“Let’s not go there, Leith.” I toss the wooden spoon into the sudsy water as well. Seeing red, I dare to glower at his handsome face. “We’ve been married for four years. I’ve never loved anyone but you. Never even crossed my mind to fuck someone elseuntilearly this morning.”
Blood rushes in my ears, pounding erratically. Leith regards me like I stabbed him in the back with a knife and had the audacity to turn the motherfucker 360 degrees.
I catch a case of whiplash as Leith scoops me up over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” I yell.
“Witwill ya do?”
“I’ll kill you!” I snarl, ass in the air.
Beneath my stomach, muscles in Leith’s shoulder smooth over as he laughs. “Och, we’re in this bloody predicament because of yer not wanting me to kill?ouch!Feck,ye bit!”
I bite him again. Leith drops me onto the couch. Nan shoos the kids out of the area. Shamefully, I wait for the little ones to scurry out of the room before proceeding with my tantrum.
“I don’t want to be here. You doing your family business got bullets flying at my ass!” I fold my arms. “When everyone’s ready to act civilized, I’m getting a divorce.”
“Divorce?” All the rage funnels into him, bottled up tight. Licking his thick lips, Leith smiles down at me. “Nae, Chevelle. Very amusing and dramatic, though. Never gonna happen.”
“Too bad.”
“Asye said, I never loved anyone butya. I’ll not love another lass in this lifetime.”
Rolling my eyes, I remind him of what I also said about fucking someone else.
“Did ye?” At his sides, Leith’s large fists look like anchors fit for a cruise liner.
“Should have. I should catch up with you. How many times—”
“Chevelle, stop being childish. Ye dinna know what ye’re talking about.”
“Who’s all sleeping with Erika, huh?”What hurts worse?Is it his cheating or his family’s deception? Or the fact that I’m capable of digging deep down into my father’s roots—the obsessive, killer love.
“Preposterous!” Nan cuts in. She’s returned to the room now, and one hand rests on her wide hip. I feel as if she tried to give us a moment. Behind her, my sworn enemy, Brody, starts heading toward the kitchen but stops.
“Erika has a key to the house,” I retort. “Comes and goes. Nan, maybe you should watch her with Big Brody?”
At my insinuation, Nan purses her lips, huffing through her nostrils. A few beats pass before she cautions, “Chevelle, I’ve the mind to give ye a skelping like ye’re my weewean.”
In shame, I lower my gaze.Could I just be jealous that Erika melds into a family I was afraid to love?I haven’t reflected on that thought for a second when Brody cuts in. “Erika’smywoman!”
He and Leith exchange glances.
Mere seconds ago, I was ready to toss thedrama queencrown. Now, I sense deception and cackle. “Hmmm, last night, you were ready to play mediator. Today, you’re the same old lying ass, Brody.”
Leith exhales heavily. “Nae, Erika has no interest in any of us.”
“Yeah.” I choke on a sob. “Lie to my face, huh?”
“Chevelle, sweetheart,” Nan says, “he may have made a few mistakes as of recent, but neither he nor Brody have slept with the lass. I can assure ya. Our Erika has a funny way about her. She’s got an eye for her own.” The blank look on my face prompts Nan to add, “She’s gay, sweetheart.”
“How’d ya know?” Brody asks.
“I know just about all there is, except for the Yates lad. Nevertheless, I’ll acquaint myself with him, from innards to bone matter soon enough. Chevelle, Erika just has a problem with how detached ye are with the clan.”
I rear back as if slapped. “What does that mean?”Damn, I’m so on the defense.I wish I can take back my words. Nan’s patience is only going to last so long. I stop and think about what’s been said so far. Erika’s sexual orientation. Erika worried about my attachment to the clan. I groan, inwardly. It makes perfect sense. Hell, I was having this epiphany before Brody decided to jump in and cover for Erika. I am detached from the clan. It’s what I’ve always done—love them from a distance. Erika moved to California and melded in instantly, became part of the clan. She belonged in a way I didn’t, and it hurt. But the driving factor behind the madness controlling me is how my family was already destroyed. There’s no way I’d survive losing another one. And there were and are so many ways I could lose them. It’s the nature of their business.
“Och, I have nary a problem with her decision. To each their own, but she’s her da’swean. Speaking of which, Erika’s da, Ewan, isn’t aware of her sexual preferences. Heneverwill, at least, not from the lips of a MacKenzie.”