Page 87 of Cruel Vows

“I know that your attitude throughout our marriage has been the one constant thing about you, and that it’s starting to grow old. I know that you agreed to try to get along, and for a while there, it seemed like it was possible.” I lean down and suck onher pulse, grinning when it falters slightly. “And I know that for all the times you fight me, there is also nothing you want more than me.”

“You’re a bastard,” she says, though her words have no true weight.

“And you’re a spoiled brat.”

“You really want to call me that after all you’ve put my family through? Years ago and now? You have the balls to say that to me after you know exactly what I’ve been through?”

My teeth grind together as I hold on to her tighter, keeping her from thrashing too hard and hurting herself. “Your father was cheating on your mother with mine. They were sleeping together from the moment after your youngest sister was born until the day he died. He was plotting against my father.”

“I know all the reasons he died, but it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m married to the man who killed him!”

“He was doing business behind Dad’s back and sleeping with his wife. Your father was no saint, and he had his death coming the entire time.”

“And you were the one who just had to kill him. You saw him standing there with me and you thoughtoh, now is as good a time as any to kill him.” Ellie’s tears track down her cheeks, but her voice doesn’t break.

She goes still beneath me, and for a moment, I see myself through her eyes.

I’m the man who killed her father, even if he did have it coming.

“Get the hell off me,” she says, venom spewing with her words. “And leave me the hell alone.”

Ellie and I have given each other hell for years, and I’ve pushed about every single one of her buttons, and yet she still hasn’t killed me in my sleep.

Instead, she’s become someone I care about more than I want to admit.

She’s the woman who threatened Dominic at gunpoint for me.

I sigh, letting go of her wrists. “If it’s just Kara who goes into the clinic with you and sits in the staff break room throughout your shift, will that be fine with your bosses?”

Ellie stills, her eyes widening. “Alright, so, let me get this straight. Now that we’re fighting yet again, you’re willing to give me what I want, even though you could have done that from the beginning. What the hell, Sean?”

I groan and get off her, hauling her to her feet. “I don’t know what the hell you want from me right now. First, I tell you that I’ll consider the clinic, and now that I’ve changed my mind, there’s a problem?”

“Of course there is, because you only change your mind when there’s something that benefits you!” She throws her arms in the air before they drop down to her thighs, hands slapping against her flesh.

I stare at her, wondering what the hell to do. “You know, I’ve tried to be a good husband despite everything that’s happened between the two of us over the years. I tried to make you happy despite the clear contempt you have for me. I thought we were getting to a good place, but now look at the two of us.”

Her eyes sparkle with tears as she wipes the tracks from her cheeks. “Maybe this would all just be better if we got a divorce.”

The pulse that had been pounding in my ears comes to a screeching halt. “Excuse me?”

She lifts her chin higher. “You heard me. I think that we should get a divorce. Even if the two of us care about each other, it’s clear that this is never going to work.”

It feels like she’s pulled the ground out from beneath me. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. You know that?”

I close the distance between us in two large steps, grabbing her by the hips and dragging her against me. She looks up at me, and when her lips part, I slant mine against them, claiming whatever curse or biting remark she was about to throw at me.

Her soft moan as our tongues tangle is the truth, not the words she was saying.

Whether she’s ready to admit it or not, she wants this.

There’s a part of her that’s gotten used to marriage to me. Hell, as I pick her up and toss her over my shoulder without getting a foot to the balls, I would venture as far as to say that she likes our marriage.

I smack her ass hard, smirking when she whimpers and presses her thighs tighter together.

“Ellie, you wouldn’t be soaking wet for me if you wanted a divorce. You like this game of back and forth between the two of us. You crave it as much as I do and you’ve made it clear that you’re willing to do just about anything to pick a fight.”

“Not anything.” She swings a foot, but I wrap my arm just below her knees, keeping her legs pinned in place. “I’ve never met anyone else who pisses me off the way you do. That’s not the way a marriage should be.”

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