Ineffable

by Sherrod Story

  “I’m fine.” She would have rolled from the bed, but he stopped her.

  “It’s okay, Margot. I’m not angry. I know you will say it again one day. I even understand why you don’t, I think. But I miss it.” He nuzzled her ear and sighed sadly, then ruined the entire scheme peeking up at her beneath his lashes.

  She burst out laughing. “Lemme give you a tip. No man as masculine as you with lashes as long as yours should ever try that peekaboo move you just pulled.”

  He grinned and rolled her onto her back, pressing her into the bed to let her know who was boss. “Careful. I owe you a spanking.”

  “For what?” she scoffed.

  “For sassing me,” he shot back. “I have to tend that ass of yours periodically, lest your mouth get too big.”

  “Well, la di da.”

  “You’re pushing it.”

  “No, you’re pushing it.”

  “That’s it.”

  She was laughing as he flipped her onto her belly and held her down with a big hand in the middle of her back. “No!”

  “Shut it. You don’t tell me no.”

  “No,” she shot back.

  So he hit her.

  “Ow!”

  He hit her again, three times fast.

  “Shit!”

  He laughed softly and kissed where he’d hit. He kept kissing, down the backs of both thighs, investigating the soft skin behind her knees. Then he retraced his steps, nuzzling the small of her back, investigating her shoulder blades with questing fingers, pressing in deep to release the tension he found there.

  She’d been squirming slightly, but she shuddered when he opened his mouth to suck the back of her neck. Her breath left her in a hiss when he sank his teeth into the spot where her neck joined her shoulder and lingered long enough to let her know he was the lion, and she was only running free because he chose to allow it.

  When he finally covered her back, and slipped inside her hot, wet body, she felt tears fall and was grateful he couldn’t see. She didn’t want to explain how scared she was feeling, how desperate and needy she was for something he couldn’t offer, certainty.

  She was sobbing when she came. When he tried to turn her in his arms to investigate, Margot slipped from the bed. When she came back out the lights were out, and she was grateful. She was even more grateful when he didn’t try to talk. He just whispered goodnight and spooned up behind her, held her tight, his hands firm as they filled with her breast and the hot slightly damp flesh between her legs.

  Margot released a shaky, thankful sigh, and a few minutes later, they slept.

  He looked vibrant when they woke, normal as he put away a good sized breakfast of eggs and toast and juice. She consented when he came looking for her at the gym, asking if he could have another 30 minutes.

  “I feel wonderful, my love,” he said, grinning as he kissed her, his face glowing with happiness, sweat and obvious good health. “No class for you?”

  “I just finished the express session.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I think I’ll take a walk on the treadmill while I wait for you, then stretch on the mats and shower.”

  “Let’s meet in front in an hour. I’ll take you for tea at the Peninsula. Sound good?”

  “Very.”

  “We’ll have a champagne tea,” he teased. “We are soon to be newlyweds, after all. Who’s to quibble if we celebrate a little?” And with a last hard kiss he was gone.

  Margot walked at a fast clip for 20 minutes then did some bicycle crunches and stretched before she found the locker room. She’d never been fond of gyms, preferring to walk and do her exercise at home or outside. She occasionally signed up for classes when something interested her, but she’d never seriously considered paying for a membership or hiring a physical trainer. Of course, she was tall and naturally slender, strong and generally in great health, so she didn’t need to.

  She might have to change her mind though. Exclusive gyms were a great place to meet new clients. Two women in the locker room recognized her and asked for her card. Both looked affluent and were excited when she offered to do custom pieces for them. They promised to call and left looking thrilled to have met her.

  “Wait until Barbara hears I met Margot Temple in the gym of all places,” she heard one crow to the other. “That fat cow will be pea green with envy. She’ll wish like hell she’d stuck to her promise to work out regular, I’ll tell you that!”

  Margot rolled her eyes, but after she showered she asked a woman to take a picture of her putting in her earrings. She posted it to Instagram with the caption: “Now I remember why I don’t like gyms. I don’t like my jewelry sweaty.”

