Kelvin paced the bedroom with his new phone in one hand. Leila was not yet back. She spent another night outside, her third night in a row. She was probably in Charles arms. Kelvin tossed his phone on the bed and ran his fingers through his hair.
One thing was clear, he was hurt but he still wanted her. He hated himself for wanting her after watching that video. He hated her for making him want him.
The ringing of his phone pulled him out of his thoughts. Freya had called him on Saturday night but he didn't pick. Kelvin didn't want to hear what she had to say on behalf of her best friend. He had received a text from her to please call his wife and it left him more furious than he already was. She had to have been aware Leila cheated. They were that close. If Freya had any sense, she would have tried to stop her best friend from doing something silly.
What did Charles have over him?
Where was that anger when Charles molested her best friend?
The one thing that stopped Kelvin from calling the CEO of Index to cancel his appointment with Darren was the progress and commitment Darren had shown in the few weeks of meeting Nate. The CEO had nothing but good things to say about him. He couldn't let his wife's sins ruin another man's success.
He went through the emails Amara sent him. His next meeting was by 8:30 am and it was only past seven now. He couldn't be sure Leila would be home today.
Three nights. She left the house for three nights without so much as a text or call.
A door opened somewhere in the house, he rushed to their bedroom door but changed his mind last minute. He couldn't act too worried about her. The bodyguard he hired had been taken off the job after a few weeks without any recurrence of Charles's stalking but he was wishing he had kept him. He might have found all his answers.
He lifted his head when his wife walked into the room. She was dressed in a gown a size too small, so tight he could trace the contour of her nipples. She was not even wearing a bra. Of course she wasn't. So lost in the pleasure gotten from Charles, she forgot what a decent woman she used to be.
As much as he wanted to speak, Kelvin didn't say anything. His fingers drummed on the surface of the vanity in impatience.
Leila stopped in the middle of the room. Their eyes met in the mirror but he averted his gaze. His heart was breaking all over again.
Why did she do it?
He picked one of her body creams from the dresser, he had no idea their function but she rubbed some before going to bed each night. It helped to keep her skin soft.
Uncomfortable silence lingered in the air. It had been so long they had a dispute that this quietness felt strange. Leila walked to the wardrobe without a word to him, she took out a jacket and laid it out on the bed.
He watched her through the mirror as she took subtle glances at him. His eyes stayed on her birthmark. If Kelvin forgot anything, he wouldn't forget the mark or the way her lips parted for Charles. His knees grew weak and he slumped into the chair. He wanted to say something, but right now, his brain was muddled. He couldn't say anything without screaming at his wife or calling her names.
Kelvin was stiff in the chair when Leila crossed the room. She stopped behind him and squeezed her hands. She was nervous. Why? Because she didn't know how to tell him she was getting pounded by another man?
The silence was more suffocating. He wanted her to say something but she looked as confused as he did. He turned his seat around so they could make real eye contact without the aid of a mirror.
"I spent the night at Freya's," she murmured. Kelvin shook his head. She must think him stupid to spit out silly lies like that. He said nothing so she could ramble out more lies. Pushing a foot forward, she drew a line on the tiled floors. At some point, she would have to give up the truth. "You didn't call to check up on me, Kev."
Her audacity made Kelvin laugh. He might have been fooled by her innocence once but that would never happen again. Snippets of the video played in his mind, her moans reverberated in his head and his long buried anger spilled over him. Kelvin was done being a gentleman, done trying to be a good husband.
"This is what you do now, right?" Her head jerked up at the tone of his voice. Kelvin stood abruptly and the chair collapsed to the floor. He took one step forward and she took one backward. "You deny me of sex and run right into the arms of another man. The same man who almost raped you," he screamed in her face. She winced, her eyes moistened like he had struck her but Kelvin wasn't done talking. "You're cheap, Leilani. A cheap fucking whore and you disgust me."
