“Were there others?” I repeated. I knew my tone was so icy it bordered on hostile, but I didn’t have any patience left to listen to his lies after watching the footage of my husband fuck one woman’s ass while she had her face between a second woman’s legs.
“I- I, uh in college…” he mumbled and didn’t look me in the eye, “I made a mistake at a party in college.”
“Hmm.” I hummed and pretended to think about his bullshit story. I didn’t know the full extent yet of his infidelities, but if I had to guess… he’d never been loyal to me.
“Why did you marry me?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking. He looked up at me, confused and then alarmed when he saw that my eyes were filling with tears.
“I love you!” he reached for my hands again, and this time, I didn’t pull away fast enough. I heard Griffin grumble something that sounded like “watch it” from behind us. “You have to know that I’ve always loved you.”
“I don’t know that…” I whispered, and my voice cracked with emotion. As much as I wanted to stay strong and unaffected, I had given my entire heart to this man, and he had destroyed it.
“Melanie…” Ben chastised and gave me a condescending, sympathetic smile, “of course I love you, look at the life I’ve built for us.” His tone became sickly sweet, and I had to force myself not to gag. When I didn’t reply, his smile grew, and he nodded as if giving himself permission to continue spewing his lies, “I’m human and I’ve messed up, but if I didn’t love you, ifI didn’t want the life we have together, I would’ve left a long time ago.”
No, you wanted your cake and to eat it too.
Griffin cleared his throat to remind me to wrap this up.
“I need some space…” I tried to keep my voice sounding broken instead of enraged. “This has all been too much, my grandmother just died and now I feel like I don’t even know my own husband…” I choked out.
“Baby…” He scooched closer to me, “I want to come home!” he raised a hand and cupped my face, and I flinched away. He scowled and let his hand drop back into my lap. I chewed the inside of my cheek and sat still. He stared at my face for a few seconds before sighing loudly.
“I love you enough to give you a little more space… but I need to grab some more things…” he looked over his shoulder at the front door and scowled at Griffin. “How long is your brother’s partner staying in my house?”
“Our house.” I corrected, “I don’t know yet.”
“It’s fucked up that he’s here, but I’m not allowed in my own home.” Ben grumbled. Unable to maintain his sympathetic, contrite husband act for more than a few minutes.
“He didn’t fuck anyone in my hot tub.” I shot back and shoved his hand off my lap. “To be honest I would rather you didn’t go inside today… I’m still trying to find a way to be comfortable in our home after what you did and I don’t think having you inthe space when all I can see every time I look at you is another woman moaning on MY husband’s dick.”
His face paled at my words. I knew that in all the years we had been together, I’d never been vulgar in one of our disagreements. I was always calm, level headed… my moto had always been that you don’t fight with your loved ones when you disagree, you fight FOR your relationship.
Well, I was all done fighting FOR my relationship, and if I was honest, I really wanted to fight WITH my husband.
“Could you come back Monday? Just give me a little bit of space?” I pleaded.
He grimaced and glanced again at the house longingly. Most likely devastated that he couldn't get to his precious laptop.
“Fine.” He relented, “Can you call the phone company and try to figure out why my cell phone is off?” He asked and rose to his feet.
“Sure.” I bit back the urge to tell him that there wasn't a chance in hell I'd be doing that as I stood up.
“I’ll be by before work.” He grumbled and stomped down the steps.
I guess he’s done with the charade if it won’t get him in the house…
I nodded and stepped closer to Griffin. We watched in silence while Ben pulled out of the driveway and drove away without so much as a glance back at the wife he claimed to love.
“Can we be on a plane before he gets here Monday?” I asked.
“Let’s call your lawyer and find out what we need to do to make that happen.” Griffin rumbled and pulled me into a hug. "And Melanie..."
"Hmm?"
“I’m proud of you for not punching him in the junk.”
17-Ben
What the fuck is that man doing in my house?
