Chapter 1 The Practice Wife
Chapter 1
“Practice Wife”
POV Amanda
I have never lived alone. The idea terrifies me.
The movers come today to take my things. Benedict personally requested that everything in the house be removed. No reminders of us. Even his golden retriever, Moses, who belonged to him before we met, leaves with me.
As I pack the last of my things from our bedroom, I pick up Benedict’s scent at the door.
I try to ignore him, afraid he’ll say something hurtful during our last encounter. His footsteps tread quietly on the bedroom carpet as he walks toward me.
His intoxicating scent grows stronger, and I start to feel dizzy as he places his muscular arms around me and pulls me against his hard chest.
My body betrays me, leaning into him.
“There is only one thing left to do, Amanda. Then you’ll never see me again,” he whispers.
He gently scoops me up and places me on the end of the bed.
“I, Benedict Marlowe of the Blackstone Dragon Pack, reject you, Amanda Moore of the Blackstone Dragon Pack.”
Tears spill down my face.
I can’t believe he can walk away so easily from us after five years.
“You need to accept, Amanda,” he says softly.
The kindest words he’s spoken since the first six months we were together.
“I accept,” I barely squeak out.
Then the room falls into darkness.
For five years, I was in an arranged marriage to Benedict Marlowe, the man every girl wants and desires.
And he made sure to remind me every day how much he couldn’t wait to escape our vanilla relationship. How I was nothing more than his boring, obedient housewife, a woman he never wanted children with.
I made his dinners, washed his clothes, and did anything he asked.
It was what my mother did for my father.
I loved every part of him.
The good and the bad.
And a part of me always will.
My father was lower class and nearly fell over when he opened the door to Calvin Marlowe, Benedict’s father.
Then, at eighteen, I was introduced to Benedict.
I couldn’t believe my luck.
He was easily the most breathtaking man I had ever laid eyes on, with grey eyes that were almost an ethereal silver, dark wild hair, and the body of a god. His face was mysterious and haunting, and his voice was deep and sultry.
I thought I had won the lottery.
I didn’t realize at first that Benedict felt the opposite.
In order to become the next Dragon King, Benedict had to marry a girl of his father’s choosing, remain faithful, be a proper husband, and work alongside his father for five years.
His own mother had been chosen for his father the same way.
Three days after meeting Benedict, we were married.
I was his practice wife.
The woman he had to tolerate for five years before he could finally have the life he wanted.
And now his five years were up.
I had already signed the divorce papers, and in two days, they would be put before a judge and finalized.
Benedict had stopped coming home.
He didn’t even want to look at me anymore.
I sit on our bedroom floor, staring at our pictures as my heart slowly breaks.
Who am I without him?
My friends told me to make plans before the divorce. Every time I tried, I froze.
A world without Benedict doesn’t feel real.
How could you be intimate with someone, share a home and a life with them for five years, and feel nothing?
My oldest sister, Susie, understood.
She had been through a divorce herself.
She helped me pack, found me a place to live, and bought everything I needed, even though I had never stepped foot inside the new house.
The divorce settlement included a house of my choosing and enough money to take care of me for the rest of my life.
Bank accounts were set up in my name, but I gave Susie access and let her handle all the things I couldn’t bring myself to do.
Susie bought a house big enough for us to live together separately while still giving me somewhere to go whenever I needed her.
Because apparently everyone had prepared for my life after Benedict.
Everyone except me.
