Lone King, page 11
Ava isn’t going to take that lame reason for an answer. I know her far too well. I should have said I have to work this weekend.
“Please? I like hanging out with the guys and their girlfriends, but I like having my best friend around too. Ronan and Kate will be there, as will Kellen and Salem. I haven’t seen Marius much this week, so I don’t know if he’ll be there. He’s been downright surly lately, so probably not.”
“Maybe his girlfriend is giving him a hard time. Perhaps she lost her binky, and he hasn’t bought her a new one.”
My snide comments make Ava laugh. “That was so weird, wasn’t it? Marius never brings anyone to our parties, and then he shows up with that girl. Ronan said he thinks she’s only twenty. Marius is nearly thirty! What is he thinking?”
I don’t answer, but in my mind all I can think is I have no idea what that man thought he was doing. Did he actually think him bringing that beautiful girl with the giant boobs and gorgeous, young face was anything close to the same thing as my having to go out with Rob, the man who worries about choking on food so he cuts everything up into tiny pieces like Ava does for her kids?
“Not sure,” I answer, not wanting to continue talking about Marius and his date.
“Well, I highly doubt he’ll be there, with or without her, so say you’ll come over tomorrow. Matthias is going to be manning the grill. He’s very excited about it too. He’s closing his office door and taking the entire weekend off. We’ve got hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks, shrimp, the works! You just have to come.”
I don’t have the heart to disappoint her a second time she has a party, so I reluctantly agree to go. “Need me to bring anything?”
“Just your bathing suit. We’re swimming until we get pruney. See you at noon!”
“I’ll be there.”
Even if I really don’t want to.
When I walk out onto the patio, I see everyone has arrived already. All except Marius. That’s probably for the best. I have to admit a small part of me had hoped to see him today, but that’s likely just habit. Every time I’ve come to see Ava in the past two years I’ve hoped to see Marius here.
“Eden!” Ava squeals as she hurries over to give me a hug. “Did you bring your bathing suit? You have to get in today. It’s the last official party of summer!”
I lift up my t-shirt to show her my suit. “I’m here and ready to swim!” I say far more enthusiastically than I feel.
“Okay, drop your purse off near the table. I’m in with Matty, and Theo is hanging out with his uncles. Matthias can make you anything you want to eat. We have a ton of food!”
Her excitement for this party is nothing more than her usual happiness to have her friends and family around her, but my stomach is already in knots. It started as I was driving up to the house, and now that I’m here, it’s much worse.
The last time I was here, I had to pretend to be sick. This time, I might not have to lie about it at all.
And if Marius shows up, it’ll be worse. If he shows up with that young girl, I might just throw up all over the patio.
I force myself to smile and make small talk with Matthias, Kellen, and Ronan before saying hi to their girlfriends. It’s all one big happy family and me. Well, one big happy family with one member missing.
Knowing I have to put on my usual act, I jump into the pool and play with Matty and his mom for a while as everyone else drinks and laughs and occasionally joins us in the water. After a while, I forget about my worrying and let myself enjoy the party. Ava is my dearest friend in the world, and her family has always been great to me.
I don’t know how they’re going to feel when they find out the truth. I guess they might not think I’m so great when it all comes out.
Two hours into the party, we’ve all eaten and swam enough for an entire weekend. The boys fall asleep, Theo in his Uncle Kellen’s arms, and Matty in his usual spot in the stroller. The margaritas are flowing, and we’re all having a great time. I even forget about my worries that Marius will show up and demand to talk to me.
And then what had been a perfectly wonderful day goes to hell in a matter of minutes.
“Marius! I didn’t know if you’d be joining us today,” Matthias announces, and my heart skips a beat.
I turn to see the man I still love walk out to join all of us. He looks tired, like he hasn’t slept in days. The dark circles under his eyes tell that story. And his beard says he hasn’t shaved since the party last week. The way he looks at me when he sees I’m here tells a completely different story, one that I can’t hear today.
Leaning over to whisper to Ava who’s sitting next to me drinking a margarita, I say, “I’m going to go change out of my bathing suit. Do you want me to bring anything out when I come back?”
She smiles and nods her head. “If you see Eleanor, tell her to come out and join us. Everyone I love is here, and we’re living our best life. I don’t need anything else.”
I nod and hurry inside the house. At least one of us is living the dream. Too bad my life has become a nightmare.
After hiding out in the powder room for ten minutes, I can’t avoid returning to the party anymore. I open the door, poke my head out to see if the coast is clear, and happily, there’s not a soul to be found.
I don’t get two steps out of the bathroom before Marius appears in front of me. He doesn’t say a word and pulls me by the arm into the kitchen. Not exactly the room I’d choose for our final showdown, but he’s calling the shots for now.
He looks at me, and I see such love in his dark eyes. I’ve always loved the way he looks at me. It’s a mixture of caring and sensuality that never fails to make me fall in love with him all over again.
And if I’m not careful, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
Taking my hand, he presses it against his bare chest just over his heart. “We both proved our points, so now we can start fresh. I’m sorry, Eden. Please, say you forgive me.”
