by V, Krissy
"Yeah I just got one now. There's a good gang tonight, I just know it’s going to be lots of fun" I say turning around to kiss him.
Kammie says "Oh god come on guys. Felix put her down" she’s laughing when she says it though, she doesn’t mean it. He moves away from me and then he walks off to find Luca.
"So Kammie, any news?" I ask.
"No, not really I’ve been busy at work, you know the usual" she says shaking her head.
"Nothing happening on the guy front?" I ask her, I know she likes Luca and I'd put money on it she wants to go home with him tonight.
"No. Nothing exciting anyway, I met this guy last week, he seemed nice but he's been stalking me all week. I told him it was a one night thing but he didn't believe me. I think I'll stay away from men tonight, although seeing as its Lucas's birthday I might have to give him a present" she laughs.
"Kammie what are you like?" I love how confident my friend is, she is so different to me.
"Come on let’s dance" she says dragging me off to the dance floor. I see Felix looking my way so I indicate that we are going for a dance, he nods his head and turns back to talk to Luca. Kammie and me like to dance, we can lose hours on the dance floor and we can forget about anybody except ourselves when we are dancing. It's getting pretty crowded and we've had a few drinks so we like to spread out when we are dancing, you know - arms and legs everywhere, but there isn't enough room to move. I indicate to Kammie that I want a drink and we move off the dance floor and go to the bar. There's no point going to the bar in the private area because this one is closer to the dance floor and we've not finished dancing yet.
We get two bottles of beer each because it saves us going to the bar again for a while. Then we get a shot of tequila with the salt and lemon to go with it. We do the slammers and then drink most of the first bottle of beer as a chaser. We both start laughing after we've done that and I can feel myself getting unsteady. I don’t really like the taste of Tequila, but it’s a kind of ritual that we do when we’re out, so I just knock it back. We go back to the dance floor carrying our beers, hoping to find a table to put them on while we dance.
We get to the edge of the dance floor when someone pushes me to get past and I stumble into a man and spill my drink on him. He just about catches me before I fall to the ground. "Whoa steady, where are you going?" he asks as he grabs hold of my wrist.
He pulls me upright and I say "Oh my god, I'm so sorry I tripped and I can't believe I spilt my drink on you. God I feel terrible. Let me wipe it up."
I start to wipe his jacket with my hand, he takes my hand and says "It's fine don't worry I know it was an accident." He has a real deep husky voice that vibrates through me, it makes my girly bits start to throb.
God I must have had more to drink than I thought. I finally look up into his face, wow is all I can think and then I realise I said it out loud! The man and Kammie are looking at me. "Did I just say that out loud? How embarrassing" I say laughing, but I know I am blushing.
"Wow is right. My god you are beautiful" he says holding me upright "and you're drunk. Are you sure you didn't hurt your ankle or anything when you stumbled?" he asks with sincerity in his voice. He reaches down and rubs my ankle with his very hot hand. He slowly takes his hand off my ankle and stands upright again. I can feel the cold where his hand had been.
I can feel his other hand on my bare arm, there is so much heat coming from his hand, but it’s the buzzing feeling travelling up my arm and into the rest of my body that is making me feel strange. I’ve never felt this kind of electrical shock before, I must be really drunk.
I try to shake my head to clear it slightly. "No I'm fine, I just dented my pride" I laugh. I look into his eyes and they are so beautiful, they look deep and the colour is a beautiful shade of green, amazing! I just keep staring into them. "Can I? Erm, can I pay for your dry cleaning bill? I'm really sorry I don't make a habit of throwing my drinks over men" I laugh. I am so embarrassed, but I am also tingling all over.
"No it's fine, honestly it was going to get cleaned anyway” he smiles at me. Then I see a reaction of some kind in his eyes, it’s like his thoughts are mirroring mine so I look away from them and then I find his lips, but then I can’t stop looking at them, they look so luscious, so soft.
I realise I am staring at him when he says “Actually, maybe you can.”
