Max sounded confused. "In bed, obviously. Babe, what's going on with you?"
"Then why won't you turn on your camera?"
He paused for two seconds.
"Power's out at the apartment. Can't turn it on."
I let out a cold, sharp laugh. I was done holding back.
I kicked the hotel room door wide open.
"Is lying to me fun for you, Max?"
He lifted his head, frozen in place, eyes flashing with shock and panic.
"B-Babe!"
"You told me you left this morning. Why are you still here?"
His phone slipped from his hand again and clattered against the floor.
Max scrambled to pull his clothes on. Even in his panic, he didn't forget to yank the comforter over the girl beside him, tossing her camisole at her.
"Get dressed and get out."
The girl wrinkled her nose, looking more annoyed than ashamed. "I was wondering who'd show up. Turns out it's the frumpy little wife."
She dressed with lazy, deliberate slowness, glancing my way every few seconds with a look designed to provoke.
"So what if you caught us? What are you going to do about it?"
"Once a man's heart isn't in it anymore, he'll just sneak around behind your back anyway."
"Shut your mouth!" Max snapped, his expression turning cold in an instant.
"That bag I promised you? Forget it."
"And don't bother coming around again."
The girl's smugness crumbled. Her face went white. She let out a bitter scoff and deliberately shouldered past me on her way out.
After she was gone, the room held only the two of us.
Max stood there, shirtless, and slowly moved toward me. A small sigh escaped through his nose.
"Babe, don't be mad."
He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"That girl just now, I met her at a bar not long ago. She wouldn't leave me alone, so I brought her here to teach her a lesson."
I stared at him, genuinely stunned. Part of me wanted to applaud the sheer audacity.
I couldn't fathom how his mouth could open and close and produce words that shameless.
He buried his face against my waist the way he always did, nuzzling into me like a spoiled child.
As if this were nothing more than one of our little spats.
"Max."
"You just finished sleeping with me, and the second I walked out the door, you brought another girl back to this hotel."
The stale, musky smell hanging in the air hit me all at once.
Nausea surged through my stomach. I shoved him off me, hard.
"Didn't you tell me you'd gone back home to take care of things? Back to the countryside?"