The Red Wife

by Tyffani Clark Kemp

  Morning came more quickly than Mariss was ready for, but there were no windows in the guest room, only the blaring alarm that signaled another depressing day and the fact that Sebastian was not in bed with her. Why the hell was he up so early?

  Mariss plodded out to the kitchen where she found coffee and a note that read, “Had to see to the club. I have a shoot in a few days. I'm going to have to go out of town. I'll see you this evening.”

  She poured herself a cup and doctored it to her liking. Taking a sip, she wandered into the office to use the phone, since it was closer than her cell in her room.

  “Hallo, Mama,” she said when her mother answered. “Are you still coming to my session this morning?”

  “Yes, of course,” her mother replied.

  “I'll be there in a little while to pick you up.”

  Sebastian had obviously taken his car, so Mariss called Juliet to have a car service send someone for her.

  “I don't feel like dealing with a cab today,” she said moodily.

  “Aw. Was Bassy Bear gone when you woke up?” Juliet taunted.

  “Yes. And I haven't finished my coffee.”

  “Oh, well, that explains it. I'll see you when you get to the office. Your car should be there soon.”

  Mariss hung up and went to the kitchen to fix something to eat. Keys scratched in the lock in the front door and she knew it wouldn't be Sebastian. Still, she hoped it was him. The alternative was-

  “Hello?” Brenda called.

  Mariss sneered into her coffee and took a big gulp. She didn't have enough caffeine in her for this yet.

  “Anyone here?” Brenda called. Her voice was soft, like she hoped no one was.

  “Yep.” Mariss popped around the corner of the kitchen, coffee cup in hand, and leaned against the wall.

  Brenda jump and shrieked. Her hand, the one not holding to the wide open door, went to her chest.

  “Oh, god. You scared me.”

  Mariss shook her head. “My bad. Don't have a heart attack. Sebastian isn't here, he's at the club.”

  “Oh, okay. Thanks.” Brenda smiled weakly, but didn't move right away.

  Neither did Mariss. She sipped her coffee and waited, prepared to wait all day if she had to.

  “You look nice,” Brenda said after several long moments of staring each other down, but her bitter tone implied that she was anything but envious.

  Mariss looked down at her leather pencil skirt and simple red blouse. Her pumps were leather too, a cheap pair that she'd had for a few years. They were actually one of her first “expensive” pairs of shoes, back when paying seventy-five dollars for shoes was a luxury.

  “Thanks.”

  “You're still going with the red and black scheme?” Brenda asked, her face full of faux sympathy. “I'd have thought you'd give that up now that your husband is gone and you're fucking Sebastian so soon after.”

  Mariss stopped with her coffee mug halfway to her lips. Disbelief that this woman had actually said that to her made her blood pressure rise just a little. She had no idea what was in her face, but Brenda paused as she turned to leave. For just a second, Mariss thought she saw fear in her eyes, but then it was gone and so was the older woman.

  Mariss went to the kitchen and dumped her coffee in the sink, unable to stomach the suddenly too bitter drink. She washed her mug, not wanting Sebastian to say anything about the kitchen being messy. Grabbing her purse and phone, she marched down to the elevator. She made it to the first floor as the driver called to let her know she was out front.

  Her therapist, Mr. Greene, watched Mariss with a practiced eye. The fact that she was squirming didn't go unnoticed by him or her mother.

  “Is something bothering you?” Mr. Greene asked. When Mariss moved from California, her last home with her military father, to New York, her therapist at home had referred him.

  Mariss struggled with whether she should divulge her conversation with Brenda that morning. Mr. Greene was the only person who could make her squirm just from looking at her. His brown eyes were hard, practiced in pulling secrets from the most unwilling of subjects.

  In the end - literally a few seconds later - Mariss relayed the conversation, and felt better for it.

  “She said this to you?” her mother asked.

  Mariss nodded.

  “And how did that make you feel?”