A small sound left her lips. It annoyed him that even now, she was acting like she knew nothing about what he was saying. He saw the videos. He saw the security clips. She gave to Charles what she wouldn't give her husband. She betrayed his trust and broke his heart. How dare her try to act innocent?
"How much did he pay you, Leilani? Did he even pay you for that or it was a reunion gift?" he spat out. He wasn't filtering his words, he was saying it as they came into his head. "Did you two have fun laughing at me while fucking?"
His head snapped to the side when she slapped him. Kelvin wiped his lips and smoothed his jacket. He should be at work but he waited to know if she would return home or spend another night with her man.
"The next time you raise your hand on me would be the last time you ever have use of those hands."
A silent gasp slipped from her and he smirked. Leila understood his point.
She balled her hands. "I hate you." Kelvin laughed harder. Of course she did. If she didn't, she wouldn't have been fucking another man, a bastard. "You're the worst thing that has happened to me this year."
The distance between them diminished, he pinned her against the wall and she turned her face away.
"Yeah? That wasn't what you said when I had my fingers inside you, Leilani."
Kelvin supported his words by pressing his knee against her front. But it didn't satisfy him. He wanted to punish her for hurting him. He ripped the top of her gown and Leila yelled in protest when her breasts spilled out. Consumed by anger, Kelvin paid no mind to his wife's tears as he roughly kneaded her breast. He wanted to do more. To erase Charles's touch from her body.
"You didn't have an issue with me touching your boobs back then, did you, Leilani?"
"Stop, please," she whispered. "Kev, please. You're hurting me. Just let me go and I'll leave."
Kelvin stopped. The hurt swimming in his wife's eyes mirrored the same in his. She tried to hold the pieces of her dress to hide her breasts from him and a tidal wave of guilt crashed over him. He stepped back to retrieve the duvet and offered it to his wife without looking in her direction. She was crying silently now and it annoyed him.
Liar. She was not a fucking saint.
He backed away from her slowly until he was at the door. Leila's teary eyes raised to meet his right before he left the room and the amount of hurt and disappointment in them cut through him. He promised to protect her and the only chance he got to do that, he turned into the same demon that harassed her.
Still seething with anger, he slammed the door on his way out. She caused it. It was her fault. But he went too far. Did he? Fuck.
Kelvin collapsed to the couch in their living room. His eyes stung and his heart hurt. She hurt him. He hurt her back but he didn't feel any satisfaction from doing any of that. He felt like a monster, a man who should be locked up for a few days.
Would she forgive him?
His mind contested between good and right. He had every right to be angry at her but it would never justify manhandling her like that. In the end, the reasonable part of him won. He went to the front of their room but didn't open the door.
Minutes passed as he stood there contemplating between an apology or walking out. "Leila," he called after knocking twice. No sound. He didn't open the door, he only wanted to do that with her permission. Maybe he should have tried talking to her first. But how do you ask your wife if she was with another man? There was no sane way to go about it. "Leilani."
When he got no response, he opened the door. Leila was still where he left her. The duvet had dropped to her feet and her hands were clenched tight. Tears coated her eyelashes but they didn't fall. Kelvin leaned on the wall, for the first time, he didn't know what to say to his wife. Her eyes reflected the words he knew she wouldn't say.
"Leila."
"I'm leaving you." Kelvin backed away from the door, dragging himself towards her like a puppet pulled by a string. Her gaze was frozen, face as neutral as a mask. "I am leaving you, Mr McKenna."
Leila tugged the sleeve of her torn gown over her shoulder and the hole in his chest widened. He ruined her dress, and his heart burned from the finality in her tone. Leila flinched when he raised his hands but he only did that to show he wouldn't hurt her.
"I won't be here when you return," she added. "Thank you for everything, Kev."
Leila held his gaze, the certainty in those brown eyes startled him. Her words fanned into flames the sleeping anger and he turned his back to her.
"You're not going anywhere, Leilani. Not anytime soon." She belonged with him, not Charles. At the door, he stopped without looking back. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Charles. That is on me, Leilani."