From Deadbeat To Doting; Something Is Wrong With My Husband!-Chapter 34: Click-clack II

Ah, stop! I’m blushing! Lara12, you’re such an angel. Thank you! Keep spoiling me =)) Your support keeps the "Goddess" feeling truly pampered!

...

Specs scoffed. "Tried to play hero during a stick-up. Some kid tried to rape Ronnie’s ex-girlfriend. Ronnie jumped in front of the heater and took three to the chest. Then the little dude set him on fire. Died right there on the sidewalk while the girl screamed his name. A waste of good skin."

"So who lives there now?"

"The ex. Real bitch for real."

Brianna’s brows furrowed. So the house didn’t even belong to Rosa?

Closing her eyes, Brianna turned and walked back to Rochelle’s car. Rochelle was looking at her, about to ask what happened, but she wasn’t ready for Rochelle’s ’’I told you so.’

She felt so exhausted chasing a ghost. Ronnie, the ATM, had nothing to do with her, so she wasn’t interested.

"Let’s just find a motel or something around here."

Just as Rochelle revived the car, Lucian came out of the house holding the hands of a woman in her late twenties.

It looked platonic at first, but when he pulled her into a protective hug and kissed the back of Ronnie’s ex-girlfriend’s hand, Brianna cocked a brow.

She had never seen him show anyone such tenderness.

Was that... his mistress? 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The woman then reached into her sweater and handed Lucian a yellow file.

Rochelle couldn’t look again. Wondering how Mrs. Colburn was feeling, she turned to see her boss squeezing her empty soda can with so much force the metal groaned until it looked like it’d split her palm.

Rochelle quickly snatched the mangled can out of her hand. "Mrs. Colburn! Calm down! You’ll cut yourself!"

Brianna didn’t hear her. She was staring at the girl on the porch, her mind screaming. So this scumbag hasn’t changed a bit? He was still the same.

She scoffed, uninterested in whatever was happening again. "Let’s just go."

Rochelle gave her boss one final nod, before revising the car. After what felt like an eternity, they were directed to the only motel in this side of town.

...

The wind shrieked like a dying banshee as Brianna and Rochelle threw their entire weight against the heavy oak door of the motel.

It was a clumsy desperate struggle; the force from the wind against the door made their designer heels slip on the wet linoleum as they finally forced the door shut with a loud slam.

"Mrs. Colburn?" Rochelle panted, her chest heaving as she leaned her back against the door with her eyes closed.

"Yeah?" Brianna breathed, her hands still pressed flat against the wood, her head bowed as she tried to catch her breath.

"I’m never going on a heist-ahhh-hah hahahah—" Rochelle’s voice died in a strangled laugh. She bit her tongue so hard her eyes watered while her body locked into a state of awkward paralyzed terror.

"Never going on what?" Brianna asked. She finally stood straight, brushing a tangled, leaf-filled lock of hair from her face before following Rochelle’s frozen gaze.

Standing a few feet away in the dimly lit hallway were Lucian and Thomas.

Thomas’s brow was arched, but his expression was one of amused disbelief.

"Wife?" Lucian’s voice was lower than usual. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

"What?" Brianna snapped with a glare. The guts he had to call her wife after seeing a mistress.

But why was he staring at her like that? Was he surprised she had found his little ghetto hideout? She expected him to look guilty or panicked, but instead, he looked like he was trying to solve a complex puzzle.

"You look..." Lucian started, then stopped, his throat bobbing as he cleared it.

"I look like I’ve been exploring the city," Brianna finished for him. She scoffed, her eyes flicking toward the yellow file he held. "Unlike some people, I don’t spend my evenings hiding in shacks and exchanging secret documents."

Thomas didn’t even try to hide his smile this time. He looked at Rochelle, who was trying to merge with the wallpaper, and then back at Brianna. "Exploring, Mrs. Colburn? In this weather? And here I thought you were following us."

"Don’t flatter yourself, Thomas," Brianna bit back.

The man behind the front desk cleared his throat, sensing the lightning in the room. "Look, I don’t care who you are. The wind’s tearing the shingles off the roof. I’ve only got two rooms left. Take ’em or leave ’em."

"That works out. Mrs. Colburn and Miss Rochelle can take one, and I’ll share with Mr. Colburn."

Rochelle sighed in relief, already reaching for her bag.

Finally shifting his gaze away from Brianna’s wild hair, Lucian gave a curt nod of agreement before briefly adjusting the file in his hand.

Brianna’s mind went into overdrive when her eyes glanced on the file in Lucian’s hand. It had an imprinted ’Confidential Document’ that she didn’t see before.

Why did that woman give him a confidential file? She was genuinely curious and needed to know.

"No."

Everyone in the lobby stopped and turned to Brianna.

"No?" Thomas repeated, furrowing his brow.

"That’s not how we’re doing this at all." closing the distance between Lucian, she reached out and wound her arm firmly around his, digging her fingers into the expensive wool of his coat.

She leaned her head slightly against his shoulder, looking up at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"I mean, why would I be here and let another man share a room with my husband?" she chirped sweetly.

The receptionist blinked, looking between the messy haired woman and the man who looked like he owned the building. "Wait. You two are married?"

"Yes. And our wedding anniversary is in twenty-four hours!"

The silence that followed was so heavy you could have heard a pin drop on the carpet.

It was true; the date was tomorrow. But in the years they had been married, the day had been nothing but a ghost on the calendar. Lucian’s expression turned from surprise to total frozen bewilderment.

"Our... anniversary?"

"Yes, darling," Brianna purred, patting his arm. She looked back at the receptionist. "He’s my dearest, most ’devoted’ husband. We simply can’t be apart on such an occasion."

The receptionist nodded. "An anniversary, huh? Most couples around here are just trying to hide from their spouses. Here. Room 10. It’s the only one with a bolt that actually clicks."

He handed the key directly to Brianna.

"Happy anniversary," the man added, looking at Brianna’s lightning-struck hair one last time. "Try to get some rest. You look like you’ve had a rough night."

Brianna squeezed the key in her palm, shooting Thomas a look that said Checkmate and began dragging her "dearest husband" towards the stairs.