[ a/n: sorry if this chapter is chaotic and not great, it's kind of a filler to set up juicer stuff that happens later! ]
The first time Georgia noticed Kendall not wearing his wedding ring was only six months after they had gotten married and the memory pricked at her brain anytime he had the slightest chance of still parading himself around as an eligible bachelor. To her knowledge it didn't happen often, but she wondered about all the nights he went out, without his father or herself in attendance although recently he had seemed not to care what he did in front of her.
The air was stiff at the fundraiser gala, Kendall had been speaking to a woman that Georgia assumed worked with him, eyeing the both of them as he had barely spoken to her at all that evening.
"Sorry- What is it that you do?" Georgia interjected into their conversation, Kendall taking the moment to sit back and rest his hand on the back of his wife's chair, finally facing her. Her slim manicured fingers combed through the back of Kendall's hair, her gaze sharp as it met the other woman whose name she couldn't care to remember. "I'm just trying to understand why you're over here with us..and not at one of the other tables," She added, a slightly disgusted look drew on her face as she looked around the room, somewhat flaunting her own importance.
Ken moved forward, Georgia's hand dropping from his hair as he cleared his throat. "Anna works-"
"Let the woman answer the question on her own." Georgia sat up more, resting her elbow on the table so she could rest her palm on her chin, her ring glimmering in the light as the other woman looked to her. A small smile appeared on her slips as she watched her flinch in her seat. "Well?" she rushed, watching Anna try to find her words.
"I'm an anchor at ATN..." Georgia's face didn't move, a slight mutter of disinterest leaving her lips. "I'm sure you've seen me on there once or twice." Anna laughed awkwardly, causing the other blonde to shake her head.
"No...no I don't think I have." The arrogance that left her voice obviously made the other woman uncomfortable and she would be lying if she said that wasn't her intention.
The awkward conversation had ended once the woman left and Kendall gulped, a soft smile on Georgia's lips. As quiet as the woman had been at times, she wouldn't pass up an opportunity to claim what was hers. She didn't know Kendall's angle and she didn't care. She wasn't going to sit and watch whatever had been going on unfold in front of her.
Before either of them said a word they were greeted by a distressed looking Connor who had crouched beside Kendall's chair. "Uh, change of plans...Dad's gonna do his speech."
Assessing her husband's sudden change in demeanor and body language the woman took a drink of her champagne, knowing it was going to be a long night. As annoyed as she had been with him for flirting with someone else right in front of her, her palm rested against his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. Connor hurried away before Kendall could get into much of a conversation with him, the younger brother standing from the table and finding his way to Gerri, leaving Georgia at the table alone as everyone else had been mingling at that point, pushed away by the interrogation of Anna she had started. These events bored the woman, she got tired of the false niceties and introductions to the same people she had met hundreds of times around the fifth time she had to do it. Luckily, this time her sister had been chosen by Connor to announce some of the people that were to come to the stage. Genevieve's bright smile and bubbly personality made it at least a little more bearable. Her focus had been interrupted by two men bickering behind her, turning to face Tom and Greg who looked like they were attempting to be quiet but were failing. As soon as they noticed the woman watching them the topic of conversation changed.
"She's like your cousin, Greg. Are you telling me you'd want to fornicate with your cousin, Gregory?" Tom's words caused Georgia to scrunch up her face, wishing she had heard literally anything other than what she did.
"N-No...She..it's like, by marriage or something. It's not incest." By now Georgia had joined them causing Greg's face to turn beet red.
"Please tell me you aren't talking about me, that's weird." The woman said, patting the man on the back before pointing to the stage, "And if you're talking about Genny, that's still weird, and she won't give you the time anyways."
"Told you." Tom chimed, Greg shaking his head.
"I wasn't talking about you, I know you're like, married or whatever." The awkward boy shoved a hand through his hair that had fallen over his eye, his tall frame hovering over both Georgia and Tom. "She's just cool, I guess." He said sheepishly, shrugging. "I don't think it can like, constitute as incest anyways...there's no blood relation."