When I shake my head but don’t say anything because I’m on the verge of crying, he continues. “This can’t go on. I miss you, and I know you miss me. Have you gotten all my messages? I’ve been texting every day. I’m sorry. You have to believe me.”
“You look like hell, Marius.”
He tries to smile, but it never really happens. “I haven’t been sleeping very well for the past few nights. I miss you, Duck. I’ve been miserable without you. You miss me, don’t you?”
Tears well in my eyes, making it hard to see as pull my hand away and say, “I wanted to go public about us, and what did you do? You brought that girl to the party.”
“You were with that guy. How is what I did any different?” he asks with so much hurt in his voice that I almost want to say I’m sorry.
I can’t stand here and talk about this with him right now. I have to go before I fall apart and everyone sees.
“Don’t follow me. I have to go say goodbye to everyone, and if you’re with me, I’m not going to be able to do it without crying.”
He follows me, even though I just told him not to, so it’s practically a herculean effort to act normal when I return to the party. I make a beeline for Ava in the hopes that I can bid my farewells and leave as soon as possible before anything more happens.
“Ava, I have to go. Thank you for a great time.”
She jumps up off the chaise lounge and gives me a hug. “Thank you for coming over. I’m so glad you were here.”
“Me too,” I say, barely holding back tears. Turning to everyone sitting at the table, I say, “Thanks for a good time, guys! Matthias, as always, thanks for letting me monopolize your wife’s time.”
They all say goodbye, but one King says nothing. He simply stands near the door to the house like he intends on intercepting me on my way out. Why can’t he just leave things alone? Doesn’t he understand I’m not ready to forgive?
As I make my way toward the house, Eleanor appears in the doorway with a man. Dammit. I forgot to tell her to come outside.
Behind me, Matthias asks her, “Is something wrong, Eleanor? Everything okay?”
I swallow hard and try to push past her and the man, but it’s no use.
“I’m fine, Matthias. This man is a process server.”
When I look back, Ava is wearing a worried expression. “What’s this about, honey?”
Matthias walks over to the man and smiles back at his wife. “Nothing to worry about. It’s par for the course when you run a company as big as King Industries. They usually serve me at my office in the city, though. This guy must be working overtime.”
It’s like everything begins to move in slow motion as the process server explains to Matthias he isn’t the King he’s there for. Confused, the oldest King looks around and asks, “Then who?”
And that’s when the entire world stops.
Walking out of the house, the man holds up the envelope containing the papers he’s been hired to serve. “I’m looking for Marius King.”
Never in my life have I felt like I wanted to burrow into the ground like I want to do right now. I don’t regret what I’ve done. I just assumed this would happen when nobody was around, not in the middle of one of Ava’s parties.
Marius looks at me with confusion and then back at the man. “I’m Marius King.”
As he hands him the yellow envelope, he says, “This is for you then. Have a good day.”
I don’t know how it’s possible, but I don’t faint dead away when Marius opens up the envelope and begins to read the papers. I want to run away from this house as fast as I can, but I’m not able to move my feet. It’s like they’re encased in concrete.
I’m stuck standing here watching the man I love read the words no man ever wants to see.
When he looks at me again, all I see is pure pain in his dark eyes.
Holding the papers up in front of him, he walks over to me and asks with so much hurt in his voice, “What’s this?”
I hang my head, and in a tiny voice, I answer, “Please, Marius. Don’t do this.”
“I could say the same thing to you. Why Duck?”
As much as I want to avoid meeting his gaze, I lift my head and say, “It’s okay. Sometimes things just don’t work out, even when you want them to more than anything. Don’t make a big deal about this. It’s just the way it is.”
Marius takes a step toward me, and I know he wants to reach out and touch me. “I don’t agree.”
“Just sign the papers, Marius. I don’t want anything. Sign them, and we’ll be done.”
He shakes his head. “No. I won’t sign them.”
I have no choice. He didn’t want to make us public, but now his family is going to finally find out everything.
“I’ve waited for you, Marius. For the first year and a half that we were married, we didn’t even live together. Maybe I’m partly to blame for this. I don’t know. I went along with everything you wanted because I loved you. I waited and waited, and every time I asked why we couldn’t tell everyone we were together, you said because you wanted a little more time. What I want is for someone to choose me. You didn’t, so we’re done.”
I couldn’t stop the tears now if I tried. All week, all I’ve wanted to do was cry my eyes out. I couldn’t. Maybe because it wasn’t definite.
Now it is.
“Duck…Eden, I won’t let us end like this,” he says, and the agony in his voice makes me feel like someone’s squeezing my heart.
Unable to look at the hurt in his eyes any longer, I run into the house to escape. Ava catches up to me just as I reach my car parked out front. For a second, she just shakes her head, like she doesn’t know what to say.
Then, finally, she steps toward me and wraps her arms around me. That’s all it takes for the tears to come full force. I sob like a baby as my best friend hugs me, all the while likely wondering what the hell kind of friend I am to keep something so big hidden from her.
When I calm down, I step back and lean against my car. “So, yeah, I’ve been your sister-in-law for two years.”
