by M. Robinson
“Bailey Pierce,” I rasped into her ear, causing shivers to stir on her flesh. “You were made for me, and don’t you ever forget that.”
Her gown pooled at our feet in a heap of gold silk fabric, as I continued stripping her bare. In one swift movement, I was down on my knees, kissing along her thighs, up to her sweet spot. Getting her nice and ready for what would be our first encounter of love making. By the time I was done devouring her heat, she was soaking wet.
A moan escaped her pouty lips when I abruptly stood, removing all my clothes. Laying her down on the mattress to kiss my way up her body. Looking profoundly at her until we were face to face. Our connection searing its way into our souls.
“I love you.”
She panted, “I love you too.”
I would forever remember this moment as the first time everything was right in our world, because we finally became one…
As husband and wife.
Chapter 23
<>Camila<>
Now
__________
My heart was in my throat, proceeding to watch such a private moment between two people, who were obviously madly in love with each other. Simultaneously, an uncontrollable surge of emotions rushed over me with a sudden queasiness settling in the pit of my stomach.
I found it hard to take a breath, let alone inhale multiple breaths trying to maintain my afflicted composure.
What was this reaction for a man I barely knew and hadn’t met?
My mind began churning with uncertainty, mimicking the contents of my stomach as it rose to the back of my throat.
My core sped up with each word that fell from his lips, from his heart, from the place inside of him that only belonged to her.
“I can’t live without you. You’re my heart, Bay. You’ll always be my heart.”
And from every word that fell from hers in the same place she resided.
“I know. You’re mine too, Aiden. Life has been hard for us, but I wouldn’t change it for anything because it’s what led me to you.”
Tears started pooling in my eyes, clouding my vision, my judgement, my goddamn mind.
My heart sped faster…
My thoughts even faster.
A whirlwind of sentiments ran over me, leaving a trail of urgency behind.
I felt the happy tears running down her face as if they were my own.
Was I crying?
Why was I crying?
He wasn’t mine to cry over.
It was like I was her and she was me. An eerie shiver hit my body hard. I could physically feel her happiness, her joy, her love…
Their love.
Their pain.
The need to be wanted, needed, adored just the same.
It was right there in front of me, unfolding in the depths of my soul. This picture-perfect couple, their fairytale and happy ending I’d imagined in my mind so many times, I lost count.
What they looked like together.
How they spoke to one another.
The sounds of their voices and the way they were with each other.
It was as beautiful as it was devastating to endure. The way he worshiped her, the way she returned the devotion. What I thought didn’t even compare to what I was seeing before me.
What I was experiencing on their journey of becoming husband and wife.
I stayed there like that, frozen in time. Sitting at a standstill with them. Lost in a world where true love prevailed. The laughing, the smiling, the unity of what they were. Living, breathing, it was all real around me.
I needed to move, I needed to get up and turn it off, I needed to do a lot of things, but I couldn’t get my body to move. Not an inch or for a second. I had to experience it with them whether I wanted to or not.
It wasn’t right. It was wrong. What I was doing was so very wrong.
I sat there battling an internal struggle, my heart was going to explode. It was beating uncontrollably. I was there but I wasn’t.
And then...
Everything went cold.
I felt him before I even turned around to face the consequences of my actions. For watching his proposal, his wedding to a woman who wasn’t here.
Where was she?
Where was Bailey?
It was the never-ending question the man behind me could only answer.
I felt his misery.
His agony.
His isolation and despair.
I felt it all, stabbing a knife into my back. Over and over and over again.
My hand immediately went to my chest, my heart breaking, shattering to the ground. Only emphasizing where fragments of his laid next to mine.
Nothing could have prepared me for the sequence of events that happened next. The unbearable weight of his demons were beyond my control. I surrendered to them.
I surrendered to him.
Longing for the resolutions in a situation I still had no idea about. He wanted to brand me with his devastation, and there I sat willingly taking every marking. It gave me comfort in a place I knew was about to turn ugly.
“You’re the beat in my heart, the blood running through my veins… I can’t promise you that tomorrow will be easy, or that there aren’t rough roads ahead, but I can promise you that I will forever be there with you, standing beside you, holding your hand, loving you with everything that I am. I thank God every day for the gift that is you.”
More tears slid down my cheeks, adding to my frazzled state. The desire to fall apart was there. I was on the cusp of losing a battle I wasn’t equipped for.
No weapons.
No armor.
No protection against the deafening silence standing guard at the far side of the living room behind me.
“Will you do me the honor of being mine forever? Will you marry me, Beauty?”
“Of course, yes, yes, yes a million times over!”
I shut my eyes like a child watching a scary movie. Terrified of what surprise was going to jump out, of what would happen next.
