Page 94 of Devil Mine

“Wedding dresses still drive the largest part of my business. I actually have an appointment with a new bride in a few weeks who wants me to custom design a piece for her, so that’s exciting,” she says.

“It is!” I interject, still distracted.

Scenes of Thiago licking the alcohol off my stomach while I lay on the floor of the library flash through my mind. I’d wanted him to fuck me, had told him to justdo it, but he’d been as stubborn as me, refusing to go any further unless I said the words he wanted to hear.

He left me needy and lightheaded with arousal, his anger clear in the way he slammed the door closed behind him. But I still went down to the kitchen in the middle of the night like I had every night before, and I waited for him.

He never came.

A nameless emotion had grown in the pit of my stomach as I sat there, hopeful minutes turning into lonely hours.

And now he’s on the other side of the room alone, because I was still upset with him for standing me up and I’d wanted to make him feel a sliver of what I felt last night, so I’d abandoned him the second we got here.

Sometimes the queen makes a bad move on the board, a mistake that she has to pay for.

I’m certainly paying for mine now.

“...I definitely want to diversify my portfolio though. I love wedding dresses, but I want to try everything. Gowns, every day attire, business wear, lingerie, you name it. I think this’ll be the last bridal client I take on for a while,” Dagny finishes.

Guilt lances through me. I’m a terrible friend, I can’t even listen to her for five minutes without worrying about my own problems.

“Please let me wear whatever you design,” I beg, grabbing her hand. “You know I’m your number one fan — whatever you make, I want to wear it. If you’ll have me, that is.”

“Duh,” she says with a smile. “A smoking hot blonde wearing all of my designs? You’re the one doingmea favor.”

I scoop her up into a tight hug, twirling her around. “You’re going to be a household name with the best of them in no time, Dags, and I can’t wait to have a front row seat to it when it happens.”

Her beaming smile wipes suddenly off her face, replaced by a dark scowl taking over her features. Her eyes are trained on something in the distance behind me.

“Are you alright?” I ask, concerned.

She growls angrily. “You’re going to turn around and see this for yourself so let me warn you first. There’s a doe-eyed, homewreckingbitchsmiling vapidly up at your husband like he just told the funniest joke ever recorded.”

I deflate, the air exiting my lungs.

“Gold dress?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“No.”

My eyes snap to hers and I whirl around to find that it is indeed a completely different woman hitting on Thiago now. His back is to me so I can’t see his face or how he reacts to her.

My cheeks heat in anger.

The first one hugged him and left so I did nothing, but this second one fingering her hair and giving Thiago an inviting smile makes my blood boil.

Dagny gives me a pointed look. “That’s your man she’s publically salivating over, Tessie. Might be time for you to admit to the Stockholm’s Syndrome, don’t you think?”

I aim for nonchalance, for an unaffected shrug.

“I don’t ca—”

My words cut off abruptly when I watch the woman step closer. She puts her hand on Thiago’s arm, cocks her head to the side and laughs flirtily, the whole thing happening with the slow motion precision of a car crash, one I can’t look away from.

I’m charging across the room before I can even process it, my temper flaring bright red and my vision tunneling venomously in on them as I approach from behind him.

Even though the black haze of fury renders me nearly sightless, I manage to rip her hand off his arm and throw it back at her, enjoying the way it falls limply at her side. I position myself between them, my back turned to him.

The woman has the audacity to give me a puzzled look. I’ve never understood violence until this very moment when I have to physically restrain myself from scratching her eyes out for looking at my husband like he’s a snack and me like I’m crazy.

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