I Still Hate You by Marie Skye (top 100 novels .txt) 📕

past few weeks with Ash had been strained. We did our good mornings and goodbyes but a full-on actual conversation, no not really. The girls weren’t coming around as much as before, and he was home more. It even got to where he was making breakfast for me every morning, and dinner was waiting for me when I came home late. I actually started to like it, even though it annoyed me at first.

I had just sat down to breakfast when Ash’s bedroom door opened. I watched some girl I didn’t even know was here walk out our apartment as I sat at the table with my bowl of cereal. “There’s coffee,” I said to him not looking up from the book I was reading. He moved around the kitchen before taking the seat next to me, as usual sitting closer than he needed to be. The jealousy I tried to keep down finally simmered its way to the top.

“Another long night for you, huh?”

He was silent a moment before he answered, “She’s a client. She and her boyfriend are having issues and she needed to talk.”

“Talk?”

“She’s a client. I didn’t sleep with her if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“I was a client.” He froze, nostrils flaring. Looks like I hit a nerve. Good. “Tell me something, Ashley. Did you have a girlfriend when you and I—”

“Fucked?” he finished for me and I rolled my eyes and he laughed. “No. Still don’t. They’re just something to pass the time.”

“But you had no problem having a wife when you and I first hooked up back at university right?”

He went stiff. “Now you feel like talking about it? You didn’t want to talk about it any other time, but now you decide to?” I looked away from him but he stalked toward me and decided to be overly dramatic with the chair that was next to me. Great, now he’s abusing furniture. “Yes, I was married when I met you. Yes, I was married when I fucked you. She and I never had sex. She couldn’t get a student visa if she was here on a visitors’ visa. If she had gone back home, she wouldn’t have the funds to come back over. She asked me for help and I did. It was just a paper marriage, that’s it. I didn’t mean for you to find out the way you did.”

If he wasn’t so tall, I would have slapped him. “Her family caught us in bed together. Her sister put up bulletins all over town announcing I was a homewrecker, when I didn’t even know of your wife’s existence!”

Ash shut his eyes briefly before kneeling to my level. “I know,” he said quietly. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t know that by being with you meant that I was going to…” he paused and took several deep breaths before continuing, “I didn’t know I was going to enjoy us spending time together. Or care.”

I couldn’t believe he just said that. He was lying. “Yeah, you do a great job of caring, don’t you? Do you care about the girls you bring over? Tell me, do you prefer having a different girl here almost every night?”

“Do you prefer it if I didn’t?”

“Why do you always answer a question with a question?”

“Do I?”

That son of a bitch.

“It bothers you, doesn’t it? I’m curious, why do you think that is? The comical part is, you actually think I’m having sex with each woman that comes over here. You couldn’t be more wrong.”

I didn’t answer as I focused on my book. Four more months, I kept repeating in my head. Out the corner of my eye, I saw him move closer to me. Meanwhile, I acted like my bowl of cereal was the most interesting thing in the world right now. He dipped a spoon in my bowl of cereal and took a bite. How dare he!

His voice dropped. “You don’t think it bothers me when three-minute man comes over? You don’t think it bothers me knowing that he’s where I want and need to be? The only satisfaction I get is knowing he can’t and won’t make you come like I will.”

He dipped his spoon in my bowl again and I turned and scowled at him. “You’re absolutely ridiculous!” I shouted, moving my bowl away.

“And you are absolutely correct, so let’s just fuck.” The next thing I knew, milk and cereal spewed from my mouth and flew all over my book. I reached for a napkin, trying to clean up my mess. I froze at those words. Clearly, I didn’t hear him right. I chanced a glance around my book, and his eyes were dead set on me. He arched a brow and that’s when I knew he wasn’t kidding. I awkwardly laughed since that was the only thing I could do.

“You’ve gone mad,” I stated as I went back to my now ruined book, no clue where I left off at, and at this point, it didn’t matter. I was no longer reading; I was listening to him.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s absurd!” I deadpanned as if that was the only answer needed.

“Which ironically is exactly what makes this entire arrangement perfect. We’re fucking, not getting married. What did you say before? Ahh yes, something about familiarity. I admit I was a bit surprised when you showed up to my room in Vegas.”

She scowled, “Um, you invited me remember?”

I furrowed my brows. “No I didn’t. You hit reject when we were down on the casino floor, remember?”

She slowly shook her head. “But later, we matched, you said come to room 405. I went to 405 and guess what? You were there.”

I stared at her for a minute as I tried not to laugh. “You really don’t know, do you? I wasn’t in room 405, I was in PH 405.” I watched as realization slowly took over her face as she gasped. “Don’t be so prissy, it worked out, which means there’s no problem with us continuing what