“That’s crap. I know I gave it to you to put in storage,” Doug said, breaking her from her morose thoughts.
“Doug,” she said, trying to keep her tone even as she continued to pace the warped, wooden boards creaking beneath her feet. “I can’t deal with this right now. I have a date and am about to walk out. Maybe check the lockbox in the guest bedroom downstairs.”
“I already—” But he didn’t finish the initial thought. “You have a date?”
She almost laughed at the incredulity in his voice. Half of her wanted to say—Yes, with a ridiculously sexy man who made me come more times in one night than you did for most of our marriage. “Yes, last I checked, I was no longer married and free to do that.”
He sniffed. “Already on the prowl, huh? How much money does he have? Because I know you’re not spreading your legs for some guy who can’t afford your Prada habit.”
“Go to hell.”
He cursed back at her, his voice getting louder as he gained steam, and now she could hear the slight slur of alcohol lacing it. Fun. She’d learned early with Doug that his asshole gene amplified when under the influence of his evening scotch. “Come on, tell me. Millionaire? Billionaire? I know that’s what gets you wet. Not big cocks, but big bank accounts.”
The ugly words made her want to gag. “You’re disgusting. Don’t you dare talk—”
But before she could finish her threat, the phone was plucked from her hand. She spun around to find Kade. Anger shimmered off him like heat waves rising off the road.
“Kade, I—”
Kade held up a hand to halt her and put the phone to his ear, a murderous look in his eyes. “Hello, Doug.”
Tessa could hear her ex-husband’s booming voice come through the phone with crystal clarity in the quiet evening. “Who the fuck is this?”
She closed her eyes, dying of humiliation. The last thing she needed was for Kade to get pulled into her ugly divorce shit. “Kade, please, don’t.”
But Kade gave her a stern I’ve-got-this look. “Doug, this is the guy who isn’t going to allow you to disrespect Tessa. Do not call this number or bother her again. Talk to her through her lawyer. And if you ever dare speak to her again the way you just did or attempt to bully her, I will personally fly to wherever you are and shove your tongue down your throat. Do we have an understanding?”
His tone was calm as water on a windless day, but the icy ferocity behind the words rocked Tessa back on her heels. She braced herself for the explosion from Doug. No one talked to him that way.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Doug shouted into the phone. “She’s my goddamned wife.”
“No, she’s your ex-wife,” Kade reminded him, the utter stoicism in his voice probably driving Doug to the brink.
“Oh, so you’re the date, huh?” Doug challenged, his snide tone obvious. “Hope your bank account is big, friend, because that bitch only has one reason to date anyone.”
Tessa tried to reach for the phone, mortified at the exchange, but Kade stepped back. Cold fury had settled in those blue eyes. “This conversation is over. Your communication with Tessa is over. Contact her again, and you and I will have a problem.”
He laughed. “You think I’m afraid of you?”
Kade’s grim smile sent a chill through her. “You should be.”
With that, Kade ended the call and handed back her phone. She took it, trying to keep hot tears at bay. Embarrassment was like a living, breathing entity holding her in its claws. “Kade . . .”
“Get rid of this phone and number. I’ll get you a corporate-issued one tomorrow. You don’t need him having access to you like that.” The words were clipped, the residual anger from the call still clear in the tight set of his jaw and shoulders.
She stared down at the phone like it was a rattlesnake that had bitten her. “I’m so sorry you had to hear that, that he—”
“Hey,” h
e said, closing the distance between them and sliding warm palms to her upper arms. The hard edges of his expression softened and melted away as he looked down at her. From ruthless to kind and considerate in two seconds flat. “No apologies for things that aren’t your fault. I heard what he said to you. He’s an abusive asshole who gets off by tearing you down. Don’t give him his thrills anymore. Cut him off.”
“He’s not going to stop calling. He’ll get the new number.”
“And you charge him with harassment if he does. He has no right to abuse you like that.”
She blew out a breath. “It’s not really abuse. It’s just how he is. He’s angry about what happened with the divorce. He thought I’d—”
“Tessa,” he said, cutting her off with that firm voice of his. “It’s abuse. He hits and cuts you with words for his own enjoyment. He tears you down and makes you feel worthless. That can be more damaging than a punch. Believe me, I know.”