I knew exactly why he'd come back waiting for me.
Without missing a beat, I casually replied, "We had a lot to catch up!"
He reached out to pull me towards him, but I dodged, asking icily, "What do you want?"
Jaylan chuckled awkwardly, "Well, I... I just wanted to explain a few things to you."
"Explain what?" I pretended to be unaffected and turned to Hannah, "Hey Hannah, could you run me a bath? I need to soak the bad vibes away." I intentionally said this to set a certain tone, then I slumped into the couch, feigning exhaustion.
Jaylan scooted closer, "When did you get back? I would've picked you up if you told me earlier!"
I smiled at him wryly, "Please, I wouldn't want to trouble you."
"Honey, don't talk like that, I... I actually just bumped into Renata by chance!" That was his lame attempt at an explanation.
"You bumped into each other and got a room? Quite spontaneous, aren’t you?" I scoffed. "Since when do you live so freely?"
He had the audacity to say with a straight face, "Nothing happened, okay?"
"Really? You did nothing with Renata, so what did you do?" My gaze was sharp, pressing, "Want to go over it again with the cops?"
"Allie, don't be like that!” Clearly, my words struck a nerve with Jaylan, and his tone soured, yet he still played innocent, "I just wanted to know when you got back. Why do you have to be so confrontational?"
"Confrontational? You guys hurt Catherine and act like nothing's wrong. You think I can just let that slide? Don’t pretend you don’t know she’s missing. Of course, I had to come back." I didn't bother hiding my anger anymore. There was no point in playing polite.
"Allie, her getting hurt has nothing to do with me!" Jaylan desperately defended himself, "Don't pin everything on me! I'm your husband, remember?"
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