Page 66 of The Chosen Two

“Honestly? I thought you’d cheated on me while you were on your trip.”

He slams on the brakes so fast and hard that I’m not surprised to see George almost swerve off the road behind us. “You thought I had cheated? I would never cheat on you, Miranda!”

“Oh, okay. Says the man who spent the last few weeks having an orgy with a bunch of goddess rock stars…”

His face is red with anger and his arms are flailing as he yells, “I was under some kind of spell!”

“That’s not how they work! They don’t mind-control; they just make people feel less obligated to their responsibilities!” I hadn’t thought of it like that until the words came out of my own mouth, but that truth knocked the wind out of me. They hadn’t made him have sex with them. They just made him not care that he shouldn’t be. If he didn’t want to, he wouldn’t have.

I start to fumble with the handle on my car door. “I need to get out. Now.”

“Miranda, don’t go.” Jake is pleading with me desperately.

“I need to get air.” I finally find the right lever and yank, feeling the door spring free. I practically fall out onto the road and immediately get to my hands and knees and begin to throw up. I throw up Callie’s leftovers, again and again. I’m staring into the bright yellow puddle, wondering how long it will take the burning in my esophagus to stop, when I feel a hand on my back. I turn as quick I can, my fist starting to fly. But it’s George, kneeling beside me, and he traps my hand before my knuckles can reach his face. I collapse into him, crying.

“What the hell happened, Miranda?”

But I can’t answer. All I can do is sob. I knew I would have to deal with the emotional ramifications of this battle later. But now that Jake is safe, Lu is dead, and the Muses are hopefully fading into nothingness, I have no more reason to stand.

With his arms around me, George pulls us both to our feet, together, in one graceful move. He leans back to the open door of the SUV. “I’ll take her back to the hotel.”

A heavy sigh emanates from the driver’s seat. “Look kid, I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on with my wife, who you are, why you’re here, or why I was kidnapped. You think I’ll just let her go with you?”

“Jake, you may not know me, but I know you. And trust me when I say I’m exactly who Miranda needs to talk to now. We’ll meet you back at the Palace, and she’ll be ready to tell you everything. Right now, she needs someone who has been with her through this whole ordeal. Someone she doesn’t need to explain anything to right this minute. And, like it or not, that’s me.”

“Oh, that’s you, is it? You know what, fine. Have a good drive. I’ll see you back at the Palace.”

George closes the door, and the SUV speeds off. I watch it get smaller as my husband drives toward the horizon, toward the strip, toward the sun rising on what I suspect is going to be one of the hardest days I’ve ever had to live through. But at least I watch it from the inferred safety of George’s support.

The rest of the drive back to the hotel is miserable. I stare at a random spot on the dashboard in front of me, and although my eyes make no perceptible movement, my mind is racing. My thoughts keep going around in an endless loop:

You cheated too. You slept with Lu.

But you didn’t know it was Lu; you thought it was Jake. That’s the difference. He knew the Muses weren’t you, and he still slept with them.

You should have known that wasn’t Jake. If you were stronger you’d have found out sooner. And they removed his sense of obligation. You can’t really be mad at him.

You can’t? You just found out that apparently the only reason he’s been faithful all this time is his sense of obligation to you. Why shouldn’t you be mad at him?

Okay, but the kids!

“Penny for your thoughts?” George startles me out of the cycle, which is good because one half of my subconscious was about to bitch slap the other for daring to bring my kids up as a reason why I shouldn’t feel completely betrayed.

“I just…I don’t know what to think. It’s only because of me that Jake was abducted in the first place. But it’s not like they had him under a spell or tied him to the bed or anything. They just made him not feel so responsible, and he stayed there and slept with them for weeks, completely betraying me, and our family.”

When I look over at George, his eyes are on the road, but his brow is furrowed and his lips are sort of pursed, like a duck’s bill. He’s clearly pondering something.

“What? You think I’m wrong?” I ask.

“I think you’re hurt, and as a result you’re underestimating the power the Muses have. Okay, so theymerelybring the cessation of obligations… That’s not clearly defined though. Not to mention, they are still goddesses, Miranda. And his speaking their names was basically keeping them alive. Maybe they don’t use mind control per se, but don’t you think that if a group of goddesses want to keep someone from going home, they have the power to do that?” I’m silent for a full minute. “Well?”

“Shut up, George.” I pull the lever to tilt my seat backward and close my eyes, finally feeling how exhausted I am. I hear him smile in the silence.

When I open my eyes, we’re in the parking garage at the Palace. George dropped Frank off somewhere along the strip while I slept. He was so grateful and didn’t want to burden us anymore. I see the massive SUV parked along a wall. It’s no surprise Jake beat us back, but I can’t help but wonder: Where is he now?

Not that I can investigate because as we enter the Forum, everyone stares at me...and my clothes covered in Lu’s blood. When no one's looking, I grab a sword from a nearby statue. George laughs, knowing what I’m going for here, and we walk to our room as if I had been working Vegas as a freaky sideshow character. After I clean up and trash the corset, I leave George to do whatever he wants, and I head back to the Forum, trying not to panic about where my husband has disappeared to.

It tuns out to be a foolish concern because when we walk into the Forum food court, Jake’s in line for a hamburger. My stomach growls at the thought, so I join Jake. He puts his arm around me and tucks me into his side. I sink into his well-worn T-shirt from the first concert I took him to. I pull back.

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