“I do. I’m asking why you need to come alone?”
“I need him.” I have nothing else to say.
He kisses me fiercely. “Liv, I love you. Please don’t leave me. Don’t leave me for him.”
I’m taken aback by his plea; it is the first time he has expressed this type of concern. I try to reassure him. “I’m not leaving you, my love. I just need to be with him. I will never leave you. Do you understand?” I take his face in my hands and he nods and kisses me again.
“I think so,” he says.
A s I step out of the shower to get ready to get back on the G6 to L.A., I hear low voices coming from the sitting room. They are practically whispering, clearly trying to keep the conversation from me. Intrigued, I eavesdrop from the bedroom door.
It’s Cole and CK.
Curious.
I hear CK say in that tone that brooks no argument, “I will have her here for two days of the week, alone.”
“No,” Cole says forcefully. “I accept you in her life, but I don’t see why you get to have her to yourself? Why can’t we do this again, with all of us here?”
“Do you not have her to yourself back at home?” CK asks.
Silence.
“I don’t need your consent, my boy,” CK growls at his silence. “Trust me when I say you will be better off accepting this.”
“Threatening me, won’t do you any favors with her,” Cole snarls.
I must admit, I’m surprised by his boldness and his acuity that, indeed, if CK were to hurt my brand new charge, I would never speak to him again.
“It’s not a threat,” CK says, unconcerned. “I’m just telling you that I’m taking two days with her.”
After a long, meaningful pause, Cole asks, “You want her back, don’t you? All to yourself.”
“Yes,” CK answers straight away. “But I will share her, honor her marriage to you until such a time that you no longer want to be with her or vice versa.”
My mouth drops open in shock at his words and my heart starts to speed up. What is he saying? Is he insane?
“So, you are saying you are just going to what? Be faithful and wait?” Cole sneers. “She won’t accept you fucking about this time.”
“I’m aware. But, yes, precisely. Another hundred years or so is pocket change to me. I will have my two days every week or that will change,” CK replies.
“Meaning?” Cole gulps.
“Meaning, I will fight for her. And trust me, if I throw my hat into the ring, you will lose her,” CK says with the utmost confidence.
Cole, realizing that he probably would be on the losing end of that fight, says in defeat, “Two days. And I have your word you will honor our marriage? That we will share her?”
“Of course,” CK says, smug now that he has gotten his own way.
“Good, because I have no intention of leaving her or letting her go,” Cole says, also smug.
“Charges always leave their sires, it’s just the way it is. You will go and I will take her for my own again and this time it will be forever,” CK declares with finality.
I’m absolutely shocked to my core over this exchange. I just don’t know what to think. Bloody Devon was right again. It’s true, he really always is.
Oh, CK, why now? Why not three months ago, six months, a year, a century? What game are you playing? My head is reeling. I back up and sit down quietly on the bed.
Cole startles me out of my pensive thoughts a few minutes later. “Hey. Are you ready to get going?”