Page 72 of Say You Love Me

He grunts. “I’ll survive.”

After inhaling deeply, he lets the smoke out into the night air. It swirls around us both, toying with the idea of lingering before evaporating to nothing.

I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. “I thought you would be gone by now.”

“I needed to make sure you were okay.”

Even though my arms are tight to my chest, I lift my elbows as if it proves the state of my being. “I’m fine.”

Rylee’s eyes snap to where my bathrobe opens. His eyes narrow in on the nail prints in blood covering my hips.

“Finity…” He steps toward me but I take a step back.

“Don’t,” is all I say.

He chews on his bottom lip, then tosses his unfinished cigarette into the lake. “You can’t stay with him, Fin. It’s not safe.”

I laugh. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Rylee.” I take one last drag on the cigarette and toss it into the water. It falls beside Rylee’s and bobs on the surface.

He grips my hand and I try to pull away but his grasp is too tight.

“Finity, please. Come away with me. Leave him. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“We’ve been over this, Rylee. He’s my husband.”

“But he doesn’t care for you like I do. I would look after you, Fin.”

“And what makes you think I need looking after? I’m not some possession to keep.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Well, what are you saying? You’re asking me to leave my husband. My husband who loves me.”

He snorts. “Loves you? That’s not what love is.”

“And what would you know about love? All you are is someone Hudson used to…” I don’t finish the sentence, knowing how cruel it would be.

“To what?”

“Never mind. Just go, Rylee. Just leave.”

“He’s not good for you.”

“I love him!” The words are loud. They echo off the hulls of the boats and ripple across the water.

“But you love me too, Finity. I know you do. I feel it when we’re together. You can’t be with someone the way we were and not have feelings for them. Please, Finity. Say you love me,” Rylee begs.

His fingers are digging into my arm. I don’t think he means to hurt me but the intensity with which he’s speaking leeches into his actions.

“But I don’t. I don’t love you, Rylee.”

He takes a step back but doesn’t loosen his grip on my arm. His voice is low and dark when he speaks. “How do you think people would react if they knew?”

I frown. “Knew what?”

“If people knew Hudson liked to watch other men fuck his wife?”

A knot of panic twists in my gut and I test the firmness of his grip again, trying to pull away. “What are you saying, Rylee?”

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