Chapter Eight Wade

CHAPTER EIGHT

Wade

" I realize you got a lot going on right now, but that doesn't mean you can just ignore me and my needs."

I pull my hat off and toss it on the ottoman, rubbing my forehead because I have the same fucking conversation almost every single night.

"I don't just have a lot going on right now, Janelle, I know you were sneaking around with Darryl Smith. Once I can't trust you, it's over."

Janelle crouches down in front of me, her long, bleach blonde hair falling over her shoulders. She pouts her bottom lip out at me and looks up at me with her blue eyes trying to entice me, but it doesn't work. I used to think I loved those eyes. Now, every time I look into them all I see is the reflection of another man.

I stand and push her hands away, willing my walls back up. I'm moving back to the ranch in three days; there's not any reason I have to put up with her shit anymore.

"Stop trying to pretend like you don't want me, Wade."

"I don't want you, Janelle, I used to want you. Now, I'm just fucking tired, I have the whole ranch on my shoulders, my dad's so fucking sick." And throwing up, and sleeping all day every day, and he has sores on his skin from the chemo. "I'm exhausted."

"You're always exhausted, but I'm your wife. For better or worse. It's high time you forgive me already and pay attention to me, like you used to. Why do you think I had to look elsewhere?"

Right, it's my fault she stepped out on me. The joke's on her if she thinks I'll ever trust her again, never mind forgive her.

I close my eyes and scrub my face with my hand, giving myself a second to keep my composure. I feel movement behind me. Two warm hands slide under the back of my t-shirt. I'm just about to protest until I hear it.

"Stop trying to pretend you don't want me, Wade." A soft, husky voice fills my ears, one that makes gooseflesh break out over the back of my neck. One that isn't Janelle's. I don't dare open my eyes. I want this voice in my ears. I smell her, sweet vanilla and sugar.

A groan rumbles from my chest as I spin around and her small hand cups my cock through my jeans.

My belt buckle comes undone and a palm is pressed to me, stroking me, lips press against mine. The taste is even better. I reach my hands around her waist as my mouth claims hers, her back is so warm under her tank.

"I knew you wanted me, Chief." Ivy pulls her face back from me, plump lips swollen, pupils blown out, chest heaving.

"Fuck yeah, I do," I mutter as I back her into the wall. I pull her small hand up to my lips, sucking every one of her fingers into my mouth before wrapping them back around my cock as she moans that throaty little sound I've been dying—

A clap of thunder causes my whole cabin to shake. My eyes fly open to the buzz of my phone and the storm. I realize my hand is firmly planted around my own cock and Ivy's scent is still in my nose.

Fuck.

I grab my buzzing phone off the bedside table.

Janelle. Like my dream was warning me she was trying to get to me. Another loud clap of thunder roars through the house as my phone starts again.

"It's midnight, Janelle." My voice is hoarse, and fuck, I'm so hard it hurts.

"Wade, the roof is leaking … the kitchen … there's water everywhere." Her voice is even more high-pitched than normal and loud as hell in my ears after the soft husky one she just woke me from.

"Son of a bitch. I'm coming."

I hang up, and toss my jeans on, willing my hard-on to go away as the idea of Ivy's hot warm body pressed against mine keeps flashing through my mind. I grab my keys and blast out the front door. This is the second time the roof has leaked in the last four months. She's definitely going to have to get that replaced. I'm basically like Janelle's glorified landlord at this point.

Soon enough, I can just ignore her, I remind myself. I'm counting down the fucking days until that house isn't mine anymore. Her bank financing is set to go through at the beginning of December. Until then, I have no choice, I have to help, only to ensure nothing gets ruined and it hinders the financing that is going to offer me the final severed tie from Janelle.

The drive from the ranch to my ex-wife in our ex-house takes ten minutes. As I drive, I try to sort out what the fuck that dream was. It felt too real, and fuck, I really liked it. It makes no sense to me. I've been around plenty of beautiful women in my life, there is no excuse for my rogue thoughts about Ivy. I tell myself it's just because it's been a while for me as I feel my cock start to inflate again at the thought of her pressed against me.

Goddammit. Cleaning the barn. The dentist. Cole's bare ass jumping into the creek, I repeat to myself as my cock instantly deflates. Cole's ass does it every time.

I sigh and prepare myself for battle as I pull into the driveway. Janelle has always been a force to be reckoned with. I should have known the first weeks we got married that it was destined to end up a dumpster fire. The girl I thought Janelle was disappeared right before my eyes the day the wedding was over and it wasn't all about her anymore. She was no longer a bride. She was only a wife—her words. But I went with it for a long time. Happy wife, happy life, right? Wrong. We were complete opposites and not in the good ways.

I like the outdoors, she does not, I wanted to stay in and she wanted to go out, I wanted kids and she never did. I really knew there was no hope for us when my dad got sick and she was out drinking and screwing townies instead of being there for me and my family. A couple months before my dad died, I made the choice to leave. I'd trusted her, and once I couldn't anymore the rest seemed pointless. It made sense for her to stay in the house when I knew I needed to be at the ranch all the time, and it didn't feel like my home anymore.

When our divorce came through at the end of the summer, I agreed to let her keep it. Now I'm so close to the house being hers I can taste it and it tastes like fucking freedom. I park my truck in her driveway and raise a hand to knock, but before I can the door swings open to Janelle all fired up, looking at me like it's taken me way too long to get here.

"I just don't know what to do, I put buckets under it. It's coming from the same place as before." No hi, thanks for coming . Just get to work, soldier .

"Probably the damn spot where the eaves trough runs off again," I grunt out. It's barely raining now so I decide the roof is safe. Even if I slip off it's a better fate than staying in the house listening to Janelle tell me all the excuses why she hasn't taken care of this.

"I think it's fixed, but only temporarily, Janelle. I told you in the summer it needs replacing. Did you call Jake to give you an estimate?" I ask thirty minutes later when I re-enter the house after adding more seal.

Janelle pouts.

"Been busy." In other words, no.

I frown at her.

"You can't neglect this shit. I can't be your first call when something goes wrong. We're not married anymore. You have to get used to it. I'm getting Jake here tomorrow, only because I can't sit around and hope it gets fixed. You have the money budgeted in to your refinancing?"

"Yes. Of course." She says it as if it would be crazy that she wouldn't, but I know better.

"Good. He'll be here when you're done work."

She stands and smirks, stalking toward me with a fuck-me look on her face. One I know well. One half the town knows well.

"I don't want to get used to it. I'll make it worth your while if you stay a little longer, like old times. You're looking damn good at one a.m., Wade." She reaches a hand up to my jaw and it actually repulses me. Even the faint scent of her Chanel N°5 turns my stomach.

I scoff, grabbing her wrist. "Not a fucking chance, Janelle. Those times are over." I sidestep her and grab my rain jacket, inspecting the bucket to be sure the leak has stopped one more time. "Empty the bucket and check it in the morning," I bite out.

I'm out the door so quickly that I barely hear her yell, "I didn't want to fuck you anyway, Wade Ashby."