Bitter Sweet Kisses

by S M Mala

  Harry looked around the room before shaking his head in utter disbelief.

  ‘What did she say?’ he asked, in a half bark, half shout. ‘What did she tell you about us splitting up? Probably a pack of lies to get you to fall for her bullshit!’

  Sitting back in his chair, and seeing Harry wasn’t taking the news too well, he was at a loss on what to do. Other than be entirely honest.

  ‘She caught you fucking someone in Milly’s nursery. You lashed out and hit her, then proceeded to tell her some of your home truths which she found painful and upsetting. She left you that night.’

  ‘I was angry and she walked out on me, not the other way round!’

  ‘How could you do that, Harry?’ Jonah now felt incensed and wished he could thump the man. ‘Why hit her not once but twice?’

  ‘I wasn’t thinking straight and it was the way she looked at me. As if I was the most disgusting thing she’d ever seen while holding that baby.’

  ‘But that’s not like you,’ hissed Jonah, trying to hide his anger at the reply.

  ‘A few things came out of her mouth which weren’t exactly nice. It was a moment of madness.’

  ‘Two moments. You shouldn’t have done it. Not with the baby in her arms.’

  ‘And that’s it? She didn’t say anything more?’

  ‘What else is there to say?’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it. It’s a private matter.’ Getting to his feet. He looked down at Jonah. ‘I could fuck up everything for you, do you know that? I’ve worked my arse off to give you the success you’ve got now, and this is how you thank me, you ungrateful fuck! You could have anyone, so why her?’

  ‘I love her.’ Jonah gulped hard when he said it. ‘It’s as simple as that.’

  ‘Did she tell you who I was with? That bloody deceitful bitch! I don’t feel bad now. I never wanted you to find out and she said she would never say.’ He picked up his drink and knocked it back. ‘You think I’m going to let you adopt that child?’

  Knowing this was what Sophie was really afraid of, Jonah got to his feet and looked at Harry.

  ‘The reason I’m telling you now is that you can’t back track on what you said. The papers are nearly signed, all but one. You will have to have a very good reason not to proceed, considering you have taken no interest in Amelia.’

  ‘Fuck you, Jonah!’ Harry replied, the spittle hitting Jonah’s face. ‘Did she tell you who I was fucking that night?’

  ‘It’s not important.’

  ‘Oh, it will be. I was screwing her for years and you never knew about it.’ His face froze, figuring out what Harry was saying. ‘Onya was a good lay, wouldn’t you say? Always accommodating to my every move.’ He went closer. ‘Loved it up the arse, as you well know.’ He started to laugh. ‘I take it back. Sophie didn’t tell you, did she? I’ll give her credit for that and bagging you, little else.’

  ‘Jonah, will you please call me?’

  Sophie hadn’t slept the night he returned from meeting Harry. When she tried to ask Jonah what had happened, he glared at her before locking himself in the spare room.

  From that one look, she knew Harry had told him he was screwing Onya that fateful night.

  It was the first time she wondered if Jonah was thinking he had made a mistake by being with her. And Sophie lay awake, worried sick that Harry was going to try and spoil it for them.

  He already managed to cause trouble in a matter of moments.

  Jonah had left at the crack of dawn and didn’t seem to be answering her calls.

  This wasn’t helping.

  Feeling weak and weary, she couldn’t make it into work but didn’t have the energy to look after Amelia. It was best to drop her off at the nursery so she could get some sleep.

  But that was impossible because all she thought about was Jonah.

  She knew he was going to the other side of town to work.

  On a hunch, she decided to go there and sort it all out.

  If worse came to worse and he wasn’t around, she could sit in a nice cake shop and have a cup of tea.

  The travelling was arduous and her phone signal wasn’t good.

  Eventually, she got to the studio and buzzed the intercom. Sophie could feel a stitch in her side from rushing around.

  ‘Hello?’ he asked.

  ‘Can I come in?’

  ‘Sophie? What are you doing here?’

  Next thing she knew, there was stomping footsteps. He flung open the door and stared angrily at her.

