After He Called Me Trouble, I Quit Him

Chapter 6

"This is ridiculous!"

Julian snatched the rosary back, his jaw tightening. He turned on his heel and walked away.

Hailey caught his wrist and pushed him back against the dressing-room door. Before he could react, she rose onto her toes and kissed him.

Their mouths met, and the room grew charged with desire.

Julian soon took control. He wrapped an arm around her waist, guided her back into the bedroom, and lowered her onto the bed beneath him.

Her eyes were hazy as she reached for his shirt buttons. The moment she touched them, he caught her wrist.

His cold voice sounded beside her ear. "Hailey, stop pretending you're drunk."

His palm was hot, yet she went cold all over.

Her smile disappeared. Humiliated at being exposed, she clenched her hand.

"Do you hate me that much? Then why did you come for me?"

Julian didn't answer. He didn't even look at her again before getting up and leaving.

Downstairs, the quiet room's door closed with a muted thud.

Hailey bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears.

The red rose tattoo still throbbed. She'd found someone to do it in a hurry after the race.

She didn't really know what she was trying to accomplish. She only wanted Julian to look at her a little longer.

'If he's so devoted to his faith, I'll be the one to tempt him away from it.'

She'd thought his coming to find her meant he cared at least a little. Now she knew she'd gambled and lost completely.

Julian was just as unsettled.

He knelt at the prayer bench, silently reciting the Hail Mary as he ran the rosary through his fingers, over and over.

But he couldn't shake the image of that vivid red rose.

Then he remembered Hailey winding his beads around her fingers. His hand faltered, and the beads fell to the floor.

His eyes darkened. He'd never lost his composure like this before.

After a while, he picked them up and placed them on the table. Then he took another dark wooden rosary and knelt down again.

Neither of them slept that night.

The next morning, Mia had already left for school when Hailey came downstairs.

Julian was still at the breakfast table. Hailey stopped, reluctant to face him, and considered returning to her room.

"Your breakfast will get cold," he said.

'How can he act as if nothing happened?'

She walked over and sat opposite him out of sheer stubbornness.

The housekeeper, Nora Parker, brought her a sandwich and a glass of milk.

Julian had made a personal vow to give up meat and alcohol as an act of penance. Whenever he was home, meat was off the table.

Rebellion stirred in Hailey. She shoved her plate away.

"Ms. Parker, cook me a steak."

Julian looked up, frowning. "Steak for breakfast?"

"Why not? I married you so I could spend the rest of my life in wealth and comfort, didn't I? Is a steak too much to ask?"

She threw his own words back at him without hesitation.

He pressed his lips together as though he wanted to say something, but finally stood.

"Have whatever you want."

He put on his suit jacket. At the door, he remembered something and looked back.

"Don't go to any more bars."

Hailey was about to demand what right he had to tell her that when he continued.

"I have a business dinner tonight. Don't wait for me. Ask Ms. Parker to make whatever you'd like."

Then he left.

Hailey stared after him. Julian had actually told her his plans.

'Has the world turned upside down?'

She shook her head. She must still be dreaming.

Nora set the steak before her with a smile. "You and Mr. Bennett seem to be getting along better."

Hailey didn't answer.

'For things to get better, there has to be something between us in the first place. And Julian doesn't...'

Pain tightened her chest. Her appetite gone, she went upstairs.

She wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep. Noise downstairs woke her.

Frowning, she got up and reached the staircase just as Camille helped an obviously drunk Julian into the living room.

'He doesn't drink. What happened?'

Hailey descended and gave Camille a hostile look. "What's going on?"

Camille settled Julian on the couch before facing her.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Bennett. Julian was drinking in my place so I wouldn't have to... Please don't blame him."

As she looked up, Hailey clearly saw her smudged lipstick.

Camille raised a hand to cover her mouth, looking guilty, as though she'd been caught out.

"I'll leave him in your care, then."

She nodded and departed.

Watching her go, Hailey slowly clenched her hands. A faint tremor ran through her.

More than anger, she felt hurt. Her husband had broken his pledge of abstinence for another woman. It was more humiliating than being slapped across the face.

'Would he bend even one of his rules for me?'

She knew the answer. He wouldn't.

She asked the bodyguards to take him upstairs, then sat alone in the empty living room. Tears clouded her eyes.

'No. I can't keep crying over Julian.'

She wiped her eyes, thought for a moment, and made a call.

*****

Music pounding from downstairs woke Julian. He opened his eyes with a frown.

Once he'd established that he was indeed at home, his frown deepened.

He got up, left the bedroom, and looked down from the second floor.

The living room was packed with men and women dancing to the music.

In the middle of the crowd, Hailey held a drink and stood beside a tanned young man who looked like a college student.

Whatever he said made her laugh. She leaned toward him, her hand landing on his abs as though by accident, then sliding lower.