by Kiki Leach
“You’re so quick to blame me for this, and yes, I shouldn’t have said anything and I’m sorry. But I didn’t make you sleep with Adrian, Vanessa. And I didn’t make you get pregnant with his child! All of those things are on you.”
“Yes they are, you’re right. They were also my gotdamn business before you decided to stick your nose into it by bringing Adrian’s ass back here in the FIRST damn place, all so that I would stay away from the very same dick that you can’t seem to keep your hands around! You wanna play this game with me, because bitch I can go all night.”
Sheila stared at her for a few minutes, eager to go another round but knowing it was pointless and that she would lose.
“Fine.” She grabbed her purse and stuck it beneath her arm. “I’ll go and maybe try to use some of my dad’s resources to help track down Nathan.”
“Yeah, why don’t you go and do that.”
“In the meantime, what do you want to do about Adrian?”
“What are you talking about?” Vanessa snapped.
Sheila glanced around the room, confused. “Don’t you think somebody should probably give him a heads up?”
“Did you not hear one word I just said about that man?! The point is to keep him from learning anything about this. You giving him a heads up is like tipping off the cops to a coke house while also giving them your name, home number, address, email and cell phone! You’re just asking for it all to be thrown out there in the streets and labeled a snitch. Look, just get out so that I figure out how the HELL to clean up this fucking mess before it travels any further than it should.” Grabbing Sheila by the arm and shoving her through the foyer, Vanessa opened the door quick and pushed her outside. “Don’t come back here unless you’ve found him.”
Sheila didn’t even have time to apologize again before the door was slammed in her face.
On the other side, Vanessa found herself terrified. And anxious. And spent. And feeling more stupid and vulnerable than ever before.
She didn’t know how to start, where she should go, who she should talk to about any of this or what they would say if she did.
But she sure as shit knew how it would all end. And it would be far from the pretty that had been her life with Maurice for the last few months.
Part Two
After somehow managing to straighten out her own post-Hamptons-mortem mess with William, convincing him that she was more determined than ever to keep their relationship in tact despite Oscar’s wife Melanie being convinced of otherwise, Nikki now found herself completely alone inside his home.
Not because William had left her to go off and question for himself whether or not he was still willing to put forth the effort into their relationship the same as her.
And not because he wasn’t ever coming back.
But because not long after they had resettled back into his place with plans to further discuss what they had each wanted and expected from each other and the future of this ‘recommitment’, he received an anxiety ridden phone call from his ex-wife regarding their ten year old daughter, Corrinne. Before she could even get the words out of what had taken place and why he was needed, William was on his feet and calling for his personal driver to get him out to Connecticut as soon as humanly possible.
It was the first time Nikki had been inside of that house without him. She almost didn’t know what to do with herself and certainly didn’t have a clue as to what rooms she was allowed to go into, or what rooms were off limits to her and others who had come through before her because William never specified.
Everyone had places in their home that belonged solely to them, which meant that company or those who didn’t rightfully live there were meant to keep out.
Vanessa had a place just like that in her own home, it was called her bedroom.
While thoughtlessly moving around from one room to the next, exploring every tiered ceiling and rose colored chandelier that hung high above her head, Nikki heard the doorbell. Unsure of who it might be but convinced that whoever it was had come to see William, she hung back for a bit, hoping that they would realize that he wasn’t home and eventually go away.
But as the ringing sustained, she became more anxious and decided to head for the front door herself and peek out the peephole. At the very least, she felt she needed to know who was waiting outside and why they were so damn anxious to be inside.
As she bent forward and poked one eye against the hole, she jumped back after instantly recognizing the face of the man standing before her.
“Oscar,” she breathed. A mixture of ire and fury encased by lust and strong yearning to be near him flowed throughout her system and she peeked through the hole again. Her nails clawed against the wood and as he rang the bell again, she leaned her head down and closed her eyes. “Why now, why now, why now, why now?”
When he knocked, she stood back and wrapped a single hand around the front of her throat. Her mouth was becoming dry just as her eyes were becoming wet with tears.
“What do you want?” she croaked, silently refusing to answer the door. She didn’t care if he couldn’t hear her, she just needed to get the words out loud enough for herself.
“Nik?” she heard him say. “Nik, I need to talk to you about something.” His normally large voice was somewhat muted by the thickness of the door, but still perfect to her – every word flowing from his lips as soft as silk blowing across her skin.
“I can’t let you in here,” she said. “William’s not here and--”
“Please,” he begged. “Please open this door to me. If William’s not there, it’s all the more reason I need to talk to you. Please.”
As a single tear rolled down her face, she instantly wiped it away. Inhaling and exhaling a few times and sliding her hand down to her chest to feel the crazed beating of her heart, she reached down for the knob with her other hand and gently pulled back on that door.
There he stood, like an Adonis statue come to life.
He took one step forward and, resting his feet on top of the threshold and placed his hand on the side of her throat.
