HIS STRIPPER, HIS WIFE novel Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Bianca

At that point, I knew I didn’t have any other choice than to follow him. He didn’t look like the type of person you argued with for too long, and today, I didn’t have the strength for someone like this so I just nodded and walked with him toward his car.

Thankfully, I remembered I had to stop by the mall that evening to pick up a few things Emma needed, so I told him to just drop me there instead of driving all the way to my house.

“Sure,” he said, opening the passenger door for me before walking around to his side.

The drive out of the company’s building was quiet, no music, no small talk, just the soft hum of the engine and the sound of traffic outside. I stared out the window, watching buildings, and for a moment I actually let myself relax a little, thinking maybe this ride would just be silent all through. I was almost grateful for it but of course, that peace didn’t last.

Somewhere along a stretch of road with heavy traffic, I felt his hand leave the gear and land lightly on my knee, like it was the most normal thing to do. I stiffened immediately, my whole body going tense.

He didn’t say anything about it, didn’t even look at me, just kept his eyes on the road like his hand wasn’t slowly creeping higher on my thigh.

I shifted, crossing my legs slowly and turning my body slightly toward the window, letting his hand slide off in a way that looked accidental, like I was just adjusting my seating position. I even reached down and pretended to fix the strap of my shoe, using the movement as an excuse to put more distance between us.

“Comfortable?” he asked, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, like he knew exactly what I had just done.

“Yes, thank you,” I said flatly, keeping my eyes forward, my bag now sitting firmly on my lap like a shield.

“I saw you,” Julian said suddenly, his eyes still on the road. “Leaving with Adrian, on the day of the gala.”

My stomach tightened as I turned to look at him, but his expression didn’t give me any clue to what is in his mind. He wasn’t smirking or teasing, he just looked calm. I didn’t say anything, mostly because I didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t make things worse.

He glanced at me briefly before returning his eyes to the road. “You don’t have to explain anything to me,” he said. “I’m not judging you or anything you do.”

Still, I stayed quiet, my fingers tightening slightly around the strap of my bag on my lap.

“But my problem with my brother is that he doesn’t know how to keep good things,” Julian continued, his voice softer now. “He never has, he gets something good, holds onto it for a while, then somehow finds a way to mess it up.”

I turned my head to look out the window again, my face tightening. I didn’t like where this conversation was going, but I also didn’t know how to shut it down without seeming rude, especially since he was doing me a favor by dropping me off.

“If you ever need someone,” he said. “Someone who knows him, but isn’t him, I’m here.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, was he seriously offering himself up like that, without shame? I sat there stunned for a second, processing the boldness, it felt like he had rehearsed those exact words before.

I didn’t react, I just kept my expression neutral, my hands still in my lap. The car pulled up in front of the mall a few minutes later, and I reached for the door handle almost immediately, eager to get out of that space.

“Thank you,” I said quietly and I stepped out without waiting for a response.

I walked into the mall without looking back, my heart racing a little faster than I wanted to admit. I took a long breath, trying to shake off the strange weight of everything that had just happened in that car.

I didn’t stay long in the mall, I picked up the things Emma needed, grabbed a few snacks for myself, and by the time I got home, my mind was still turning with everything from the day.

Victoria at the restaurant, Adrian walking out without knowing what I wanted to tell him. Julian and everything he was saying in the car, it felt like too much for one single day.

“Amanda!”

“What? I’m just saying! Sometimes, the good sex isn’t enough reason to stay in something that’s clearly getting complicated. You might have to let him go too, even if it hurts.”

“It’s not that simple.” I forced out a fake laugh.

“I know it’s not,” she said, her voice softening again. “But just think about it. You deserve peace, Bianca, not headaches from exes and brothers.”

We talked a little longer after that, about nothing in particular, until the conversation slowly wound down and we said our goodnights.

After she hung up, I lay there in the dark, staring at nothing, replaying everything from the day over and over in my head. A few minutes later, my phone lit up again. “How was your day?’ It was a message from Adrian.

I stared at the screen for a long moment, my thumb hovering over the keyboard. Part of me wanted to type back everything, Victoria, Julian, the hand, all of it, just to see what he would say, just to feel him react. But another part of me pulled back, thinking about everything Amanda had just said.

I locked my phone and set it face down on the pillow beside me. “I shouldn’t be adding to my problems,” I told myself, closing my eyes.

I didn’t know how long I stayed like that, thinking, turning things over, trying to make sense of a mess that refused to make sense. Eventually, sleep pulled me under before I could find any answers.

The next morning came too fast. My alarm blared and I jolted awake, immediately falling into my usual rushed morning routine. I brushed my teeth while searching for a clean blouse, grabbed a slice of bread on my way past the kitchen, and was halfway through putting on my shoes when my phone buzzed on the bed.

I picked it up, expecting it to be Amanda checking to see if I had left home, or maybe from the bank concerning the money that I went to complain about but it wasn’t either of them.

It was a message from the senior design lead, the one from that meeting weeks ago, my fingers hovered over the screen for a second before I opened it.