Man, what's wrong with you? novel Chapter 20

Sherry couldn't keep the exasperation from her voice. "Jeremy, have you forgotten that you're the one who prepared that divorce agreement? You keep telling me to leave you alone, and now I've done just that, so what's the problem?" She had no idea how to interpret his changing, inconsistent attitude towards the idea of divorce.

He had been responsible for drawing up the divorce agreement, yet he was acting now as though the failure of their marriage was her fault.

Illogically, the sight of Sherry's aggrieved face put Jeremy in a better mood. He ignored her question and ushered her into the bathtub, then took off his towel and got in with her. The hot water overflowed over the edge of the tub.

"I don't want a divorce," he said calmly.

Sherry was stunned. "What?"

She stared at his face, blurry through the clouds of steam rising from the hot water, and hoped he couldn't see that her own face had turned red. He leaned towards her and placed a hand on her cheek. Looking at her flushed lips, still swollen from their kiss, he couldn't resist the urge to lower his head and gently bite her small, delicate nose.

"Ow!" she exclaimed. She pushed him away, but Jeremy grasped her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. He rubbed his nose against hers. She pulled away, more forcefully this time, and sneered at him. "Are you having fun playing with me like this?"

There were light teeth marks on her nose. He was shocked and slightly guilty. He hadn't realized how hard he'd bitten her.

But she wasn't talking about the bite on her nose. Her voice rose. "Nothing you do makes sense! You want to control me when you feel like it, but then you throw me away when you don't want me. You humiliate me with the nasty things you say. You publicly get involved with other women to mock me!"

However, she didn't say that he wanted to give her to his best friend at will.

Sherry glared at Jeremy. She had put up with so much, for so long, and now that she was finally trying to break free by divorcing him, he wanted to keep her chained to him!

"I've told you that those women mean nothing to me. It's only for fun. Why is it such a big deal to you?" He felt impatient because every time they argued, she never failed to bring up his infidelity.

"I know you don't understand. So please, just leave me alone," she said. She firmly pushed his hands away and stood. Water droplets trickled down her warm skin, glossy with moisture from the bath. She looked beautiful and very, very angry.

She was getting out of the bathtub when Jeremy closed a hand around one ankle. He tugged, and she had no choice but to clamber back in to avoid losing her balance. He pulled her down and wrapped his arms around her. "I can't leave you alone. I don't want you to cheat on me."

"What are you talking about?" she snapped.

"Sherry, don't play innocent with me! I saw you flirting with that waiter at the bar. I was there, remember?" In his agitation, his arms tightened around her, and Sherry struggled to break free. "Let me go!"

But her struggle to get loose was in vain. He was holding her too tightly. Angrily she cried out, "Why are you such a hypocrite? Even if there was something between me and that waiter at the bar, well, so what? I know all about you and Jessie!"

He paid no attention to her remark about Jessie, focusing on the fact that she hadn't denied her relationship with the waiter. He felt furious. "You used to say you'd never agree to a divorce. I know what changed! You want to be free and clear to go out with that man."

Sherry couldn't believe this. She was trapped in a bathtub with her crazy husband, who was making wild accusations and might actually be angry enough to hurt her physically. She gathered all her energy and wrestled with him until she succeeded in breaking his hold on her. In their struggle, they knocked over one of the expensive decorations on the bathroom shelf—a large, solid piece of coral mounted on a slab of marble.

Sherry gasped. As though in slow motion, she watched the piece of coral fall through the air, until a corner of the marble base struck Jeremy straight in the head.

He let out a shout of pain as the coral fell into the bathtub. Blood trickled from the wound on his head. He felt dizzy, and started gasping for breath. Sherry was frightened. She looked at the blood dripping down the side of his face. "Jeremy! How bad is it?"