Miss-Fortunate Reality

by Hicks, I. M.

  Me: “Are you hurt?”

  Marc: “The only thing that hurts is that he hurt you”

  Me: “Don’t park near the condo, park somewhere else”

  Marc: “I know, he’s looking for you”

  Me: “I know, please be here soon”

  I cleared my messages and got out of bed. I went to the kitchen where Victor and Carlos were having breakfast.

  “Baby girl, you have some bruising” said Victor moving my face to the side.

  Carlos grabbed his phone and took pictures from different angles “Just in case this goes to court Alex” he said.

  I took his phone, looked at the pictures and started crying.

  “No, no baby girl, don’t cry over this bullshit, he had no right to do this” said Victor hugging me.

  I exhaled and grabbed some coffee.

  “He’s called here several times but I haven’t picked up the phone. However he cannot get in the building without my authorization” began Victor.

  “We’re leaving for the day, and I won’t be back until after 10 tonight, there’s food in the fridge, coffee, water, whatever you need” he continued.

  “Any problems, call me or the police, understood?” he said.

  I nodded “Thank you Victor, I love you”

  “I love you too baby girl”

  They left about ½ hour later, I jumped in the shower and put on some concealer to hide the bruising over my cheek. I can’t believe it came down to this, I was a battered woman and now I understood how it felt.

  I put on a pair of denim shorts and a pink t-shirt, I tied my hair in a ponytail as I had no desire to fiddle with it today.

  Suddenly there was a soft knock on the door. I slowly walked towards the door and listened through it “Alex it’s me Marc” I opened the door, he came in quickly and closed the door behind him locking it and hugged me tightly.

  I began to cry in his arms, he held me there rocking me back and forth until I was calm again.

  We sat on Victor’s oversize leather couch, he put his arm around me and we sat there quietly for a while holding hands. “Are you hungry?” he asked me.

  “No”

  “We have all day together, I told Pam I was doing some extra work at the office today”

  “I’m sorry I pulled that stunt last night, I’m not sure what I was doing or why I did it, I just thought you’d like it or not, I just don’t know anymore”

  “Hey, don’t apologize for that” he said holding my chin up gently.

  I lifted his t-shirt to see his stomach and he had a large purple bruise on his left side, I ran my fingers on the outside and kissed it. “He has a good one on the side of his face, at least I can hide mine” he laughed.

  “I’d like to see him weasel his way out of that one with some lame excuse” he added.

  “What did Pam say?” I asked.

  “Oh you know, she was pissed I got involved. Wondered what possessed you to do that to her knowing what he was like, she was embarrassed and blah blah blah”

  “I still can’t believe he went that far” I remarked.

  “Well now you have an excuse to walk away”

  “I never said I would, he feels bad about it and he was pretty drunk last night” I said.

  “Are you serious? You’re going back there? Back to him?”

  “Yeah Marc, we’re married after all, I came here because I was scared last night and too angry to be around him”

  Mark took his hand and arm away, got up and paced around.

  “Please don’t even think of yelling at me because I will kick you out” I warned.

  He stopped and looked into my eyes.

  “You can’t go back there, he slapped you last night who knows what he’ll do to you next time”

  “He won’t touch me Marc, he loses half his fortune for spousal abuse, I contacted my lawyer to have a copy of the prenup delivered to his office tomorrow with that section highlighted”

  “What do you call this?”

  “I don’t want his money Marc, I love him”

  “You love him” he said despondent.

  “Yes”

  “and how do you feel about me?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure Marc, I know I want to be with you, is it love? Perhaps. But it doesn’t matter either way, my best friend is your wife”

  He sat beside me again and held my hand.

  “I don’t wanna talk all day Marc, please just be with me”

  He kissed me deeply holding my face and I flinched. He examined my face carefully and saw the bruising on the side of my face, the concealer had washed away a bit with my tears earlier.

  “Christ” he muttered shaking his head. He grabbed my hand and took me to the bathroom. He took my t-shirt off and undid my shorts stripping me naked. He did the same. Turned on the shower and put me in there with him. He held my face gently and kissed me again, deeply and passionately. I stroked his penis as he kissed me and he was very sensitive today, every slight touch he would flinch. “How long has it been? I asked him “Since we were last together” he whispered. It was clear now that things were over between him and Pam. He was mine and only mine and as much as it pained me to see the outcome of the end of their marriage, I was thrilled I had this effect on him in such a short period of time.

  We made love for hours, in the shower, the pull out bed, the floor, and in the bathtub. He inflicted no pain in me, nothing was forceful, or demeaning. He respected me and let me take control of his body and he loved every minute of it.

  After we had dinner we sat in silence in the little kitchenette table. He was holding my hand staring at me and I was staring vacantly at my cup of coffee. Time was running out for us, it was already almost 9pm.

