Page 46 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

“Jesus, Lily!” I hissed at her, taken back by her forthrightness.

“Well?”

“Lil! Come on!” There was no fucking way I was answering that question. It was a fucking trap and even an idiot would know that.

“That’s what I thought. Any woman who would sleep with a man, knowing he’s married, is a whore. She’s taking something that doesn’t belong to her.”

“Yeah? What’s that make the man?” Why the fuck did I ask that?

“Garbage! It makes him a garbage human being.” She walked away from me after that and I let her because if ever there was a blow to a man’s ego, it was when his wife told him he was a garbage human being. There was no disputing it because it was fucking true.

I stood back, in the shadows, and watched as Lily made her way through the party instead of following her. She found the liquor and did a few shots with a few people. Unfortunately, some of those people were very interested men. It was the first time I ever had regrets about not getting my wife a wedding ring when we were married. They had no clue she was taken.

Then again, was she really taken when I fucked around like a single man all the time? Fuck that! There was no way I could stand back and watch Lily flirt with those men and possibly leave with one of them. I pushed off the wall and headed in her direction, dodging a woman I’d fucked just last weekend on my way. Yeah, I was aware that it made me a fucking hypocrite.

“Merc!” She shouted after me, but I simply shook my head and kept on going into the kitchen where my wife had just thrown her head back in laughter over something the asshole standing next to her had said.

I walked right up to him and shouldered the guy out of the way.

“Hey man! Not fucking cool!”

“No, what’s not cool is you trying to get all up in my wife’s space,” I warned him. Lily had been distracted by the girl on the other side of the room who hopped up on the counter for body shots. Judging by the way my wife was watching, she’d never seen them done before.

“Your wife?” Asshole sputtered. I couldn’t remember his name, but I’d seen him around before. He hung out with the band I was friends with.

“That’s what I just fucking said.”

“Yeah, okay,” he laughed it off. “I just saw you fucking Sabrina at a party last week.” It would figure that Lily would tune back into the conversation at exactly that exact moment. “Sabrina!” Asshole called out to the chick who was about to offer her body up for shots. “Weren’t you and Tina fucking Merc at that party last weekend?”

She turned her attention from asshole to me and winked while licking her lips. “I sure was, and maybe if I’m a lucky girl, we’ll go back for thirds tonight.”

Asshole laughed. “See!” He shouted in that obnoxious way drunk men do. “He just tried telling me that this woman is his wife!”

You could have heard a pin drop with the way everyone stopped and turned to look at Lily who was angrily slamming another shot back. Fuck! I punched asshole in the face, knocking him out cold with that one hit, then I grabbed hold of Lily before she could walk out, but Sabrina wasn’t about to let shit go.

“Are you serious right now? You brought your wife to a party where you’ve fucked at least half the women here?”

“Are you serious right now?” Lily asked her in return. “Knowing his wife is standing right here, you’re going to keep making things worse for all of us?”

Sabrina shrugged. “It’s no skin off my nose. I’m not the one married to him. That’s your problem.”

“It’s not my problem either,” Lily threw back. “Because he’s not bringing home your diseases to me, but you know how many of these women have some shit you don’t want? You’re passing him around like it doesn’t matter, but condoms don’t protect against everything.” When Sabrina only rolled her eyes, Lily continued.

“I wouldn’t let him in my house for like two weeks after he kept scratching at his crotch so hard. I’m guessing he got that fixed, but how many of you was he with before he did?” With that, she flounced away giggling to herself. If she hadn’t just told an entire room full of people that I had itchy dick problems, I’d probably have found it funny, especially when Sabrina and a few others took off and left the party after that.

I gave Lily some space for a while and continued watching as she got tipsy and laughed more. She was beautiful. I don’t know why I’d never really noticed much before. I always knew she was pretty, but Lily possessed this inner glow that most women just didn’t have.

“Come on, Lil, time to get you home before you turn into a pumpkin,” I finally told her a couple hours later when she was failing miserably at playing pool while nursing a beer.

“Why? I’m having fun.”

“You’ll have Declan tomorrow,” I reminded, and she huffed.

“It must be nice to be you,” she declared.

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“You go out and party all the time and never have to worry about being the one to take care of your own damn son. You just assume I’ll give up my life to be there to do it. And I will! But you know what? Fuck you for assuming that and behaving the way you do!”

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