by Anders, S.
Then they slowly turned their eyes to watch.
Chapter Three
Liv felt as if she were in shock. Not the cold and mind-numbing kind but a searing hot, mind-exploding kind. One that ignited as she watched her husband kissing Axel’s wife, and bending her over the hood of his cherry-red Roadster to do it.
Axel made a disbelieving hiss across from her, but she dared not look that way. No, her eyes stayed glued on the horrible display of infidelity, as her breath caught. It felt as though she split inside and she forcibly had to hold back her moan of despair. Her hand clutched her chest above her heart as she watched Andrew liberally roamed his hands over Kiki Savvi’s body, dressed in a fashionable short sundress. It was a pornographic displayed across the hood of Andrew’s car.
“Christ!” Axel’s fist hit the table in front of Liv, startling her. He was oblivious that he’d done it, with his gaze riveted to the scene across the street.
Andrew was cheating on her. The words screamed through Liv’s mind and she whimpered, pushing away from the table to flee.
“Liv.” Axel’s hand caught her fist, his tortured gaze pinned hers, then his features turned compassionate. It was nearly more than she could stand and she jerked her fist from beneath his hand, standing. She wasn’t going to watch anymore.
Axel seemed unable to stop, and his gaze jerked back. God, she wouldn't want to be either one of them, she thought, after seeing the raw fury on Axel’s face. Then she turned and headed blindly toward the bar.
Had she been that bad a wife? That bad a lover? Tears threatened to spill free and it made her so angry. She would not cry over that bastard.
“You need another Bailey’s and coffee?” The voice startled Liv and she realized she was leaning against the bar near the cash register.
“Later, Sam!”
Liv jerked at the booming voice and she saw the bikers leaving.
“Later,” the bartender called behind her. “So what can I get you, lady?”
Liv dropped her purse on the bar, dragging her gaze back to him, and she heard her harsh voice saying, “Tequila.” Then once she’d said it, she thought it sounded like a cure. “A shot,” she added. “No, two of them,” she added again as Sam the bartender turned to pour her two shots.
Her hand shook as she tossed backed the first shot, not bothering with salt or lime. It burned the back of her throat, and she had to internalize the snort wanting to break free. She wasn’t a drinker, but the biting burn matched her feelings.
She tossed her credit card onto the bar. “Run a tab on this,” she ordered Sam with her eyes watering a bit.
Sam nodded while looking bored, then he grabbed the credit card and wandered off. Liv tried to smirk like an arrogant man as her husband might do. That was one of Andrew’s credit cards. He kept them in his name — not both their names, and that always bothered her. One day she’d found that one in the pocket of his suit before she’d taken it to the dry cleaners. For some reason she’d forgotten to return it to him. It might have been spite, she thought as the Tequila failed to burn away the images of Andrew kissing Kiki so passionately.
She gripped the shot glass, curling her fingers around it as if she wished that she could crush it. Maybe she did. Maybe she wished she could throw it ... crash it against the wall.
“How could you,” she uttered beneath her breath, slamming the empty shot glass down on the bar top, and then reaching for the next full one.
Axel felt as if he’d been punched in the face by an iron fist as his gaze stayed riveted to his unfaithful wife. His eyes burned as he watched her being groped, stretched out, over the hood of Darwin’s expensive sports car. The bastard had his hands roaming all over Kiki’s body. And Kiki wasn’t protesting. Not one bit.
He knew what she was like when she was that hot ... rubbing back against the hard erection humping her.
“Christ!” He spat the curse like a pistol shot abruptly cut off.
He couldn’t believe what they were doing out in public. Cars drove by ... some people couldn’t help but notice. If he’d been inside his rental shop he’d have been completely clueless, while this went on just outside.
“Christ,” he hissed again. It was one thing to be cheated on, but another to be so blatantly cuckolded like this. How many times had this happen, while he was just on the other side of the rental building’s wall?
