AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gedeon and I march straight into the boardroom, where my team is already waiting for me. A little bleary-eyed, but present and prepared nonetheless.
I don’t bother with “hellos” and “how are yous.” They’ve never done me much good. I just launch into work and leave my thoughts about Laila far the fuck away.
The meeting goes well, but I’m distracted by Gedeon’s incessant phone checking. Every time his mouth quirks into a smile, I want to flip the table over on him. By the time we finish, my patience is dangerously thin.
Gedeon makes the mistake of following me into my office. “That went great, don’t you think?” He looks back over his shoulder and waves to Rebecca as she passes in the hallway before he shuts the door. “We might actually be able to launch this year.”
“How the fuck would you know? You were chained to your phone the whole meeting. It was distracting.”
“No more than usual.”
Gritting my teeth, I pour myself another cup of coffee, resisting the urge to add a little something stronger to it. “Maybe it’s just your presence that’s irritating me.”
“You’re jealous, aren’t you?” My eyes snap to his so fast that he falters and tries to backtrack. “Er, what I mean is… you seem to be?—”
Another ping comes in from Gedeon’s phone, and even with me simmering in front of him, he checks it.
I snap.
Self-control is for the birds and people with better friends. Since my friend is being a pain in the ass, I steal his phone.
I’m prepared to see the funny memes he mentioned earlier, maybe even a few jabs at me. What I don’t expect is to see a picture of Laila.
My wife.
In the arms of another man.
She’s fully clothed and so is he, but he’s got her bent in an unseemly position while he stands behind her, his hands on her hips, a soft smile splayed across his face.
“What the fuck is this?”
Gedeon gulps. “That’s Tyler. He’s Laila’s physical therapist. I mentioned that earlier.”
“She sees a physical therapist?”
“As of five months ago, yes,” Gedeon says. “You told us to get her whatever she needed, so we hired one when the pregnancy started affecting her hip. He has great Google reviews.”
Why the fuck don’t I know all of this?
“How often does she see him?”
“Once a week. Today’s not her usual appointment, but I’m guessing she called for an extra session after last night.”
“You should have run this by me first.”
“You told us to handle it.” He frowns. “You claimed you ‘didn’t need to know about Laila or her day-to-day life.’”
“That was before, goddammit! That was when—”When I was trying not to care… the same way I should continue trying notto care now.“She’s not just my surrogate anymore. She’s my damn wife.”
Gedeon holds up his hands. “I hear you, but?—”
“Tell Tyler that he can take his physical therapy bullshit and—” Scowling, I swallow back the rage. “Never mind. I’ll handle it.”
“You can’t kill the man for doing his job, Arsen.”
“That,” I spit, jabbing my finger at his phone and the picture of the man wrapped around my wife, “cannot be anyone’s job.”
If it is, I’m in the wrong profession.
