Page 7 of Without Judgment

“I’m sorry.”

Tears burned in my eyes. Amazing how I’d once thought I would spend my life with this man. “I don’t believe you. You’re pathetic. And the best thing that could’ve happened was finding out what a piece of shit you are before I married you.” I spun around, not bothering to give more than a glance to my tall, dark, and very angry security detail. I’d come to do what I had to and didn’t care about the consequences.

Once we were at the curb, I watched Mason hand the valet his ticket and then stand with his hands in his pockets. He looked more than angry. Good, because I was pissed, too. At Edward for putting me in this situation, at my father for not caring about the truth, and at this man who seemed to think he had the right to judge me.

It wasn’t until we got into my father’s rented black Escalade and had pulled out that Mason unleashed his fury. He didn’t yell. Instead, his voice was quiet, controlled, and filled with temper.

“What part of listening don’t you understand? You don’t ditch me, and you certainly don’t go against all orders about keeping away from your ex.”

I turned to glance at his profile and fired back. “If you were in my shoes, wouldn’t you confront the person doing this to you?”

“I wouldn’t find myself in your shoes.”

I huffed. “Right, because the guy is automatically the stud while the girl is the slut. I’m with one man my entire life, and suddenly I’m a whore that everyone is viewing online. And it’s not even me. Not that you care. Because my own father doesn’t seem to. But imagine watching a video and knowing it’s not you, and yet everyone thinks it is. Imagine how angry you’d be.”

He paused, stealing a glance my way. “How do you know it’s not you? With the number of times you two were together, he might have snuck in a camera.”

“It’s not my body. Not my actions. I never would’ve been so—I don’t know—”

“Into it?”

I snapped my gaze to his. “Did you see it?”

He shook his head, concentrating on the road. “It’s not pertinent to the job, so no.”

I was instantly relieved.

But then he opened his mouth with a lecture. “You are not to go near him again. Nor are you to pull the little stunt you did.”

“Fine.”

“No, it’s not fine. You need to start following the rules.”

“Or what?” I might not be able to challenge my father, but I’d be damned if I’d have some asshole bodyguard tell me what to do. Admittedly, he was a really hot asshole bodyguard. “You going to take me over your knee and spank me?”

The moment the words left my mouth, I felt my entire face and neck flush. The blush deepened when he chuckled.

“What I’d have in mind would be a hell of a lot less enjoyable. Are you ready to return to the house?”

“No. I have actual lunch plans with friends.”

His smirk basically said, ‘of course you do, princess.’

***

My plan after graduating college was to get married and buy a house with Edward. Embarrassingly enough, beyond that I hadn’t had other aspirations. My degree was in communications, and I’d figured I’d get a job at some point. But without knowing where Edward would go for his master’s, I’d been satisfied to wait and see where we’d settle.

I’d been content to act like a fifties housewife, more worried about decorating our future home than my career trajectory. It had been stupid and naive. I’d let my identity get wrapped around a man. I’d let the relationship and wanting to be with him at school dictate which college I attended—despite having been accepted at better schools. Not that he’d ever asked, but I’d gladly given up my individuality. It had been ‘Avery and Edward’ for the last eight years so that losing him had been like cutting off a part of myself. But I endeavored to find out who I was. To get back out there and not let the breakup, nor this latest setback, keep me from rediscovering my wants and my future.

Fifteen minutes after the country club scene, I walked into one of my favorite restaurants. I felt a genuine smile for the first time in days when I spotted my friends Tara and Alicia sitting at a table waiting for me. Whereas Alicia was tanned with brown hair, Tara was the opposite, with beautiful, fiery red hair and pale skin. We’d been friends since high school. After they’d moved back from attending college in Tennessee, it had been nice to reconnect with them in our home town. But instead of chatting about what was happening in their lives, they had only one topic on their minds.

“How are you with the video thing?”

“Oh, my God, is everything okay?”

It was a good thing that, after scanning the place for photographers and finding none, Mason had decided to stay in the vehicle and wait for me out front. Otherwise, these two girls would have had a load of additional questions about him.

“Yeah. I’m okay. Spoke with Edward before coming here. That coward won’t tell the truth about it not being me in the video.”

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