Chapter Ninety-Six

MACK

What was with this woman? 

Never, in my life, was I the one so invested in beginning a relationship. Women had thrown themselves at me, demanding I settle down and make a commitment, but not the one I so desperately wanted to call mine…well, she is mine, but the need to shout from the rooftops that she’s mine was consuming me.

Kelsey Neely was as hard of an egg as I was, and just when I thought I’d cracked her shell, she’d put up a wall again. I tried to brush it off as if it didn’t bother me, but deep down, I wanted to claim her publicly. I needed her by my side, otherwise I was going to go insane.

But something inside of me broke tonight when I heard her speaking so negatively about me to Mindy. I knew it was for show, but why would she be so defensive when it came to having a relationship? Behind closed doors, we were as devoted to each other as a married couple.

I’d nearly slipped out the L word on her whe