©2023, Beyond Boundaries, Lynne Leslie/spicybooklover4life

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact:

lynne@lynneleslie.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the word-marks and references mentioned in this work of fiction.

If you’ve read any of my other Wattpad stories then you pretty much know what to expect from me. But if you haven’t, let me just give you a quick rundown.

• No doormat heroine.

• No damn BBS. (Betraying Body Syndrome)

• A remorseful hero that finally gets his head out of his ass and decides to fight for his woman. (This story gets a new hero, but he’s not going to be without faults. Meaning, he’ll fuck up too!)

• OW drama. (You might hate her, you might not. She owes no one her loyalty.)

• A satisfying grovel. (At least, I hope so. I don’t need one in the novels I read unless you’re @GroveltoHEA on Wattpad then I better have those men on their knees. Lol.)

• Can’t forget the kickass best friend. 

Also, I feel I need to warn you…just like always, this story will be sexually explicit, it will get rough emotionally in some places (I’m an emotional masochist, sorry) and there will be curse words. Lots of them. Especially the F-Bombs because that’s just who the fuck I am.

Anywho…I know most of you will want to strangle me because I’ve started something new before finishing the others, but when the characters are speaking, I gotta give them their voice. So, try not to hate me too hard, please?

Go forth and read on, you beautiful reading souls. Let’s hope I deliver you another story that feeds that craving in your soul.

This story will not be updated frequently. In fact, I won’t make any promise at all when it comes to this one because writing has been really hit and miss for me lately. I’m slowly getting back there, but it’s still a work in progress.  If you’re here, then it’s obvious I’m also a published author, so I have those books as my priority as well. So, please, please, please…don’t be expecting regular updates on this one. I will post when and if the character speak to me though.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Much, much love to you all!

–Lynne Leslie

Standing here watching my husband’s—well, ex now—lips move with whatever bullshit he’s spewing this time, I have to wonder when I became so stupid. There was a time when I was a pretty intelligent person. At least, until the day I walked into his office and caught this special little skid mark balls deep inside the ‘assistant’ he had bent over his desk. 

I bet if someone took a poll on how many people regret being stupid enough to marry their spouses, the results would probably surprise everyone.

“Are you even listening to me?” he growls.

“No. Not really. Your voice is annoying,” I tell him truthfully.

Huh. When did I realize that? Was it after he cheated, or has it always been something I didn’t like?

“Keslyn?” he replies in a shocked voice.

I tilt my head, studying his features. Objectively, he’s a great-looking man. He kept a sharp jawline that was constantly smooth, which, if I’m admitting stuff, wasn’t all that attractive anymore. I like a little more scruff. That way, it leaves little stings of delight when a face is buried between—

“Keslyn!” he says louder, snapping his fingers in front of my face and interrupting my musings.

Folding my arms across my chest, I narrow my eyes at him. “Put your fingers in front of my face like that again and see what happens.”

“If you would just listen to me instead of zoning out, I wouldn’t have to keep getting your attention.”

“And if you wouldn’t have been fucking someone that wasn’t your wife, you wouldn’t be fighting for my attention in the first place.” I unfold my arms enough to catch the time on my watch. “Now, you have five minutes to tell me what you’re here for before I have security escort you out.”

“Kessie, come on, baby. Don’t be like that,” he whispers.

Hmm. There’d be a time when that smooth, aching tone would do something to me. 

Before he was shoving his weenie whistle inside that toothy snatch.

I shudder as the horror movie tries to play in my head. “Three minutes, Everett.”

“Will you go to dinner with me so we can work this out?”

“I suppose he really is that stupid,” I mutter, shaking my head. “What in the world makes you think I would want to go have dinner with you?’

“Because I’m still your husband!”

I bite the inside of my lip to keep from laughing at the tantrum he’s throwing. “Actually, you should be expecting the papers from my lawyer anytime now.”

The hue of his face changes color faster than I’m able to blink, and he stares at me with pain swirling in his eyes. “What?”

“Divorce,” I say slowly. “You didn’t really expect me to stay with you after I caught you, did you?” 

His expression tells me that he did, and I can’t help but laugh softly while shaking my head. “Oh, you did. You poor delusional man. Tell me…did you actually even read the prenup you signed ten years ago?”

“No, because it didn’t matter to me. I love you, not your money.”

“You really, really should have.”

Before we can say anything else, a loud, annoying voice calls Everett’s name, and I clench my jaw. Heels march across the marble floor in a hurry as she makes her way towards us.

“Did you actually bring her back here after I fired the both of you?” I growl, standing up straighter.

His face hardens as he glares at me. “We both still have stuff to get from my office.”

“Everett, what in the world is going on? Why are they not allowing us up to your office?” Tanya turns her attention my way and sneers. “Of course. The bitter wife. You can’t really stop him from going to his office, you know.”

This time, I don’t stop the laugh that comes out. “I can’t? And why is that, Tanya?”

Everett wraps his fingers around the top of her arm in warning, and just seeing him touching her again has nausea roiling in my stomach. I fight to keep my face clear of the pain that’s thrashing around inside me, demanding an outlet. 

No fucking way do they get to see me falter.

She’s angry that he stopped whatever she was going to say, but I can tell from the vindictive look in her eyes that she’s not going away today without inflicting some damage. When she smiles at me, I brace myself because I know I’m about to be flayed open again by these two.

Tanya leans against Everett, and moves her hand until her palm is covering her stomach. A move that was so deliberate there is no other way to interpret the meaning of it.

I stare, my eyes moving between her hand, her eyes, and Everett. If it was possible for him to lose any more color, I’d think he was dead.

“Everett,” I start slowly. “Did you get her pregnant?”

Water fills his eyes as he stares at me wordlessly, and it’s enough for me to know.

“Congratulations to both of you. If you’ll excuse me, I have a company to step in and run.”

“Wait. What? What does she mean, Everett? This is your company, so why is she running it? You all are divorcing. You told me we’d go look at houses later for the three of us! That I don’t need to worry about a thing. That you’ll be okay to take care of me!”

This time, when the laughter comes out, it’s so boisterous that it echoes around the foyer of the building. People’s heads turn our way, and when Collier, one of my security guards, starts to walk this way, I shake my head.

“Oh, Ms. Gilbert. You truly are a comedian. Or maybe my amazing ex-husband is. If that was his wish for his special little family, he really should have read the prenup he signed when we married ten years ago. I think I’ll let my lawyer break that to him, though.” I lift my hand and snap my fingers to grab Collier’s attention. “Please escort Mr. Shepard and his friend out of here, please. And make sure they’re not allowed back in.”

“Yes, Ms. Wilhelm,” Collier replies before calling over a few more of his coworkers to help.

I turn my back to the ruckus my ex and his mistress are now creating in the lobby of my building and head towards the private elevator to take me to my office. My hands shake as I slide my keycard into the slot and press the open button. When I turn around and stare out into the lobby as I wait for the doors to close, Everett’s form blurs as he fights to get free. He’s screaming that he loves me and he’s sorry, he fucked up.

The truth is, watching them and hearing his words it’s all…freeing. 

The pain is there. It’s writhing around inside, trying to find an exit. There’s going to be a day that I’ll have to face it, and I will. I’ve never been one to run from my emotions, and I’m not going to start now. But I just need a damn minute to breathe after having another knife stabbed into me.

There will be time to face my pain tomorrow.

Preferably when I don’t have an entire building of my employees watching the circus my life has suddenly turned into.