Chapter 46

CHAPTER46

He didn’t fucking need her, Bryce thought, yanking his tie free and threw it against the wall, and when that wasn’t enough, he grabbed the sledgehammer leaning against the wall and swung it, destroying the wall on impact.

He should have fucking seen this coming.

He should have fucking known.

He should have-

“FUCK!”

She fucking played him so well, Bryce thought, reaching down and grabbed the brick he’d knocked free and threw it across the room, taking out the window by the shelves. He didn’t fucking care anymore. He was going to renovate this fucking house, sell it for an obscene amount of money, get on the first plane that would take him away from her, live his fucking life, and finally embrace the Bradford within and fuck her out of his memory.

The asshole could have her, Bryce decided, grabbing the sledgehammer and-

“Go away!” he shouted when he heard the knock at the front door.

“Bryce, open the door,” came the demand from the one woman that should have known better than to fucking play with him.

“I’m not in the mood to play this fucking game with you, Cayley,” Bryce said, swinging the sledgehammer and took out the rest of the wall.

“And I’m not in the mood to have this argument with you through a door,” Cayley said with an annoyed sigh, followed by the sounds of her trying to open the door.

Determined to ignore her, Bryce moved onto the other wall and swung that sledgehammer, praying that she took pity on him and went back to her fiancé so that he could lose his fucking mind in peace. He was a fucking moron to believe that he could have her. He-

“My ass,” came the sadly mumbled words that had him sighing heavily as he looked over his shoulder in time to see Cayley pull herself off the floor, reminding him that he really needed to replace the windows soon when he spotted the window open behind her.

“Get out,” Bryce said, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to the wall that he was taking out.

“No,” Cayley said as she stepped in front of him.

“I’m not doing this with you tonight,” Bryce said, placing the sledgehammer back against the wall and made his way to the cooler that he kept in the corner.

“Well, that’s too bad because I’m not leaving until we talk,” Cayley said as he grabbed a lukewarm water from the cooler and took a sip as his gaze landed on that ring on her finger.

“Congratulations,” Bryce said dryly, watching as she followed his gaze before her shoulders slumped.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Cayley said, gesturing weakly to the ring that was still on her fucking finger.

“It’s exactly what it looks like,” Bryce said, deciding that he’d had enough for one night and headed up the stairs to set to work on the master bedroom that he’d planned on sharing with her, only to decide against it and headed for the kitchen instead.

“Would you please just talk to me, Bryce?” Cayley said, following him down the long hallway.

“No,” Bryce bit out, grabbing the sledgehammer he’d left on the kitchen island and focused on the cabinets that needed to fucking go.

“Bryce, it’s Christmas Eve. Let’s go home and talk about this,” Cayley said after a slight hesitation.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, taking aim at the cabinets above the sink and took it out. Normally, he would have been more careful taking them down, but tonight, he wanted to fucking kill something.

“Bryce, please!”

Bryce moved to take another swing, only to decide to give her exactly what she wanted. Nodding, he tossed the sledgehammer aside, completely destroying several tiles in the process. “You want to talk about this?” he asked, turning around to face the woman that fucking destroyed him.

“Yes,” Cayley said, looking really fucking relieved.

That is until he moved closer.

“Then, let’s talk,” Bryce said, picking her up and placed her on the kitchen island.

When she opened her mouth, he cut her off. “Why don’t we start by you explaining why you used me,” Bryce suggested as he stepped between her legs and placed his hands on the kitchen island as he watched her determined expression turn confused.

“You think I used you?” Cayley asked, only to follow his gaze as he gave that fucking ring on her finger a pointed look.

“Looks that way to me,” Bryce said, looking back to find her watching him as her mouth worked soundlessly until she gave up trying to come up with a bullshit excuse and let her shoulders slump in defeat.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“No?” he asked, watching as a strand of her hair slipped free and brushed against her bare shoulder.

“I don’t know why he did what he did, Bryce, but I don’t want him,” Cayley said as he somehow resisted the urge to brush that strand of hair behind her ear and kiss her shoulder, making him fucking hate himself for wanting her this much.

“The ring says otherwise,” Bryce pointed out.

“No, the ring said that I didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late,” Cayley said, sounding pissed.

Good.

He wanted her pissed.

“And yet, it’s still on your finger,” Bryce drawled as he kept his gaze locked with hers.

“Because I can’t get the stupid thing off!” Cayley snapped, reaching for the ring, only to drop her hand away with a heavy sigh as he stood there, nodding as he reached behind him for the jar of orange grease cutter on the kitchen counter.

“That’s an easy fix,” Bryce murmured, opening the jar and-

“What the hell happened to your hand?” Bryce demanded, all the anger suddenly disappeared as he took in her swollen knuckles and the bruise already starting to form.

“A pillar got in the way,” Cayley muttered, dipping her fingers in the orange grease and carefully coated her finger.

“What happened?” Bryce asked, gently brushing her hand away so that he could carefully work the ring off her finger.

“Oh, you mean after you left me there without a word?” Cayley asked, blinking at him. “Kevin said something that I took issue with and decided to make sure that he lived in fear for the rest of his life.”

“By punching a pillar?” Bryce asked, slowly working the ring down to her knuckle as he stood there, wondering how it would feel to slide a ring over her finger and-

He couldn’t do this.

He should have fucking known better, but he’d somehow managed to convince himself that he could handle this. God, the fucking pain that tore through his chest when he saw the asshole touch her…

“Yes, by punching a pillar. How else was I supposed to establish dominance, Bryce?” Cayley asked, pulling her hand away so that she could work the ring the rest of the way down her finger.

“Where is he now?” Bryce asked, watching her struggle to get the ring over the knuckle.

“Who?” Cayley mumbled absently with a determined look on her face as she gave up trying to be gentle and tried yanking it off.

Biting back a sigh, Bryce once again pushed her hand away and took over. “The asshole.”

“Last time I saw him, Connor was kicking the shit out of him,” Cayley said, making him frown.

“Why?” Bryce asked, knowing his brother-in-law well enough to know that he would only risk an assault charge if the asshole put his hands on Cayley or if he’d crossed a line where Rory was concerned.

“Doesn’t matter. I took care of it,” Cayley said as he finally managed to pull the ring off her finger and placed it on the kitchen island.

He opened his mouth and-

“Why did you leave me there?” Cayley asked, meeting his gaze.

“Because I can’t do this.”