  ‘I wanted to talk to you,’ she replied, seeing he was dishevelled and tired. ‘You gave me such a filthy look last night, and then to locked yourself in the bedroom without telling me why. Didn’t you think I’d be worried?’

  And that same glare from the night before appeared again.

  ‘Don’t you dare look at me like that!’ she snapped, getting angry. ‘Whatever I did was because I love you. Whatever you did to me was to secure a future with that man and your career, not to mention that slut!’

  He stood beside the open door, waiting for her to walk in.

  Standing in the middle of the studio, she looked at how much work was scattered around.

  ‘You lied to me Sophie,’ he said, walking up to her. ‘I never thought you could do such a thing.’

  ‘I didn’t lie to you. I just didn’t tell you!’

  ‘Why are you shouting?’

  ‘Because I’m angry! I knew he’d turn us against each other as soon as he found out. You don’t know what Harry’s like. I do!’ All Sophie felt was a massive rage, the same one she felt after he hit her. ‘And I didn’t know if you knew about her sleeping with him. If you had some arrangement with Onya. How would I know? You were sent to babysit me and keep me out of the way so he could screw around, and you knew it!’

  ‘So it’s my fault?’ he said, pointing to his chest. ‘I didn’t like what he was doing but what could I do?’

  ‘You should have told me!’

  ‘And you should have told me as soon as you found out, then I could have finished with her!’ he barked back, turning around and putting his hands on his head. ‘I wasted too much time thinking I would work it out with Onya when all she was doing was making a fool out of me!’

  ‘With my husband.’ Sophie decided she was on a roll and wouldn’t stop. There were a few things she needed to tell him, if only for her sake of mind and to get it off her chest. ‘I felt destroyed when I realised you hadn’t been honest with me. He treated me like shit towards the end, and that would have saved me getting hurt, had I known. But I realised, deep down, you didn’t want to hurt me. How do you think I felt knowing you’d rather be with that whore who was screwing my husband than with me? I would have left him for you, then and there. When he told me you covered for him, I felt foolish.’

  Then she watched his body stiffen and turn to face her.

  ‘Is that what you really thought?’

  ‘Jonah, you gave me no choice but to think otherwise.’

  ‘How could you say that?’ he replied, stepping closer. ‘I missed you so much and begged you to listen to me. You just brushed me aside as if you didn’t care.’

  ‘It’s because I cared for you I didn’t want you to get hurt. Your future and career were ahead of you. Do you think I wanted to destroy that?’

  ‘It didn’t matter!’ he snapped back. ‘Nothing mattered because all I thought about was you!’ All anger had disappeared and he looked confused. ‘Oh my God, Soph!’ Jonah put his hand to his mouth. ‘She was there when he hit you, and left you bleeding.’

  ‘She stepped over me before running out.’

  The stitch came back and she felt a little dizzy, trying to hold herself up. Jonah wrapped his arms around her and led her up the stairs to the mezzanine.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he quietly asked.

  ‘No!’ she replied, getting agitated. ‘You came in last night, looked at me as if I was nothing and then locked yourself in the spare room. How could I be okay?’
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br />   ‘I was upset.’

  ‘And how did you think that made me feel, knowing it’s the first time since we got together you wanted to sleep in another bed? I’ve been worried sick and you didn’t even return my calls or message. Anything could have happened!’

  It was too much.

  Her head was spinning and she nearly keeled over.

  ‘Sophie!’ Jonah shouted, holding tightly onto her.

  Eventually, she got to the top and realised he did have a bed, as Ross mentioned many moons ago. He obviously had been using it that morning from the state of the covers.

  Flopping down onto the mattress, she was totally exhausted.

  ‘I had to see you,’ she wearily replied. ‘I didn’t want to find out that you weren’t going to come home.’

  ‘I’d never do that.’ She felt a cool hand on her forehead. ‘You don’t look well.’

  ‘I’m tired and wound myself up.’

  ‘Did you leave Milly at the nursery?’ She nodded in response. ‘Lie down.’ Jonah helped her. ‘I’ll take you home later.’