Her mouth drops open, and she stares at me in pure shock. “What? How? I don’t…I don’t understand.”
I sniffle and try to think of a logical way to tell her the story of Marius and me. It’s quite a tale to tell.
“Do you remember when I went to Las Vegas for the week with Justin two years ago?”
She nods. “Yeah. You broke up with him because he was a jackass the whole time.”
I wipe the tears from under my eyes and finally tell her the truth. “I was only with him the day we arrived there. Marius was at the same hotel for a pool tournament. Justin got nasty with me, and Marius saw it.”
“What do you mean he got nasty with you?”
“Let’s say Justin got a little rough and pulled my hair because I wouldn’t do what he wanted.”
“He got rough? What the hell was wrong with him?” she asks in horror.
“Yeah. Marius saw, and he decked him, but in the middle of it all, I got punched in the eye. Then he got Justin thrown out of the hotel. I had nowhere to stay, so he invited me to his suite. One thing lead to another, and we slept together.”
Ava listens, but I can tell she wants me to cut to the chase. “Okay. That’s good, right?”
She’s always trying to be positive. I love that about her.
With a smile, I answer, “It was great. Really great. So great that he and I spent the entire week together. That Saturday, I was supposed to leave, but we were having a great time. It’s hard to explain, but I was in love within a few days, so when he suggested we get married, I said yes.”
“You got married in Vegas? Like an Elvis impersonator officiated?”
My best friend really is the sweetest person in the world. Only she would ask that question.
Shaking my head, I have to laugh. “No, it was a regular person, not some fake Elvis. Since then, we’ve been husband and wife.”
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t either of you tell any of us?”
This is the part I didn’t want to talk about. It’s too embarrassing to say.
Hanging my head, I answer, “He didn’t want to tell anyone. Maybe he was ashamed of me. Maybe it’s like he’s always said that he just wanted to keep us to us. I don’t know.”
I look up at her as tears begin to come again. “All I know is I can’t do that anymore. So I served him with divorce papers, as you just saw. I have to go now, Ava. I want to crawl back under the covers like I’ve been doing all week, but this time I’m not sure I want to ever come out again.”
Ava starts to cry and wraps her arms around me again. “You were my sister-in-law, and I didn’t even get to enjoy that. That’s not fair, Eden. It’s not fair.”
“I know, but life isn’t fair. Go back inside and enjoy that wonderful husband of yours and those two sweet babies. I need to go before Marius comes out here and wants to talk. I can’t talk to him anymore. I’ve got no more words left.”
We stand there at my car in the middle of a beautiful late September afternoon sobbing like babies ourselves. Ava cries for all the things she thinks she missed out on by not knowing I was married to Marius, but I cry for all the things I’m losing.
Even if I know what I’m doing is the right thing for me.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Marius
My brothers all look at me like they have a million questions they want to ask but can’t figure out how to ask them or which one to ask first. Kate and Salem hurriedly gather up some plates and glasses before taking them inside, clearly not interested in witnessing any more of the shitshow that’s become my life.
When it’s just the four of us and the two sleeping kids, Matthias walks over to me and asks, “What the fuck is going on? Are you telling me you and my wife’s best friend, who she’s been trying to set you up with for years, are married?”
Just as I start to say something, Ava walks out the back door and marches right up to me. I’ve never seen her so upset. She looks like she either wants to bite through a piece of steel or cry harder than she’s ever done before.
“How could you do this?”
“You don’t understand.”
That’s all I get out of my mouth before she slaps me hard across the face. I’m stunned for a few seconds, especially since Ava is the least violent person I’ve ever met in my life. My brothers look like they can’t believe this person who’s always been so kind to all of us just slapped me.
“You were married to Eden for the past two years? My best friend was my sister-in-law, and you chose to hide that? Why? Were you ashamed of her?” she asks, her voice cracking.
“No. I wasn’t ashamed of her. That’s not why I wanted to keep things quiet.”
Tears stream down her face as she glares at me. “Then why? Was it because she doesn’t come from the kind of money you do? Eden is an educated, successful, intelligent woman who makes good money as an investment analyst, and by the way, it’s not like she came from the wrong side of the tracks so she’s not worthy of you. Her family is wealthier than mine ever was. Do you feel the same way about me?”
Matthias tries to come to my rescue, which is nice, but Ava’s not having any of it.
“Honey, I’m sure it’s not about money,” he says, but his wife spins around and huffs like she’s about to breathe fire.
“No, Matthias! I want to hear what this was about from Marius.”
When she turns back to face me, I brace for her to slap me again, but she collapses into one of the patio chairs and simply shakes her head. “Eden thinks you were ashamed of her, so that’s why you didn’t want to tell everyone you two were together.”
Ava buries her face in her hands and sobs like a baby. My heart clenches in my chest, not only for what all of this is doing to her but also for what Eden must be going through. I wish I could go to her, but I know the woman I love well enough to be sure she needs some time.
“I’ve never been ashamed of anything I’ve ever done, including marrying Eden. Ava, I swear to you. It had nothing to do with her.”
She surprises me when she jumps up from the chair shaking her head. “I need to go find her. She can’t be alone right now.”