I drag my eyes away from his lips and look him in the eyes, I look at him a bit confused, I obviously haven’t been listening to him. “I will take your number and then I can arrange for you to get my suit cleaned.” I’ve heard of someone having a “twinkle” in their eye, but I’ve never seen it before. Until now! He definitely has a twinkle in his eyes.
I'm so drunk at this stage and still reeling from his touch on my arm that I say “Oh yeah sorry, of course I’ll give you my number. Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
He smiles at me and I am sure I hear him say “I feel the same.” I give him my number and tell him to let me know how much it is and that I will reimburse him. Kammie and me go back to the dance floor, but I can still feel his eyes on me and my skin is tingling from his touch.
After about fifteen minutes we realise it’s so busy that we can't even dance. We are on our way back to the private party when Luca comes looking for us "Hey Kammie I was hoping for a birthday dance, come with me please?" She doesn't need to be asked twice.
"Luca" I say before he walks off "Where's Felix?"
"I think he's outside he wasn't very happy, he looked really angry, so I think he went for some air. I don't know what made him like that, you know Felix he's usually so placid. It was strange" and with that Kammie drags him on to the dance floor.
I wonder what’s got into Felix so I walk outside to find him. I see him leaning over the wall, I wonder if he's drunk. I walk up to him and slide my arms around his waist. “Hey Felix, what are you doing outside?”
He turns around and just stares at me. “What the hell was going on downstairs on the dance floor? I came to find you to see if you wanted to dance and I saw you in the arms of a stranger.” He has now moved so that I am stood with my back against the wall and his arms are on either side of me blocking me in.
“Felix, I tripped and spilled my drink all over that man, I don’t even know who he is, honestly I’ve never seen him before.” I move my arms to put them around his neck to kiss him, to show him that I only want him.
_ He pushes my arms away, “Don’t touch me right now Tasha, I’m too angry. Just don’t!” He stands back a little, then he grabs my wrist and starts dragging me behind him. “We’re going home, we need to have a little chat” I try to protest but there isn’t any point as he just keeps pulling me.
He drags me along the side of the dance floor where I had fallen and he drags me right past the stranger. He sees me and stares at me and then mouths to me “Are you ok? Do you need help?”
I just shake my head and look at the floor, I am so embarrassed. I can see Luca and Kammie, they look like they are getting on really well, I’m happy for them. They look over and see Felix, and see him dragging me behind him. Kammie says something to Luca and he walks over to us.
“Felix, what’s going on? Where are you going? And why are you dragging Tasha behind you like that?” He puts his hand out to stop Felix, who had absolutely no intention of stopping.
“Luca, mate, please move out of my way. Me and Tasha need to go home and have a chat, she needs to remember who she is married to and how she shouldn’t be talking to strangers and giving them her phone number.” Felix almost spits out the words, he is trying to get past Luca, but Luca is stronger than Felix.
“Come on mate, you don’t need to talk to Tasha about that, she knows that and she would never do anything to make you think differently, what is really going on here?” I can see Luca is getting annoyed with Felix. The one thing that Luca cannot stand is a man using his power to intimidate a woman.
“Luca, just get out of my way or you might regret it.
We’ve been friends for years and I intend for us to remain friends, but right now you need to let me go and take Tasha home.” Felix is trying to get past Luca all the time he is talking.
“No Felix, you have to calm down right now, I am not letting you leave here in that mood and take Tasha home. I have never seen you like this, what has got into you?” Then he turns to face me “Tasha are you ok? What is going on?”
I start to sob a little, “Luca just let him past, please?” I can feel myself pleading “Felix isn’t happy because when he came to find me on the dance floor he saw me talking to a stranger who I had spilt my drink on when I tripped. Now he thinks I was up to something and I wasn’t I swear.”
“Felix, this isn’t you mate, come on calm down, please” Luca takes his hand off Felix and Felix takes the opportunity to drag me off again.
