Page 25 of Then and Now (The Edge of Retaliation 3)
Chase grits his teeth and growls, “Let me go.”
Tatum lets him go and he turns, disappearing out the front door. I know he’s angry, but Tatum is right, he can’t blame the rest of the world for this one. No. This one is on him, and he knows it, he just doesn’t want to face it.
“I should go, too,” I say my voice soft. “Callie is probably going to want to talk by the sounds of it.”
Tatum nods, and turns to me, walking over and cupping my jaw, bringing his lips down to mine. “When all this is said and done, we’ll finish what we started tonight. Don’t you doubt it.”
“Sounds good to me,” I say, accepting another kiss.
“Night, honey,” he murmurs, letting me go.
“Night, Tatum.”
I walk out the front door, closing it behind me and look back at the house with a small smile on my face. I came here not expecting to leave feeling the way I feel right now. I feel as if I’m walking on water, like I’m light as a feather. It’s a nice feeling, after all the pain we’ve experienced in the last month or so.
It feels good.
Real.
“I knew it.”
I spin around at the sound of a familiar voice, and see Patrick standing by my car out the front of the house. A car I really, really shouldn’t have driven over here, considering I had a few drinks beforehand. I, more than anyone, should know better than that.
“What the hell are you doing here, Patrick?” I say, rushing over to the car. “If Tatum sees you here, it’ll end badly, you know that, right?”
“I knew you’d be here. I went to your house and no one was there, I found out where your little boyfriend lives and found my way over here, and sure enough, here you are.”
“First of all, how in the hell did you find out where he lives?”
“I’m a powerful man, it doesn’t take much for me to find the information I need, Joanne.”
“There’s something wrong with you, you know that, right?”
“The only thing that’s wrong with me is that my wife is cheating on me. You smell of sex, how stupid do you think I am?”
“We’re separated, last time I checked.”
“We’re still legally married, you think that doesn’t count?”
God. He has probably found a way to make it count.
“What do you want from me, Patrick?”
“I want you to sign a document, stating you’ll only take what I agree to give you. Then I’ll happily proceed to divorcing you, as requested.”
“If the document is fair, I’ll happily sign it. If it’s not, I won’t. I’ve been good to you, Patrick. I’ve worked hard, too. I don’t deserve to walk away with nothing.”
He leans in close, growling, “Everything you have is because of me, Joanne. Everything.”
“Wrong,” I say, stepping backward. “Everything I have is because I’ve worked hard, too. If the document is fair, I’ll sign it. End of story.”
“Fuck,” he growls, clenching his fists. “As if you’re not already putting me through enough, now this. What more do you want from me, Joanne? You’ve cheated on me, you’re going to make me look like a fool in the media when you start getting around with your little boyfriend, the least you can do is sign a fucking document.”
“I said, if it’s fair, I will sign it. I’m not going over this with you, Patrick,” I say calmly.
Angrily, he steps toward me, fists still clenched.
“You take another step toward her, I’ll flatten you, fucker.”
We both look over to see Tatum walking down the path, still shirtless, looking so damned good I’m actually kind of glad Patrick gets to see him like this, in all his glory, looking so fucking good it’s hard to see anything else. I shouldn’t be so spiteful, but hell, I’m tired of being nice to a man that wants nothing but the worst for me.
“Who the hell are you? Is this your fucking boyfriend, Joanne?” Patrick snaps, but he steps away from me.
Even he has to know Tatum would literally flatten him if he wanted to.
He’s far bigger, far stronger.
“Don’t matter who I am, what matters is that you’re threatening her on my front lawn. You leave, or I’ll make you fuckin’ leave.”
“This is how it’s going to be now, is it?” Patrick scoffs to me. “You’re going to get him to fight all your battles?”
“Just leave, Patrick,” I say, my voice calm even though inside I’m buzzing from the events.
“I won’t be pushed around, Joanne, by you or him. Sign the document if you know what’s good for you,” Patrick says, glaring at me.
“You got three seconds to get lost, before I start comin’ a whole lot closer to you,” Tatum says, his voice an angry whip.
Patrick glares at him. “You’re playing with fire.”
“One,” Tatum starts counting, his fists clenched.
