Wrath
Page 33
“Can you be his friend?” When I stayed silent, he added, “Chaz, I’m afraid of what this would do to him. Yeah, he has me and a few other people, but you’re the only one who really gets a reaction from him, because he loves you, and if you just disappeared—”
“Please, Bryce. Don’t make me feel guilty.”
He held up his hands. “That’s not what I’m doing. I just know that you still love him, too, or you wouldn’t have done all of this.”
After a long pause, I nodded. “You’re right. But now I need to love him from afar. So”—I tapped the envelope—“all I need is your signature.”
He nodded. “I want you to do me a favor.” He slid the package back to me. “Can you give this more thought?”
“No.”
“Just one week. It’s that important. Just one week. And if after a week, you still want to do this, I’ll take you to lunch, sign the papers, and never say another word.” When I said nothing, he added, “One week.”
“Okay. But you keep the papers and I’ll meet up with you.”
“No, because if I have these papers, it’ll be too easy for you to walk away. Just one week.”
After a long moment, I returned the folder to my bag with a sigh. “One week,” I said in a tone that I hoped felt like a warning to Bryce.
He grinned as if he had a victory, and I wondered if he did. Why had I agreed to this when I’d already had too many weeks?
When I stood, Bryce stood with me. “You’re not going to wait for X to come back?”
I shook my head. “I’m going home to begin my one week.”
With a chuckle, he hugged me, and then I made my way back to the front. I arrived at the guest check-in, just as another woman approached and I motioned for her to speak to Andrea first.
“Hello, my name is Roxanne Butler. I’m here to see one of your residents, Xavier King.”
“Oh.” Andrea glanced at me. I smiled and gave her a small shake of my head before she turned her attention back to the woman. “Well, just sign in here,” she said, glancing at me again.
I had no idea who the woman was, but it didn’t matter since I was leaving.
Then Andrea said, “Oh, here’s Xavier now.”
Roxanne and I turned as the physical therapist rolled Xavier toward us. His eyes widened, and the grunts began.
“Oh my goodness. Baby,” Roxanne said as she leaned over and hugged him.
He grunted and kicked that leg up a couple of times, his eyes only on me.
“I guess he’s glad to see me,” Roxanne said. “I haven’t seen him in almost a year.” She pressed her hand against her chest. “Since last August, I think it was.”
Last August. When I met Xavier.
His grunts were so loud now, they echoed through the hall. The physical therapist and Andrea frowned.
“He’s never been this way,” the therapist said. Leaning over, she asked Xavier, “Mr. King, are you all right?”
He grunted and kicked. Then kicked and grunted.
“I know, baby,” Roxanne said. “If I’d known about this sooner, I would have been here.” And then she explained some more. “There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s just glad to see me because we were engaged.”
Engaged?
To the physical therapist, she asked, “Are you taking him to his room?”
The therapist glanced at me. “Uh, no, he’s going back outside.”
“Would you mind if I rolled him out?” She didn’t wait for the therapist’s response as she adjusted her purse on her shoulder and gripped the wheelchair’s handles. “Which way?”
The therapist pointed straight ahead, and then the three walked away, with Xavier still grunting, still kicking. When I turned back to the desk, Andrea said, “She’s his fiancée?”
“I guess,” I said with a shrug.
“I thought you…”
“Oh, no.” I shook my head. “Xavier and I are just friends.”
She frowned, but before she could ask another question, I said, “Listen, I don’t want to disturb Bryce, since he’s out there with Xavier and…” I couldn’t even say her name. I took out the envelope and a pen, and as I wrote Bryce’s name across it, my hand shook.
My name is Roxanne Butler. He’s just glad to see me because we were engaged.
And now I had another memory:
You must be Roxanne. Nice to meet you.
That was what Will had said on the day of our wedding. I chuckled at that memory, but I felt no joy. What I felt, though, was relief. This was right. I handed the envelope to Andrea.
“Okay, I’ll give it to him when he leaves.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“See you next week,” Andrea shouted as I walked away.
All I gave her was a wave as I walked out of the welcome building. And I never looked back again.
More from this Series
Lust
Book 1
Envy
Book 2
Greed
Book 3
More from the Author
A Blessing & a Curse
Stand Your Ground
About the Author
Victoria Christopher Murray is the author of more than twenty novels, including: Greed; Envy; Lust; The Ex Files; Lady Jasmine; The Deal, the Dance, and the Devil; and Stand Your Ground, which was named a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Winner of fourteen African American Literary Awards for Fiction and Author of the Year (Female), Murray is also a five-time NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Fiction. She splits her time between Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Visit her website at VictoriaChristopherMurray.com.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Victoria-Christopher-Murray
SimonandSchuster.com
@GalleryBooks
Also by Victoria Christopher Murray
Greed
Envy
Lust
Stand Your Ground
Forever an Ex
Fortune & Fame (with ReShonda Tate Billingsley)
Never Say Never
Friends & Foes (with ReShonda Tate Billingsley)
Destiny’s Divas
Sinners & Saints (with ReShonda Tate Billingsley)
The Deal, the Dance, and the Devil
Sins of the Mother
Lady Jasmine
Too Little, Too Late
The Ex Files
A Sin and a Shame
Grown Folks Business
Truth Be Told
Blessed Assurance (contributor)
Joy
Temptation
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Victoria Christopher Murray
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First Gallery Books trade paperback edition January 2021
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Interior design by Lana J. Roff
Cover design by Min Choi
Cover photographs by Golden Pixels LLC/Alamy
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Murray, Victoria Christopher, author.
Title: Wrath / Victoria Christopher Murray.
Description: First Gallery Books trade paperback edition. | New York : Gallery Books, 2021. | Series: A Seven deadly sins novel ; 4
Identifiers: LCCN 2020020001 (print) | LCCN 2020020002 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982142926 (paperback) | ISBN 9781982142933 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Domestic fiction. | GSAFD: Christian fiction. | Love stories.
Classification: LCC PS3563.U795 W73 2020 (print) | LCC PS3563.U795 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020020001
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020020002
ISBN 978-1-9821-4292-6
ISBN 978-1-9821-4293-3 (ebook)