Greg's words trailed off as the unlikely trio had been joined by Genevieve who was shooting all of them a puzzled look, wondering what they all could possibly be talking about. "Did I just hear you say something about incest?" She questioned, grabbing one of the glasses of champagne off a waiter's tray as he walked past.
In unison Georgia and Tom said: "Yes." While Greg decided to shake his head and make a big 'X' with his arms.
As amusing and confusing the conversation they had all been a part of was, they soon took their seats as it was almost time for Logan to speak. Georgia's eyes danced around the room, looking for Kendall who she assumed had still been stressing over the change of plans as to who was supposed to be on stage. Earlier in the day she had watched her husband scribble down notes of what to say, his fast paced handwriting being barely legible. When she found where he was he seemed to be engaging in conversation with Anna once again, this time at the bar. She was annoyed but not surprised, rolling her eyes as she heard Mark Ravenhead start to introduce her father-in-law. An audible, exasperated sigh came only from a few tables over, Roman looking just as displeased as Georgia was. Though they never talked about it, Georgia knew Roman had come to the event with his on and off again girlfriend, Grace. Every time she had seen the two interact it reminded her much of herself and Kendall, the affection shared was slight and rigid, almost no warmth behind the looks of what should've been admiration. She tried not to think about it much, knowing it really wasn't any of her business and that if he could move on from whatever it was that they had, she had to too.
Georgia watched as Marcia helped Logan to the stage, the man struggling with every step. She probably would've felt bad for him if he hadn't treated her as awful as he did at times. A quiet scoff left her lips as the man spoke about how children needed to be encouraged and supported, referencing Shiv and Tom's engagement, causing the other woman to shoot a look in her direction.
It wasn't long before the man made his way back off the stage, the announcement that he would be returning to the company, allowing everyone who was in attendance at the RECNY Ball to burst out in cheering and applause.
༺♡༻
The car ride home was mostly silent, only deep sighs and bouts of frustration leaving Kendall. When Georgia tried to comfort the man she was met with hostility, each moment she tried to speak to him, he raised his hand, indicating for her to quit.
"I need to think about this." Ken told her, his index and middle finger massaging his temple. It hadn't been the first time but in that moment Georgia felt like more of an annoyance to the man than the life partner she was supposed to be.
"No, I think you need a break from thinking about all of it." She snapped back, "You're letting all of this make you spiral. You barely said a word to me tonight. I don't even know why I had to be there, and next time you want to fuck someone who works for you maybe don't flirt with her right in front of me."
The man ignored the last thing she said, his voice hushed as he watched the driver look at them through the rear view mirror, "You're a part of the family, you hav-"
A dry laugh left the woman, "You sure know how to make me feel like it, huh? I don't even know the last time you told me you loved me...you don't, I really don't think you do. Do you? Do you even like me?"
As they arrived at their loft, silence floated around the air too long after Georgia asked the questions. Georgia rushed out of her side of the car before Kendall could try to open the door, making her way into the small space. She ignored the man who had been calling her name, quickly moving her way into their bedroom, changing out of the dress she had on and into something more comfortable and less confining, trying to ignore the anger that she had felt inside her.
"I do like you...it's all just difficult." Kendall began, his eye's following her every move. "Do you not know how hard this is for me? Every time I think I'm close to getting it he pulls it away from me, you know that, he wasn't even supposed to talk tonight, this wasn't how it was supposed to pan out." The man sat at the edge of the bed, gripping onto it as he looked like he was really thinking about what he was going to say next. "I did so much to get here. There were sacrifices.."
The blonde scoffed, her eyes becoming bloodshot with tears as she listened to him. "Are you fucking serious?" The question rang off the walls as Georgia tried to figure out what he had been sacrificing, not sure if the man in front of her had forgotten the position she had been in or if he was really just that full of himself.
"You agreed to this..to us, before you even cared about me, before we ever had a real conversation, Kendall. You married me so you could take your daddy's place. You made that choice, I never had one." Georgia's words spewed from her lips, her voice growing quieter and weak with each syllable. "My whole life...my decisions, everything, is what I put on the line and I didn't have a fucking choice...but yeah, sure Ken," She chuckled, shaking her head, "You lost it all and yet you get to do whatever you want with god knows who whenever I'm not around."