  “I meant it when I said I’m falling in love with you” he began. “I don’t know how that’s even possible and it’s not about the sex or your body, you just understand me, you always have, since we were kids, and I think deep down you’ve stayed friends with Pam all this time just to be around me because deep down you and I have always had an unspoken attraction for each other” he continued “I always fantasized about you, even after I married Pam. Every time you came over, you would drive me crazy, your perfume, hearing your voice but I could never do anything about it, not until I saw the look in your face last Friday when I opened the car door for you. It was the exact same look you gave me in that closet all those years ago just before you kissed me. And don’t get me wrong I never meant to step out of my marriage, that’s not something I was planning to do or even crossed my mind, I tried loving her and I was in love with her for many years, but she became so angry and so degrading towards me with every child she had. I just can’t take it anymore and now I just don’t care” he said finishing his coffee.

  I exhaled and looked at him “You know it’s funny, but every guy I kissed or made out with before I married Rob, called me or at least tried to date me, and I’m talking way back, even in high school. However the only one that got away was you and now here we are. And yes you are completely right about Pam, I stayed friends with her all these years to keep an eye on you, because I too felt that attraction but I never realized that until now.” I began “I wish I could describe how I feel about you, and why I don’t want to let you go and I don’t think I can or have the strength to let you go. I tried all last week, but I can’t enough of you.” I said.

  He let go of my hand walked towards Victor’s music center. He looked through his iPod and started playing “All I want is you” by U2. “Dance with me” he said taking my hand and I did. I couldn’t stop sobbing through the entire song and he kissed me as we danced and my heart raced, the butterflies in my stomach fluttered wildly with every second that passed “I love you” he whispered looking into my eyes, I took a deep breath “I love you too” I finally exhaled and it felt so right saying it. We stared at each other as the song played till the end. We made love again after that, he loved me and I loved him deeply, there was no turning back now and my li
fe as I knew it would change forever.

  Marc left shortly after Victor came home.

  “Baby girl you’re glowing, did you have a nice time?” he asked giving me a wicked grin.

  “Victor I’m in deep trouble”

  “Let me guess, you told him how you really feel?”

  I smiled “I’m crazy about him, but I love Rob as well”

  “Really, after last night you’re telling me you’re still in love with Rob?”

  I sighed “I went overboard, I should have known better” I said.

  Victor grabbed a mirror and showed me my face. I gasped when I saw the bruising had turned darker and his fingers were clearly imprinted on my face, I pushed the mirror away.

  “Is that what you call love?” he asked reprimanding.

  I sank into the couch and closed my eyes.

  “I’m going to bed, you should do the same, and perhaps tomorrow you can make sense of things” he said and left.

  As I laid down I looked at my phone, and I had messages again.

  Pam: “He’s been gone all day, I know he’s cheating on me”

  Pam: “He said he had to work but I called him there and he didn’t pick up, I even called his brother and he couldn’t think of a reason for Marc being there.”

  Me: “He loves you Pam, he would never cheat on you”

  Pam: “He just got home, I’ll talk to you tomorrow”

  Rob: “I miss you Alexandra”

  Rob: “I want you, I need you here with me”

  Me: “I need more time”

  Rob: “Can we talk tomorrow?”

  Me: “I don’t know, it will be a busy day”

  Rob: “Please don’t leave me, I will do anything to keep you from leaving”

  Me: “Good night Rob”

  Marc: “I love you so much”

  Me: “I love you”

  Marc: “I can still smell you in my clothes”

  Me: “Meet me here during your lunch hour tomorrow, I’ll make sure to be here by noon”

  Marc: “Looking forward to it, good night beautiful”

  I cleared all my messages and fell asleep.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Victor, I’ll get Phillip to drop you off at work this morning”

  “Oh yay I get a driver, I’m loving this!” he said walking passed me in the bathroom.

  “Fuck, none of this shit is working, nothing is covering this Vic” I said. I had been fiddling with foundation and concealer. The bruising had turned to a deep purple with yellowing around it.

  “I can’t go to work like this, what are my going to say?” I added.

  “Honey, no one will believe a lame excuse, so you either go to work and face the music, or you don’t but that shit won’t disappear for another few days”

  “I’ll just put my hair to the side and see what happens” I was frustrated, it was embarrassing and the last thing I wanted to do was explain it.

  “Yeah that should work” Victor said sarcastically.

  I put my Fendi’s on and got in the elevator with Victor. There were two women in there looking right at me and looked at Victor in disgust. “Don’t look at me bitches, I didn’t do that, I don’t fuck women but I don’t hit them either” said Victor with attitude.

  I was mortified and somehow couldn’t wait till lunch time.

  I walked into work still wearing my sunglasses, everyone was staring at me or stopped to look as I rushed into my office. I closed the door behind me and my assistant paged me.