  She almost laughed out loud. “I…” She frowned. How did it make her feel? In all honesty, she hadn't even thought about retaliating after the comment, just shot the woman whatever look she'd given her and left. “It was a low blow,” Mariss admitted, “but I didn't feel any certain way about it.”

  “And why not?” Mr. Greene wanted to know.

  She shook her head. “Because Sebastian doesn't care about her. Not like he does me.”

  Mr. Greene nodded, a strange satisfaction in his eyes. “Well, I'd say that's progress.” He made a note on his yellow notepad. “How are you coping now that the funeral is over?”

  “She's not,” Mariss' mother chimed in. “She's shacking up with that Sebastian.”

  “I'm not shacking up,” Mariss said forcefully. “He's letting me stay in his guest room because I don't want to stay in my apartment. We are not having sex.” She purposefully left out the fact that they were sleeping in the same bed together. It wouldn't do anything to further her cause.

  “That's reasonable,” Mr. Greene admitted, making another note.

  “How is that reasonable?” her mother asked. “She's not even over her husband yet! When her father left me-”

  “Is not the same as him dying in front of you, Mrs. Luft.”

  Mariss smiled. Her mother had been impressed that the man could speak flawless German. So had she in the beginning. They'd been working on his inflection. Sometimes, they had sessions in German, like they were having today.

  “It's my experience that Mariss needs to stay out of overly stressful situations to stay emotionally intact.”

  She liked how he called her fractures “emotionally detatched”. It made her sound less crazy.

  Her mother huffed on the other side of her and crossed her arms. Mariss bit back a grin. The rest of the session would be directed at her mother's inability to accept that they were two different people. She'd be insanely late to work, but it was almost worth it to see her mom the recipient of the gaze that made strong men weep.

  The apartment was quiet when Mariss entered later that evening, but she knew Sebastian was home. The light was on in his office and she could hear his occasional, “Hm,” as he listened to someone speaking on the phone.

  She slipped into the office to wait for him to hang up, taking a seat in one of the leather chairs across from his desk. He looked up when she entered and his eyes smiled even though his mouth didn't.

  “I'll make sure to take care of that right away. Thank you. Good night.” He set the phone in its cradle and sighed heavily.

  “Long day?” Mariss asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Is Brenda coming over later?”

  “Yes.” Sebastian pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “How were things at the club?”

  “A mess,” he growled. “I thought I was ready to go back there. No, it wasn't even that. I had to go in because there's so much to do.” He shook his head. “Nevermind.”

  “Sebastian,” she chastized. “You don't have to try to keep up with me.”

  He turned cold eyes to her and demanded, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Mariss frowned, taken aback by his sudden shift in mood.

  “Simply that I've had a little longer to grieve than you have. You don't have to push yourself into these things yet. I went to the apartment too soon.”

  “Well, that was you,” he snapped. “Don't make the mistake of thinking we're on the same level.”

  Mariss' eyes grew round enough to hurt and she stared at him in disbelief. “Excuse me? What did you just say?” she dared him, coming to her feet. “P
lease repeat it, because I must have heard incorrectly.”

  “You heart what I said. You and I are not on the same level.” His eyes flashed.

  Mariss took half a step toward him.

  “Meaning what? That you think you're better than me?”

  The defiance in his eyes was all the answer she needed. Even if he had answered, it would have been unnecessary. Mariss shook her head.

  “I'll get my things and leave,” she said. “Since you're too good for me all of a sudden.”

  “That's a good idea.”

  “Just remember that this is your fucking fault!” she shouted, pouring her pain into her words. “If it wasn't for you thinking with nothing but your dick all the time, none of this would have happened!”

  Brenda appeared in the doorway, concern on her face, but her eyes weren't on Mariss, they were on Sebastian.

  “You think you're God's fucking gift to women, but you've been nothing but an inconvenience and a pain in my fucking ass!”

  “If you hadn't been looking for me to fuck your ass, you wouldn't be in this predicament, would you?”