"You can't blame me for that, I didn't fucking write up the contract." Kendall defended, standing up to face the woman, his features growing more frustrated as he spoke.
"You still signed it."
"Ok..Okay, you know I'm not the only one, where- where's the anger for your dad? For mine?" He tried to shift the blame, Georgia shaking her head as he spoke.
"Do they make you cheat on me too? Flirt with people in front of me? If this meant so much to you you should at least play the part better. Act like you actually give a shit about how I feel."
"I'm not the only guilty one here Georgia," the man began, "You always seem to forget I know what you've done with my brother. How do you think any of that made me feel?"
She knew he wasn't wrong and also that it wasn't right that her retaliation for him cheating on her was for her to do the same thing. She always tried to justify her actions, whether it be her getting revenge or that she loved him first.
"You just choose to ignore any of what happened, right?" It was evident to the woman that the man speaking didn't feel hurt talking about what she had done but rather needed her to feel guilty so he would be easily forgiven for his own mistakes. "You use people for your own gain, you always have."
The woman listened to her husband, comforting herself by wrapping her arms around her own torso, feeling exposed even though she'd been dressed, her emotions catching up to her.
"You've hurt me, Georgia...you hurt Roman too." The man rested his hand on her shoulder, causing her to shrug away from him, backing against the wall of the bedroom.
"Stop." Was all that she managed to say, not wanting to hear the rest of what Kendall had to say.
"I think you should go, I have to clear my head."
Georgia was shocked, not only because Kendall had actually stopped what he was going to say but because he was telling her to get out of the space they shared. Usually, when they had fought, they both got over it. It was easy to act like nothing happened shortly after.
"Where am I supposed to go Kendall?" Her question lingered, the man at their shared closest grabbing one of the duffle bags that had been in there, handing it to the woman.
He shrugged, "You have people, don't you?"
She did have people but she wasn't willing to show up at her parents house at almost midnight, her only other options being Genevieve and Roman. Kendall left the room, leaving Georgia to figure out her plans on where to stay for the night. She called her sister multiple times who had failed to pick up the phone while reluctantly shoving random clothes of hers into the bag, unable to truly believe the situation she had been in currently.
Georgia: SOS. what the fuck are you doing that you can't answer me???
Georgia: my life is falling apart. why won't my sister answer me when i need her
The woman had been midway through curating the third text message when Genevieve finally texted her back.
genny: sry. What's up?
In a lengthy paragraph the older sister explained her situation, grabbing the last few items that she needed that had been in the bedroom and leaving her wedding ring on the nightstand right where Kendall would be able to see it. She didn't know how long this argument would last or if it had been the end but she didn't want him having the satisfaction of knowing she was still wearing the only tangible evidence of their promise of marriage.
It had been a quick drive between both the women's homes, Genevieve being one of the only people that actually enjoyed driving her own car, she picked up her sister, greeting her with the other company she had crammed in her back seat.
"What the fuck is he doing here?" Georgia's annoyance peered into the man in the back seat. Technically Greg wasn't a Roy but the woman still felt odd having him be involved in the fight with her husband.
"You said to get here as soon as possible and I had to bring him with me, he was- there," Genny explained as she drove.
"I actually don't want to know." The blonde leant her head onto the window, looking out into the New York skyline, the slight moment of peace being interrupted by the man who sat behind her.
"But like, I don't know what to do." Greg said, his voice filled with anxiety. The man figured he could trust Genevieve, knowing she was around the same age as him and not actually part of Waystar Royco. "Tom told me and I just felt like I had to do something about it, it was like really fucked up stuff."
"So you told Gerri?" the younger sister quizzed, making sure she had all the details right.
He nodded, trying to stretch out his long limbs in the backseat, shoving his knee into Georgia's back accidentally. "Sorry," he mumbled, "Yeah..she said I did the right thing."
By the time the three had gotten back to Genevieve's apartment, both Muller girl's had been briefed on the situation that was going on in cruises, both not fully surprised but obviously not happy about the situation either.