Page 30 of I Replaced His Husband
I had to ask. The question was just sitting there.
"Can you tell me what happened, Storm? For real. I mean the truth."
He was quiet again for a second, then let out a dry scoff. "The truth? What, you think I did it?"
"Did you?"
"You’re such an asshole, Rain! Seriously? You’ve got the balls to ask me that?"
"I want to believe you didn’t. I really do. It’s just… sometimes people see things differently. Maybe you did something he misunderstood?"
"Yeah. Like not wanting him to fuck around with other people. My bad!"
So I’d been right to worry. I swallowed hard. All that flirtatious energy Tom gave off, maybe it wasn’t just innocent charm after all. People called him sweet and fun, but I’d always sensed something selfish and slippery underneath it.
"What a piece of work. Did you lose it on him?"
"You could say that. But I didn’t touch him."
"Uhh… what did you touch?"
He let out a short grunt. "Stuff that doesn’t really matter."
"To you. But to him?"
"Some clothes. Some pillows."
I paused as that sank in. It hit me like the smell of smoke in a room you didn’t know had caught fire.
"You trashed his nest!"
"Yep. And a few other things. His laptop, his phone. Might’ve dinged up his car a little too."
"For fuck’s sake, Storm. Trashing his nest?The nest?!That’s not gonna help you in court. You’re looking at emotional damage claims. Abuse charges. That’s serious!"
"Yeah, well, it's also serious to come home early and find your husband impaled on some random guy's dick, bouncing up and down!"
"Can’t argue with that. What happened to the other guy?"
"As far as I know? Sprained ankle. He jumped out the damn window when he saw me. Second floor. I didn’t chase him, which, honestly, was probably for the best."
"I hate to say it, but I’m gonna: I told you so." I couldn’t help the smug edge in my voice. I’d seen this coming. "Remember when you brought Tom home the first time? I said, ‘he smells like a narcissist.’ You got all pissed and called me names. But guys like him? They don’t care about other people’s feelings. They just take what they want and leave the wreckage behind."
Storm gave a bitter laugh, but it didn’t sound amused. "Oh, thanks! What would I do without you, dear brother? Should’ve listened to you and everything would’ve been perfect."
"Stop that. You just simply followed your dick, because Tom was pretty, so you shrugged off all the warnings."
"Wow. You’re not just a mind-reader, you’re a therapist and a fortune teller all mixed up in one person."
He was pissed, no question. And to be honest, he had a right to be. I probably could have held back, just this once. No one wanted the lecture while their lives were falling apart.
"Anyway, too late now. But you know Tom’s gonna make a big deal about the nest thing and the property damage. He’ll milk it for everything."
"And I make a big deal about my husband getting nailed by strangers. We didn’t have an open relationship, Rain! Period. This was cheating. End of story."
"Yeah, but courts usually side with omegas. You know that. So it’s gonna be rough."
He didn’t say anything. I could hear him breathing faster.
