Page 10 of The Butcher

Not he, as in Bastien, but he, as in my soon-to-be ex-husband, Adrien.

He took a seat at the bar and looked at me with his classic pissed-off expression.

I stared him down with the most irritation I could muster. “Why are you here?”

He continued to stare at me, a tint to his face.

“Are you going to order something or…?” I didn’t have time for this immature bullshit. There were other people sitting at the bar. Even though it was a weeknight, it was a packed house.

“You had someone at your apartment last night.”

I stilled at the statement and felt the anger seep in. “You’re watching me?”

“Making sure you’re safe?—”

“I’m not doing this here.” I wanted to raise my voice but couldn’t. “You’re a fucking prick, you know that?” I walked away and moved on to somebody else in the hope he would leave. I served drinks and kept my eyes on my customers and my hands, and after thirty minutes of ignoring him, he finally left.

But I knew he would be waiting in my apartment when I walked inside.

When I entered the apartment, the lights were already on. I walked into the main room with the dining table and tossed my purse on it, not looking at Adrien even though I spotted his frame in the corner of my eye. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” I turned to look at him head on.

His eyes held unspent rage. “Your husband.”

“Not by choice,” I snapped. “What part of ‘give me space’ do you not understand?”

“Space to fuck around?” He raised his voice, like this truly burned holes through his skin.

“I’m not obligated to tell you a damn thing because I’m not your wife anymore. But unlike you, I’m a decent and honest person who’s as transparent as glass, so I was going to tell you. Paying your men to watch me twenty-four seven is completely unnecessary.”

His face started to blotch red, his anger having no escape except through his skin.

“I met someone I liked—and I fucked him.” If Adrien hadn’t bombarded me at work or admitted he was having his men tail me, I would have been a lot more delicate about it, but I was too pissed off to cushion his feelings. “And it was gooooood.”

He started to tremble, like his head was about to explode from the audacity of my words. He dragged his hand down his facelike he needed to move in some way so he wouldn’t pick up a chair and throw it at me. He turned around and started to pace, too much rage coursing through his body to tolerate.

“So good, I’m glad you cheated on me—let me put it that way.”

He pivoted back in my direction, his eyes so vicious it seemed like he might hurt me. “I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work.”

“What am I doing?”

“An eye for an eye. I get it.”

I released a weak laugh because it was ridiculous. “No, Adrien. I don’t keep receipts or settle scores like you do. I fucked him because I don’t want to be in this marriage anymore, and I’m ready to move on with my life. So let’s file those divorce papers and go our separate ways.”

“Last time we spoke, you said you would think about it.”

“And then I met this sexy-as-fuck man and realized I don’t need to settle for your bullshit. All I asked was for you not to stick your dick in other people, something you promised when we married, but apparently that was too fucking hard.”

He rubbed his hand over his jawline again, knowing this marriage was exploding in his face right now. “It was a mistake.”

“And this guy wasn’t a mistake. I knew exactly what I was doing when I did it. And you can’t fool me, Adrien. You knew exactly what you were doing, too. Just fucking own up to it. Maybe then I would have been willing to work it out with you, but the fact that I had to hear about it from her, of all people…”

“I said I was sorry?—”

“Sorry that you got caught. Big fucking difference.”

“If it was a one-time thing that I regretted and would never repeat, why would I hurt you by telling you that?”

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