Broken Obsession - Part Two

by Trisha Fuentes

  “Break your heart? We’re divorced, you and I—we’ve moved on.”

  “Have we?”

  Eduardo’s mouth suddenly went very dry. “I can’t do this anymore...this—these dramas—that you bring on suddenly, you’re impossible.”

  Amber’s tears halted. Oh how she loved this man! Her feelings were just dormant and clouded over by their son’s death. They were still there, still here. She’s been in love with this man since the day she spotted him walking across the lawn at her in-law’s backyard. Why doesn’t he realize it? Why does he believe that she’s impossible? Their love was never impossible, in fact, it was simple...easy. “You said you would always want me,” Amber declared, not caring if it looked hopeless.

  “That hasn’t changed; I will always care for you,” he admitted gingerly, “But what took me months to realize and what I don’t want is that mania in my life. That constant urge to be near you, inside you, no one should be that desperate Amber. I don’t like feeling out of control…And you drove me out of it.”

  He was shaking her now. Amber was already nervous; there was no need to shake her! “So it’s really over—my God—we really did it.”

  “Did what?”

  “Find ourselves happy with other people.”

  Eduardo shut his eyes. No other woman could pull his heartstrings like Amber could. He suddenly found himself with an uncoiling stomach, “Yes...I’m happy.”

  Amber gazed at his uncertain facial expression, “How come I don’t believe you? God, you’re such an incredible liar! I could always tell when you’re lying, and you’re lying right now.”

  Eduardo stuck out his chest and released her shoulders. “I’m not being dishonest,” he disclosed, “I’m truly happy where I am. I’m content, relaxed for once. I actually come home from a hard day’s work and feel—”

  “Happy?” Amber exclaimed, finishing his sentence for him.

  Eduardo closed his mouth; her condensation was too much to bear. She threw his heart off balance. He stared down at her in that silly baseball cap. Visions of a small face echoed through his brain. Peyton...Peyton looked like his mommy.

  “Show me how happy you are,” Amber demanded, meeting his eyes staring through her disguise. “Tell me to go away, command to never want to see me again.” Amber looked deep into his eyes...and there it was, passion, hot enough to burn and the lightness in his green eyes, verdant and ready to devour. After that Amber allowed herself to breathe and permitted herself to feel him; inside his expensive tailored suit, up and around his shirt, his muscular chest, encompassing his tie, wrapping her arms around his back and pulling his body near...closer to hers to mesh against her skin. And this is when she felt his arms embrace her in return. Good Lord, her heart was about to burst wide open; she never felt anything so soothing.

  Amber shouldn’t have done that...touch him as easily as she did and Eduardo shouldn’t have allowed her to do so, but Good God, his body called out for the contact and raw passion and familiarity engulfed Eduardo and his instinct told him that he should be kissing her along with this pleasurable interaction when he leaned into her face and watched her incline to meet him, when—

  “Uh-hello,” Stacey stated in disbelief, “Am I interrupting something?”

  Amber pivoted around and gazed at Stacey glaring at the two of them embracing. Amber let go of his grasp and withdrew, but Eduardo didn’t allow her to venture off very far; his hand still remained on the small of her back, rubbing her ever so softly with his thumb.

  “No—I, I was just congratulating him,” Amber managed to conceal, extending out her hand and walking away from Eduardo’s contact. “We’ve never formerly met, I’m Amber Sanchez...um, Eduardo’s ex-wife.”

  Stacey shook Amber’s hand, but quickly discharged it. “Nice to finally meet you Amber,” she quipped, twirling her engagement ring around on her finger on purpose.

  Amber took a quick glimpse at the rock and swallowed her contempt. She was then alarmed by how short she was compared to herself. What was she like five-foot four, maybe even five-five? Her beautiful made-up face was enhanced by a lovely shade of mauve lipstick. Looking every bit like Grace Kelly, her elegance, her humility shoved Amber into instant intimidation. Her cobalt eyes stared into her hazels and sent shivers up her spine, as if she was the favored cat who had just swallowed the canary.

  Stacey lifted up her jaw and raised an eyebrow at her fiancée. Eduardo stood grave. Stacey couldn’t believe the nerve of this girl. Showing up unannounced, dressed in street garb, faded jeans, athletic shoes, sweat jacket, looking every bit the schoolboy. “Where is your fiancée?” She asked on point.

  “He’s at home,” Amber lied, noticing Eduardo’s look of surprise in the corner of her eye.

  “So you’re still with him?” He asked point blank.

  Amber turned to look at him; her heart ached to tell him the truth. Oh, she knew she should have, it was a tall tale she was about to unfold, but she was left with no other choice by that she-devil who suddenly terrified the hell out of her. Shades of high school resurfaced almost immediately; the popular cheerleader demoralizing the nerd. “Of course, I’m getting married in a couple of weeks.”