  Over tea they talked business. Nori made notes on a napkin and recited things into the recorder on his phone for his assistant. The ideas were flowing faster than the tea, and they were laughing with excitement when Aro appeared.

  Her first inkling was the complete and utter change in Nori’s face as he looked at something over her shoulder. She swung around to look, and sighed when she saw the set, arrogant look on her future father-in-law’s face. So much for thinking he might have searched them out to apologize. He looked more ready to start a fight. And Nori was acting like he’d be happy to oblige.

  Nori finished the tea in his cup – they’d eschewed champagne, feeling virtuous after their workout – and after dabbing his mouth, flung his napkin to one side. He tossed two $100 bills on the table and said, “I can’t do this, Margot. If I even hear his voice I’m going to hit him. Please meet me outside when you’re finished?”

  She nodded, watching him stride away.

  “I suppose I deserve that.”

  She looked at Aro, then picked up another savory and ate it while she poured more tea. “More.”

  “More what? May I sit?”

  She flicked a hand at Nori’s seat, took a leisurely sip of tea before she answered. “You deserve more than him walking away to keep from popping you in your crazy, arrogant ass face.”

  In the process of getting the plates cleared, Aro’s head swung back to her in shock. He scoffed. “Of course. You’re angry.”

  She stared at him like he’d lost his fucking mind. No, like he’d given it away laughing.

  “Don’t be stupid. Angry is for kids who don’t get the toy they want for their birthday. It doesn’t even begin to describe how you feel when some psycho ruins your wedding, kidnaps your fiancé, and drugs him like some whore destined for the sex trade.”

  He sneered, shaking his head as he did his best to look down his nose at her. It was a losing battle. Margot was a good two inches taller, sitting.

  “What? You’re thinking, typical, right? This is why I did what I did, to keep my precious son from attaching himself to this uncouth, bohemian harridan, and black on top of it,” she stage whispered, grinning when his scowl intensified. “I don’t deserve him. He’s far too good for me, right?”

  He shrugged, and she laughed softly, deftly adding clotted cream to a scone then breaking off a piece. She wasn’t hungry at all, but she was damned if she’d let him see he’d killed her appetite. She chewed the morsel thoroughly then saluted him with the piece she tossed back onto the plate.

  “Wrong. In point of fact, he’s too good for you.” She raised a hand and the waiter appeared with the bill in a black leather sleeve. She slipped in the $100s. “I don’t know what kind of perverted shit was running through your mind when you concocted that little plan to fuck up our wedding day, but all you really did was fuck yourself.” She passed off the money with a smile and thanks. “You deprived yourself of your son’s business expertise, which means unless you’re real damn lucky, your business will suffer. And – and this part is especially good for me – you no longer have Nori in your life at all.”

  “He will forgive me. I am his father,” Aro said with a cold smile. “Not even you can turn him against his own flesh and blood.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said, chuckling soft
ly. “I won’t even need to try. You fucked yourself, Aro. You crossed all kinds of lines, and while he probably will forgive you eventually – it’s natural for children to forgive their parents, even when they’re as selfish as you – he will never fully trust you again. Your place in his life will be minimal at best.

  “You won’t be there at our wedding, the second one, which will go off without a hitch in just a few days. You won’t be there at the fabulous reception my girls are putting the final touches on as we speak. This one even bigger and better than the first because why the fuck not? And you damn sure won’t be allowed to spend any time with any children we may have. ‘Cuz, I wouldn’t trust your crazy, elitist ass with my dog, and that good old bitch has been dead for months.

  “You’ll be an outsider, watching as we go happily about our lives. Watching and having to smile as we birth this crazy, successful new business built on my talent, his brains and our love.”

  She drained the last of her tea, her movements unknowingly echoing Nori’s. “And the best part? You’ll know that it’s your own fuckin’ fault. That you are the reason you no longer have more than the appearance of a son. Because you were selfish and greedy. You wanted it all and tried to take it without thought for who you hurt, and now you have nothing.”

