Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)(108)

The driver cut him off. “Ma’am, I’ll stay right outside if you need anything.”

“I won’t.” I got out and told Andy to follow. “You have ten minutes to ask what you need before I tell you to leave or before my husband gets here. I reckon he’s on his way.”

“Your husband?” he growled as I pushed the door open and let him walk into the foyer. He glanced at the large chandelier and then sneered at the stairway. “Do you think flaunting your new boyfriend in my face is really something I’m going to enjoy while I’m away?”

“You mean my husband?”

He cracked his knuckles again. It was something he used to do when he wanted to hit me, when he was trying not to. “You’re irritating me. Don’t act like we’re not supposed to be together. I’m done with this little fucking game, and you’re going to make it up to me that you had me in prison for a little fucking joke.”

“A joke? Andy are you delusional? You assaulted me.” I tilted my head.

“I gave my girlfriend what she wanted,” he shouted. “You dressed like you wanted me to fuck you that night, so I was about to do just that. When I touched your pussy, you liked it.”

“Even if I’d worn lingerie to that party, it wouldn’t have given you a right. And I told you I wanted to stop. I said no. I begged for you to stop and think. You kept going. So, I endured it until you took the cuffs off.” I tried to make him see. “Do realize how many women you’ve hurt?”

“You’re all a bunch of whores!” He lunged, albeit carelessly considering I’d made sure to stand right in front of the banister where I could sidestep and let him crack his head into it. He yelped and then ran at me. This time I used his momentum to swing him straight into it again. “Fuck! You bitch.”

He turned and barreled toward me but our front door swung open and Declan plowed through, fury in his eyes. His body somehow looked more massive, more vicious than it ever had as he tackled my ex to the ground.

Andy tried to scramble and scrap, but Declan was too powerful, too in control, too dominating for Andy to even get a punch in. My husband beat my ex to a pulp, punching him over and over.

I finally grabbed his arm and said softly, “Declan, he’s unconscious.”

Declan’s eyes were wild as he looked back at me. Then he got up and grabbed my elbow to pull me close.

My body was coiled tight to fight now, though, to register every movement as a danger to me. So, my reaction was instant. A remnant of what I’d dealt with in the past and was dealing with. I jolted back.

I saw the moment he noticed, felt his grip loosen, as if he wasn’t sure what to do, and then he tightened it. The frown on his face was one of fury. “He’s made you scared of me.”

“Not you, Declan.” I glanced at the man unconscious on the floor. “It’s just my knee-jerk response to any man putting his hands on me right now.”

He breathed out like he was trying to dissipate his anger, and then he rubbed his thumb up and down the arm he had a grip on. Slowly, enticingly, and what felt like longingly. “I intend to spend my life making sure you never have to respond that way again, Everly.”

Then, he grabbed Andy by his throat and dragged him towards the back of the house.

“Wait. Where are you going with him?”

“To my backyard to fucking kill him,” he bellowed, like it should be obvious.

I opened my mouth to tell him to stop or at least try to plan a course of action, but no words came out. Declan stared at me for another second and then said, “Go upstairs, Drop.” Then he paused. “Or stay if that’s what you want.”

He disappeared through the patio doors. A million thoughts ran through my head, but the only one that stuck was with the baby in my belly. I wouldn’t have my husband go to jail for a man that didn’t deserve another second of our time, wouldn’t have him carrying the burden of this on him forever.

I came outside to take in the scene and saw my husband standing over my ex who was moaning now on the grass. No one had access to Declan’s backyard except the birds and the sun. We waited while a cardinal flew by and I smiled at seeing one bird I always saw in my hometown rather than the seagulls I always saw at the beach.

How was a scene so serene now? How was I not scared now? How did I know even without planning that this day would work out perfectly? Declan, the man I love, the man that went with his gut, the man I knew I would spend the rest of my life with was rubbing off on me.

“Declan,” I sighed. “You can’t kill him.”

The beautiful man cracked his knuckles as he glared at Andy and grumbled. “Oh, yes I can, Everly.”

“He’s not worth it.” I shook my head. “We’re having a baby. We’re going to build a life together. We’re not starting it this way.”

“Why not?” Declan practically whined but I saw how he met my gaze, how he considered my decision here too now. Declan never hesitated.

Except now. With me.

We were a team now.

We were married truly now.

“She can’t hurt me, man. Don’t you see?” Andy laughed and then groaned into the grass like his ribs might be broken. The man was a pitiful make up of a human being but he still acted like he held all the power here outside.

I smiled with him. I grabbed the emotion this time and felt all of it.