  Hot, angry tears burned behind Mariss' eyes and she tried to blink them away, but he saw. He always saw. Sebastian knew a woman was about to cry before she knew it herself most of the time, but in this case, he'd meant for the tears to come. She could see the cruelty in his face as well as the disappointment when her pain didn't ease his.

  Mariss turned and marched past Brenda. “Good luck with him,” she growled in the other woman's face. The disbelief poured off her in waves. Mariss paid her no attention. She went to the guest room and began to throw her clothes into her bag. Fortunately, she hadn't unpacked from the night before, so it didn't take long to have everything packed up. She heard Sebastian and Brenda squabbling from the other room, but she ignored them. Maybe he'd show the old woman just how awful he could be.

  Mariss carried her bags to the hall. As she passed the open office door, Sebastian growled, “Get out.” She turned to look, sure he was talking to her, but found Brenda standing ramrod straight. Not a muscle twitched.

  “Wh-what?” the woman stammered.

  “I said get the fuck out.” Sebastian didn't yell or shout. His silent, angry voice was worse than anything else.

  Brenda turned and walked past Mariss, her face as white as a sheet.

  “Have a good night alone in your own bed, Sebastian.” Mariss called as she followed Brenda out the door. Was she waddling? They walked silently to the elevator and waited for it to open.

  Once they were inside, Brenda turned to Mariss and asked, “What just happened?”

  Mariss frowned, feeling sympathy that she didn't want to feel for her.

  “You just met the real Sebastian Boa. Welcome to the family.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  BREAKING AND ENTERING

  Brenda didn't seem to get the joke. Covering her face in her hands like a spurned lover, she sobbed louder than was warranted. Mariss felt bad for her. The woman had obviously diluded herself into believing she could change Sebastian or make him love only her, but he wasn't capable of love, as he'd so clearly shown.

  “It was the wake¸” Brenda sobbed into her palms.

  “The what? What wake?”

  “Hellena's wake at The Tea Room this morning.”

  “I didn't even know there was a wake.” Why he hadn't told her, she had no idea, but that would explain his awful mood and possibly Brenda's waddling.

  “Do you have anywhere to go for the evening?” Mariss asked, hoping she'd say yes.

  “I have a hotel room in town,” she replied, but she could have easily been saying, “Of course, you idiot.”

  “Fine. Well, have a great evening.”

  Mariss stepped out of the elevator car as the doors opened and hailed a taxi just outside the door. She didn't bother to look and see if Brenda caught one. After giving the driver an address, she sat back and closed her eyes. This horrible day had turned into a nightmare.

  The drive was short and uneventful. The cabby pulled up in front of the Brownstones and stopped in front of Brit's house. Mariss payed and thanked him and trudged to the door with her bags in tow. Brit answered the second time Mariss rang the doorbell.

  “Oh, my god, Mare!” Brit pulled her into a tight hug. “I didn't know you were coming by.”

  “I didn't either,” she admitted. “Sebastian and I had a fight?” She said it like a question and expected the laughter that came from her friend. “He kicked me out. Believe it or not, I'm more hurt by it than I expected to be. I need a place to crash for the evening, if that's okay. Since you won't let me stay at the office.”

  “Of course, you can stay here.” Brit took one of her bags and carried it into the living room.

  “Who is it?” a masculine voice called.

  Brett came around the corner in nothing but a pair of boxers. Mariss blinked ashamedly at his obvious endowment and turned away.

  “Oh, god. Why didn't you tell me he was here?” Mariss squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Well, he lives here. I just assumed you would assume,” Brit stuttered. “But that's my mistake. You're not used to me living with a man. That's okay.”

  “Brit, I just saw your man's junk!”

  “Yeah. Sorry.”

  “I approve. But, whoa.”

  Someone snorted. Mariss covered her eyes with her hand, even though she couldn't see anything anyway.

  “Come on,” Brit said, taking her free hand. “I'll take you to the guest room. You can open your eyes now.”

  “I'm afraid to. Oh, my god, I should have called first.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “Were you two…?”

