My Husband Called Me Disgusting

Chapter 3

Sensing my mood, my colleagues made their excuses and the get-together broke up early.

I took a cab home, washed up, and got into bed, my face perfectly calm.

Just past midnight, I heard the entryway door open. I lay with my back to the bedroom door and listened to the quiet sounds of him moving around. Half an hour later, I felt myself being drawn into a familiar embrace, one that carried the faint scent of sage cologne.

I used to love that smell. Now it made me faintly sick.

I pulled his hand from my waist, and the moment it slipped under the hem of my shirt I broke free entirely. "I'm tired. Let's just sleep."

The same words he'd said to me the night before.

Nathaniel's hand froze in the air. He didn't push it. He just pulled the blanket over me, kissed my temple, and got up, taking his phone into the bathroom.

I turned my head. His phone was gone from the nightstand.

I couldn't remember when it had started — Nathaniel, who had never been attached to his phone, had begun carrying it everywhere.

My mind was churning. After lying there unable to sleep for a while, I gave up and reached for my own phone, where I found a friend request that had come in two hours ago.

She said she was Clara.

I accepted with a cold smile.

A second later, she sent me a screenshot of a conversation. The timestamp was fresh — ten minutes ago.

I glanced at the bathroom light still glowing under the door, then opened the screenshot.

The messages were intimate, thick with feeling. Clara had sent him a hotel address and room number, her words soft and almost pleading:

Nathaniel, I don't care whether you ever leave Evelyn. I just hope that, because of how much I love you, you'll spare a little of that love for me.

I just want my first time to be with the man I love most.

Nathaniel, if you don't come tonight, I'll go find someone else on the street. If it can't be you, it doesn't matter who it is.

Five minutes later, Nathaniel had sent back two words:

Wait for me.

I set my phone down and leaned against the headboard. The bathroom light went out. Nathaniel came out in his silk pajamas, and when he saw me sitting up, he paused for just a fraction of a second before tossing out an excuse about an urgent situation at the firm and turning to get dressed.

He'd used that same excuse to slip out in the middle of the night more and more often lately. I had always believed him, because I loved him and it never crossed my mind to doubt him.

Looking back now, every single one of those urgent situations had been Clara.

I watched him finish dressing and head for the door, then threw back the blanket. "I'll come with you."

A flash of something crossed his face. He crossed the room in a few steps, scooped me up, and tucked me back under the covers. "It's too late for that. Weren't you tired? I'm not about to drag you out of bed at this hour. It's nothing serious. I'll be back before you know it. Be good and get some sleep." He kissed my forehead, grabbed his jacket, and was gone.

I listened to the entryway door close, then got up, threw on a coat, stepped into my shoes, and followed him.

The streets were empty at that hour, but Nathaniel drove fast, and if it hadn't been for the traffic lights I would have lost him. I watched from my car as he pulled up, jumped out, and pulled Clara, who had been waiting outside the hotel entrance, into his arms.

They kissed like they couldn't bear to stop.