The General’s Ex-Wife Is A Colonel He Can’t Have Chapter 07
At the turn in the stairwell, my crutch slipped.
I went down hard.
The burn on my arm, which had just begun to scab over, split open. Blood seeped through the gauze.
It was a bad fall.
Something inside my chest finally snapped.
I bit down hard, my nails digging into my palms, but the tears fell anyway.
Ever since I was little, I’d dreaded the holidays.
As a child, I used to stand outside other people’s windows, watching families gather around the table, eating, laughing, exchanging gifts.
That feeling had never left me.
Beau knew that better than anyone.
And now, just to soothe Kinsley, he had used that exact thing to wound me.
He rushed over and helped me up, his voice tight with anger.
“Celine, do you have to be this stubborn?”
Before he could finish, a thermos came flying at us.
Hot coffee splashed across my face.
A red welt rose instantly on my forehead.
Kinsley’s mother stood a few feet away, trembling with rage.
“You shameless woman!”
“How dare you touch my daughter’s man?”
She stormed over and slapped me hard across the face.
The blow snapped my head to the side, and I stumbled back to the floor.
Then she snatched up my crutch and brought it down on my shoulder.
There was a dull crack from the bone.
Beau caught her arm, his voice sharp.
“Ma’am, please calm down. It’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it?” she shrieked. “I saw her throwing herself at you!”
I braced myself against the wall and pulled myself to my feet. I looked at her and said, word by word, “You should watch your daughter. Everyone on this base knows whose marriage she destroyed.”
Beau whipped his head toward me, his voice low enough for only me to hear.
“Her heart is weak. She can’t take this kind of stress.”
“Celine, I’m begging you. Just stop.”
As soon as he finished, he turned back to Kinsley’s mother, his tone shifting to gentle reassurance.
“You’ve misunderstood. Major Wells is a colleague. She was injured on a mission and has PTSD. Sometimes her emotions are unstable.”