Chasing His Rejected Wife
Chapter 53 -

Aiden Wrong? I scoffed at his words. This guy certainly had some balls on him to blatantly try to gaslight me into doubting what I'd seen. Sure, it might have seemed innocent, at least to the unobservant eye, but I'd seen the look on his face as he stared down at Jessica.

I took a threatening step towards him, and to his credit, he didn't back away, though a wary look stole over his face as he watched me, palms out. "Do you think I'm stupid or something?" I asked, my voice deadly soft. "Aiden," Jessica sounded exasperated. She stepped out from behind the guy and glared at me, obviously over her shock too. He tried to stop her, but placed her hand on his shoulder and shook her head. "I'm alright, Kenzo, I need to talk to him."

"You sure?" The concern in his voice set my teeth on edge again. When she nodded, he cast one more warning look my way and dropped the hand he'd used to block her way. I watched all this happen with mixed feelings. Jessica's gaze snapped back to me, an unpleasant expression on her face. She stalked towards me and came to a halt, chin raised, eyes spitting pure fire. Despite our differences in height, she faced me square on, teeth clenched. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" She fairly spat the words, filled with venom at me.

And in the face of her own anger, rational thought returned to me and I knew I'd fucked up. Big time. Still, I was too angry to back down, too infuriated by the idea that she'd smiled at that fucker as though he had the sun shining out of his

ass.

So, I remained belligerent as I looked down at her angry face and raised an eyebrow. "Are you fucking serious? He had his hands on you like some goddamn pervert."

At my words, the guy made an angry noise, but I dismissed him from my mind and focused all my attention on my wife.

Who looked positively horrified by the way I'd just insulted her neighbor. Her mouth gaped open for a moment, but she soon recovered, and looked even more furious.

"How dare you call him a..." she appeared too scandalized to even say the word and snapped her mouth shut, then pointed a finger at me. "I can't believe you would be so rude. I bumped into him because I was hurrying to get to you before you drove off and if he hadn't quickly reacted and caught me, I would have fallen down. That's all there is to it."

I glared at the guy over Jessica's head. "And I'm sure he enjoyed taking advantage of your situation to do what he's obviously been wanting to do for a while."

I didn't doubt her words, because deep down I knew she wouldn't do anything of the sort. I had let my emotions get ahead of me, had acted without thinking because I was constantly buffeted by remorse and guilt, knowing I had lost Jess, that she wasn't mine anymore. It was even more unbearable to be confronted with seeing her in the arms of another man, however innocent the intention, looking at him the same way she'd reserved for me alone.

In that instant, it had brought into clarity the finality of what lay ahead and I had reacted badly to the loss.

"Dude, you're reaching so far, you're way off base." Kenzo shook his head in disbelief. "You barely know me and you're already jumping to conclusions."

"I don't need to know you more than I already do," I snapped

"You're being unreasonable, Aiden." Jessica cut in impatiently. "And you owe Kenzo an apology."

An apology was not going to happen anytime soon. I kept my mouth shut and pinned her with an intense look. She sighed and rubbed at her temples, then turned to Kenzo. I couldn't see her expression, but I was sure she looked apologetic. "I'm so sorry about this, Kenzo." She told him earnestly, turning slightly so she could glare at me again. "I don't know what's gotten into him, but please don't take offense."

"Jess -" I began but she whirled on me, eyes blazing.

"Not another word, Aiden." she warned in a low whisper. "I don't want to hear anything that's not an apology for acting like a child."

The derision in her voice stung and I didn't like that she thought I was being wilful.

Kenzo had remained surprisingly calm throughout this tense exchange, and now, he stepped forward, his hands slightly raised in a non-confrontational manner.

He took a deep breath and finally broke the standoff. "Look, I get it," he said, addressing me but keeping his tone measured. "I'm a stranger to you and for all you know, I could be capable of some dark and twisted things, so I understand you're just concerned and trying to protect your wife. But I assure you that I have nothing but the most honorable intentions towards Jess, nothing more."

I narrowed my eyes at him, still not convinced even though his words sounded sincere enough. For all I knew, he could be a very expert lair, good at fooling unsuspecting women.

Jessica, however, didn't share my sentiment. She shot me a stern look, eyebrows raised. "Satisfied? I told you before now that Kenzo has been very helpful to me since I moved in here. I don't know where you're getting your ideas from."

I wasn't satisfied. Something about the guy's entire demeanor rubbed me the wrong way and neither was I impressed by his helpfulness, because, of course, he'd play nice until he got what he wanted. I shot him a look filled with warning and dark promises of what I'd do if he so much as touched a hair of her head again and felt the first tinge of satisfaction when the wary look returned to his eyes.

I held his gaze for long enough to get my point across, then looked down at Jess, who was watching the interaction with a narrowed gaze.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." I made sure they both understood that the apology was for her alone. At this point, I couldn't give a rat's ass about Kenzo's feelings. Jessica's eyebrows rose again and her lips pursed when she realized I had no intention of apologizing to Kenzo but then she sighed and merely shook her head in defeat.

"Let's talk inside." She said with another sigh and turned back to Kenzo. "Again, I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Kenzo."

He smiled and shrugged. "Not your fault."

He shot me a look that left no doubt where the fault fully lay. "Sure you'll be okay?" Again, I didn't miss the implication, and my ire rose again.

"Yeah, it's fine." Jess assured him. Then, sensing that I was close to punching his lights out, she quickly wrapped a hand around my bicep and tried to tug me away. The feel of her small hand on me sent my senses awry and I was too destabilized to do more than let her lead me towards her apartment.

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In all the time we'd been together, I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she had initiated any kind of physical contact beyond what was necessary. I was aware it was because of my cold and distant attitude towards her for the entirety of our time together.

And when we did touch - that day while leaving the hospital, I'd put my hands on her back to steer her away from an oncoming stretcher and she had instantly gone stiff, her expression had changed to discomfort. I hadn't failed to notice the way she'd sagged in relief when I removed my hand, as though every moment we had been in contact had been torture.

All of which had made seeing her so at ease being held by Kenzo, all the more jarring.

Her door stood ajar, likely left open in her haste to catch me before I left. Once the door closed behind us, she whirled around and lit into me.

"What the hell was that just now?" She planted her hands on her hips and stared daggers at me. "How dare you insult and harass Kenzo like that? And the name calling? That was just uncalled for, Aiden."

I could feel the weight of Jessica's anger bearing down on me, but I wasn't ready to admit defeat just yet. "Jess, you don't understand. I was just trying to protect you. I couldn't stand seeing him touch you like that. It felt wrong."

She scoffed, her eyes blazing with fury. "Protect me? Aiden, you had no right to act like you own me. We're not together anymore, remember?"

I opened my mouth to protest, to explain how I still cared about her and didn't want to see some random guy take advantage of her in this vulnerable state, but she didn't give me the chance.

"You want to talk about inappropriate actions, Aiden?" She shot back. "How about the way you've openly flirted with Elisa in front of me, making me feel like I meant nothing to you? How did you think that made me feel? If I had reacted like you just did, what would have been the outcome?"

My jaw tightened as her words hit home. I had been so caught up in my own anger and jealousy that I had forgotten how my actions had hurt Jessica in the past and led us to this point. I took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure.