Page 41 of Unveiled

“We don’t have to go back in there if you don’t want to,” I assure her. I’m only here because of her, so I wouldn’t mind getting out of this sham of a dinner early. “I can tell everyone that you got sick and I’m taking you home.”

She nods her head, and I can see the wheels spinning in her head as she tries to justify the lie in her head. “Maybe we can try again at a different time and not start the night so horribly.”

“Whatever would make you happy, baby.” Grabbing her hand and lacing our fingers together, we walk around the house until we reach the front door. “Why don’t you go wait in the car while I tell them we’re going home, okay?”

She nods and gives me a small smile as our fingers fall apart. As she turns her back and walks to the car, the idea of taking her home right now has me wanting to just shout through the door that we’re leaving instead of properly speaking to everyone. Unfortunately, she would be angry at me for doing that.

As she opens the door to the car, I open the door to the house and walk inside. Everyone is still sitting around the dinner table, Ethan looking angry and uncomfortable, and his parents looking sheepish.

“Ainsley isn’t feeling very well,” I explain as I walk into the room. “I’m going to take her home so she can get some rest. Thank you for dinner.”

“I hope she feels better,” Veronica says as she tries to make eye contact with me. “Maybe we can try this again? I would really like it if I could spend some time with you, Cain.”

The sad mother act has me burning with rage, but I do a pretty good job of hiding it. She left me as a child and never tried to come back for me. She doesn’t get to make amends now that I’m an adult.

With a fake smile and a nod of my head, I turn my back on the group and turn my focus on getting Ainsley home.

“You think we’re falling for that?” I hear a voice call from behind me as I pull the door open. Only a few more steps and I would have escaped, but of course he has to make this a big thing. “You just fucked her against the side of the house like she’s a cheap whore.”

My eyes were zeroed in on the car, knowing Ainsley is waiting in there for me, but his words stop me in my tracks.

Whirling around, I see the pathetic anger on his face that he means to direct at me. Grabbing the front of his shirt, I yank him out the door and shut it behind him. His parents don’t need to hear this.

As soon as the door shuts, my arm swings back, gaining momentum so I can slam my fist into his face. The sound of flesh hitting flesh and watching him stumble back from the impact makes me feel better, but hearing him insult Ainsley caused more anger than a simple punch can cure.

“Cain!” I hear Ainsley cry as the car door slams shut. “What the hell?”

Her footsteps stop beside me as I see her looking between Ethan and me. “Do you want to tell her what you just said to me?”

Ethan stares at me with hatred in his eyes as I watch him swallow, clearly nervous to have his words repeated.

“What did you say?” Ainsley asks him. She knows I wouldn’t just throw punches unless I was provoked. That’s the easiest way to lose all the progress we made tonight.

Ethan looks between us, his lips not moving to form the words he needs to say. I give him another minute, but when he still doesn’t confess to his insult, I do it for him. “He said I fucked you against the house like a cheap whore.”

Ainsley’s eyes snap to Ethan as his fill with an apology, but without the words coming from his mouth, his apology means nothing.

“Ethan?”

Ainsley gives him a chance to defend himself, but he doesn’t take it. He stays silent, taking the coward’s way out.

“I’m going to say this once, and only once, so get it through your thick fucking skull,” I address him. “When I fuck her, it’s to remind her she belongs to me, and to show her I love her. It’s not just a quick fuck to get my dick wet. She’s not some cheap whore, she’s going to be my wife. If I choose to fuck her against the side of a house, then that’s between her and me. And I promise you, Ethan, she certainly didn’t have a problem with it.”

A small hand wraps around my bicep as Ainsley tries to pull me away, but I don’t budge, too cemented in my spot. “I just want to go home. Take me home, Cain.”

Flashes of her covered in bruises, wearing nothing more than my shirt after attempting to jump off a balcony flash through my head, and I tense up more. No matter how much I try to push the memories out of my head, they’re not going anywhere.

“You’re using his name now?”

The betrayal in Ethan’s voice makes Ainsley flinch and release her grip from my arm, and I lose it. My fists pound into Ethan’s face as Ainsley yells behind me, trying to get me to stop.

“She’s.” Punch. “Not.” Punch. “Yours.” Punch.

Ethan is trying to find an escape, not having the courage to take the punishment for the words he thought he could speak. He finally stumbles away, and I let him go, not wanting to beat him to a point that Ainsley would hate me.

“That’s enough,” Ainsley says behind me in a firm tone I’ve never heard her speak before. Immediately, my back straightens as I take the reprimand she’s waiting to dish out, but Ethan takes the chance to get her on his side. “Both of you.”

Ethan’s mouth shuts, the fight on his tongue dying before it even comes out. I want to reach out and grab my little one, but the fury in her stare keeps me from doing so. She needs this moment as much as I needed her to give in to me.

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