Page 13 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

His voice was getting higher, more desperate. “Callie, please, I think I was just nervous⁠—”

“Another wrong answer. I’m done with this.” Channeling the magic through my hands, I spun him upside down. We were now face-to-face, his head at my eye level with his body above him. The speed of the flip had him looking queasy.

His muscles corded as he strained to break free of my magical hold.

It was cute he imagined that was possible.

I held his gaze evenly. “Let’s go right to the source. Witches can access the memories of others. I’d like to enter your mind and live the memory of that night exactly as you did.”

“Enter my… my mind?” he stammered. “That’s private!”

“I know. That’s why this magic only works with authentic consent. You have to freely choose to let me in.” I placed my hand delicately on his face and gave him a slight smirk. “Would you like to let me in?”

At last, Maddox seemed to recognize his situation. His straining muscles went slack as he stopped struggling against the magic. Acceptance, finally. “Okay,” he said quietly.

And as soon as he allowed it, I was inside.

I was startled for a second to find myself looking at… myself. This memory power was one I hadn’t used often, and never before to see events I had also been present at. This was my first time looking directly at myself through the eyes of someone else, and it was a disorienting feeling.

The restaurant around me was much colder than it was in my recollection. I remembered it as so vividly lush, warm, and glamorous, whereas through Maddox’s eyes it was cold, dim, and utterly devoid of character.

I could feel his satisfaction with himself as he looked across the table at me—no, as he looked past me. He was looking at other women! The brunette server who lingered a little too long every time she came by our table, and the blonde at the bar who caught his eye.

Look sympathetic, his internal voice reminded him, as my past self began speaking earnestly about something clearly important. Nod at the right moments. Keep eye contact.

But his eyes kept drifting. To the blonde’s legs. To the way the server’s shirt hugged her breasts.

Horror crawled through me as my past self’s face grew more vulnerable, more open, pouring her/my heart out about growing up in the coven, the struggle of being a daughter of the High Priestess, and my choice to leave it behind.

But I wasn’t actually hearing any of my words because Maddox hadn’t listened to them in the first place. The only thing I could hear right now was his internal monologue: God, that blonde has an amazing ass. Wonder if she’s here alone... Focus, Maddox. Look concerned. Make the right sounds.

“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured sympathetically, while internally he was noting the plunging cleavage of the server as she bent forward to clear a nearby table.

This is the part where she wants validation, he thought, as I continued baring my deepest fears and dreams. Just wait for her to finish, then give her the line.

And when I finished, my expression tremulous with emotion and hope, he delivered it perfectly: “Thanks for sharing that with me, baby. But it doesn’t matter to me where you came from. That’s all in the past. I want to focus on the now with you.”

Joyous relief broke over my past self’s face.

But in his mind: Works every time. Is she finally going to let me fuck her now?

I yanked myself out of the memory so violently that both of us gasped. I was back in our bedroom, staring at this man I thought I had known, this man I had loved and trusted and tried to build a life with.

The rush of relief that had gone through me that night at the restaurant… it had all been a lie.

“Well,” I said, my voice deadly calm, “that was enlightening.”

He was trembling now. “Callie, please, I⁠—”

I cut him off by sending him spinning back right side up with a flick of my hands. He groaned from the force and speed of it.

“You think you can explain any of that away?” I laughed bitterly.

I felt like such a fool. That night had been the moment I knew Maddox was the one. I bared my deepest vulnerabilities to him, and he made me feel so safe. I desperately wanted to leave my past in the past, and I’d been so grateful he respected that.

The truth was, I’d been sitting across from a man who had no interest in me or my life at all. But because he had charm and a perfectly chiseled jaw, I completely deluded myself about our relationship. All the way to the altar and through years of marriage.

As the full realization crashed over me, my sense of power drained. For a moment, I wanted to cry again.