“I’d rather touch her. Come on, babe,” he murmured.
Del recoiled, her expression filling with resolve. “I’m sorry for the way things turned out. I’m sorry if what happened between me and Tyler makes you feel rejected.” Then she shoved Eric’s hand away from her pu**y and finally got enough space between them to knee him in the balls. He doubled over and grunted out in pain. Tyler would have clapped if he could have.
“Del . . .” Eric groaned.
“I’m sorry for a lot of things, but I’ll never be sorry for defending myself. Don’t ever f**king touch me again.”
Eric growled and grimaced as he tried to stand upright again.
She yanked her panties up, wriggled into her jeans—then slapped his face. “I won’t let you use me to drive Tyler over the edge. Eric, you manipulated me, then took your anger out on me and abandoned me when I needed you most. I’ll never trust you with my body again. Stop your pity party. My feelings have nothing to do with your looks or prowess. You showed me in a million different ways that you didn’t love me. Blaming me for your request and the consequence of it was the worst. Just . . . move on. If it makes you feel any better, Tyler and I aren’t planning any sort of happily ever after. We’re just trying to keep Seth and me alive.”
Eric winced, blinking at her in shock as he continued to cup his gonads. “You don’t need to f**k him to stay alive.”
“No, but I need reassurance and human contact from a man I trust.”
Tyler was damn proud of the way she stood up for herself and told Eric exactly why he was a douche bag. But the tears filling her eyes—and the dispassionate way she reduced their relationship to irrelevance—stabbed Tyler right in the chest.
“He’s the first person to hold me since the divorce,” Del went on. “I know you can’t say the same.”
Eric looked away, guilt all over his face. “Goddamn it, Del. Why him?”
“Because he never once let me down,” she whispered. “Because he would never do what you just did.”
“Fuck.” Eric blinked, frowned, as if finally realizing that he’d done something terribly wrong. He eased back into the nearest kitchen chair, folding his big body into it with a sigh and dropping his face into his hands. “I guess I deserved that. I never meant to hurt you . . . But you bruised my pride.”
“You bruised my trust.” Once it seemed clear that the fight had gone out of Eric, she reached for the rest of her clothes and yanked them on. “When we were married, I wanted to love and believe in you so badly, and when you turned your back on me for honoring your wishes . . . you crushed me.”
“I didn’t know how to handle what happened.” His face tightened, a deep frown settling between his brows. “I expected it to feel like I was with you again. Instead, it was like watching you reveal what was really in your heart.”
“Tyler made me feel beautiful and treasured that night. With all the anger you’d blasted at the world after your shooting, I hadn’t felt that in a really long time.”
Eric whipped a stunned stare up to her, as if she’d stabbed him in the heart again. The acceptance settled across his face. “I’m sorry. I loved you in my way. Maybe that wasn’t how you needed to be loved. God, I’m so f**ked up. So damn angry.” His face crumbled, and he looked as if he might cry. But he manned up and swallowed the tears down.
With a frown, Eric waved a hand in the air. “Go. See if you can find what you’re looking for, then leave. I can’t do this anymore.”
Solemnly, Del nodded and approached Eric. “That makes two of us. Get some professional help. Find someone you can truly love. Handcuff key?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Eric fished it from his pocket and set it in her palm.
Tyler watched her make her way to him, then fit the key into the hole. He breathed out. It wasn’t a sigh of relief. Anticipation thrummed through him, making his heart race, his fists clench. He was going to destroy the f**ker now—and he couldn’t wait. But the closer Del got, the more she looked pale and terrified. “Angel?”
She met his gaze, her blue eyes watery. “I’m fine.”
But she wasn’t, and a renewed ferocity consumed Tyler. “Bullshit. He hurt you.”
Closing her eyes, he saw as Del tried not to reveal how much Eric’s rough treatment had disturbed her, but it bled through. It wouldn’t be enough to leave Eric battered and dead on the floor. Tyler wanted to tear the ass**le up into small, unrecognizable pieces. Whatever it took to keep her safe.
“I’ll be fine,” she murmured. “Are you all right? You’re bleeding.”
He glanced at his wrist. “It’s nothing. Let me loose. Let me at the son of a bitch.”
“No.” She turned the key and freed his wrist, leaving the other cuff attached to the refrigerator.
“I’m going to tear him limb from limb.” He took a ground-eating step toward Eric, menace charging through him.
Del grabbed his arm tightly with both hands and tugged. “Be smart. Don’t do it.”
His entire body shook with the need to dismantle Eric. Rage gnawed at him. His fists clenched. His heart pumped.