Page 65 of Beyond our Forever

“Actually, I’ve never been here before,” he informs me as I raise my eyebrows skeptically. “But it turns out that I know the owner. He’s Christopher Green’s brother, the chief of staff. Do you remember him?”

“The tall, thin one, with more hair on his eyebrows than on his head?”

“Yes, the very same,” he laughs. “Now let’s do what we came for, gorgeous girl. Let’s dance.”

The music plays and suddenly I feel strange, lost among a sea of moving bodies without knowing what to do with mine, until my husband’s hand slips around my waist, pulling me close to him.

I close my eyes, letting myself go, once again I allow him to be my guide. Soon my arms wrap around his neck and I melt into his chest, where I want to live forever.

Bruce moves his hips, instinctively inviting me to follow him. And he’s good. So good that in my treacherous head I hear Emilia’s voice saying that he must have learnt this from someone.

Maybe from his blonde friend?

“Is something wrong?” he asks, taking my face in his hands, kissing me softly, realizing that I’ve tensed and I’m frowning.

“Nothing’s wrong,” I reply unconvincingly. “I just need to go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll come with you,” he says, taking my hand to lead the way through the crowd.

The night continues but I can’t enjoy it in the same way now. I can’t shake the image of my husband with the woman from the mall out of my head. The faceless woman whose name I don’t even know.

“You know, if you don’t tell me what’s bothering you, I won’t be able to solve it,” Bruce says when we’re sitting on the couch trying to catch our breath.

“Nothing’s wrong,” I lie again.

“Famous and dangerous last words,” he replies. “Ilythia, if we want this to work, we have to communicate. Please tell me what’s going on so we can fix it.”

I look into his dark eyes for answers to questions I dare not ask as Bruce waits for me to explain.

“Who’s she?” I finally blurt out, unable to keep it in any longer.

“Who is who?” He looks lost, like he has no idea what I’m talking about.

“I’ll ask you one more time.” My voice gets louder, but fortunately the music is so loud it muffles my yell. “Who’s the blonde you’ve been hanging out with?”

Chapter 18

At this point I wish I had taken some classes for deciphering expressions, when I see the look of total bewilderment and disbelief on my husband’s face.

Bruce looks at me, opens his mouth, then shuts it again as he closes his eyes and remains silent. Clenches his fists. Silence. As the seconds pass my nervousness increases, so much so that I am about to scream, asking him to say something.

Anything!

“Care to explain to me where the hell you got that information?”

Typical, evading the answer by answering my question with another.

Sure it might be Emilia’s voice speaking, but there’s no denying she has a fair point.

“Answer me, who’s the blonde you’ve been hanging out with, Bruce?”

He watches me in silence, everything around us has disappeared, only the distant reflection of the club lights remains in his dark eyes that are glowing furiously.

“I’m asking for more information because I’m trying to figure out who the hell you’re talking about.”

“There’s more than one?” This can’t be happening, it’s definitely worse than I thought.

My head, which was starting to buzz from the effects of the alcohol, now does so for a very different reason.

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