I floundered for a moment, trying to figure out exactly where I’d gone wrong when, up until this point, I thought my marriage was going along swimmingly compared to how I thought it would be.
“I don’t know, maybe you can tell me about your first few weeks of classes? Or your doctor’s appointment today? It’s been two weeks, pet.”
This time I actually did get an eye roll. “Why would I tell you that when Rhodes seems to have been doing a bang up job rehashing my every move to you while you were who knows where.”
“I was working—” I started, surprised at the flash of anger in her gray eyes. I was also trying my hardest not to smile because despite my omega’s tart mood, her temper was adorable. Though, I was sure pointing that out would definitely not win me any points in this situation. “Are you really angry with me?”
I wasn’t sure why, but the prospect of it made me a little bit excited.
“No,” Perrie insisted, looking away from me, her eyes darting to look out of the dining room windows and at the dim garden beyond. “Why would I be angry at you? Our marriage is just a contract after all. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed as I’ve had a long day.”
With her chin held high, Perrie grabbed her camera and swept out of the room before the second course had even been served.
Sighing, I turned to Oona who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a cart of plates of beef tenderloin and a sympathetic expression. “Will you bring a plate to my wife? It seems she’s going to finish dinner in her room.”
“Of course, sir,” Oona said with a shake of her head as she placed our meals in front of us before leaving to drop Perrie’s food off to her.
Silence hung heavy in the dining room as I slowly and methodically cut into my meat, barely even tasting it as I thought about my angry omega.
I was also doing my best to ignore Rhodes’ penetrating gaze, but once I was halfway through my meal it became too much and I finally dropped my utensils onto the porcelain with a loud clatter and glared at him. “What?”
“Nothing,” Rhodes hurried to say as he took a sip of his wine. “It’s just… I’ve never known you to be such a big idiot.”
“Watch it, McCreary, or you’ll pay for it later,” I growled, my shoulders stiffening with the insult.
Rhodes’ cheeks flushed a little bit, telling me that my threat was definitely not perceived as such, and if Perrie wasn’t pissed at me, I definitely would have dragged my second right up to my bedroom and shown him just how much I missed having him next to me.
But then Perrie’s angry eyes flashed in my head again and that cooled my ardor like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over my head.
“Aren’t you going to go after her and do what alphas do best?” Rhodes asked, clearing his throat.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I shot Rhodes a look of incredulity. Because why was my stoic alpha, the one who didn’t want a pack and certainly didn’t want to share my omega, commenting on my handling of my wife. “And what do alphas do best, Rhodes?”
“Soothe their omegas, boss.” Rhodes stood up and gave my shoulder a pat. “It’s good to have you back, I missed you.”
Then he left me all by myself with my half-eaten dinner and far too complicated feelings for how exhausted I felt.
Perrie was my wife, sure, but she also knew what I did for a living. It was never going to be a normal marriage.
But does that mean you don’t need to talk to her when you’re away on business? A nasty little voice whispered in my head as I stared at the aged-mahogany table that had been in my family for generations.
I ignored it. I hadn’t called Perrie because I wasn’t sure what to tell her. How was I supposed to explain all of the bloody shit I’d had a hand in for the past two weeks? She wasn’t used to this life and I’d seen the way her eyes had widened at the reception dinner when I’d missed a spot of blood on my ring.
No, it was better for her not to know anything at all.
I was back now and Perrie would have to get over her tantrum eventually. She was a grown woman, and from what I could tell, looked at everything with a level of logic that far surpassed her age.
I’d try again in the morning once I’d gotten a full night of sleep and hoped that cooler heads would prevail over a plate of scrambled eggs.
Eighteen
“Ihope you know calling me into your study like I’m a child who is in trouble isn’t going to make me any less angry with you,” I told Edison as I stood in front of my desk, my hands clasped in front of me as I tried to look anywhere but at the golden eyes that were staring me down.
“And I wouldn’t have to call you into my study if you hadn’t spent the past five days ignoring my very existence, Perrie.”
“I’m not ignoring your existence,” I insisted with a lie.
At least not entirely, I muttered in my head as Edison scoffed.
I’d still show up for every meal that was required of me, answer whatever questions he asked as quickly as possible, and then go about my days of lessons at home, classes at the university, and my own life.
Because apparently the sick little romantic inside of me had gotten ahead of herself the night of our wedding and I needed to pull her ass back down to earth.
That had been the conclusion I’d come to the day of my appointment when it had been just Rhodes going with me—Rhodes who I was pretty sure didn’t even like me very much.
“Then why won’t you look me in the eye, pet?”
“I’m not your pet.” The words slipped out of me before I could stop them.
There was a heavy pause and I could hear Edison shifting in the massive leather desk chair he’d been sitting in since I was summoned into his office while I was taking pictures in the garden.
“I see…” Edison almost sounded hurt, but I pushed that thought away. Edison Keane would never be hurt by silly words like that. “Is this really about me not calling you while I was away?”
The way he said it made it sound so juvenile and I very nearly denied it, not wanting to look any younger than I already was in my husband’s eyes. But then I thought about hearing Rhodes finishing up their nightly phone calls after dinner, or asking Oona every morning if she thought he would be home only to have the elderly housekeeper shake her head.
Marrying Edison wasn’t my first choice, but I’d been under the silly, overly-romantic notion that I could make it work. That we could make it work.
