“Girl, you know that Juicy Couture fit is gorgeous!”
“What’s all this?” I snap as I walk into the kitchen, killing their conversation in its tracks and earning startled looks from both of them. Zack rolls his eyes.
“Hello, grumpy,” Zack says. “You have a meeting at 9. Are you wearing that?”
“Cancel the damn meeting,” I snap at him. “And get out.”
“Padraic!” Cullen says protectively. “Don’t talk to him that way. What is wrong with you today?”
“I can talk to him however I want,” I say to Cullen, my voice dripping with anger. I know she doesn’t deserve this. I know I’m being unreasonable. But if she won’tlook at methen I’ll have to wrestle attention from Cullen some other way.
“You’re acting like a child,” Cullen responds. Rage courses through me and I can feel the redness around my ears and spreading across my cheeks. A child? I’ll show her…
“It’s fine,” Zack says. “I’ll get back to work.”
“No, it’s not fine,” Cullen says. “He shouldn’t treat you that way.”
“You’re my wife,” I snap at her. “Not his. You should start acting like it.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Cullen snaps, hopping out of her seat and following me as I storm away from her. She infuriates me even more than Zack, and I’ve just realized why I keep to myself, as it turns out.
People are bullshit.
“Where are you going?” Cullen snaps. I can feel her gaining on me and then she grabs my wrist. I turn around, furious, not even caring that she’s so small and vulnerable in comparison to me. I feel nothing except my rage and loneliness.
“I’m going to be alone,” I yell at her. “And if it makes you so pleased, you can spend all day with my brother. I took the day off to be with you, but I won’t make that mistake ever again.”
Chapter Twelve
Cullen
Istand in the foyer of my husband’s home, utterly stunned by his bull-headed behavior. Zack slinks around the corner with a sheepish and humiliated expression on his face. The only person who should be embarrassed here is Padraic, who just stormed upstairs to his office.
“He gets moody,” Zack says.
“That doesn’t excuse how he talked to you.”
Padraic just made me furious and I’m about to go upstairs and pull the door open to his office so I can give him a piece of my mind for what he just did.
“He’s just jealous,” Zack says. “Straight men. They’re the root cause of most of society’s problems.”
Given Padraic’s behavior, I can’t blame Zack for his perspective.
“He owes both of us an apology.”
“He doesn’t know how to do relationships.”
“Maybe it’s because everyone around him lets him get away with murder.”
“He’s a billionaire. Hecanget away with murder,” Zack says. “I’ll cancel his meetings. Trust me, Cullen… You just want to stay out of his way.”
What an asshole. I promise Zack that I’m going to stay out of Padraic’s way.
Then I march upstairs to my husband’s office and pound on the door.
“Go away,” Padraic snarls. Does this man think he’s Heathcliff or something?
“Padraic. Open the door. I’m not leaving until you open the door.”