Instinctually, she leaned into him, despite every single muscle, every nerve ending, every feeling – every ache in her erratic pulse telling her not to.
She went against them, left and right, she went against every single choice set before her and made the only one that agreed with her heart.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice soft, questioning. “I thought after what happened this weekend, Melanie would have you on a tighter leash.”
“Maybe she would,” he said, staring down at her face, at her mouth. As her full lips split apart and she exhaled, he wrapped his other hand around her face and gently brought her head down. “If I hadn’t told her that we were done. That this marriage is something I can be in any longer.”
Nikki looked up at him, narrowing her eyes and wrinkling her brows. Inside she was jumping for joy at finally hearing those words for him – they had been too long coming.
But on the outside, she couldn’t be sure if what he had done was the right thing, for any of them.
“I chose you,” he said, spreading his lips into a smile. “Okay? I chose you. I chose us, and this.” As he leaned in to try and kiss her, to re-solidify what they once shared – what he was certain they would always share, she placed her hands on top of his and pushed him away. A puzzled Oscar reached out for her. “Nik--”
But she crossed to the other side of the foyer and wrapped her hands around the back of her head.
An anxious Oscar, fearing he might have actually lost her to another man, walked over and rested his hand at her back. She flinched but he didn’t pull away.
“What did you do?” Her voice remained quiet.
He crawled his fingers up and down her back and she stiffened. “I did what needed to be done. What happened between us was a long time coming.”
“What happened between you happened because of me,” she said.
“Not because of you al
one. Because of this, because of us. After seeing you with William this weekend and understanding what you were bound to become, what he wanted with you, from you, I realized that I can’t have any part of myself away from you anymore. I’m done being miserable and waiting for the other shoe to drop in a marriage that was dead long before the official time of death was called out. I’m tired of trying to be a good man for my wife when all I want is to be an honest man with you, which includes being honest with myself. I know how all of this might sound to someone else, to anyone who didn’t understand us – or me, but not you. Because you know it’s what have both needed for a long time,” he said. He moved closer, pressing himself against her. “It’s what we’ve both needed for a long ass time now.”
“I…”
Her voice caught. She couldn’t speak, she could barely think. But she could feel. Oh, hell, she could feel him as he rested against her, as he rocked himself against her, as his shaft grew in size against her. And she wanted it. Dear God, did she want it bad.
“I want us,” he whispered, leaning down to her. “I want you and me. I want us to start over, fresh. To be out in the open, in the public where people can see us and know that we’re together, to know that you’re mine.” He trailed a finger down the center of her back and her entire body quaked.
“Are you still mine?” he asked her.
Her heart continued to overrule every other emotion signaling throughout her system. It was like an alarm bell telling her to fight, fight, fight… win.
Everything he said, every touch he gave, every pull, every tug at every string that had given him complete control over her – mind, body and soul, was all she ever wanted, all she ever dreamed of hearing and feeling and needing. Oh, did she need it.
Everything, absolutely everything in that moment with him was like a long forgotten fantasy finally coming to life.
Except…
“I’ve already recommitted myself to William,” she said. “I told him that I moved past everything with you and that I’m ready to move forward with him.”
“Was it the truth?” he asked her. He wrapped his hands around her waist and gently dipped his body beneath her.
She moaned as the curve of his dick shaped itself against the base of her ass. Unconsciously, she started rocking against him, shifting herself at every turn to hold onto each sensation he provided. She had performed this act many times with him before. Except it was almost always without clothes on, and never in bed.
“Tell me,” he said to her, keeping his hands on her hips. His voice lowered with every stroke.
When she realized what was happening, that her nipples were hard, that her thighs were trembling, that her lips were wet, she tried stepping away from him.
But he held her back.
“Don’t,” she said, though her body wouldn’t stop rocking, couldn’t stop rocking, challenging his to steady to her perfect speed.
Oscar bent his face down to her neck and sucked on her skin.
“Tell me,” he said again, as he lifted his hand around her stomach and slid it up past her waist. When he reached her breast and held it tight in his hand, her head fell back.
That’s when he knew her resolve was no longer a factor.
She swiped her tongue back and forth across his lips and he brushed his lips up and down the side of her face.
As she spun around in his arms, he walked her back into the wall and shoved his leg between hers, spreading them apart. And then he kissed her. With tongue and hands and body and emotion. He put everything he had into that kiss, to show, to prove to her that he meant what he said. He wanted a life with her, he wanted everything with her, and he was determined to have it. Come hell or high water, come William. He was determined to have who and what he felt was so rightfully his.
His hands slid down her back and around her ass. She knew that she shouldn’t be with him, kissing him, forcing herself to feel the stiffness of his dick as it pressed between her legs, between her flesh, against her clit.
But it was him, it was Oscar. It was a man, the only man she had ever wanted as more than just someone to fuck on a random basis. He was the man who knew her and challenged her and begged for her and loved her and accepted her. And now he was finally doing the one thing she needed the most to make them feel real, putting her first, putting them first.
