All Chapters of The Bound Collection: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

I couldn't stand being at odds with Annie, especially when it was about our relationship. If we disagreed about some trivial subject, fine, but fighting about Gray wasn't worth the energy. There wasn't a valid reason for my outburst, but I couldn't bring myself to apologize. The thought of that man's hands on any part of her skin was more than I could handle. He'd been a poison in her life for far too long, and I refused to let that toxin seep into our marriage. But fighting with her had the exact same effect. She was right; he got to me. He played the game, and I willingly offered myself up as a pawn.I'd sent her flowers, but she knew they were to pacify her, not to apologize. For that very reason, they'd had the opposite effect I'd intended. My hope was for her to soften enough to explain my ignorance without directly saying I was sorry. That hadn't happened. Instead, I'd found them left as a centerpiece on the patio furniture. Her quiet way of saying, "Man up." This had gone on to

"Brett, you have got to calm the fuck down. You can't fight with him at work. You're going to get your ass fired." Dan had me backed up against the cement wall in the back of the DC. His forearm pressed into my chest painfully as my lungs struggled to fill with air fast enough.I glared at the smug bastard walking away with his buddies. "So, I'm just supposed to let him keep fucking with Annie?""No, you're supposed to deal with it off the clock. What the fuck is going on? And why haven't you told me about it?"Gray had been diligent in his pursuit of my wife. And he wasn't trying to be discreet anymore either. Her phone went off at all hours of the day and night, text messages, phone calls, drunk voicemails. Graphic drunk messages about what he wanted to do to her sexually. It made me cringe he had that level of knowledge, but I couldn't change her past and wouldn't crucify her for it. When she finally blocked his number, the letters and flowers started arriving at her office and t

With the discussion of a frat party at Hooters to welcome our child, I thought I had managed to escape Brett's attention. But when he pulled in to the CVS parking lot, I knew I hadn't been so lucky."Do you want me to go in, or do you want to go?"I didn't know why I was mad. Probably because Brett was a man, and they weren't supposed to notice anything, much less when a woman ate wings. I didn't have my purse with me so I held out my hand for cash and unbuckled my seat belt. I didn't even pretend to be happy trekking my ass into the drug store. When I got to the family planning aisle, I grabbed the first box I saw and stalked up to the cash register. Here I was married, but somehow embarrassed to be buying a pregnancy test. This was sheer torture. Just because I had suggested chicken didn't mean he'd knocked me up. Next thing I knew, he'd tell me I was having an affair with an Asian man because I picked up Chinese takeout. The whole thing was preposterous. So was my acting like a

After enduring party planning with two pregnant women, one of whom had been incognito for weeks, I couldn't wait to have this soiree over and done with. Had I ever been involved in the planning of a wedding, I'm sure I never would have agreed to any of this, much less helped choreograph the gathering.Part of me wondered if Annie was making up for not having a reception by inviting everyone she'd ever known. She and Lissa had gone hog wild with the guest list, and everyone they invited said they were coming. There had been a blanket invitation issued at the DC, but I prayed to God Gray stayed away. Dan had gotten to him outside of work before I could. I doubted I'd ever know what was said, or what went down, but Gray hadn't bothered Annie since, nor had he spoken a word to Dan or me.The news of our surrogacy had spread rapidly through the DC, but we'd expected that when we invited people to Hooters. People had all kinds of opinions on the subject, but wisely, those who objected kept

Sitting at the light outside of Hooters, I watched Gray get on the back of his motorcycle. I couldn't believe he was dumb enough to ride in the condition he was in, or that no one had stopped him. When the light turned green, and I turned toward home, he pulled off and settled in behind us. Keeping my eyes on him and the road without alerting Annie or Lissa was proving to be difficult. Annie had just stopped crying, but I could still hear her sniffles, and Lissa hadn't said a word since I'd found them in the kitchen. There wasn't a safe way to ride drunk, it was even more dangerous than driving drunk. At least in a car, there was a layer of metal to act as a shield between your body and the asphalt, not so with a bike. I kept my speed to a minimum in an effort to keep him from going any faster. I shouldn't care if he smeared his brains across the interstate, but at this point, I just wanted to be home.In the second it took to glance at the road and return my gaze back to the rearvi