by T. Anthony
He continued holding me onto his hips right above the wrapped towel on his waist and just stared, grinning at me. “First, I don’t make you look stupid. Sometimes you leap before you digest what is happening. Second, you don’t have to thank me. This is our home, and they are our friends. I know it means a lot to you, but don’t feel like you need me to open the door to let someone in. I know you miss New York, and I just hope that Sam being here doesn’t make you feel worse instead of better.”
I actually had to pause and digest what he was saying to me, and I knew that it had great significance on our present living arrangement. But I wanted to, just for the moment, enjoy the fact that Samantha would be there in a few days and that I would have my sister and friend beside me to help me feel sane again. “I know,” is all I added. “I have so much to do. I need to make a list and—Alexander, do you mind if I borrow the car? And also, I want to start preparing the guest room and preparing some food dishes that I can cook when they arrive so I don’t have to do everything last minute; I would like to invite Cat over for some wine and cooking and girl time. Is that OK with you?”
“The car in the garage is for you and only you to use. Why would I rent two cars for me? And I think that inviting Cat over is a great idea; it’s very nice of you to have thought of her. Here is my card. It doesn’t have a spend limit, and I really don’t need to be called for every slice of bread or zucchini you buy, so enjoy.”
Alexander was giving me the car, free rein to prepare for our guests, and a credit card with no spending limit! “See, this is why gold diggers and bitches end up with the nice guys; you are way too trusting!”
He nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but you aren’t a gold digger!”
“Ugh, so what are you trying to say, that I’m a bitch?” I scoffed at him.
“Yes. But you are my bitch, and I couldn’t love you any other way,” He added.
There was no point in commenting. I am truly a bitch sometimes. And the other times when I am perceived as a bitch, I am either being strong, opinionated, or professional—it comes with being a woman in business. You grow thick skin, and those who aren’t used to it think you’re a bitch!
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Hi, Cat. It’s Eva. How are you holding up?” I asked, truly concerned.
“Oh, Eva, it’s so nice to hear from you. I’m doing OK surprisingly. My heart is bruised, but I must be honest: I am relieved to be out of that nightmare of a marriage. There was little I could do to make it better, and no one deserves to live with that kind of sadness,” Cat replied.
My heart went out to her and what she had been through for more than a decade of her life. “Well, I am here for you if you need a friend. In fact, I thought perhaps you would be interested in coming over to lend a hand. I have some guests from New York coming in to town and I wanted to get some trays of food ready and things like that. Truthfully, I don’t need much help, but I thought we could enjoy some wine and chat while I cooked.”
“That sounds lovely, Eva, but I must warn you, I don’t really know how to cook. I have never had to learn; though I would love to. I’m all in. I have nothing else to do with myself.” She giggled into the phone.
“Great! So I am going to run some errands, and I’ll be back around noon. Meet me at the house then?” I asked.
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll bring the wine,” Cat confirmed.
We said our “see you later” and hung up.
Alexander stood at the kitchen counter watching me as I ran around checking the refrigerator, the freezer, and the pantry, making lists of what I needed to buy. “Look at you go. You look like a housewife on speed.”
I smirked, enjoying my way around my kitchen. “So, Cat is going to meet me here around noon. I’ll need you to get some wine and maybe some alcohol for the weekend. And if you could, get the car cleaned so that when you pick them up, it’s not a mess.”
Alexander wasn’t used to being tasked. He was his own boss at work and at home. “Can’t I tell someone else to do it?”
I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at him like he had just landed on this planet. “Are you serious? Listen, it may not be obvious, but I am a domesticated little old Italian lady. There are very few things that I can’t or don’t know how to do myself. I didn’t ask you to make your own alcohol; all I asked was that you go to a store and buy some. I will domesticate you just yet, Mr. Mason.”
“I’ve always had people do this stuff for me. I was lucky, I guess. I don’t mind doing it though. Is there anything else I can do for you, dear?” he asked, sarcastic as ever.
“No, Alexander, that is all,” I confirmed. “Hey, are you going to work today?” I asked, recalling the fact that the Chloe conversation was left hanging in the air.
“Yeah, I have to go in for a bit. Why?” he asked, acting as if he had no idea where my thoughts were going.
“Oh, no reason. I just wanted to make sure to remind you to fire that bitch today. Because if you don’t, I won’t need to prepare all of this stuff because we won’t be making it through to this weekend.” I continued going through the kitchen cupboards, holding my phone in hand as I typed away my grocery list.
“Evangeline, please be reasonable…” he pleaded.
“Alexander, look,” I said, stopping myself in front of him. “I know I haven’t been the easiest to deal with, but I have gone against all of my rules and fought my fears because of what I feel for you. The very thought of another woman even coming close to touching you makes me want to lunge out and hurt someone, much less a woman who used you and hurt you the way she did for something you had no part of. I am not the low self-confidence type, but I can not begin to imagine moving forward while knowing that she works for you. And, not to mention, she threatened me!”
Alexander moved closer and wrapped his arms around my hips. “I will take care of her threats; there isn’t a single person or thing that I would allow to harm you. But I also think that it is unfair for me to fire someone just because my girlfriend doesn’t like her. I’ll relocate her. You will never see or hear of her again.”
