Chapter 1

My husband's little childhood sweetheart was having another act, which meant he was dumping me. Again.

I felt dead inside as I looked him straight in the eye. "So, divorce number eight, huh?"

Killian gave me this massively guilty look, his eyes practically begging me for forgiveness.

"Come on, Avery. What am I supposed to do? Chloe's threatening to kill herself again. I can't just ignore her," he sighed. "Look, once she calms down, we'll get hitched again. Same as always."

I didn't bother responding. Heard that line seven times already.

Eight weddings. Eight divorces. Same guy, every single time.

The lady at the county clerk's office even recognized me now. As she handed me the papers, she asked curiously. "So when you coming back for round nine?"

I shook my head. "Not happening this time."

Walking out, I spotted them right away. Killian was sweet-talking Chloe, who was giggling like a schoolgirl.

Every time I see this little scene play out, it messes with my head. Like, is this real life? Seriously?

Thirty minutes ago, this woman was holding broken glass to her throat, screaming the house down. Now? All smiles.

Today was supposed to be our three-year anniversary.

But this whole "three-year anniversary" thing is honestly kind of a joke when you think about it.

I mean, three years since wedding number one.

But we've been on this crazy marriage-divorce-repeat rollercoaster the whole time.

Our latest "marriage" barely made it a month.

And now we're split up. Again.

Three freaking years, eight weddings, eight divorces. Who even does that?

Never thought I'd end up as someone's relationship joke.

When Chloe saw me walking out of the building like some kind of zombie, she threw me this smug little look that just ripped open all my wounds again.

"OMG, Killian! You actually divorced her!" she fake-gasped. "I thought she'd talk you out of it again. Bet she wishes I'd just disappear forever."

Killian just stood there looking completely helpless.

He didn't even stick up for me anymore. Just handed her the divorce papers.

"See? All done."

Chloe lit up like Christmas morning. When Killian turned away, she shot me the smuggest look ever.

Even knowing she was doing it on purpose, it still stung.

Nobody would even believe this situation if I told them.

The crazy part? This whole divorce happened because Killian gave me an early anniversary gift—just a bracelet—Chloe saw it and went completely psycho-jealous.

Just a month ago, we'd barely been remarried when Chloe threw such a massive tantrum that we ended up at the divorce office filling out paperwork again.

When we filed, the clerk actually laughed. "You two are here more than some of our staff."

Suddenly, I wanted to crawl under a rock. In three years, we'd been there like thirty times. Everyone knew our names.

That day, Killian actually stood up for me, shielding me from the words.

"Just do your job and shut up," he'd snapped. "Our business is our business."

The clerk shut up real quick when she saw how pissed Killian was, and just processed our divorce papers without another word.

Ever since that day, Chloe's been counting down our forty-day waiting period like it was a freaking countdown to Christmas.

This morning, she showed up at the crack of dawn, practically dragging Killian to get our divorce finalized.

Chapter 2

So there she was, smashing a glass and holding this jagged piece right against her throat, threatening Killian like a full-on psycho.

"If you guys don't get divorced TODAY, I swear I'm just gonna kill myself!" Chloe screamed.

Killian, who was just planning to go through the motions and get it over with, completely lost his shit. He grabbed my wrist so hard it left a nasty red ring, and practically screamed at me:

"We HAVE to do this divorce thing TODAY. Chloe can't handle it if we don't!"

And boom. That's when it hit me. I could marry Killian a hundred freaking times, and I'd still never measure up to his precious little childhood sweetheart.

"Great, it's all done. Let's go home," Killian said, helping Chloe into his car like she was made of glass.

Then I went to hop in the passenger seat like always, but Chloe blocked me with this dramatic pout on her face, looked super annoyed.

"Um, Avery? You guys aren't married anymore. Don't you think it's kinda trashy for you to still be riding in his car?"

I glanced at Killian, waiting for him to stand up for me. He just frowned a little and reached for Chloe, who yanked away from him.

"I'm just keeping it real, Killian! You literally JUST got divorced. What are people gonna think?" Then she turned to me with this fake-ass concerned look. "Plus, Avery, you're gonna have to move on eventually, right? Maybe stop clinging to your ex?"

She made it sound so logical, and Killian just gave me this helpless look.

"Avery... you know..."

He couldn't even finish the sentence. But I knew exactly what he was trying to say.

I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I could taste blood.

"Whatever. I'll walk."

The second I said that, Chloe's ass was in the passenger seat, looking all smug about it.

Before driving off, Killian gave me his "I'm sorry" look and whispered:

"Don't take it personally. She's just having a bad day, that's why she's acting crazy."

"Let me calm her down, and we'll get married again. This time it's for real, I swear!"

I didn't bother responding.

With Chloe nagging him, Killian drove away.

I'd fallen for that exact same line seven damn times already.

Trust, betrayal. Rinse, repeat.

Divorce 1: Killian forgot Chloe's birthday.

Divorce 2: Chloe lost her cat.

Divorce 3: Chloe had a nightmare where Killian married someone and ditched her.

And this time? Killian got me a gift but nothing for her.

Each reason more ridiculous than the last.

Yet somehow, every single time, it was enough to make Killian throw me under the bus for her.

I've tried everything over the years—fighting back, causing scenes, begging him to see how messed up this was.

But it always ends the same way.

He'd sweet-talk me until I felt better, then go right back to giving Chloe whatever the hell she wanted.

Eight divorces in, I'm finally done. Just... done.

You can be crazy in love with someone for years, but even the hottest love can't survive getting ice water dumped on it over and over again.

I dragged myself back to Killian's place. Before I even opened the door, I could hear them giggling inside.

Killian was covered in flour—face, clothes, everywhere.

This is the same guy who once lost his shit when I accidentally got ONE DROP of cooking oil on his shirt because of his "germaphobia." But here he was, looking like a powdered donut for Chloe, and loving every second of it.

When he saw me, Killian looked relieved. He immediately shoved an apron at me, not even giving me a second to breathe.

"Finally! Can you make dinner? We're starving."

Chloe sprawled across the couch like she owned the place and started barking orders.

"I want pot roast. Make it super tender."

I couldn't help but laugh. Like, was this real life?

"If you're so hungry, why didn't YOU cook? You had plenty of time to mess around in the kitchen—couldn't you have made something with all that time?"

Chapter 3

I barely finished talking when Killian angrily shoved me hard. My back smacked right into the corner of the table, and holy shit, it hurt so bad I started sweating.

"Avery, are you freaking kidding me right now?" he snapped. "It's just dinner. Why are you being such a pain in the ass about it?"

I bit my lip from the pain, not saying anything. But Killian took my silence as me challenging him.

Chloe jumped in with her fake-sweet voice.

"Killian, I swear Avery just hates having me around. Every time you ask her to do anything, she acts like it's torture." She huffed, pushing out her lower lip. "If you two ever re-marry, I'm probably gonna get kicked to the curb."

That set him off. Killian's eyes went crazy mad. He grabbed my arm and literally dragged me to the kitchen, pushing me toward the stove so hard I nearly face-planted into it.

His face was ice cold.

"If you don't make what Chloe wants for dinner, you can spend the whole damn night in here!"

SLAM.

The kitchen door shut behind him.

My wrist was turning purple where he'd grabbed me, and my elbow was bleeding from hitting the stove corner.

Next second, I could hear Chloe giggling her ass off through the door.

A minute later, Killian stormed back in. Seeing me just standing there, not cooking, he got pissed.

"Avery, why do you always have to fight me on every little thing?" he growled. "You're Chloe's sister-in-law. What's the big deal about making dinner?"

I stood up straight and looked him dead in the eyes with a bitter smile.

"Did you forget something? We're divorced. I'm not anybody's sister-in-law anymore."

Killian looked embarrassed for a second. He cleared his throat, then completely flipped the script, wrapping his arms around me and going all sweet.

"I lost my cool just now. But babe, the divorce is just temporary. As soon as Chloe calms down, we can get married again. Don't get all worked up over nothing."

He handed me a piece of paper with a list of dishes. His face turned serious again, practically screaming "mess this up and you'll regret it."

"I'm giving you a chance here. Make Chloe happy, and we can get hitched again faster. Just do it, Avery."

After he left, shutting the door behind him, I felt completely hollow.

Since when did our marriage become so throwaway to him? Just "nothing"?

And now I'm supposed to kiss Chloe's ass?

Yeah, no way.

I'd rather sleep on this kitchen floor than suck up to her.

Then I slid down against the cabinets and closed my eyes, totally done with everything.

In a daze, I was soaking wet from ice-cold water.

My eyes shot open to see Chloe standing there with this evil grin, dumping a bucket of ice water all over me.

"What the actual fuck, Chloe?!" I yelled.

She threw the empty bucket straight at my head. It hit my forehead with a thud that made my ears ring.

"You're supposed to be cooking, not napping," she sneered. "Look at you... and you think you deserve Killian? Go fuck yourself!"

That pushed me over the edge. I immediately grabbed the bucket and hurled it back at her with everything I had.

Chloe screamed like she was being murdered. She dodged the bucket, but got splashed with the leftover water.

Then Killian came rushing in. One look at wet Chloe, and he grabbed me by the hair, yanking my head back.

"Have you lost your goddamn mind? Who do you think you are, messing with Chloe like that?"

He yanked so hard I thought he was gonna rip my hair out by the roots, his face twisted with rage.

So I had to stand on my toes, my neck straining as I tried to explain.

"She dumped water on me first! Then she threw the bucket at my—"

Killian cut me off, his eyes bulged out, looking at me like he wanted to murder me right there.

"You deserved it!" he spat. "You were supposed to be cooking, not sleeping! Chloe was being nice—it was just water. If it was me, I would've thrown your ass out!"