He watched with morbid fatalism, but he wanted the images burned into his retinas so he never wavered after that moment. The thing that had been his marriage was torn and ripped to shreds inside him with each moment he watched his wife making out. He scraped his hand over his jaw, and then dug his fingers into his scalp until it hurt.
Alright, their marriage was over, but this... This? Didn’t he deserve the respect of her saying, “It’s over.”
He watched Liv’s husband finish deep-throating Kiki, and then pull her up off the hood. Kiki smiled up at Darwin, giggling and flirting, tilting her head to the side like she did when she was being provocative. Axel’s gut hurt, his head ached, and his eyes felt so damn dry. Then the thought hit him like a baseball bat slammed over his head, maybe she didn’t want to leave him, maybe she just wanted to fool around.
A tiny bit of hope sparked in the glass forming around his heart. He’d heard of women just needing that extra spark of excitement — that reassurance they were still attractive. Maybe...
His eyes squinted looking at the adulterous couple. Kiki was turning away from Dawson with a pretty laugh as if she were leaving. Then, Dawson’s hand lifted and cupped her ass through her sundress. That masculine hand patted her playfully. Sending her on her way to her chump husband inside.
That little bit of hope he’d been emasculating himself with shriveled, tightened, and turned into dust as he stared at the place where Andrew Dawson had just patted his wife’s ass.
Like it was his.
Axel watched the bastard smile as he opened the door to his expensive sports car. Yeah he had it all, didn’t he? No strings attached and a hot piece of willing ass.
Axel shoved away from the table, jerking to stand as he watched the Roadster pull out and turn back west. Had to be away from where he lived with Liv. Axel was certain they lived east.
Axel started to leave, intending to bolt from the bar and charge across the street to confront his wife. But suddenly music sounded, dragging his gaze to its source. Liv. She was at a juke box set on the far side of a small dance floor next to the pool tables. He turned toward her, instead of leaving. She looked as lost as he felt.
The music she’d played was haunting with an exacting beat that thrummed with bass. What could he say to her? He didn’t know, but he kept walking toward her knowing he had to be near her. She was the only person that would ever understand how he felt.
When he reached her he saw that she was swaying to the music. She seemed to sense his presence as she half turned, raising her hand to him. “Here’s a shot.” It was all she said, not looking at him and he saw the shot glass of liquor in her hand.
He was dangerous drunk, but it didn’t seem to matter to him and he took the shot. He tasted it was Tequila a second before it burned down his throat. He set the empty shot glass down on the jukebox, and it clinked on its hard surface.
A second later, he saw a tiny splash of water hit the glass surface covering the song choices. His mind tried to comprehend where the liquid came from as his gaze followed the line of Liv’s gently swaying body. He realized she was crying and the wetness was from her tears. Without thinking, he grasped her arm pulling her to him.
“Liv,” he said, and his voice was heavy with pain.
She was stiff, not resisting, but not helping as he embraced her, cupping the back of her head. “Cry for both of us,” he stated harshly, bringing their bodies together to sway with the music.
She slumped into his body and pressed her face into his upper chest. He felt her sobs vibrating against his hand on her nape and the one stroking the small of her back. Tightening aroun
d her, he held her close. His eyes hurt, but no tears fell. He refused to shed any for his cheating and backstabbing wife.
Strangely, Liv’s tears helped him. It made him know that he wasn’t standing alone in his pain as he moved them slowly around the dance floor. He closed his eyes, keeping quiet and letting Liv cry as he absorbed the feeling of her body so warm and soft against his. It was comforting.
Liv indulged in pressing her cheek against Axel’s well-built chest as the heat of his body slid through her from head to toe. He felt so good and strong, while her tears slid slowly into the fabric of his shirt. After a time her tears lessened, and then she really had no excuse to stay swaying in his strong arms. Except she did stay, relishing the feel as she danced too close to him. She’d never done anything so overtly sexual in her life.
She kept telling herself that Axel didn’t see it as sexual, but that didn’t stop her feelings. Andrew didn’t want this anymore, but a man like Axel did. He stayed holding her. Her, whose husband had dumped her as unworthy, and this made her feel better, damn it. She wasn’t going to be sorry for her temporary little fantasy.
