Chapter Seven:
(Same Day, 9:35 AM)
(Krys' POV)
Jeff can immediately sense that something's wrong the minute I step foot into the house, and he's by my side before I can close the door, wrapping an arm around me and asking what was wrong.
"Nothing," I told him over and over again, chalking it all up to the fact that I was tired as hell. Eventually, he got the hint that I didn't want to talk about it, and helped me to our room, where I proceeded to flop ungracefully onto the mattresses and roll over onto my stomach, burying my face into the pillow. While I'm busy trying to deprive myself of enough oxygen to pass out for a few hours, Jeff busies himself with grabbing up all the clothes that look clean from the floor and tossing them into his suitcase.
"Krys?" he asks quietly, once he can take the silence no longer.
"Mmmmmmmmmmmph?"
"I have a question for ya."
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhooph."
He chuckled once, then turned around and sat down on the edge of the bed. I squirmed around so that I could face him and hear him better, as well as get a little bit of air—after all, I wanted to pass out, not suffocate myself. He then lays down next to me in the bed, and I roll over to adjust myself so that my head is laying on his chest.
"Are you sure you're not pregnant after all?"
"I highly doubt it."
"I know, but it's just…you've been acting really weird ever since that whole pregnancy test result thing happened, and to be honest, you're scaring the hell out of me. I'm not so sure I should go on the road for a week with you here by yourself."
"I won't be by myself," I protested. "The girls will be here with me. Plus, if I get too lonely, I could always call my mother. I'm sure she wouldn't mind taking a flight down here to visit her granddaughters."
"I know…I'm just concerned about you, baby. That's all. This whole thing about a baby and all, it has you so rattled, and it's worrying the living hell out of me because it's affecting you so much. You know we don't need a baby to make our lives complete. I'm perfectly happy with you and the girls; you're all the family I need."
"I know," I mumble drowsily, burying my face into his chest, then, cursing out loud at what I knew I was going to have to do eventually, I sit up and shake my hair out of my eyes. I don't exactly want to do it, because I don't want to make it seem like I'm snitching on Matt like we're in middle school or something, but I also don't want myself feeling more conflicted and upset than I am right now. Jeff looked at me, concern filling those beautiful green eyes of his.
"Krys?"
"Matt kissed me, Jeff."
(Jeff's POV)
"Matt kissed me, Jeff."
The words ran through my head like a mantra, constantly repeating itself over and over, until the images burned their way into my retinas.
Matt kissed my wife. Matt kissed my wife.
Although I know I should feel more upset than I do, angry enough to want to beat the shit out of him, even…I can't. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty upset, but it just doesn't strike up the urge to want to maim my brother for putting his paws on Krys. Sure, Krys is my wife and I love her to death, and positively adore my nieces-turned-stepdaughters, but Matt's my blood. I don't want to hurt my brother for what he did. Maybe his sickness is back. Maybe he just can't help himself sometimes, because honestly, Krys is utterly fuckable when she's not suffering from some sort of self-induced depression. She's the most sensual and beautifully desirable woman I've ever met in my life, a woman that stimulates me mentally and emotionally as well as physically and artistically. She's the type of woman who can match words and phrases to my paintings. She attracted me from the very first moment I saw her, despite the fact that I'd pegged her as a stupid, cock-hungry thundercunt and a slut who'd cheated on Shannon with Matt who merely upgraded from one rich man to another. Most of that had been due to Shannon poisoning me against her, giving me only his side of the story, playing the victim card to a T, making me resent her when I really didn't know everything that had gone down between the two of them, and what led her to cheat on him in the first place.
It took her marrying my brother for me to see that I really had something for her. Something bad.
I hadn't wanted to believe that my brother had done all those horrible things to her, beating her and raping her when there was nobody home but the two of them. I couldn't believe it when she'd told me, and it took her having to show me her bruises and explain to me in graphic detail about how he'd slapped her face and ripped her clothes off, before forcing her legs apart and violently raping her before she'd passed out from the trauma of it all. She hadn't wanted my pity; she'd needed my help. Even though she wasn't hysterical trying to get me to believe her, I could tell there had been a certain sense of desperation when she'd dialed my number. Even as I'd held her in my arms to comfort her while she cried after telling me about him raping her, I could tell she needed my help, because I was her only hope of getting out alive. She knew he wouldn't let her go while she was alive, and that was what finally scared her into leaving him. He had never laid a hand on their children, to his credit, but he'd always taken out his frustrations on her. And she had finally turned to me to help her.
That last night… I can still remember it so vividly, because it'll forever be burned into my memory so long as I live. Krys had gone to answer the door, briefly forgetting that I had warned her not to, but by the time I had ran down to yell at her not to open the door, it had been too late, and Matt had already had his hands around her throat, choking her out. If it hadn't been for me jumping on him, my brother would more than likely have killed the mother of his children…and me, too.
Never before in my life would I have thought that Matthew Moore Hardy, my own flesh and blood, would pull a gun on me and threaten to kill me for trying to save his wife. The woman I loved.
In that instant, I became angry at Matt. Red dots literally clouded my vision. Krys must have seen it in my expression or felt the anger coming from me, because she shrunk away from me, possibly afraid that I would take out my anger on her the way Matt used to. The gesture was enough to clear the red from my vision, and I look over at her. "I'm not Matt, Krys," I said quietly, and I see her visibly relax. "I would never put my hands on you, intentionally or not."
"I know you wouldn't," she says back, biting down on her lip. "I hate myself for being the cause of the problems between you and Matt."
"Stop that right now. You're not the cause of anything. If anyone is to blame in all this, it's Matt for not being able to control himself. I don't blame you for anything, Krys." I then kissed her forehead. "Try and get some more sleep. Do you want me to lay here with you until I have to go?"
"Please?" I answer her question wordlessly, gathering her close to me and laying down with her. She sighs contentedly and rolls onto her other side, so that I was spooning her. I wrap my arms tightly around her waist, giving her light kisses along her face and arms until she falls asleep.
There we remained until I had no choice but to hurry my ass up and leave before I miss my flight out to the next stop for RAW.
But trust me, the next time I get home, Matt and I are going to have a serious talk.
