Monster(35)

“Don’t be mad, but I’m the one who told Dominic about you working at Carver’s,” Jenna admitted shamefacedly to her best friend. With the day proving to be a nice, mild one, Jenna had decided to tag along with Eden while she ran errands around town. They’d done some grocery shopping, buying a few things for Liam and were only now returning from visiting Eden’s mother’s grave. It was later in the afternoon now, and with Liam conked out from his productive day, Eden put him down in his bassinet in the living room. She’d brought the baby monitor with her and set it down on the marble island top in the kitchen. Greeted with silence, Jenna carefully observed the other woman to glean her reaction, and if Eden was at all irritated by the admission, she did not let on as she helped one of the house staff unload the groceries they’d purchased. “Eden, did you hear me? I said I was the one who told Dominic where you worked.”

When Eden finally turned to look at Jenna, her face remained blank. “I heard you. I’m just waiting for you to tell me why you would do that.”

Jenna flushed. “Well, I didn’t realize it was some big secret you were keeping from him,” she said defensively from her position by the counter. “I mean, I know how things are between you guys, and I’m sorry for blabbing. It’s just, I was trying to thank him for the spa day and shopping spree. I assumed he paid for it, and it just fell out of my mouth.”

“I asked you to leave it alone, Jenna. If I had wanted him to know where I was working, I would’ve told him. It wasn’t your secret to tell. I didn’t realize I had to tell you not to interfere in my relationship with him.”

“Okay.” She stretched out the word, not at all accustomed to this caustic side of her friend, who typically wasn’t bothered by much and simply brushed things off with ease. The silence that stretched between them was awkward enough without the weird look the maid was tossing between them. “Alright, I’m sorry. Maybe I overstepped my boundaries a little bit. It was an accident, we were in the pool and I—”

“Wait, you were in the pool? Together?” Eden asked slowly, the incredulous look on her face would’ve been comical if she wasn’t so serious. “What the hell, Jenna?”

Jenna was beginning to regret the conversation. It wasn’t going at all like she’d expected, and the more she revealed, the angrier Eden became. “Excuse us for a minute.” Reaching out to take a hold of Eden’s elbow, she drew her away from the nosy maid. When they were a considerable distance away, Jenna looked at her friend. “Eden—” she began, but was immediately cut off.

“Tell me I’m wrong in what I’m thinking. Tell me you’re not trying to start something with him.”

“I’m not!” she protested sharply, even though the heightened color in her cheeks indicated otherwise. “It was hot, he was in the pool with Liam, and I joined them. Nothing happened. I wasn’t trying anything. My God, you know me—”

Eden pulled her arm away. “Yes, I know you and I know how opportunistic you can be!”

“Why are you so angry? For someone who says she wants a divorce, you’re sure as hell possessive of someone you claim you don’t want,” Jenna fired back accusingly, holding that mirror right up to Eden so that she could see her hypocrisy reflecting back at her. “Look, Eden, I’m sorry for telling him where you worked and for trying to interfere with your life. It was an accident and shouldn’t have happened. And I know you probably think I’m trying to start something with Dominic, but you couldn’t be more wrong about that. I would never betray our friendship like that.” Jenna wasn’t being one-hundred percent honest, and although she could pretty much bullshit a lot of people, convincing herself to swallow the crap she was spewing was a little harder. Okay, so maybe she had attempted to seduce Eden’s husband, and maybe she’d believed, for just one insane moment, that if Eden divorced Dominic she could expertly position herself to take her place in his life when Eden was gone, if as nothing else than someone to warm his bed. But really, those thoughts had been conjured by sheer lunacy, nothing worth entertaining for longer than the moment it had lasted. Aside from the fact that Dominic had clearly seen through her advances in the pool and had immediately shot her down, it had dawned on Jenna that she couldn’t possibly jeopardize her friendship with Eden for a shot at nothing. Eden mattered too much to her.

Eden released a drawn out sigh and threaded her fingers through her layered shoulder length hair. “What Dominic and I have is…it’s complicated. There are things he’s done to me that I’m not sure I can forgive, but I’m still married to him and until he and I sign those divorce papers, he’s still my husband. He can do whatever or whoever he wants after we’re divorced.”