How smooth, I thought. When Alexander wanted me to go along with something, he had a particular hushed deep-toned voice that would come from within him. And all while he spoke, his endearing expression would glide into me through my eyes, down to my chest, and tug at my heartstrings. “You are good, you know that? But I will not agree. I won’t change my mind about this. I’ll let you decide. You can make the choice to keep her or fire her. But, let me tell you this: every choice has its consequences.”
He nodded and took me into his mouth. And just like any other moment where my lips met his, there was very little left to discuss.
“I’ll be back in a few hours. And then maybe we can have a recap of last night, only”—he paused and shifted his eyes down at my body—“do you have any orgasm left in you to give me?”
I pushed myself into his groin, digging my fingertips into his smooth, silky back. “We will just have to find out, won’t we?” But as I thrust my hips into his inner thighs, my sex tingled from the sensation of his solid erection. I had plenty of orgasm left, and I didn’t know if I could now wait until night.
Alexander sat me onto the counter and ate away at my lips, tugging my hair back so he could move onto my neck. I leaned my self back onto the cold, slippery granite as Alexander widened my legs for his grand entrance. He bit at my nipples as my thighs tightened, grappling onto his hips. He grabbed his penis and forced it into me with little effort, seeing as I was completely lubricated.
We moaned together and reached for each other to hold.
My skin prickled from the cold beneath me, which made my nipples harden and my sex tighten. “Alexander, I have lots to do…” I pretended to want him to stop. Sometimes playing the game heightens the desire.
“Don’t bullshit me; you want to be fucked as much as I want to fuck you. Now open your legs as wide as you can and hold your ankles for me.” Alexander pushed my legs up, speaking his
commands with a raucous voice.
I did as he asked, excited as ever, and grabbed onto my ankles.
And he dove into my pussy like a beast!
“Ughhh,” he growled as he penetrated me down to his shaft. He squeezed my hips, thrusting harder with every pulse and steady motion.
And then I heard the front door open!
“Fuck, who’s here?” I whispered to him as we froze with his throbbing cock still inside me.
Alexander pulled out swiftly and slid me off the counter. In a matter of seconds, I retied my robe, and Alexander had pulled his pants back up onto him. He looked down the hallway to the front door and saw no one. He shrugged his shoulders and walked back to reach me.
“Good morning to you both.” Ms. Gina came from out of nowhere.
Startled, Alexander turned, only to find his erection poking through his pants, saying good morning right back.
I shifted in front of Alexander before Ms. Gina could notice. “Good morning. I heard the front door but didn’t see you come in,” I said hoping to divert her attention from our red faces and exhausted breathing.
“Oh, I dropped off the detergent in the laundry room. I hope I didn’t startle you,” she said, embarrassed by our awkwardness.
“No, not at all. I am going to need to get going. Ms. Gina, we have guests this weekend, so I may impose on you to help me gets things ready. Is that all right?” I asked, needing to change the subject.
Ms. Gina smiled. “That is what I am here for, dear.” And she walked back toward the hallway.
Alexander stood behind me, moving me back toward him again as he pressed into my ass cheeks.
“Alexander, I really do need to get going. I won’t be back for when Cat arrives if I don’t go soon,” I contested, while enjoying the massage from his cock.
“And though I need to get going, I don’t know if I will make it till tonight if I don’t cum inside of you soon,” he whispered and then continued to lick my earlobe as his breath blew into my ear.
I’ll never get anything done at this rate, I thought to my self as I panted. I pushed myself away form him decidedly. “OK, now you listen, Mr. Mason,” I walked around to the other side of the counter as he followed me in slow, planted steps. “You will have me all night tonight, but I am going to freak out if I don’t start getting things ready. I am short of time as it is, and I don’t want to be frazzled when they arrive. Please?”
Hanging his head in defeat, he stopped playing cat and mouse and nodded. “I’m not happy about this, but again, you’ll have your way.” He began to walk out of the kitchen.
And I yelled out to him, “If I have my way now, you can have your way later.” The promise of letting someone have their way with you is exciting as hell! And Alexander loved when I promised him my body!
“Oh, you have no idea what I will have of you later,” he replied and walked away smirking.
The doorbell chimed through the house, echoing with every tone. Ms. Gina let Cat in and showed her the way to the kitchen.
I embraced her even before saying hello. Sometimes a warm to be wrapped by the arms of someone who truly cares means more than any words can say.
And she responded, “Thank you, Eva.”
“Come, let’s see if we can show you how to cook. Oh, and thank you for the wine. I’ll get some glasses.” It was only midday but a glass of wine or two with lunch sounded like a good idea!
Cat really did not know how to cook! I asked her to add a little flour to the Marsala sauce, and she dumped the whole cup in. It was very funny, and the wine was adding to our giddiness, but I had to start the sauce all over again. So she wasn’t allowed to do anymore cooking—and she was happy with that!
“So, Cat, I don’t want to mention anything that is going to upset you, but…What are your plans now that Steve is gone?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t doing wrong.