How could she turn her back on that? How could she continue on with someone else, even if on paper, he was the better option?
She couldn’t. He knew she couldn’t and on some deep level, she was convinced William knew it too.
And so she gave in. She gave into her heart. She let him rip it straight from her chest one more time to hold in his hands. Now he had no choice but to keep it safe. He had no choice but to keep it from being broken. He had no choice but to finally follow through on his promise to her, to them.
He had no choice.
Part Three
After waiting around The Tea Leaf Café for nearly an hour for the other half of his party to finally arrive, Maurice was becoming more and more restless as each second without their presence ticked by.
It was bad enough that he had to lie his ass off to Vanessa just to get out of the house and to keep her from asking more questions than she had already. Now he was being forced to meet with a woman he was hoping to never lay eyes on again, if only to keep what he had worked so damn hard to build with his woman from righteously blowing up in his face.
As he checked his watch and reached out to the waiter to order another coffee to go, he finally saw the person he had been so anxious yet dreading to lay eyes on again standing in the doorway of the café and staring back at him.
Olivia Greenwald. A long legged, slithering snake with pure green eyes and lust spilling out over the top of her low cut blouse (it barely managed to cover even her nipples, which he could see as she was wearing no bra).
She practically salivated the moment she approached his table.
“We meet again,” she said, her voice cool and thick as it hung between them in the atmosphere. Her eyes glided down his wardrobe to the center of his pants and she wet her lips.
Maurice pointed to the chair across from him and she took a seat, placing a manila folder on the table alongside her purse. When the waiter returned, she ordered a water and biscotti. Maurice waved his hand, indicating he had had enough.
But coffee wasn’t the only thing on his mind.
After pulling down on her skirt, Olivia placed her hands in her lap and leaned back in her chair, smiling. “You’re just as handsome as you were on the beach,” she said. “Even more handsome than the first time I saw you, which was exactly five years ago.”
Maurice leaned on the table and flared his nostrils. The last thing he wanted was to play games with this woman. He’d never physically strike anyone of the opposite sex, but the more she egged him on while trying to be ‘cute’ and ‘flirty’, the more he was willing to forgo his natural beliefs and reach out and touch more than just her hand.
“Why the fuck do you still have my number?”
Her smile widened and she reached into her small bag. Pulling out her phone, she began to scroll through her address book. Then she turned the phone around to show his name in her list; directly beneath the ‘L’, ‘Maurice’ was surrounded by tiny pink and red hearts.
He thought she was absolutely mental.
“I save the information of all my initial sources,” she said. “Especially ones that manage to look like you.”
“What the fuck do you want, lady?”
“Well, if my suggestive phone call to you wasn’t enough, I’ll try being a little more forward. I want you. In my bed. And between my legs.” The waiter pretended not to hear a thing said between them and placed the biscotti and coffee in front of her. She turned her eyes up to him and winked. “Thank you.”
As soon as he was gone, Maurice leaned even further into the table. “Are you’re fucking crazy -- ?”
“No, I’m horny, there is a d
ifference.” She took a quick bite of the biscotti and brushed the crumbs from her hands. “Harold and I aren’t as sexually active as I would like to be. I realized as much this weekend the few times he couldn’t seem to get it up even with the help of a little blue pill. And I’ve come to believe that the reason behind it is because I’m too much for him; he can’t keep up with my stamina. Being the age that I am versus the age that he is, let’s just say that I believe someone with more vigor is more my speed. Which is where you come in.”
“What the hell makes you think that I would actually touch you with a ten foot pole? Let alone --”
“The one inside your pants?” She laughed. “Well, you want to keep onto that little girlfriend you’ve got, don’t you?” She reached for her cup of coffee and stared into his panicked eyes while taking a sip. “I’m fully aware, just as much as I was then, that you don’t want Vanessa Rae Brown – hater of the paparazzi, queen of the Glitterati – to know about you being the one to tell me all the information regarding her former boyfriend’s indiscretion with her best friend at the time. Now that you two are officially together – and it warms my heart, believe me. I’ll never forget the soft spoken tone in your voice every time you said her name.” She grinned. “But I’m guessing that things could get a little tricky in that department if she were to find out the truth.”
“You’re asking me to fuck you so that you keep quiet.”
“I wouldn’t be quiet as you were fucking me, but yes, that’s the idea – one in which you seem a little bit disturbed by. I’m sure many woman have done more, or less, in attempts to get you into bed.” She ran her tongue around both lips and crossed her legs as tight as she could. “I just want a chance to know if what so many women in this city have always said about you is in fact true.”
“You act as if I’ve run through the whole Tristate area with my dick.”
“You haven’t?” she asked. And then she smiled again. “Either way, I don’t exactly mind it running through me quite a few times.”
Maurice blew steam through his nose. “I’m not jeopardizing what I have with Vanessa by having sex with you.”