicks it closed before I get any chance at all to see my surroundings. For the first time since I’ve known him, reality sinks into my veins. My Cain is gone. He has been replaced by a psychopath. A stranger.
“Sit, stay, and shut the hell up.”
He sets me down gently on what feels like a couch. I don’t know; it’s still pitch black in here.