Page 46 of Two Wrongs

Giving her hand a tug, I guide her toward the door. “Let’s go back to your place and pack some of your clothes. You can stay with me for a few days.”

“What about my kitten?” Wren asks.

I roll my eyes. “The kitten too.”

Before I make it out the door Dolores winks at me. I don’t believe for a second she’s having this place fumigated. Whatever she saw after Wren came inside changed her mind about me being with Wren. I’d love to know what it was, because I can’t see a future where I don’t have to encourage her to leave.

* * *

There’sa diner one town over. I hate that I feel the need to avoid being seen with her in town, but no matter how right it feels when I’m with her, what we’re doing is wrong. We also need to talk someplace with people. Every conversation we attempted yesterday ended with an orgasm and no resolution of the issues.

Wren picks at her hash browns. “This is all wrong. We have to go to a different town in order to have breakfast together. You’re missing work. Griff, what are we doing?”

“We’re surviving. Our worlds were both turned upside down by one of the people we trusted the most. No one else understands what we’re feeling.”

She looks down at her plate and plays with her food. “Is that all this is? We’re using each other to cope?”

I take a deep breath. “No. I wish I could say that it was. That I haven’t been fighting an attraction to you for longer than I was willing to admit to myself. I really wish I could say that those feelings haven’t grown to more than the desire to fuck you, but I’m done lying to myself. I’ve held all of this back, from you, Liam and even myself, but his betrayal made me weak.”

Wren laughs lightly and shakes her head. “Never in my wildest imagination would I have guessed that was why you were always such an asshole to me. I loved Liam, and I’m not going to tell you I’ve thought about you like that before that horrible night. Sure, I saw you. Audrey and I used to joke about my hot father-in-law, but when I looked at you I imagined what Liam would look like in the next twenty years.”

She sets her fork down, and looks directly at me. “He broke me that night. No,” she pauses and gives a slight shake of her head, “he had been breaking me for months. Tiny little cracks at first, each time he worked late and forgot to call. When he started to avoid being in the same room with me those cracks grew. That night I shattered. You were there holding me together. I didn’t see Liam in you after that. At least I didn’t see who he’d be in twenty years, I saw the man he should have been. Everything is so mixed up in my head.” She licks her lips and whispers, “I’m afraid.”

“Of what?” I ask her. Inside I’m shaking, because I realize I do want this to work with her. It can’t. I know that much at least. There’s no scenario where Liam would ever accept her and I together, but I can’t stop wishing it could.

“I’m afraid I’m using you. The only time I don’t feel like glass is when I’m with you. There’s been so much weighing me down, but when I’m with you I feel free. But I think I get more out of this arrangement than you do. If Liam finds out you could lose him, whereas he’s already lost me. You’re the only thing I will lose, and that scares me more than it should.”

“Why?” I’m a masochist for even asking the question, but I need her to tell me. Maybe she’ll say something that will help me end this obsession I have for her.

“Because I think it’ll hurt more to leave you than the end of my marriage did.”

I reach across the table, palm up. She doesn’t even hesitate to slide her hand over mine. “Is this my fault? Did I do something to make him turn to drugs?”

My hand tightens around hers. “Fuck no. Why would you think that?”

She chews on her bottom lip, a sure sign she’s nervous to tell me something. “Liam never told you I wanted kids, I take it?”

An image pops in my head uninvited. Wren pregnant, smiling, and cradling her swollen belly. I can’t imagine how hard it would have been to witness her pregnant with another man’s child. My grandchild no less. I’m speechless, because the jealousy coursing through me burns. I’d have had to see it every day. Eventually, at least I hope, I’d have been able to be genuinely happy for them. I’m sure I’d have loved that child, but I wonder if a part of me would have always wished it was mine.

Wren mistakes my silence, and pulls her hand away. “I did, didn’t I? I put too much pressure on him. This is all my fault.”

The waitress chooses the worst timing possible and swings by to check on us. We’ve barely eaten, but I’ve lost my appetite. “How is everything tasting, folks?” she chirps.

I glare at her. “Just give me the check,” I snap.

“Griffin,” Wren hisses. “She’s just doing her job.”

The waitress stands by with her mouth opening and closing. I pull out my wallet and throw some bills on the table. It’s too much, and I’ve probably tipped at least fifty percent of the bill, but that’s for the best. I do know when I’m being an asshole, I just don’t usually care enough to stop doing it.

Like, now. I know Wren thinks I’m pissed at her. I’m being abrupt and irritable, but I need a minute to get my thoughts straight in my head. I grab her arm and pull her out of the booth when she doesn’t move fast enough.

Outside in the parking lot, I pin her against the passenger door of my truck. I grab her chin so she can’t hide her face from me like she’s got a bad habit of doing. “I don’t ever want to hear you take the blame for the way Liam treated you. He chose to ignore you, to cheat on you. He is the one who took drugs, which was not your fault. If anyone is to blame for that, it’s those damn doctors for giving him narcotics for a minor concussion.”

She tries to dip her head, but I force her to continue looking at me. “I know I seem angry, but it’s not because I think you wanting a baby drove him to drugs. I think he was damn lucky he had someone like you wanting to build a family with him. I’m pissed because I’m jealous.”

Her eyes flutter. “Why?”

I laugh in frustration, and drop my forehead to rest against hers. “You just refuse to see it. I want you. I’d love for it to be my babies growing inside of you. I hate myself for being jealous of my own son, but I am. I’m fucking green over the fact he had that possibility with you and I only get a few weeks.”

---