Cat picked her glass of wine up and took a sip before trying to respond. “I’m not really sure. I have been the little housewife for so long; I honestly don’t know where to start. I don’t seem to have the energy in me or the drive that I had fifteen years ago.”
I stopped my mushroom slicing. “Cat, you are only a few years older than me, so if you feel old, that means I’m old, and I just won’t have it.” I too took a sip of wine. “You don’t need a man to have a purpose. What are the things you enjoy? What are your hobbies?”
Cat just stared at me strangely.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry. I thought maybe talking would help,” I said, saddened by her expression.
“No, it’s fine. You just have me stumbling on that very thought,” she said. “See, my father was very much like Steve; he believed that a woman’s place was in the home, and since we were always well off financially, he didn’t take to me working. He didn’t take to many of the decisions I wanted to make.” She sighed, hurting with every breath. “I married Steve because of my father. The man I should have married—the man I loved—wasn’t of the right social class or financial worth for my father to approve of. But that didn’t stop me. I spent every minute I could with James. He wooed me with sincerity in his emotions that one can only dream up; but it was real—he was real. That is, until my father fell ill. He sustained a massive heart attack and only lived for a few days after the episode.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. Cat. But then why didn’t you stay with James after your father passed? I’m sure he would have only wanted you to be happy,” I asked, completely entwined in her story.
“Eva, I was unhinged by James. At times it was if my emotions could have burst through every layer of skin covering my body. He was the only man who had affected me this way, but my father wouldn’t have it. He was all about the family name, and the bank account, and social appearances. It was all he knew. The day he died, a few hours before he passed, I gave my mother leave to go rest, and I stayed by his bedside. When he woke, he spoke his last words to me.” The tears dripped from Cat’s eyes like streamers across her cheeks. “He told me that as his only daughter, I would have to carry on the family name and the respect that our family had always maintained. He told me that he was dying of a broken heart because I was embarrassing the family by denying Steve and staying with an unknown like James. When I tried to tell him how much I loved James, he just closed his eyes, and it was for the last time. He died.”
I have never been one to know what to say when someone tells a story about death. But this one in particular had me paining. “Cat, you sacrificed your life for something that isn’t palatable. You marrying Steve didn’t make your father come back; it didn’t make anything better. It made you miserable to endure such a horrid marriage for all these years.”
“I carried the guilt of his last words to me up until the other day when I found out about Leila. My mother was destroyed when she heard, but she too in some way was relieved. She hurt for me for so long, but she always followed my father’s wishes and his every word. So, she hadn’t tried to stop me. After my dad died, I was in mourning over his death, over his words, and over what my future would bring. And that’s when Steve made his grand rescue of the damsel in distress. He was sweet and kind and never hurt me per say, but he had a plan. And once I fell for his charm, he took all of me and made me into what he wanted and not what I was.”
I felt wretched listening to how Steve deprived her of love and a life of her own.
“First he made me leave my job, promising we would try to have children. Then he took control of the finances and almost blew every cent we had. And then it was the little things that equaled the bigger picture. He made decisions for me: who I would speak to, what I would eat, where I would go, and how I was to behave. He wasn’t loving me…I was his pet to command,” Cat continued.
I saw the scenes play out in my head as she recounted the last horrible years of her life, and I quivered at the thought of losing my identity.
“I’ve saddened the day enough. Let’s change topic,” Cat decided, seeing the distressed
expression on my face as I watched her.
“I wish I could say something to make you feel better, but I wouldn’t know where to start. You have lived all the fears that lurk inside me. That which you have experienced is what terrifies me the most. I can’t get my heart and my thoughts away from Alexander, but I am also terribly afraid of all those same emotions. I am trying so hard to keep them tucked away, but hearing you, seeing you like this…I know I’m not crazy. It is possible to lose yourself in love.” I choked on my words—words that had been stirring inside of me for days and that I had successfully suppressed.
“Eva, you are stronger than I was. I fell for his show of love so desperately that I couldn’t see what he was doing around me. That’s not you; you are smarter and wiser and Alexander loves you. That is no show.” She tried to assure me, having reignited my trepidations.
But then I felt awful. “Oh God, Cat, here I was hoping to console you, only to find me whimpering and you consoling me. I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. That is what friends do; you tell me your woes, and I tell you mine. It’s all good.” She lifted her wrist to look at her watch. “Oh, I’d better head out. It’s getting late, and I promised my mother we would have dinner. Tomorrow I am meeting with some friends—real friends—for lunch and then some shopping. Are you up for it?”
“I’d love to. That sounds great. Text me the time, and you can pick me up since I still don’t really know where the hell I’m driving.” I laughed as I wiped my hands and walked over to hug her again. “I really enjoyed seeing you, Cat, and I’m sorry for—”
She cut me off and hugged me tighter. “Enough with the apologies, and I enjoyed getting it all out. Sometimes you just need to purge all you have inside even if it makes you cry, just so you can move past it.”
I admired Cat’s strength and ability to recognize her weaknesses and console herself with her strengths. She was a woman who held all the world in her hands, and it was ripped from her by an imitation of love. Now, she found her self alone, loveless, and with an uncertainty of where her place was in the world she once ran. I feared the destiny that she had just been saved from.