Page 241 of Bride of Choice

“First of all, Goober- I mean Gopher,” I quickly corrected, gaping slightly in horror at my boo-boo, “is athletically built, he’s not stick thin, ahem, and Odix’s head is quite properly… erm, proportionate to the rest of him, if… if slightly shaped like a kumquat, but if you tell him I said that,” my finger shot up and I jerked it at him menacingly, “I’ll murder you.”

A smirk of a smile tugged at Rek’s lips at my slip up.

“It’s not funny!” I warned him, even as my lips started to twitch.

Clearing his throat, he tried to look serious. He was failing horribly. I probably wasn’t faring that much better but thank god I didn’t have a mirror handy to shame myself with.

“My Jojomine forgive Rek? Put Rek ring back on Jo’s finger?” he rumbled out softly, lifting his hands to hold them palms out to me.

When I didn’t protest him moving in closer, he came right up to me, holding his arms out, waiting for me to slip into them and cuddle into him.

I didn’t.

“God knows why but I love you, and I- I love them, too. Can you handle that?” Biting at the inside of my cheek, I focused on his left pectoral for some odd reason, like staring at his man-boob gave me somewhere to focus that was close enough to his face, if not quite that close. I couldn’t handle him blowing up at me for that after just admitting he was wrong. The last blow up of his, it was ingrained in my mind. That shit’s kind of hard to get past. He hasn’t been the kindest seekret, kinda seekret, boyfriend, fiancé, whatever, to be with, and I was sugarcoating the fuck out of that right now. “You’ve pulled a lot of shit,” I told his shoulder, inching my gaze closer towards his collarbone. “A lot,” I quietly stressed. “I forgave you last time- I mean, you swore to me you were going to try, and you did for a while, until you didn’t-”

“Odix say Rek no keep Joanie to self. My Jojomine him’s mate too,” he chuffed out.

“And that was the thing that triggered you? How the fuck is that my fault, fuzz nugget?!” I demanded to know. “I’m not responsible for what comes out of Odix’s mouth!”

“Him big, fat, breath stinky mouth. Gopher say Odix first mate, him second. He not. Joanie no say him second. Celuk beats them both up. Celuk oldest, strongest, want flap the gums at Rek,” Rek muttered. He buttoned up that line of shit talking quick at the look I gave him. We weren’t going to go there.

“What did I do to you? How did I deserve your bullshit?! Show me where on the doll I hurt you, that made you lose your everlovin’!”

“Kirch say love not always make sense. Makes crazy,” Rek rumbled out, lifting his hand to tug at the end of his ear until he was flat out jerking on it.

“YOU drive me crazy, and Kirch sounds like a rambly old woman. Are you just going to stand around and quote him all day or tell me what I did that hurt you?” My voice trembled. I was just that keyed up.

I didn’t know how much more of this I was willing to take. This yo-yo-ing back and forth, something was going to fucking snap.

“Rek think- My Jojomine not want- My Joanie pick other males over Rek for first mate. My Jojo not make Rek first mate when Rek Joanie’s seemkret boyfriend first,” he blurted in a rush. “Make Stink Breath first- No want Rek babies. Goober and Stink Breath say Jojomine no want give Rek babies because Rek bad male, bad mate, no make Jojomine feel safe and want to have babies with Rek. Rek push, push, push, push to Celuk, push to Stink Breath, push to Goober.”

I opened my mouth to argue the pushing thing, but quite literally, I found myself crossing paths with Gopher because of Rek’s actions, and to an extent, Odix only heard about me because of Rek’s Poop girl rumors. The Celuk thing was more of a combination of things… I didn’t want to open that can of worms.

“Do you listen to me when I talk?” I demanded to know. “Because I swear, you can’t act like you’re hearing me, I can tell there’s a light on, but sometimes my words either don’t sink in or you take them and turn them around into something I most certainly did NOT say!”

“Rek listening,” he grunted out.

“Then you’d know, and if not, fucking hear me now, I don’t want to have children at all right now. Not with you, or Odix, or Gopher, or even Celuk! I grew up in a dysfunctional household. I know that trauma, thank you very much. I’m not going to foist that on my kid and do them dirty in the same fashion, or worse, as the case may be with your quirky, temperamental ass!” I was winded and out of breath from growling all that out to him, half seething from feeling repeatedly unheard.

Odix and Gopher instigating shit was just making my life worse. They knew how to press Rek’s buttons and they were pushing fucking all of them, like a tween on a twenty floor elevator.

“Jojomine wants to have Rek’s babies?” he mumbled hopefully.

“What did I just say?” I hissed at him.

“Jojomine… Jojomine still loves Rek?”

“Stop asking stupid questions. You know I love you, you ridiculous bastard. I’m here, still dealing with your bullshit, and you’re not fertilizing my flowers!”

Scooping me up in a hug that found me squished into that pectoral I’d been staring at so hard just a bit ago, his chest revved to life in a wild purr.

“Maybe not make babies for Celuk.” Rek let out a loud grunt. “Him crazy.” An honest to god shudder left him.

“And you’re what, an angel?” My snort was loud, full of what the fuck do you think you’re even tryna say, and Rek knew it.

“Rek babies not be crazy. Rek’s babies be beautiful, smart, mouthy, loud, mean, like my Jojomine,” he rumble-purred happily, like that last bit there was a compliment.

“God save me,” I mumbled into his chest. Did I really just sign up to my own personal headache yet again with this psycho? I was nutsy cuckoo. There was absolutely no other explanation.

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