Page 26 of Bad Husband

And now, as he got to work, with Chiara by his side, the fucking engine warning light had come on and was glaring at him, all nice and red. He was not in the mood for his car to malfunction.

Heather had also appeared to work, and even though she tried to hide it with thick layers of makeup, she was sporting a black eye. Not a pretty sight at all. This pissed him off because Chiara was worried. He tried to talk to Heather, but she would just laugh and say it looked worse as she tried to hide it. Again, miraculously bumping into doors.

Some of the customers were also starting to piss him off. Three of them had reported something wrong with the food, so he had no choice but to take it back. In the end, this brought Rosemary out from behind the counter and into the kitchen. He was glad she dealt with it, because if she hadn’t, he was this fucking close to killing them. He wasn’t in the mood. After that, Rosemary told him to go and grab some takeout cartons from the back.

“You know, I like the look of your friend. I bet she would know how to give me a good time.”

There was no laughter, no joking to that voice, just spite, and Marco tensed up.

“Shane, please stop it. Leave Chiara out of this.” Heather let out a whimper and Marco looked around the corner to find Heather with a hand wrapped around her throat. She was red in the face, as this Shane also looked like he reached between her thighs, and he’d seen enough.

“Release her,” Marco said.

He was not in the best of moods, and he didn’t like seeing Heather hurt like this, knowing his wife was the one this man was threatening. He was done. This had to be the loser who was hurting Heather. He saw the fear and panic on Chiara’s face whenever she looked at the other woman, and he knew she wanted to help but couldn’t. His wife was not going to be hurt by some two-bit fuckwit like this.

The one called Shane turned toward him and snorted. “Dude, if you know what is good for you, I suggest you turn away and go back to your own fucking world.”

Marco was never spoken to with such disrespect. He didn’t back down, even as Heather gasped and she cried out. He was done playing nice. Within seconds, he had his hand wrapped around the man’s throat and was choking him.

“Heather, go back to work. Shane and I are about to have a little conversation and it’s not going to be for delicate ears, do you understand me?” Marco asked, and did his best to attempt a smile.

She looked terrified and quickly ran back to the main part of the diner.

“It’s unlucky for you, you’ve gotten me on a bad fucking day, and I mean a bad day.” He grabbed the back of Shane’s neck and threw him hard, so that he hit the wall.

Shane grunted. “Fuck, what the fuck! That bitch is a whore.”

He grabbed him around the throat, lifted him up, and hit him in the stomach.

“That means you’re not going to have a problem leaving town.” He reached into his back pocket, pulled out the knife he kept stored there, and pressed it against the man’s throat. “Because, if I hear from you again, this is not going to end well. I’ve killed men for less, do you understand me, and I would be more than happy to sink this blade into your fucking guts. Trust me, I would love to keep you alive, so I can use you when I feel the need to punch someone.”

Shane completely shrank before his eyes. The badass exterior was gone, and he was nothing more than a quivering mess. Clearly, Shane was used to bullying women, or those too scared to stand up for themselves. He hated him on principle. Fucking despised him.

Letting him go, he shoved him out the door, so that he fell to his feet, then he got back to work, whistling as he picked up the takeout boxes Rosemary had asked for.

The rest of the day went by without a single problem. Heather tried to apologize to him, and he told her not to worry. He also mentioned that the guy giving her trouble was no more and wouldn’t be bothering her again.

By the end of the day, he made his way into the kitchen to see if Rosemary needed help with anything. Instead, Rosemary asked him a question.

“When are you going to ask Chiara to dance?” Rosemary asked.

This made him stop. “What?”

“You know, there’s a good bar, about a thirty-minute drive from here. It’s Friday night, and did you know they have a live band, good food, and they like to get everyone up to dance? You should ask her. Every woman likes to be wined and dined.” Rosemary winked at him.

Marco never asked any woman out on a date.

Making his way outside, he looked to see Chiara there at the main door, waiting for him. This was a step up from the previous times when he had to always figure out a way to ask her if she wanted a ride.

“Hey,” he said.

Chiara smiled at him. “Hey.”

She actually freaking smiled at him.

“So, uh, how was your day?” he asked, and he wanted to fucking shoot himself, because this was his wife.

“It was good.” She chuckled. “Yours?”