  ‘You know the last time I was here, and I was pregnant with Milly. It seemed an age ago,’ she said exhaustedly, closing her eyes, and feeling as if all the energy in her body was seeping out. ‘Don’t ever do that again. Sleep in another bed without me. I hated being alone.’

  ‘Sleep, Soph. Sleep.’

  Letting out a long sigh, she opened her eyes and realised she had immediately fallen asleep and had been out for some time. His body was pressed against her. Sophie tried to turn gently but managed to shove Jonah, whose eyes immediately opened.

  He had been asleep too.

  She looked down to see he had taken off her shoes and dress, so she was left in her underwear.

  ‘I don’t want to fight,’ she said, stroking his morning shadow. ‘We’ve both made a mistake. I should have told you and you should have told me.’ Looking at his tired eyes, she could see he was ticking something over. ‘Is it because you still have feelings for her, that’s why you’re upset?’

  ‘Luckily you and I weren’t parted for years; only nine months. It’s not much time wasted,’ was his reply. He then stroked her shoulder. ‘I would never have agreed to share anyone I care about with another man. I know your perception of what I do for a living amount to screwing about, but that’s not me. What I want to understand is whether you knew he was screwing about, and accepted it.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Sophie replied, frowning while thinking hard. ‘I think I knew he was doing something but he was never totally blatant. And he constantly told me he loved me. In the end, he repeatedly said it was hard to love me, in the shape I was in. That was on the rare occasion I saw him.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have let him speak to you like that.’

  ‘What could I have done? I was confused by his actions towards Milly and he wasn't nice. Maybe that was his way of tearing us apart. It could have been planned, me seeing them together.’ Staring into his eyes, she had to say it. ‘That woman is vile.’

  ‘I think you’ll find your ex isn’t too good either.’

  ‘I have no other secrets. I’m an open book. Not a very interesting one.’

  ‘I like what’s inside.’

  He then kissed her slowly, caressing her breast as he did so.

  Sophie figured she had a few hours before picking up her child, so let him fondle her. Then he pulled down the unflattering sports bra so he could pop a nipple into his mouth.

  Desperately wanting to show her husband she loved him, Sophie pulled off her knickers, with Jonah’s help.

  ‘I’ve been pretty wound up,’ she said, watching him smile. ‘We’ve never quarrelled before and I want us to make up. Don’t let that shit cause trouble between us.’

  He then took off his t-shirt and started to unbutton his jeans, throwing them down to the ground.

  ‘And how many women have you entertained here? Are the sheets clean?’ Sophie asked, taking a quick sniff.

  He buried his head in between her breasts while eagerly feeling her inner thighs.

  All she wanted to do was be in his arms; succumb to his loving touch.

  Still, in the back of her mind, she knew Harry was going to do something to upset their happy set up.

  What it would be, she had no idea.

  ‘He wants what?’

  Jonah could not believe what he heard a few days later. ‘A long-term agreement to stay with him?’ Natalie shook her head and looked equally pissed off. ‘That’s not happening.’

  ‘He said now you’re married to his ex, he has concerns over her influence in your career. I told him only you and I had a handle on it,’ she said, sucking on her electronic cigarette. ‘And if you say no, he’s going to come at you for breach of contract, given he thinks you’re going to retract the current one. What a bastard!’

  ‘Soph said he’d do something.’ Sitting back down in the chair, he glanced around the busy office. ‘Seems like Harry doesn’t want to let us go.’

  ‘You go, more to the point. Harry is changing his tactic. He wants a part of you, probably because you’ve got a piece of his ex-wife.’ Shaking her head, she put the cigarette down, as Jonah grimaced at the comment. ‘I take it the exchange wasn’t friendly.’

  ‘He told me he had been sleeping with Onya for years and Sophie knew.’ It was when Natalie looked at him sympathetically, Jonah realised his manager had a good idea too. ‘And you never thought to tell me?’