I wanted to scream…
To run…
To hide…
But that wouldn’t change anything.
I was there … he was there … and for the first time we were finally going to meet.
I dug my nails into my skin, trying to take away the pain he was suffering. Anything to take away the hurt I felt, having to endure his worst nightmare.
My mind shouted, “Turn around, Camila. Just turn around and face him … ask him everything you want to know … ask him what you deserve to know! Call him out for being a shitty father. For not being there for his kids that still needed him. For the responsibility he shoved onto me…”
Abruptly finding the courage, I turned and opened my mouth at the same time the minister on the video declared, “Dearly beloved.”
I couldn’t form words.
I couldn’t think.
Not when he was watching the video in front of us as if he was there with her and not here with me.
Even with the dim lighting of the room, I could still see his glossy eyes, his trembling lips, the entranced expression on his handsome face. I was spellbound by him while he was enraptured in her.
“We are here to join this man and this woman into holy matrimony. Do you, Aiden, take Bailey to be your wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do you part?”
He looked so stunning and tortured all at once. Not blinking, not breathing, not moving an inch to the point his heart may have stopped beating.
“I do.”
It wasn’t until the minister repeated, “Now you, Bailey…” Did his eyes lock with mine.
I gasped ever so slightly, this over-whelming, powerful, all-consuming connection to this man was staring intently into my eyes. He felt it too, I could see it hidden beneath his torn walls. They were splitting down the tight seam, exposing a side of him that had my heart breaking all over aga
in.
There was something familiar about him trying to break through, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. His eyes burned with a ferocity that had me in a trancelike state.
I couldn’t breathe.
He was confining the air right out of me, as I watched snap shots of his life like a movie reel playing within his eyes.
Every question I had, every uncertainty, all the anger, the resentment, the downright determination was gone in a flash.
I wanted to give him everything I had. Everything inside of me. I would have given him every last part of me to change the look in his stare.
It was killing me.
Fresh tears slid down the sides of my face, and I sucked in a breath, holding on for dear life. Without words, he was showing me the deepest part of him.
His oldest wounds.
His jagged scars.
His regrets.
His life...
And the damage it all left behind.
“For better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do you part?”
“I do.”
Her response echoed in the room, vibrating off the walls. Although the spell between us didn’t break until we heard, “Then with the power vested in me in the State of North Carolina, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
His gazed faltered first. The fire that once burned in his eyes seconds ago, singed to ash and was replaced by an icy glare. The man transformed, and the beast came to life. He scowled coldly and crudely at me, like I was the witch who put the curse on him.
Seething…
“How fucking dare you?!”
Chapter 24
<>Camila<>
Now
__________
His fists white-knuckled at his sides.
Slowly and cautiously, I stood from the couch, surrendering my hands out in front of me like that would somehow make things better.
“I-I-I-I-I…”
He was in my face in one second flat, towering over my petite frame like a hungry wolf, biting, “You what?”
I instantly stepped back in panic, a natural reaction when a threat was looming near. My heel connected with the coffee table behind me, losing my footing. My arms flew up in the air to steady my balance, but it was useless. I was going down fast and hard until his warm hands caught my arms in an overly tight grasp. Holding me upright, inches away from his vicious stare.
Through a clenched jaw, he gritted, “Do you not know your place in this house?”
“I’m-I’m-I’m—”
“You are nothing but a glorified babysitter who does a shitty fuckin’ job cooking and cleaning my home.”
My breath hitched from his accusations. His menacing eyes narrowed at me as he worked his jaw in anger.
Cocking his head to the side, he crept closer to my face. “If it weren’t for Skyler, I would have never hired someone like you. You don’t know how to respect people’s privacy. Parading around with your fuckin’ friend when you were supposed to be tending to my kids!” he roared, making me jump out of my skin.
I went to move, but his grip tightened on my arms. Holding me defenseless while his heated anger rolled off his shoulders.
“Do you make a habit out of breaking into people’s personal property? I should really have you arrested for this.”
I jerked back. What the hell was he talking about?
“You had no right going into my safe and getting that video out! Let alone sit here with fuckin’ popcorn like you’re at a goddamn movie.”
“Wha—”
He growled, silencing me. “How the fuck did you even know the code?”
“I-I-I-I—”
“For fucks sake just answer the question!” His eyes read of irritation. “I don’t have time to listen to your stuttering mouth.”
Oh hell no.
“That’s right … you don’t have time for anything right? Not even your own children.”
He didn’t even flinch. I thought he’d let go, but he didn’t. If anything, he held on firmer, wanting to prove to me or maybe himself he was still the one in control. My eyes gravitated to the flickering light coming from the TV still playing his wedding video. Casting a dark shadow on the adjacent wall that kept growing taller and taller over mine.