Felix stops and turns back to look at Luca “Luca, this doesn’t have anything to do with you mate, please just leave it! I’ve calmed down but I just want to go home now it’s been a long day. I’ll ring you tomorrow ok? Maybe we can all do lunch or something.”
Felix is gripping my wrist really tightly, so I say “Yeah Luca let’s do lunch tomorrow, our treat, Kammie you come too, it will be nice” I smile at them.
Kammie hasn’t said anything the whole time Felix and Luca were arguing, she is just staring at me. I know she is trying to work out what is going on and what she can do to make the situation better. I just shake my head at her, I can feel tears pooling in my eyes and I know she just wants to hug me.
Luca obviously decides that he can do no more and steps out of the way. Felix says “Thanks Luca, me and my wife need some alone time” and starts walking away.
Luca and Kammie look at me being pulled behind Felix and ask am I ok. I just nod my head, because what else am I supposed to do. Luca makes a hand gesture that says ring me if you need anything. I nod and turn back to concentrate on Felix. I see Luca take Kammie’s hand and pull her into him and then he says something to her, she looks at me and gives me a half smile. They turn and walk back to the VIP room.
When we get outside Jesters there is a cab waiting, luckily. Felix drags me into the cab and then sits as far away as he possibly can. “Don’t touch me right now Tasha, I’m so angry.” I just sit looking out the window on my side of the cab. I have silent tears running down my face and I can see my reflection in the window, it’s not a pretty look. I try to wipe them off, but they just keep falling. I’ve never seen Felix like this and I don’t like what is happening to him.
When we get to the house, Felix doesn’t say a word. He pays for the cab and then goes into the house. I reluctantly follow him, not knowing what will happen when I get inside.
As soon as the door closes, Felix locks it and then he drags me upstairs to the bedroom. “Do you want me to treat you like a slut? Because that’s what you looked like tonight when you were hanging all over that guy.” His face is bright red and he looks like he is going to explode. He is shouting at me, his face only inches from mine.
I try to protest but it doesn’t make any difference. “Felix, I wasn’t all over him, if you had arrived a minute earlier you might have stopped me falling rather than him. I swear Felix, you know I love you more than anything in this world, come on, please.” I try to reach out to touch him but he pushes my arm away.
He comes up to me, making me walk backwards, until I reach the wall, then he just stands there looking me up and down. “You love me do you? How much do you love me? Tell me Tasha, tell me!” he shouts in my face.
“Felix I love you to the moon and back you know that! Why are you being insecure? It’s not like you. You got to take me home tonight, no one else. You’ll be taking me home every night, no one else.” I try to think of something that might calm him down. “Felix I want you, I love you.”
I start crying now, because I’m really scared. I hate how he can make me feel scared of him, because he never did before we were married. How did he keep this side of himself hidden until now? I just don’t know!
“No! You’re just saying that to try and make me happy, you don’t really mean it. I saw you tonight. I saw you give him your number – why did you do that?” He closes the gap between us, he takes his hands and places them around my neck. He looks me in the eye. “Why Tasha, Why?”
I can’t move, he has his hands around my neck. I can’t get my words out very well, all I can feel is his hands getting tighter and tighter. “I said I would pay to get his suit cleaned. I was being nice. I ruined his suit when I tripped and spilt my drink on him, I don’t even know his name Felix, honestly.” I’m crying when I’m saying all of this.
He slowly moves his hands away from my neck and he pulls me to him, he wraps his arms around me and hugs me so tightly I have trouble breathing. “I love you so much Tasha, I just can’t have someone coming in and taking you away from me.”
“No one is going to take me away from you Felix. I love you.” I hug him back, I’m so frightened right now, I don’t want to make him any angrier.
Felix steps away from me and sits on the bed with his head in his hands he looks at me. “I’m sorry Tasha I don’t know what’s come over me. I know you love me. I just don’t want you to leave me.” I can see tears in his eyes. Where has all this come from?
I walk over to him and take his head and pull it to my stomach. “Felix, please! I love you, you have to know that.” I step back to look into his face, he is shaking his head and not looking at me.