  ‘What could I say?’ she replied, sitting back in her chair. ‘He was working for you, but at a price. I’ve set up a meeting with Harry next week when this dies down. Personally, I don’t want to work with that sleaze bag again, but let’s see what he has to say.’

  ‘Right now, I don’t want to speak to him.’

  ‘You know what we’re dealing with here. He doesn’t like to lose.’

  ‘He didn’t lose her. Harry fucked Onya in the baby’s nursery and then struck out at Sophie. What sort of people are they?’ He felt a surge of anger. ‘I should have pummeled his fucking brains for what he did.’

  ‘On which point? Onya or Sophie?’

  ‘Sophie.’

  ‘You had no idea about Harry and Onya?’ Natalie let out a long, deep breath. ‘Didn’t you think it odd that they spent so much time together?’

  ‘It was an affair?’ Jonah hadn’t thought that far ahead. ‘Why didn’t they get together before I came on the scene?’

  ‘Because I’m afraid he met Sophie, and Harry had no intention of marrying Onya.’

  ‘Then what was I?’

  ‘Good bait to dangle in front of him, with the hope that he’d bite. And bite he did. He likes you a lot.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Jonah sat forward, seeing Natalie was trying not to smile. ‘Are you inferring he fancies me?’

  ‘What’s not to fancy?’

  ‘He’s not gay and neither am I!’

  ‘Harry is a law unto himself and you know he has a chequered past.’

  ‘Well, I don’t!’

  ‘Hey, don’t get defensive,’ she replied, putting her hands in the air. ‘You have to see it from my point of view. He has taken a very personal interest in you for years. And now what have you done? Repaid him by taking his prized possession.’

  ‘Harry doesn’t care for Sophie. The things he used to say about her were shocking! I felt bad every time he uttered something nasty. I didn’t break up their marriage. He did that all on his lonesome.’

  ‘With the help from Onya.’ Natalie’s smile slipped. ‘He’s going to think you had slept with Sophie before they split.’ Jonah glanced away. ‘From that expression, you obviously did.’

  ‘I kissed her.’

  ‘And he might just want to get her back to teach you a lesson who is the master, and who is the servant.’

  ‘He wouldn’t dare! And I’m not his bloody servant!’

  ‘It’s Harry we’re talking about. Are you sure that’s not what he truly thinks?’

/>   ‘Go away!’

  Harry was standing outside her offices as she left. Sophie was furious to set eyes on him. ‘You’re not supposed to come near me!’

  ‘Why didn’t you say?’ he asked, following her to the car. She could see he was angry but decided to avoid eye contact. ‘You never said it was Jonah!’

  ‘Why should I?’ Sophie turned to look at his red, furious, face. ‘We’re divorced. This time, nothing held me back when I saw him again. And he felt the same way.’

  ‘You’re doing this to be spiteful, aren’t you?’ he said, letting out a little forced laugh. ‘Going off with my main client and thinking everything’s going to be okay. Well, it won’t!’

  There was a deep fear he would lash out.

  Right now, he looked like he wouldn’t care what he did, based on his heated expression.

  ‘I’m going to change my mind about the adoption and access to our daughter,’ he seethed. ‘That’s going to be fun, isn’t it?’

  ‘Then we will have to go to court. Frankly, I’m up for it.’

  ‘I can destroy all your dreams in one fail swoop, do you know that?’

  ‘I never thought, for one moment, you would be such the bastard father as you have turned out to be, let alone man,’ she said, matching his angry appearance. ‘You said, in no uncertain terms, you didn’t want anything to do with Amelia. You kept your word. Do you know when she was born?’ The snarl on his lips was evident he did not. ‘Are you upset about me being married or Jonah? It's pretty obvious it’s not me.’

  ‘You can’t seriously think he really loves you!’

  ‘Yes, I can. I think I loved him from the very first moment I set eyes on him. I was married to you, so it didn’t cross my mind to act on it. Mind you, if you were me, you would have been in there like a shot.’ Then she smiled. ‘How’s Onya? Still screwing that slut?’

  ‘You think this is going to end well?’

  She opened the car door and sat in it, not lowering the window.