  When Brit didn't answer, Mariss peeked one eye open to stare at the back of her friend's head. “You were! Why didn't you tell me to go away?”

  “It's fine. It's like the third time today.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Well, yeah. We're kind of… We're very…active.”

  Mariss laughed.

  “What did you and Sebastian fight about?” Brit asked. She closed the guest room door and sat on the bed.

  “He's hurting,” Mariss said. “I don't think he understands grief. There are so many things about that man that don't make sense. Like how he never realised how much he cared for Hellena. I think he believes he's above it all. How arrogant can you get?”

  “So, he snapped at you,” Brit deduced.

  Mariss nodded. “He said some very hurtful things. I don't know what he said to Brenda, but he told her to get the fuck out. She's staying in a hotel tonight.”

  “She'll probably get some later.”

  “Probably,” Mariss agreed. “I wasn't very nice either, but he started it. I was only trying to commiserate.”

  Brit snorted. “He'll call you tomorrow and bribe you into forgiving him so he doesn't have to apologize.”

  Mariss smirked. “Of course. He doesn't know any other way to do it.”

  “Just don't give in unless it's more of those chocolates. I'll let you get some rest and I promise we won't get freaky while you're here.”

  Mariss threw a pillow at her friend as she closed the door. She quickly changed into pajamas and turned out the light.

  Her ringing cell phone woke Mariss sometime later. It was still dark out and she felt like she'd just fallen asleep. Mariss punched the button and put her phone to her ear.

  “Hello?” she mumbled.

  “Hello, Red.” Sebastian's smooth, deep voice sang over the phone. “Where are you?”

  “I'm at Brit's,” she answered. “Where are you?”

  “If you tell me the address I'll be there in just a moment.”

  Mariss gave him the address and hung up. It wasn't a moment later that the phone rang again. “What?” she answered this time.

  “Can you come let me in?”

  “There's a key under the mat.”

  “Is there not an alarm?”

  Mariss gave him the code. In
her half asleep stupor, it seemed like the right thing to do to get him off the phone so she could go to sleep. “I'm in the guest room down the hall to the right. First door on the left.”

  Moments later, Sebastian was stripped to the waist and crawling into bed with her.

  “Did you go see Brenda?” Mariss whispered as she shifted to give him room on the twin bed. He took up far more space than she did, but with his body cradling hers, his arm wrapped tight around her so she wouldn't fall off, she was more than comfortable.

  “I'll talk to her in the morning. I couldn't sleep.”

  “That's because you're a jerkface. I'm not trying to hurt you, Bassy. I was just being a friend.”

  “I know. I'll make it up to you.”

  “Hm,” she mumbled as sleep overtook her brain and she drifted off once more.

  “Mariss, what the hell?”

  Mariss came awake so fast she almost fell off the edge of the bed. The only thing that kept her from faceplanting was Sebastian's arm around her middle.

  “How did he get in here?”

  “Good morning, Brit.” Sebastian stretched. With his arm still around her, Mariss was pressed against his bare torso. She felt every muscle shift and tighten against her back.

  “Brit, I don't remember.” Mariss pushed his arm away and sat up.

  “He'd better not be naked! How did you get in my house?”

  “I called Mariss and she told me where the key was and the code for the alarm.”

  “I did not.” Mariss turned to frown at him, but only saw the truth in his bright, amused eyes. “Oh, my god, I did.” She slapped him. Sebastian pulled away and chuckled. “Why would you let me do that?”

  “I just wanted to be in bed with you,” he shrugged.

  “You two,” Brit huffed. “I swear. Would you just do each other already and stop grossing the rest of us out? And stop breaking into my home!”

  Brit slammed the door. Mariss listened to her footsteps stomp all the way down the hall.

  “I can't believe you threw me under the bus like that. And you knew I had no idea. Why would you do that?”

  Sebastian blinked innocently at her. “I didn't think about it like that. My judgment was impared by Bourbon and how much I missed you in bed with me.”