Unveiled (Torn #6)(12)

“I’m basing my opinion from your past actions. It’s hard to tame you. And I admit, though I trust you with my life, in the back of my mind, I do fear that you might leave when things become tougher for us.” It would only become tougher from here on out. Most especially after tonight, after revealing such thoughts that made me feel like she had betrayed me once more.

“Marry me …”

I stilled, glancing at her as if she had lost her bloody mind. “I beg your pardon?”

Dark brown eyes filled with sadness gazed at me, simply begging my heart. “I said marry me. Then these trust issues will disappear, on both parts.”

“No—” I detested everything she had just said. “Hell no we’re not going to get married, most especially for those selfish reasons. I absolutely will not let that happen.” Never would I succumb to my heart again. This time, I had to think with my brain. She and I … marriage? Bloody mighty hell. Certainly not.

She appeared as though she was trying to keep from breaking down in to crying full on. Wiping her tears away, she rested a knuckle against where her heart lay. “Is that hell no because you don’t plan to marry at all, or is it hell no because you don’t deem me enough to become your wife?”

“Become my wife again you mean?”

“Yes.”

I had chosen her. I had given her the privilege as my wife, my prominent familial name, yet she had walked away from it all without remorse. She hadn’t fought the divorce, even after I had begged her to stay. What did she do? She walked away, not caring enough to look back. She had gone straight to Brody’s bed. Twice. I had been so blinded by the immense need of her I had no reservations at all to let her come back. However, this time, things were truly different.

Why couldn’t she see that marriage wouldn’t solve anything? She and I knew that firsthand. Marriage meant nothing to her other than to bind me to her She herself didn’t believe in it, so why bring matrimony into this? It was truly offensive.

“First of all, you are not in the right mind to get married. It’s not that I don’t deem you enough, but let’s be honest here, Linds. Our marriage was a laugh—if one could even call it such. It was a joke, so please, drop any talks of marriage. It’s really unbecoming.”

“But you were ready to marry Claudine,” she argued, blinded by tears.

Where did I even begin with this?

“Claudine was different. My situation with her is nothing like ours. Lindsey, I beg of you, please stop before you push us both into doing something that we’ll regret in the morning.”

She was softly sobbing now. “You don’t ever plan to marry me, do you?”

Well, what the bloody hell?

“That is a tricky question that I don’t plan to fall into.” Why had marriage suddenly become so important to her? I didn’t get her. She was up and down with her emotions. It was startling.

“There’s no need to lie or even deny it. Just say it like it is. I’m a big girl. I can handle it. So be honest with me. Do you ever plan to see us married … two, three, five, ten, fifteen years from today?”

“No. I had accepted that you and I would forever be together without being bound by marriage, only our love to each other. So, no, marriage isn’t in our future.”

I had never seen such a sad smile until that very moment. However, I must tell her the truth. My love hadn’t diminished, and hopefully, she’d see that marriage wasn’t important to us.

“I think you’re right. Let’s talk tomorrow night. I need some time to myself, if you don’t mind.” She gave me a pleading look before she excused herself to the bathroom. In there, I could hear her soft sobs.

As I stood here, being shattered by the sounds of her cries, I contemplated if I should go in there to try to sooth her wounds. I somehow stood my ground, though, knowing it was for the better. Her grounds for marriage weren’t because she was so in love with me; it was because she didn’t trust me with Claudine. What man wouldn’t find that offensive?

It was insulting that she could freely throw the words marriage into the mix when she was afraid I would stray. It was rather laughable that this woman, who I had fought so hard to have, still needed reassurance that I wouldn’t hurt her the way she had me.

I would do anything not to hear her cry, but giving in to her idea of marriage was pure and utter lunacy.





Chapter 7


Lindsey


“No. I had accepted that you and I would forever be together without being bound by marriage, only our love to each other. So, no, marriage isn’t in our future.”

Where in the world will I go from here? I thought as I cried on the bathroom floor. His words whirled in my head, each and every one as if it was venom to my heart.

It was my fault. I was the only one to blame. Regardless, his obvious rejection to marriage with me was something I hadn’t seen coming. I mean, I hadn’t planned on proposing marriage that way. Of course I had been thinking about it, daydreaming for that very day to happen again; however, I had never considered it was I who would be proposing, let alone blurting it out as a mere suggestion.

What truly got to me was the fact that he had simply thought it all out, never letting on that he wasn’t planning to ever marry again. Like marriage to me was such a blasted thing that he’d rather slit his own throat than walk down the aisle with me once more.