  The way he looked at her across that table, Margot knew if they’d been alone he would have attacked her. The hate on his face was so strong she wondered if he really was as unbalanced as he seemed.

  “But you don’t have to worry about me bad mouthing you. It would be overkill, you know? My baby’s been hurt enough. And that’s what this anger is that he’s feeling right now. Hurt. Hurt you inflicted.” Now it was her turn to scoff. “And I thought my family was fucked up. It just goes to show. We all have our own demons and crosses to bear.”

  And she walked away. Nori was on his phone when she reached the street. He quickly rang off and took her hand. “Okay?”

  She nodded, opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head.

  “I don’t want to know what he said, baby. I don’t want to hear it. Nothing. Can you understand?”

  She nodded, kissed the back of his hand held in hers, prompting him to pull her in for a long, hard hug.

  “I adore you,” he whispered. “Let’s go shopping. We need to find a new favorite store until ours is up and running,” he teased. “Shall we make do with Saks?” He gestured across the street.

  “I guess.”

  He laughed and slung his arm around her shoulders. “If I buy you a bauble will you deign to wear someone else’s design?”

  “Hell no.”

  “Ah. I figured as much. A purse?”

  She shook her head.

  “Shoes?”

  No, she mouthed, as they went through the revolving door.

  “Are you sure you don’t want a new purse? You could carry your jewelry making paraphernalia in it.”

  She pretended to consider, then shook her head no.

  “You’re a very strange woman.”

  She stopped in front of the La Mer counter, then saw Clinique and moved there instead. “I need a black honey gloss, and a lipstick in Angel Red, please.”

  Nori paid with cash, raising a brow at the total. “I open my wallet and you spend less than $40.”

  “Let’s go to Homegood’s. I wanna see if they got this one pot I’ve had my eye on. It’s high as hell. That’ll make you feel better.”

  He grinned. “Let’s go.”

  The day came for their second wedding. Tommy and Lani were there, Margot was wearing the same dress with different jewelry, and Lado was there with a big ass guard standing off to one side.

  “Apparently, Nori’s not taking any chances,” Tommy whispered, nodding in the dude’s direction.

  Lani just grinned and winked. “Good. We need to get this shit going, ‘cause that reception is gon’ be fi-yah!”

  Nori and Margot exchanged vows without incident. No one cried. They laughed like loons and hugged and kissed, and Tommy and Lani jumped up and down and hustled everyone into a limo.

  “We’re on a schedule,” Tommy said when they arrived at Margot’s to change for the reception. “Go in, change and then come right back out because – ”

  They looked to see what had captured her attention.

  Margot sighed. She should have known. She looked at Nori. His face looked like stone. Well, she thought, at least we managed to get married before Aro fucked everything up this time.

  “Nori. Congratulations.”

  Nori nodded once. “We are on our way somewhere. You will excuse us.”

  “Please. A moment of your time.”

  “No.”

  Aro looked shocked.

  “Let’s go in and change,” Lado said, ushering Tommy and Lani reluctantly away.

  Margot would have followed, but Nori grabbed her hand to stop her.

  “Son, please. I’m sorry. I –”

  “No. I don’t care. I don’t care,” he hissed, each slow, angry word like ground glass. “I don’t care if you’re sorry. I don’t even believe you. You didn’t want me to marry Margot. You went so far as to drug and kidnap me to prevent it. Now you show up here and offer congratulations? Do you think I’m stupid? Have you no shame?”

  “Of course not! It’s her. She –”

  “She loves me,” Nori spat. “She loved me enough to disbelieve the lies you tried to feed her. She loved me enough to come into your house to rescue me from your abuse and psychotic belief that I should be alone. You could have killed me, you know. Tomas, the doctor who treated me after Margot and Lado found me, told me that addicts who take too much of the drug you were forcing into my veins often overdose. And with no food and no water, it would only have been a matter of days before I succumbed. Margot saved me. I thank God for her, not just because she loves me. Many women love men. But Margot loved me enough to care for my safety when you, my own father, did not.”

