Badd Motherf*cker(78)

“I don’t know. It was sort of obvious that you were clueless, so I just went with it. Figured I’d just…I don’t know what. Figure it out later, I guess. If things between us got better, I’d dump Tawny, but if not, she’d be there for me.”

“And she was fine with this arrangement? Knowing she was the side chick?”

“It feels a little more complicated than that to me, honestly,” Michael said. “She…gets me. I always…I’ve always sort of felt like…like you…” He hesitated again. “Like you were the side chick.”

“That’s…” I shook my head, palms to my forehead, heart pounding, gut clenching. “That’s fucking batshit crazy, Michael. I’m the side chick, but you asked me to marry you and arranged a wedding…”

I stood up, then, because I was at the end of my ability to handle anything more. And that’s when I saw it.

A thin, plain gold band on the ring finger of his left hand.

“You…wait, wait, wait…you—” I was about to vomit. “You married her?”

He stood up, pushed the bar chair in. “Yes.”

“Saturday? After I left?”

He nodded. “Yeah. My family was there, the pastor was there, the rings were there, and I’d never signed or sent in our marriage license…and I knew how I felt about her, so I figured why not? Your dad and his cop buddies went after you, and that was the entirety of your side, so…it just worked. She was fine with it.”

I had trouble formulating words for several seconds. “This is crazy.” I blinked, tried to get my head to accept what he was saying. “Your family…they were fine with it?”

He chuckled, a little awkwardly. “They were kind of confused, at first. But there was an open bar at the reception, so…” He trailed off, as if that explained it.

“You gave her my ring? The ring you proposed to me with? The wedding bands we picked out together? The pastor I interviewed, the catering company I hired, the venue I picked out…”

“It was all there and set up and paid for, so why not? No sense letting it go to waste.”

I shook my head. “This whole thing is making my head hurt. I don’t…it doesn’t make any sense.” I finally made myself meet his gaze. He seemed untroubled. “Why are you here, then?”

He shrugged and held both hands palms up. “I just…hated how you found out. You deserved more than that.”

I choked. “I deserved—” I couldn’t even finish repeating his words. “You’re crazy. I don’t even know how you’re capable of craziness of this caliber. You’re acting like this whole thing is perfectly normal.”

“I know it’s not. It’s unusual, sure, but…it works for me.”

“And what about me?”

He shrugged, and I was going to break his shoulders if he shrugged one more damn time. “You’re a strong girl, I knew you’d be fine.”

I circled around from behind the bar, opened the door to show him the street. “You need to leave.”

He nodded. And that was it. A nod. A single bob of his head, and he was out the door, as if he’d said what he came to say.

“Michael?” I said, and he stopped just on the other side of the door. “Just one more thing.”

He eyed me cautiously. “You’re going to punch me, aren’t you?”

I smashed my fist into his nose. “How’d you know?”

He staggered backward, blood sluicing down his chin. “Lucky guess.”

He walked away, then, and I was finally alone.

And wondering how the hell I’d spent four years with the man and never knew he was capable of…whatever bizarre kind of craziness that was. Like…really? He married her? Instead of me? Who does that? I mean, if we’d broken up, or it had been a few months, or even weeks…but he literally just brought Tawny out and was like, I’m marrying her instead of that other bitch.

But yet somehow I deserved more than how I’d found out?

None of it made any sense. Had I fallen down a rabbit hole?

My head was spinning.

I heard feet on the floor behind me, and then felt Sebastian’s arms go around me.

“Nice shot,” he said.

“How much did you hear?” I asked, not quite ready to turn around and face him yet.

“All of it.” He, apparently, had other ideas, since he spun me around and tucked my head under his chin, my ear against his chest. “I was on the other side of the door the whole time, listening.”

“Asshole,” I murmured, not really meaning it.

“Yeah, well, that’s me. King of the Assholes.” He touched my chin, so I was looking at him. “I know shouldn’t’ve listened to your private shit, but…I wasn’t ready to let you go through that alone.”