He Said I Was Clingy, So I Walked Away on the Day Our Contract Ended Chapter 08

He Said I Was Clingy, So I Walked Away on the Day Our Contract Ended Chapter 08

We’d been using contraceptive precautions this entire time. Asher froze for a split second, and I watched his eyes lit up like he’d just hit the jackpot.

“Whatever you’d prefer makes me happy too.”

A barely perceptible tremor ran through his tone, though I paid it no mind at all, grinning as I settled back into his chest.

“You really know just what to say, honey.”

The arm wrapped around me tensed rigidly, and the steady thud of his heartbeat rumbled more heavily beneath my head.

It was strange to see someone as naturally reserved and emotionally guarded as Asher so attached to being home.

We’d nearly stayed for dinner at the estate, but constantly putting on this fake act had worn me out entirely; a little gentle coaxing was all it took to get him ready to head back to our private manor.

A faint smile lingered on his face the whole drive away from the estate.

The second we climbed into the car, I pulled away from his arm and bowed my head to scroll through my phone.

The faint smile on Asher’s lips froze solid as he stared down at his empty palm, as if he could still feel the faint lingering warmth of my skin there.

“What are you feeling like for dinner later?”

Halfway through the drive, when he noticed I hadn’t glanced up once, the light in his eyes dimmed little by little.

“Anything’s fine,” I answered dismissively.

The car went quiet again. The air felt heavy, so I cracked the window open.

I darted toward the front door the moment we parked and climbed out. Feeling his heated gaze fixed on my back, I glanced over my shoulder.

His outstretched arm hung suspended in mid-air, his complexion a little pale.

Had he been reaching out to steady my step? I was already a good ways down the front walk, so I couldn’t be bothered to turn back.

I simply faced forward and pretended I’d seen nothing.

Throughout dinner, I couldn’t shake the sensation of someone’s gaze locked steadily on me.

Yet whenever I lifted my eyes, Asher sat quietly sipping his broth, making me wonder if I’d only imagined it.

Later that night after stepping out of the bathroom, I was surprised to find Asher had changed into another outfit entirely.

This outfit was far darker and moodier than last night’s loungewear, accentuating his toned, pale physique strikingly.

Still, we’d worn each other out the night prior, leaving me completely uninterested in anything intimate tonight. I yawned widely and flopped straight onto the bed.

The mattress dipped beside me as Asher shifted closer, clearly misreading my body language. He leaned down toward me, and I held a hand up to stop him.

“I’m just not in the mood for anything tonight…”

I had my own cravings, but nothing compared to his endless stamina. I honestly had no idea how he kept so much energy.

Asher’s dark eyes studied me for a long stretch of time, making me thoroughly uncomfortable under his unblinking gaze.

A sharp surge of frustration flashed across his features before he stood and headed into the bathroom.

I slept soundly through the rest of the night, though halfway through my slumber, I drifted into a half-conscious state and felt Asher pull me tight against his chest, wrapping his arms fully around me.

An alarm jolted me awake early the next morning, catching me off guard.

I’d stopped playing the role of his clingy, devoted wife recently and had turned all my morning alarms off ages ago—so why was one going off now?

I rubbed my face and sat upright, realizing it was a scheduled alert on my phone calendar.

My gaze paused, stunned for a moment.

Had three months really passed that quickly?

It wasn’t my fault at all. Days filled with easy meals and uninterrupted rest had slipped by without me noticing the passage of time.

Recalling the words Asher had spoken when he’d first laid the contract on our table, I climbed out of bed and retrieved the legal agreement from my dresser drawer.

I pushed open the dining room door, and sure enough, Asher hadn’t left for the office yet.

He paused mid-bite when he saw I was awake, his eyes lighting up, bright with obvious anticipation.

I walked steadily toward him, and he rose to his feet, opening his arms to welcome me in.

Then… I stopped directly in front of him, holding out the contract along with a pen.

“This arrangement’s run its course. Sign your name here, and we can go file for divorce once you get off work early tonight.”

A bone-chilling silence blanketed the entire dining room.

Sometime while we’d been talking, Ellen and Lorraine had quietly stepped away, leaving only me and a completely rigid, frozen Asher in the formal dining room.

It took him quite a while to snap out of his daze and regain his senses.