I can feel my hangover starting to kick in because I have sobered up very quickly after what has happened between us since we got home. “Felix, I have to go and get a glass of water, I’ll be back in a minute ok.” I turn to walk out the door and this sets him off again, it’s like flicking on a switch.
“No! Tasha you are not leaving me, you said you wouldn’t.” He stands up and follows me out of the bedroom door. “Tasha, where are you going?”
“Felix I told you. I’m going for a drink. Calm down!” Well that seemed to be the wrong thing to say, I can hear him catching up with me, but I need a drink. I have to get a drink and a couple of headache tablets because I can really feel this headache kicking in. I get to the top of the stairs and start to make my way down. Then I say “Felix, I have a headache and I need to take some tablets”.
“You’re going to ring him when you’re downstairs aren’t you? I know you are. Don’t lie to me Tasha, don’t lie!” He is like a mad man, I’ve never seen him like this and when I’m halfway down the stairs he says “No one else is going to have you Tasha. Just me. Always me” and he pushes me down the rest of the stairs. I can’t even tell you what goes through my head during the next minute, but I fall against the wall and bang my head, then I slip down some stairs and then land on my back. Everything seems to happen in slow motion. I can just about see Felix’s face as I bang my head on the floor and then everything goes black.
Chapter 7
I can hear a noise.
It sounds like crying, continuous crying.
I can feel a pain, a really big pain in my head, in my ribs, in my heart.
Then I hear my name over and over again.
It’s Felix!
He’s telling me he loves me, he needs me and that I’m not to leave him, I promised I wouldn’t leave him.
I just keep thinking that I’m not ready to leave, I’m not ready to die.
Chapter 8
THE PAIN IS REALLY bad, I can’t talk, I can’t tell Felix how much it hurts. Everything keeps going black.
I can hear Felix on the phone to someone and he’s crying. “Please come she fell down the stairs and she needs help.” I don’t know what they said to him but he says “No, I’m not calling an ambulance, she’ll be ok. Just come round and tell me what to do.” He listens for a while then he says “They’ll think that I did something when all she did was fall, please come now.”
Everything goes quiet again and I drift off for a longer time this time.
When I drift
back I can hear voices; two male and one female voice I would recognise anywhere, its Kammie. She is kneeling above me crying. “Tasha, please speak to me, come on I don’t know what’s happened here and to be honest I don’t care. But what I do need is for you to be ok, come on Tasha, please.”
I hear Luca next, he sounds angry. “Felix you need to ring the ambulance, she has been unconscious for too long. You need to get her help. I know she just fell down the stairs, but if you don’t ring them, I will.”
Felix doesn’t say anything. Is he going to let me die?
“Felix. She. Will. Die. if you don’t get her help.” He is shouting at him and he pauses after each word, like he is trying to snap him out of whatever is happening to him.
“Ok, Ok can you ring them? I just can’t do it, I’m scared Luca” Felix is crying uncontrollably.
I drift off again and then I hear the ambulance arrive and the paramedics lift me onto a trolley and take me into the back of the ambulance. I can hear Felix sobbing, “I’m sorry Tasha, I love you so much, come back to me.”
I’m trying Felix, really I am, but I can’t talk, I can’t move, I’m so tired.
Then it goes black again.
When I get to the hospital, I can feel myself starting to come around, the whole of my body hurts and I’m so thirsty. I open my eyes and look around me. Felix is holding my hand with his head bowed down. The doctor assigned to me, smiles at me. “Hello Mrs Parrish, that’s quite a knock on the head you got yourself” I try to smile at him, but I just hurt too much.
I can feel Felix tighten his grip on my hand. “Tasha, oh my god, you’re going to be ok” he kisses my hand.
I hear the doctor saying to Felix “Mr. Parrish, can I ask you to step out of the room while we examine your wife and find out the extent of her injuries” Felix starts to protest, but the doctor ushers him out of the room.