“I can’t believe we found out like this ... together.” Axel’s voice was a rumble against her cheek resting on his chest.
She lifted her face to his face ... so close. “Do you think they have been doing this for long?” Her question was a vulnerable plea and she regretted even asking it the moment it left her mouth.
Axel’s hand rose and his thumb brushed at the tears on her cheek as he shook his head, then said, “I want to say no, not long, but ...”
“A long time,” she whispered, and she saw him looking at her lips as they danced, and she could smell the spice of Tequila between them.
She shouldn’t have, she really shouldn’t have, but somehow she had to and she stretched up to touch her lips to Axel’s. She felt the heat and shape of his mouth as his body stiffened. Any second she expected him to shove her away. She’d stepped over a huge, blaring line. She wasn’t certain what she was thinking, however it was tangled with wanting to feel more desirable than Kiki Savvi.
Lord help her, Axel’s mouth was heaven and his lips were not flimsy or distracted like Andrew’s were most of the time. Axel didn’t hesitate ... he kissed her back. Fully. Molding her mouth and shaping her lips as he controlled the kiss she’d started and he deepened. She was stunned. Maybe she thought a peck or a simple press of lips. But this hot kiss, made her want to moan. It could be it was the alcohol but she wanted to crawl up his big, muscular body and add her tongue into the mix.
Axel wasn’t surprised enough to stop the kiss. He was angry, hurt, and horny from neglect and Tequila. Added on top of that Liv’s mouth was as sweet as her curving figure pressed up against him. The lady looked a bit cultured, in a certain unassuming way, but Liv’s kiss wasn’t a refined bit of fluff — it was a deep, sultry attack.
Maybe, just, maybe, he was being a chump for feeling exhilaration for kissing that bastard, Dawson’s wife. And, he might have started doing just that ... getting back at Dawson, but the more he kissed Liv, the more it became about just them.
“Oh wow.” Liv broke their damp lips apart.
Her gray eyes were glassy with the heat between them, and he realized his hand was cupping her bottom, helping to keep their bodies pressed together. Her arms were curled up over his shoulders, and the only space between them was their clothes. All pretense of dancing was gone.
He knew he shouldn’t be doing this to her, to them, as he looked into her eyes banked in heat from the kiss and their bodies pressed together. She had to feel his reaction and he wasn’t going to apologize for it. He was a man with a beautiful woman in his arms, after a heated kiss — of course his erection was going to make an appearance.
He saw it then, the knowledge in her eyes. Next the interest. Then, speculation. Yes ... he was heavily speculating too.
“Axel?” She tugged her bottom lip with her upper teeth and the gesture curled into him as sweet and sexy. Heating him up a couple more notches.
“Yes, I’m interested. Hell yes.” His voice sounded husky and deep.
“But?” she whispered, blinking her long lashes at him.
His chest filled with a regretful sigh, plumping her breasts tighter into him as he kept his hand cupping her bottom so he’d have a lot to remember. “I don’t want to mess you up. I don’t want revenge sex with you. Not with you. I ...” he started to say, then deepened his voice. “Want to revisit this.”
She nodded immediately, which made him feel good. “Although, I’ve never had revenge sex before.” Her lips curved upward, while a mischievous look came into her eyes. “Sounds naughty.”
He groaned. That word coming from her mouth was not helping. So he kissed her, hot, deep, and short. Then he stepped back, letting go of her amazing bottom and grasping her shoulders to steady her.
Her cheeks looked as pink as her top, while she pushed her hair back, sighing. “I think I’m a bit drunk,” she admitted. “I don’t really drink.”
So he was doubly glad he’d not taken her back to the bathrooms, and then up against a wall, where he knew she’d have willingly gone. Just the thought of her legs wrapped around him in passion, made him tense against grabbing her back to him and convincing her.
“I’ll drive you home,” he said instead.
Her fingers stroked his chest once and she looked at them regretfully, then lifted them away. “You’ve drank as much as I have,” she reminded him.