  Eduardo’s incredulous look was icing on the cake. Amber won the gamble. Now if only she could walk away from the table with all the chips!

  Stacey’s heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Her fiancée had a devastating look upon his stupefied face. Amber too, looked disheveled and uncertain. Stacey broke through their obvious chemistry boiling, and said, “How nice for you, we’re getting married this Sunday, aren’t we sweetheart?” She then stepped in toward Eduardo and draped both arms around his waist. Eduardo fundamentally wrapped his arm around her shoulder, but continued to stare at his ex-wife.

  “Can we continue our conversation?” Amber asked her ex-husband noticing Stacey’s unbelieving expression.

  Stacey’s mouth dropped open wide and gazed up at Eduardo wondering if he’d even contemplate on departing. Apparently he did, because Eduardo let go of Stacey contiguously and began to walk toward Amber. Again, Eduardo grazed the small of Amber’s back with his hand.

  “Eduardo?”

  He gazed back at Stacey, “What?”

  “I cannot believe you’re leaving me here,” Stacey whined, her hands on her hips.

  “I’ll be right back; I need a moment with my ex-wife,” he explained, guiding Amber away by pushing her posterior when Stacey ran up to him and pulled at his jacket.

  “Whatever she has to say, she can say it in front of me,” Stacey demanded earnestly. “We have no secrets you and I, we’ve always been up front with one another and I would appreciate it if you’d be man enough to not go off with your ex-wife and discuss God-knows-what.”

  Amber swallowed hard. She didn’t want to profess her love in front of Stacey anyway, what if Eduardo no longer felt the same? She would feel humiliated. “She’s right.”

  “She is?” Eduardo asked incredulous.

  Amber gritted her teeth, “Yes, I wouldn’t like it either if my fiancée went tracing off with another woman!”

  “This is absurd!” Eduardo suddenly professed, rolling his eyes. “Why do I suddenly feel like the rope between a tug of war?”

  Amber’s blood began to boil. Eduardo always knew how to anger her. “You conceited bastard! You’re probably all puffed up please about this, aren’t you? Well, I just wanted to know how you felt about marrying her, that’s all, and now—I don’t know why—but I suddenly don’t gave a shit.”

  “I know it must be terribly hard to lose a child,” Stacey quickly chimed in, trying to become the voice of reason, “But you two no longer need to be friends,” she paused to shoot looks at both of them, “Whenever you’re around one another, resentment always seems to surface. The farther you stay away from each other—the better for all involved.”

  Amber and Eduardo both shot looks her way.

  “She’s right,” Eduardo let go, digging his hands down his pant pock
ets.

  “She is?” Amber said, gritting her teeth again. “Well that’s just swell,” she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air. Amber turned the other way and headed toward her car only a few feet away. She did not expect her ex-husband to follow her, but he did, damn him.

  “I’m not done.”

  “I am,” Amber rapidly cut him off.

  “You came here for a reason Amber, and for the life of me—I don’t know why—but I’m so God darn curious, you’re distracting me with what it is.”

  Amber’s throat closed up. The fury in his eyes, the anger in his voice, his body posture, his erratic breathing, all pointed toward one thing—passion about to explode. Amber was the one. Amber was the only one responsible for such emotion. Was this a good thing? It was always a start.

  Amber’s eyes glided over to Stacey who suddenly approached from behind Eduardo.

  “Excuse me, but I’m still here,” Stacey forged in.

  “And so you are,” Amber sadly voiced, “We… him and I, have a turbulent history,” she laughed at the realization, “And if you don’t mind Stacey...I need to find some closure.”

  “Did you know that Eduardo and I were once high school sweethearts? So, like you, we have some history too.”

  Amber just looked at her and then closed her eyes. She felt as if she’d just been kicked in the gut.

  High school fricken’ sweethearts?!

  Good Lord, Eduardo did lie to her about being attracted to Stacey from the very beginning! All her paranoia had been justified after all? She knew Eduardo upside down—right side up knowing full well he was always lying to her and his continued temptation; fibbed about being involved with her when he knew damn well he’d kissed her before, probably even had sex with her often, oh hell, she was truly aggravated now! Her eyes penetrated his shocked look.

  “So the mania was merited after all?” Amber asked trying to justify her obsession. She stood aside from Eduardo and leaned over to take a peek at his high school sweetheart. “Have a happy life with Prince Charming,” Amber quickly pointed out, “Make sure he never lies to you.”