  “I would never –”

  “Silence!” Nori spat in French. “You would have killed me rather than see me married to the woman of my dreams. Stay away from me, Aro. In public we will put on a serene, agreeable face. In private, you are no longer my father. I will not tell you again to leave me and my bride alone. Comprendz? If you don’t, you will regret it.”

  Margot felt sorry for Aro then. He looked shocked, and old, and lonely. Defeated. She tugged Nori’s hand. “We need to go.”

  He nodded. “Goodbye,” he told his father.

  Margot rolled her eyes when she heard feet thumping to get away from the door.

  “Don’t kill yourself, bitches,” she said.

  “See!”

  Lani.

  Nori rolled his eyes and pulled Margot close for a kiss. “Mrs. James.”

  “Mr. Temple,” she said, stroking his back. He was trembling slightly, poor thing. She couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. So she kissed him, once lingeringly, then a dozen more all over his handsome face for good measure.

  He laughed and squeezed her back. It was low and a bit strained, but it was sincere. “What are you wearing to our reception?”

  “Whatever Tommy and co. tell me to.”

  He laughed softly. “Good answer. Tell me, are they choosing my clothes too?”

  She nodded. “This is their show.”

  “Ah, oui! That makes perfect sense.” He rubbed her nose with his. “Je t’adore.”

  “Good. ‘Cuz now that we’re married? I’m all you get.”

  He kissed her again, deep and slow and filled with love. “Wonderful,” he breathed.

  “Are you two gonna stay in the hallway all day?” Tommy asked. “Go put on the clothes I laid out in the guest room. And hurry up. Fashionably late is one thing. We go much longer, they’re all gonna think this shit got canceled, again!”

  There was a massive cheer when they showed up, and Margot burst out laughing when she saw the banner over the door: 2nd time’s the charm.

  She gave Tommy the finger, and her girl
winked and motioned to one of her minions to remove the sign.

  “Jokester,” Nori muttered, mock glaring at her and Lani who grinned back, unrepentant.

  “Where’s the rest of the girls?” Margot asked.

  “Sophie’s in the bathroom, and Reiko and Steele are on their way. You know those two. You saw Starla. Fiona and Cass are still in Europe with their respective spouses, but they sent huge gifts to compensate for their absence. As did Baby who’s still shooting, and Lou just texted to say she had some issues with a taxi but she’ll be here soon.”

  Margot nodded. “Psycho driver strikes again?”

  Tommy shrugged. “Only Lou.”

  They had a wonderful time. There were ribald toasts and risqué jokes and ridiculous stories told, some true, some not. Margot laughed so much her gut started to ache, and Nori never left her side. He looked so happy, she thought maybe their craziness was behind them.

  First her reputation had threatened their peace. Then there was George’s psycho ass. Then Aro threw his kidnapping-wedding ruining monkey wrench into the works.

  “Never a dull moment,” she murmured.

  “If you’re thinking about all the things that have gone wrong since I found you, stop it,” Nori ordered, pulling her into his arms and resting his chin on top of her head.

  “Since you found me?” she teased. “What am I, a lost parcel?”

  “No, I think that was me.”

  She turned to loop her arms around his neck. “Yeah?”

  He nodded, rubbing his lips back and forth across hers, needing to be close, but ever mindful of the eyes no doubt tracking their every move.

  “I was missing something before you came into my life Margot.”

  “Drama.”

  He laughed softly. “I suppose so, yes, but that’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

  “Love,” she whispered.

  “Love,” he agreed. “I was missing love. The love of my life, you.”

  “Well, you got me now.”

  “Forever,” he corrected.

  Margot just laughed. “You’re a trip, you know that? One minute your heart’s on your sleeve. The next you’re back to being the alpha male preparing to take over the world, and dragging me along by the hair.”