Chapter 2Keep It After Midnight

Darkness had settled over the city again by the time I finally heard the lock turn.

Xavier walked in wearing a crisp shirt, his hair still damp and a strong perfume clinging to him.

I stared at him.

He rubbed the tip of his nose. "Still mad?"

Before I could answer, Tessa peeked around him with a smile.

"Special delivery~."

She smiled as she held out her hand. A wedding ring lay in her palm.

"Almost forgot. This needs to be returned too."

Something exploded in my head.

I picked up the ring and turned it between my fingers. Our initials were engraved inside, and there was still a tiny nick along the edge from where it had gotten knocked against something last year.

"Why did you take it off?"

Xavier swallowed.

Tessa leaned against the doorframe and answered for him. "It got in the way."

My hand flew up.

The slap cracked across Xavier's face, turning his head to the side. Tessa went rigid.

My palm burned and tingled, but somehow the pain made everything suddenly clear, as though I'd finally woken up from a ridiculous dream.

"Did you two sleep together?"

Xavier turned back to me, a red mark already spreading across his cheek, but he wouldn't meet my eyes.

My stomach lurched.

I grabbed the entryway cabinet and dry-heaved. When Xavier reached for me, I knocked his hand away.

"Don't touch me."

"Yvonne." His voice tightened. "We'd both been drinking last night. Later, neither of us was in a good state of mind, and I..."

"You were drunk when you took your clothes off, and you were drunk when you took off your wedding ring?"

I hurled the ring at him.

"But you were sober enough to shower before you came home, weren't you?"

The ring bounced off the floor and rolled to Tessa's feet. She glanced down at it, the faintest hint of a smile curling at the corner of her mouth.

Xavier's face darkened.

"What's done is done. If you want to hit me or yell at me, fine." He rubbed between his brows. "But we've been married for five years. Are you really going to make this into such a huge fight over twenty-four hours?"

It felt as if something had stabbed straight through my chest.

I stormed into the bedroom and started tearing his shirts and pants out of the closet. Hangers clattered against the rod as I yanked the clothes down one after another.

Xavier followed me in and caught my wrist.

"Yvonne Carter!"

I grabbed the clothes and threw them in his face.

"Go sleep somewhere else."

He clenched his jaw. "Take your anger out on me if you want, but leave Tessa out of it. She was drunk last night too."

My hands slowly went still.

"She was so drunk she still remembered to keep your wedding ring safe?"

Tessa stood in the doorway, her eyes turning red.

"Yvonne, we've been friends for twenty years. Are you really going to fall out with me over a man?"

I grabbed her purse and hurled it into the hall. Her compact popped open when it hit the floor, and a tube of lipstick rolled several feet away.

"Get out."

Tessa stood there staring at me for a few seconds before letting out a cold laugh.

She bent down to pick up the lipstick, then looked at Xavier.

"How much longer are you planning to keep this from her?"

Xavier's expression changed instantly.

Tessa shoved the lipstick back into her purse.

"Before I even asked yesterday, he already knew what I was going to borrow."

The room went dead still.

I stared at Xavier, my fingertips still tingling from throwing everything around.

"What does that mean?"

His jaw tightened as he avoided my eyes.

"She wanted to help me find out whether you really love me."

My chest seized.

Tessa gave a quiet laugh from the doorway.

"That's a nice way of putting it, Xavier."

I stared at him. "Find out what?"

He raised an arm across the doorway, irritation plainly written across his face.

"Yvonne, you're too worked up right now. Don't listen to her when she's deliberately trying to get to you."

My eyes burned.

"You spent the night sleeping with her, and you're worried about her upsetting me?"

He went rigid.

"I'll explain what happened last night."

"Sure. Explain it now."

I shoved his arm aside, my fingers trembling.

"Explain why she already knew you'd agree."

Xavier opened his mouth, then reached for me.

I stepped back before he could touch me.

His hand hung in the air for a moment before slowly dropping to his side.

Tessa was still leaning against the doorway, but the color had suddenly drained from her face.

"If you really want to know, ask him what he's been thinking for the past six months. He's convinced you don't really have him in your heart. Everything that happened last night was supposed to see whether you'd actually worry about him."

My ears rang.

"Tessa, shut up," Xavier snapped.

Her lips twitched. Then she suddenly doubled over, one hand clamped hard against her stomach.