“Do you… care about him?” Jenna asked slowly, knowing the sensitivity of the subject.

Eden didn’t answer immediately, but rather took her time to ponder on that question. Did she care about Dominic? The answer should’ve been a resounding “No”, but it was more complicated than that, more complex than the slight shade of grey in their otherwise black and white world, making it difficult for her to answer so abruptly. How could she care for someone who’d treated her so abominably? Someone who had kept her at arm’s length, rarely ever displaying a side of himself that hadn’t been steeped in cruelty? But then one could argue that he’d been rather cordial as of late, the slight glimpses of gentleness he’d recently displayed towards her could count for something. But wasn’t he quick in turning into the contemptible ape at the drop of a hat?

The truth was that Eden simply had no idea how she felt towards Dominic. Every moment she was in his company, she teetered precariously on that line of contempt for him, but it never shoved her quite over to hatred. She hated, with every fiber of her being, how he’d treated her, but she couldn’t bring herself to hate the man. Wasn’t it said that the ones you care about are the ones capable of hurting you the most? If there wasn’t one minuscule part of her that cared for Dominic then his actions would not have cut her this deeply, where the hurt sank to the marrow.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, her hushed tone conveying her confusion and frustration with the matter. “Like I said, it’s complicated. The sad part is we’ve been married for five years, and we don’t even know each other.”

“Do you want to know him? I mean with all that’s happened between you two, do you think there could ever be anything there?”

Eden bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know, Jenna.” She sighed again. “All I know is that Dominic scares me. He scares me because he has this horrible ability to hurt me so badly and I can’t trust myself around him. Opening myself up, even just a little bit, is like inviting him in to break me again. I’m not changing my mind about the divorce; I think it’s the best thing to do for me and for him.”

“Well, whatever you decide to do, I’m here for you. Are we…are we good, Eden?” she asked hesitantly.

Eden smiled slowly. “I overreacted. I’m sorry. And I should’ve told you I was the one who paid for your little day of fun.”

Jenna grinned. “Thank you, by the way. You really shouldn’t have done it, but I appreciate it. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“So should I start looking for apartments for us, since we only have, like, four months left here?”

“Yeah, sure. Something small and affordable for now, I guess.”





Chapter Sixteen


The devil was in his head, banging with incessant relish at his skull, until Dominic felt like ripping off his own head would be the only way to gain reprieve. Plagued by exhumed memories that played out in nightmares, sleep eluded him. Fatigue made him ill-tempered, and his lack of focus made it impossible to concentrate on work, but stubbornness kept him going, determined to read through the necessary portfolios on his desk and make the proper calls to neglected investors. But by midafternoon the banging morphed into a scraping sort of agony that occurred only on the right side of his head, and it was only then, unable to withstand the pain that Dominic decided to forfeit the day and haul his ass home.

What he needed was sleep and either a very strong drink or a painkiller that would knock him out for days. What he got instead was a call from Bruce’s wife while he was being chauffeured home, urging him to come to their home. Now. It was only the urgency in her voice that had curbed the impulse to hang up on her, but not by much. And Dominic was beginning to regret that decision more and more as each second ticked away. He watched Cassie Barrett pace the length of her perfectly decorated living room, her bare feet stifled by the undoubtedly expensive beige carpet, while she talked in circles.

“Please, do take your time in getting to the point,” he bit out caustically, cutting her off in the middle of her tangent. She was well into her fourth glass of wine now, the alcohol not having far to go for a woman her size. She was diminutive, frail almost, with pale, almost translucent skin, and large blue eyes that made her look younger than her thirty-six years. Cassie prided in appearances, whether it was with herself or the lavish life that she’d born into, appearing perfect was always her goal. So to see her this way, her dark wavy black hair in disarray, face devoid of make-up, and appearing as though she’d slept in her designer clothes, was quite the sight. Not once since he’d known her had he seen her so...unhinged. Dominic would’ve felt moved to feel sorry for her, except his irritable mood and the damn headache didn’t allow him an iota of compassion.