“What I do with my kids is none of your goddamn business! Do you understand me? Or am I not making myself crystal fuckin’ clear?”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“You have it all wrong, Aid … Dr. Pierce. I didn’t go into your safe. I didn’t even know you had a safe… I found the video in your son’s bedroom, while I was doing a shitty job picking up after him. It was in The Beauty and Beast case. I had no idea. Watch the surveillance videos you obviously have hidden all over the house, if you don’t believe me.”
“That didn’t stop you from watching what wasn’t yours to—”
“What do you expect from me? I have been here for over three months, taking care of your responsibilities and I’ve yet to meet my employer, but you know what? Now that I have, I can see why your kids can’t stand you.”
He let me go, backing away. I didn’t know if it was for my protection or his.
“I’m not going to fight with you.” I turned to leave but he grabbed my arm again, pulling me back toward him.
“Then I suggest you don’t walk away from me!”
I snapped, “Then stop screaming at me,” trying to stay calm in a situation where I wanted to lose my shit on him. “How dare you speak to me like that?”
“Listen, Cami, I can speak to you how I damn well please. Last time I checked, you work for me.”
“My name is Camila,” I stated, emphasizing each syllable in my Spanish accent.
“I don’t even know how to fuckin’ pronounce that.”
“Here, repeat after me … Ca-mi-la.”
“Now who’s been watching who?” he countered, referring to his argument with his staff at the hospital.
“At least I can admit it.”
“Oh, I can admit it, Cami. I’ve been wondering how long you’ve been off the pole.”
“Sabes que…” My eyes widened, taken back. “Eres un puto cabrón!”
“The fuck does that mean?”
“It means you’re a fucking asshole!”
“I’ve been called way worse, sweetheart, but maybe it’s time I wash your mouth out with soap?”
“Wow. How much have you been watching me?”
“Whenever Doctor Daddy needed to fuck his fist, yeah? Isn’t that what your friend said?”
“His name is Dan—”
“I know what his name is.”
“Then learn how to use it.”
“How cute, you actually think I give a damn about what you want. I think you’re forgetting who works for who. Do I need to remind you, Cami?” He stepped toward me and I instinctively took a step back, missing the coffee table this time, but that didn’t stop him.
“All you’ve done is disrespect this house, my home, the one my wife and I…” He paused, halting his steps. Just as quickly as the thought came on, he shook it off. His broody demeanor coming toward me again.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Until my back hit the door.
He swiftly caged me in with his arms, eyeing me up and down with an expression of authority. Hovering over me, making me feel so small.
“Hiding things about our kids, coming to my hospital, prying in our bedroom, fighting with our son, and let’s not forget you shaking your ass like you’re a goddamn whore in front of our daughter.”
“That’s not—”
“I don’t want to hear your pitiful excuses. My kids deserve better.”
“You’re right. They deserve their parents. Where is their mother, huh?”
For a second his eyes glazed over, but he simply blinked it away.
“Answer me! Where is the woman who
should be taking care of her baby? The mother who is missing all Journey’s milestones? Do you both even know what she looks like anymore?” The palms of my hands connected with his chest, giving him a shove.
He didn’t falter.
“Did you know she can pull herself up on furniture and has taken a few steps along it? Do you know how many teeth she has now? Or here’s a good one… What’s her favorite song to be sang to her?”
His chest heaved the further I pushed every button of the truth I’ve been dying to say to him for so long.
“That’s what I thought! You have no idea! You call yourselves parents? Watching from afar on a nanny cam isn’t parenting, it’s neglect. Maybe YOU should be arrested!”
Without missing a beat, he got right up in my face again, snarling in a menacing tone, “You’re fired! Now get the fuck out!”
“What? No!” I shuddered, fervently shaking my head. “You can’t do that! You can’t fire me!”
“I. Just. Did.”
“No! You can’t do this! Journey needs me! And Jackson and I were just turning a corner—”
“Well then, turn your ass around and get the fuck out of my house!”
Before I knew what was happening, he yanked me away from the door, manhandling me. He grabbed my purse off the entry table, opened the door, and tossed it out on the lawn. The contents went everywhere, including my cash and phone.
The tears pooled in my eyes. Threatening to surface when he shoved me out the door next.
My voice.
My heart.
My very being was falling apart.
But I still managed to say, “Please don’t do this … at least … let me say goodbye to them,” I expressed with a shaking breath. “I love them like they were my own.”
He took one last look at me with callous, beady eyes, scoffing, “Well they’re not. You don’t belong in their lives or this house.”
The door slammed in my face with no compassion or regard for how I felt. Leaving me with nothing.
No answers.
Especially, about his wife.
Chapter 25
<>Aiden<>
Now