“What are we going to do, Liv?” he asked with a solemn tone, brushing at the side waves of her hair once, before letting his hand drop. He knew she understood that he didn’t mean about driving home.
“Confront them?” She seemed to ask the question, instead of state it.
He walked over and leaned against the jukebox and she came and stood in front of it.
“My wife will deny it, even though I can tell her I saw it,” he stated flatly.
Liv nodded as though her husband might try that tact also. “He will say I’m imagining things. That it wasn’t him and he can prove it, just call this ‘blah-blah’ business person I was with. He’ll try to make me feel stupid ...”
Axel interrupted. “You’re not. It’s a game,” he added, with his anger flaring.
Her gaze stuck to his and he could see she wanted to believe him. It took a certain amount of willpower not to grab her back into his arms. Bastard, he thought, of her husband. Of course he wanted to see him as the villain. He was the damn villain.
“Maybe we should get video proof,” he finally decided. It would help them both get over the, it-can’t-be-happening-to-me, syndrome. It would wipe away their blinders, plus give the perpetrators no room to budge on their lies trying to escape the truth. He knew Kiki would try to manipulate him. Sad truth was he’d been letting her do that for too long.
“I’m not certain I could handle seeing them really together,” Liv said, but then she straightened slightly. “I might have to though.”
He nodded. “I think we should hire someone, not try to follow them ourselves.”
Liv released a big sigh, nodding back at him. “It’s going to be hard to just go home and pretend everything is okay, and then not say anything.”
Liv felt the value of having someone with her in the destroyed marriage messes and emotional warzones they were skipping through. She wasn’t certain what she’d have done without Axel beside her. Probably try to pretend it wasn’t happening. Then she’d hate herself for being so complacent and afraid to confront the situation. But with Axel, she felt added support, and she would get stronger. She would.
“Yeah,” Axel said, looking brooding over her comment.
Then, she thought ... “Let’s exchange cell phone numbers, maybe we can bolster each other.” She tried to smile.
He didn’t answer but reached in his pocket to pull out his cell, which he lifted up expectantly. She gave him her number and took his.
“I’ve got the person we can use to ge
t us video proof,” he said when they’d finished.
“I’ll help pay them,” she said, then she asked in a general way. “I wonder how long it will take?”
“You and I will start comparing notes ... times they are gone at the same time and that should help.”
His gaze looked as haunted as she felt and she missed their earlier flirting. That was easy and fun, but this was so hard.
Chapter Four
Axel had driven her to the rose farm, but she’d had him drop her off at the end of the driveway. Less questions about who he was, and frankly she was a bit embarrassed in the light of day about their kissing. It felt a little as if she’d cheated, and feeling that way might grandly show how messed up she was.
They’d said they’d keep in touch and he’d squeezed her hand before she’d left the car. Then she’d walked the long driveway leading into the farm. Once there, she’d had one of her workers drive her back to her SUV later that day and much more sober. She’d had to pretend she’d run out of gas to cover her activities — even going so far as to add five gallons to her tank.
But an afternoon later and it was time to go home to see her husband, yet she still lingered in the dusk outside her grandmother’s old house. She used one room of the house as a small office. Sometimes she used the kitchen, but mainly the rest of the house was closed off with its furniture and contents covered in drop cloths or boxed up.
She hadn’t, had the heart to go through all her grandmother's things and disperse them, so she’d just kept them in a holding pattern for several years.
Liv put her hand to her temple to cover her eyes from the bright sunset as she watched the dust kick up from Carlos pickup truck leaving. The farm looked kind of desolate that time of year with the rose bushes covered against frost, the grass brown, and the trees bare like watching sentinels with their arms spread wide.
She turned in a circle on the driveway toward her car, dropping her shielding hand. Then she finished the circle past her SUV and ended facing the house. She loved the old house and always meant to fix it up, back to its former glory. All she could think was if life were back to normal she wouldn’t be expecting Andrew home yet. How was she going to go home and pretend surprise he was there?