Page 84 of Another Christmas from Hell

“I’m not doing this with you tonight,” Bryce said, placing the sledgehammer back against the wall and made his way to the cooler that he kept in the corner.

“Well, that’s too bad because I’m not leaving until we talk,” Cayley said as he grabbed a lukewarm water from the cooler and took a sip as his gaze landed on that ring on her finger.

“Congratulations,” Bryce said dryly, watching as she followed his gaze before her shoulders slumped.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Cayley said, gesturing weakly to the ring that was still on her fucking finger.

“It’s exactly what it looks like,” Bryce said, deciding that he’d had enough for one night and headed up the stairs to set to work on the master bedroom that he’d planned on sharing with her, only to decide against it and headed for the kitchen instead.

“Would you please just talk to me, Bryce?” Cayley said, following him down the long hallway.

“No,” Bryce bit out, grabbing the sledgehammer he’d left on the kitchen island and focused on the cabinets that needed to fucking go.

“Bryce, it’s Christmas Eve. Let’s go home and talk about this,” Cayley said after a slight hesitation.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, taking aim at the cabinets above the sink and took it out. Normally, he would have been more careful taking them down, but tonight, he wanted to fucking kill something.

“Bryce, please!”

Bryce moved to take another swing, only to decide to give her exactly what she wanted. Nodding, he tossed the sledgehammer aside, completely destroying several tiles in the process. “You want to talk about this?” he asked, turning around to face the woman that fucking destroyed him.

“Yes,” Cayley said, looking really fucking relieved.

That is until he moved closer.

“Then, let’s talk,” Bryce said, picking her up and placed her on the kitchen island.

When she opened her mouth, he cut her off. “Why don’t we start by you explaining why you used me,” Bryce suggested as he stepped between her legs and placed his hands on the kitchen island as he watched her determined expression turn confused.

“You think I used you?” Cayley asked, only to follow his gaze as he gave that fucking ring on her finger a pointed look.

“Looks that way to me,” Bryce said, looking back to find her watching him as her mouth worked soundlessly until she gave up trying to come up with a bullshit excuse and let her shoulders slump in defeat.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“No?” he asked, watching as a strand of her hair slipped free and brushed against her bare shoulder.

“I don’t know why he did what he did, Bryce, but I don’t want him,” Cayley said as he somehow resisted the urge to brush that strand of hair behind her ear and kiss her shoulder, making him fucking hate himself for wanting her this much.

“The ring says otherwise,” Bryce pointed out.

“No, the ring said that I didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late,” Cayley said, sounding pissed.

Good.

He wanted her pissed.

“And yet, it’s still on your finger,” Bryce drawled as he kept his gaze locked with hers.

“Because I can’t get the stupid thing off!” Cayley snapped, reaching for the ring, only to drop her hand away with a heavy sigh as he stood there, nodding as he reached behind him for the jar of orange grease cutter on the kitchen counter.

“That’s an easy fix,” Bryce murmured, opening the jar and-

“What the hell happened to your hand?” Bryce demanded, all the anger suddenly disappeared as he took in her swollen knuckles and the bruise already starting to form.

“A pillar got in the way,” Cayley muttered, dipping her fingers in the orange grease and carefully coated her finger.

“What happened?” Bryce asked, gently brushing her hand away so that he could carefully work the ring off her finger.

---