All Chapters of No Longer His Convenient Wife: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Dahlia I’m still in bed when someone starts pounding on the front door like they’re trying to break it down. My phone says it’s 9:00 AM. I’ve been home less than twenty-four hours and apparently word has already spread. “Dahlia Rose Miller, open this door right now!” A high pitched and familia

He cuts through the bar like he’s parting water and people just move. That’s what money does I guess. Buys you space even when you’re not asking for it. He’s still in his work clothes, still perfectly pressed even though it’s past ten at night. The music hasn’t stopped but our entire table has gone dead silent and I can feel everyone staring at us waiting to see what’s about to happen. I set my wine glass down real slow and tilt my head at him like I’m trying to place where I know him from. “Are you following me, Mr. Hawthorne?” The “Mr.” is petty. I know it’s petty. But I want him to feel a fraction of the distance I felt standing outside Arabella’s hospital room watching him. “No.” The word comes out stiff, I’ve insulted him by suggesting he’d care enough to follow me anywhere. I take a long sip of wine and let myself smile. “Good. Then you have absolutely no right to interfere with how I spend my Saturday night.” His jaw locks up so tight I can actually see the musc

“Oh I didn’t realize you’d brought her.” She said it to him, about me, while I was standing right there. She did not even glance in my direction. I was furniture. Background noise. A coat rack with feelings. I had several thoughts, the most charitable of which was this woman has some absolute nerve. “I wasn’t brought anywhere.” I spoke up keeping my voice so level it almost bored me. “And Sebastian and I aren’t together anymore so.” Her smile paused. Not fell — paused, like a loading screen. She blinked once and I watched her brain shuffle through the possibilities, because she’d clearly been expecting tears or at the very least some chin wobbling to accompany news like this and I was giving her absolutely nothing to work with. Sebastian’s expression showed he was clearly more irritated than he was showing. I was about to say and for what it’s worth, my mother owns this bar but he turned and walked away before I could finish the sentence. Arabella followed Sebastian almost

I looked at them for a long moment, this unapologetic pair who'd walked out of the gilded world and built something loud and messy and entirely their own. Three years ago I'd been on the inside of that world, polished to a shine, and I hadn't even noticed I was disappearing."River." His voice dipped, careful now. "Did we say too much?" "No." I smiled. It came out easier than I expected. "You're doing great. Honestly. Better than the…" I paused. "Better than the suit-and-lecture crowd." Their faces lit up simultaneously. "Can we be in your corner?" River asked, already leaning forward, hands clasped, a barely contained eagerness in it that he didn't bother to hide. "Officially. Like, your personal hype team. Any time you need someone in your corner when you're taking on Sebastian, we'll be there with signs and probably drums." Rain's mouth curved into something sharper. "We can provide original music. We have a whole catalog of songs about men who didn't deserve you." That pulled a

"Give her to me."His voice came down from somewhere above the scene, cold enough to lower the temperature of the alley. Kai looked up. Clocked who it was. His expression shifted immediately and he drew Dahlia a half-step back, putting himself between her and Sebastian. "What do you think you're doing?" Sienna had already ended her call. She came at a near-run and planted herself squarely in his path, hands on her hips, chin up. "Sebastian. Back off. Dahlia divorced you. You don't get to touch her. Turn around and walk away." "Move." He didn't waste words on it. His gaze went over both of them and found Dahlia. Her brow faintly creased, her lips just barely pursed, the small restless expression of someone not sleeping well, or dreaming something she didn't want to be dreaming. Kai didn't budge. "Not a chance. I'm her friend. I'm getting her home safe. That's what I'm here for." A beat. His voice came out flat and deliberate. "What exactly are you here for?" The temperature around