  Eduardo at once hovered over Amber and stood directly in front of her, blocking her view from his fiancé. He looked down into her eyes and pierced through the outer layers of her rage. Amber was livid, and when she was bruised, she would make very stupid, impulsive decisions. “Stop it,” he said shaking her shoulders again, “Look at me.” He then took down a deep swallow and waited until his ex-wife bore into his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he told her delicately. He wanted to clarify the truth, but didn’t want to injure her with it – his heart pounded a mile a minute. “Allow me to explain,” he whispered to her so that Stacey could not hear what he was saying. “Meet me tomorrow morning.”

  “Where,” Amber whispered back, continuing to stare into his darkened stimulated eyes.

  “You know where.”

  Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT

  At two o’clock in the afternoon, the ambulance shut its siren off upon entering the horrific scene. Grabbing their medical duffel bags first, the two paramedics, or EMT’s (Emergency Medical Technician) exited their vehicle to find a chaotic mess of steam and mangled steel. Assessing the accident first, there were two automobiles: One skidded into an electric pole while the other shoved into a brick wall – two drivers…one dead on impact, the other hanging on to dear life.

  “Looks like a head injury,” the medic claimed, holding Amber’s neck still so that they could put her head in a brace. Her scalp was also bleeding from a gash on her forehead. The medic quickly responded to her plight and placed a bandage around her forehead.

  “Let’s place her in the back,” the other medic stated, strapping Amber’s unresponsive body on the stretcher so that she could be transported via ambulance to a nearby hospital.

  Amber was on her way to the cemetery in the rain. That was their supposed meeting location; the cemetery. When Eduardo mentioned ‘where’, Amber knew exactly where and she was on her way there to tell him how she felt when she was struck by something or some thing. She was on her way to the site where she thought she would be safe…the place where she thought could help them get together again, a place where solitude and reflection was always apparent.

  Amber woke up in another hospital bed, but this time, her injuries were not self-inflicted. Upon her arrival she knew where she had been taken to and was totally coherent in that she was able to even ask a few questions along the way. She had been in a vehicle collision, they told her, a car accident and she had suffered a small contusion to her forehead and a mild concussion. She would have to be under observation at least another night or two, or until a doctor said it was OK for her to be released.

  She had to get a hold of Eduardo…but how? He had changed all his numbers a few years back!

  Meanwhile, Eduardo materialized at the cemetery alone; full of anticipation upon arrival, until it ended in the dark and five hours in a rainstorm. He finally gave up and gave in and felt stupid for being stood-up and even more foolish for hanging onto a dream that his former wife would want to reconcile their relationship. In general, his affair and obsession with Amber had all been a mistake, he quickly analyzed. Their liaison had come full circle and to its closing stages and everything that had kept them together had soon departed. He found it odd, in a way, how a love that commanding could be diluted so easily.

  Eduardo departed the cemetery feeling a bit remorseful but concluded that he and Amber were better off being apart and going their separate ways than at each other’s throats. Marrying Stacey was the right thing to do, he decided. He had a lot in common with her, she was extremely bright and he loved debating with someone who could actually speak with intelligence rather than with emotion. They never argued and if they did have a disagreement then it would be resolved by the end of the day. A once incessant demand of wanting to be with another human being had transformed into a quiet desire of tranquility and compatibility of the mind and not the heart. The fire and passion he once felt with Amber had now been redirected into an equal level of deep infatuation for someone new. Physical attraction had now altered into mental pleasure and Stacey could make him happy…she had made him happy in the past and his old yearning of wanting Stacey for his very own had been satisfied daily by being coupled with her. Stacey was easy, uncomplicated and a wonderful lover. She could be all things to him…if he allowed her to be. A learned love could be just as good for him as an obsessive one, and this would be the second time he would actually find himself in love.

  Obsession was unhealthy, he determined, and for a man to be completely fixated on one person was also very dangerous. Their relationship was immoral; therefore, it would have never been successful. They would have ended up absolutely hating each other, he also determined. Hating each other to the point where just mentioning her name would have left a sour taste in his mouth and he rather not have that.

  On his death bed, he finalized, he would like to reflect on his relationship with Amber as being bittersweet and a simple stepping-stone to his final destination, which would be to grow old with Stacey.

  Chapter TWENTY-NINE

  Rain beaded down on the St. Thomas Church in Hollywood, California. Outside the cathedral, it was grey and gloomy, but on the inside, it was cheerful and gay; a joyful day for all.

  Eduardo Sanchez was about to get married for the third time and he was anxious about entering this union; impatient to finally close the door on his past and open another to a positive future. No more drama. No more turbulent passion. No more enhanced conversation with a woman who drove him nuts. He was an astute thinker, a peremptory intellectual, admired and accepted among his peers—why not sustain a personal relationship that could mutually benefit the two of them?