Len’s face suddenly split into an ugly grin, his eyes glowing with triumph. “One of those floozies was your wife,” he said, his gaze never leaving Kyle’s face.
“You didn’t,” Kyle whispered, the bottom dropping out of his stomach. Amy had admitted to several affairs, but Len’s name never came up. And thank God it hadn’t, or Kyle wouldn’t have been responsible for his actions. He’d felt so hurt and betrayed, it wouldn’t have mattered if he spent the rest of his life in prison as long as he got to beat the crap out of Len. Len, who’d been there for him when Amy left, comforting him, drinking with him, and promising that there would come a day when he felt less worthless and empty.
“I did. More than once,” Len gloated. “She was a good shag, Amy, when she was in the mood. Liked a bit of rough,” Len added, his lip curling as he held Kyle’s gaze. “She said you were too tame for her, too restrained. Should have slapped her around,” Len added. “She’d have melted like butter.”
“Don’t,” Kyle whispered. “Just don’t.” He could hear the blood roaring in his veins as images of Len and Amy assaulted his mind, Len’s story too plausible to discount.
“No? You don’t want to hear it?” Len taunted. “She liked to be manhandled, blindfolded, and tied up. She used to pretend she’d been kidnapped. Loss of control and all that. Some women like that sort of thing. Turns them on. She wasn’t embarrassed to tell me; she knew I’d get it, and I was happy to give her what she wanted. Sheila sure as hell wouldn’t let me try anything like that. Hell, she hasn’t sucked me off since Katie was born. Lost all interest. Can you blame me for finding a bit on the side?”
“So you went for my wife?” Kyle growled.
“She went for me, mate. And then once I gave it to her, she wouldn’t leave me alone. Kept begging for more, not that it was such a hardship. I enjoyed it; I won’t lie.”
Kyle felt as if a sword had been plunged into his stomach, skewering him like a piece of meat. He’d never suspected Len was one of Amy’s lovers, had never thought Len would stoop so low. His hand went to his belly and he bent over, feeling like he was going to be sick. Images of Amy and Len had crystalized in his mind, cruelly showing him what it must have been like with them. She’d been fucking Len while Kyle tried desperately to make things work, to find a way to make her happy. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to start a family. She’d never meant to stay, and a child would have tied them to each other forever. Well, he hoped she was happy now, wherever she was.
“Get out of my sight,” Kyle said, his voice so low, he wasn’t sure Len heard him.
He had. Len smiled viciously before walking away and leaving Kyle to come to terms with his new reality. In retrospect, he shouldn’t be surprised, he thought through a haze of anger. His expectations and perception of the marriage had never been the same as Amy’s. She had manipulated the relationship from the day they’d met, albeit without his knowledge.
Needing to let off some steam, Kyle began to walk, striding down the path that skirted the reservoir until he slowly calmed down, his heartrate eventually returning to normal. He hadn’t noticed that the sun had sunk behind the hills or that the sky was now a pale shade of lavender that reflected in the shining surface of the manmade lake, faint stars twinkling above as below. Soon it would be dark, but he was in no hurry to get back to the house. He needed to process Len’s revelations and find a way to make peace with his newfound knowledge, and in order to do that, he had to go back to the beginning. He’d been so happy then, but hindsight was 20/20, and he now knew that everything he had believed to be true had been a lie.
He had no difficulty recalling the day that had changed the course of his life. He’d given a talk at Fordham Prep, focusing on the impact of digital publishing and the subsequent rise of self-publishing on the literary landscape, since many of the students had expressed an interest in the subject. The last half hour had been devoted to his new release, a new installment in the DI Kelly Shaw Mystery series. He normally didn’t speak at schools, but the headmistress was his aunt, so he’d done it as a favor to Claire. It was an hour of his time that he could easily spare to help out his favorite aunt.
Amy had approached him after the talk, shyly telling him how much she’d enjoyed it and that she had literary aspirations of her own. She’d blushed delicately, and her voice had trembled when she’d asked him for a drink, her wide blue eyes filling with anxiety, her posture tensing as she braced herself for his rejection. She’d looked so beautiful and so vulnerable. How could he say no?
A drink had turned into dinner, and dinner had turned into a sleepover, one of many. Amy had moved in a few months later. Kyle had never believed in the concept of soulmates or finding The One. He had been content with finding The One Right Now, but Amy had been so much more than that. They’d had a connection he’d never experienced with anyone else. At the time, Kyle had been high on the romance of it all, the idea that a random meeting could irrevocably change one’s life, and it had, just not in the way he’d expected.
It was only much later that he’d realized that Amy