  “Just come in and talk to me” I said

  “Good morning Alexandra” Jerry greeted me with a large grin

  “Have a seat and let’s get to it, I have to leave for lunch today but I will be back shortly after 1”

  “Robert called this morning, wants you to call him back”

  I took my sunglasses off and looked at Jerry, he gasped “I don’t care how many times he calls, I’m in meetings all day” I said sternly putting my sunglasses back on.

  “Samples came in for N.M spring collection, they need an answer by the end of the day so they can go into production”

  “How does it look?”

  “Fabulous” he said and I knew that was a good thing which put a smile on my face.

  “The Japanese investors are coming in on Wednesday 10 am, the prospectus is all ready to go”

  “You are wonderful Jerry” I began “I have several meetings this week, I need you to find a really good makeup artist, please”

  “Consider it done” he said “It’s not of my business Alex, but that ain’t right” he said pointing to my face.

  I smiled “Dismissed”

  I spent the rest of the morning in the showroom with the designers and pattern drafters going over the Neiman Marcus spring collection and just like Jerry had said, it was fabulous.

  Phillip dropped me off in the basement of Victor’s building because I had key access. Victor also took the liberty of setting Marc up as an ongoing visitor. As soon as he got in the elevator, he locked his lips with mine and didn’t stop till we made it upstairs. Victor’s condo was close to the elevator doors, so I went out first to see if anyone was there, then I motioned for Marc to come, opened the door and let ourselves in.

  We undressed each other quickly, I was yearning for him and he was hard for me. We didn’t even make it to bedroom, I had his cock in my mouth as soon as his underwear dropped to the floor and I sucked him off until he was about to come. “My turn” I said laying down opening my legs wide for him, and he had his tongue inside me right away holding my hips thrusting me toward him so he could get deeper in me, and I was in ecstasy. “Fuck me!” I yelled out, he had me crazy, everything he did, and every move he made put me over the edge. He entered me violently but it felt amazing as he pushed and pulled me in and out of him. He controlled my body and he knew exactly how to move me so I would come explosively for him and I did. When we came, I pushed him back onto the floor, he was raw but I blew him until he came again, I enjoyed seeing him that way, I loved the look of pure pleasure on his face.

  “Hi there” he said looking into my eyes as he recovered, he was smiling.

  “Hey yourself” I smiled and bit my lip.

  “How’s your morning so far?”

  “Neiman samples came in and they are absolutely perfect, then you came in me and that was absolutely perfect as well”

  “How did it go last night when you got home?” I asked.

  “Fuck, I don’t wanna talk about it”

  “She told me that she knows you’re cheating” I said putting my bra back on.

  “Yeah I know”

  “So, what did you say?”

  “I denied it of course” he replied zipping up his pants.

  “Did she believe you?”

  “Why are we talking about this?” he asked a bit annoyed.

  “Because if she divorces you over adultery, she’ll take you for everything, I assume you have no prenup set up, correct?”

  “That’s correct” he replied.

  “Don’t give her a reason then, you need to change her mind somehow”

  “Alright I will deal with it, not that I’m worth anything anyway” he said putting his tie on.

  “Ok” I smiled finishing his tie and looked into his eyes.

  “If you’re wondering about our prenup. Alexam Limited is completely out of it. If I cheat on him, I get nothing from him, other than half the house and assets we purchased together excluding anything to do with my company. If he cheats on me I get 25% of what he’s worth, if he abuses me I get half, plus half the assets on both instances. If I were to have children I would get a sizable bonus. So as you can see I’m not in this for the money, I have money and that’s more than enough”

  “What if he kills you” he asked dejected.

  I swallowed. “He won’t do that” I exhaled.

  He nodded. “I have to get back to work” he said putting his suit jacket back on.

  “Of course, have a great da
y”

  He kissed my forehead and put his against mine holding the back of my head “I love you” he whispered.

  “I love you Marc” and he hugged me tightly “I’ll try to come by later, ok” he said and I nodded.

  I had something quick to eat and headed back to the office. When Phillip drop me off in front of the building, Rob was standing on the sidewalk with a very large bouquet of red roses. He was wearing his grey Armani suit with silver cufflinks. He had bruising on the side of his face as well, right on the jaw where Marc hit him.

  Phillip opened the door for me to get out “I won’t leave until he leaves” Phillip spoke softly.

  “I appreciate that” I replied, and just like he said he closed the door and stood by the car.

  “Alexandra” he said as he approached me.

  “I told you I didn’t want to see you until I was ready and I’m not ready”

  “Please accept these, it would mean so much to me” he said passing me the bouquet but I ignored it and I took off my sunglasses to show him what he’d done. He stepped back and he looked shocked. So I put them back on and walked on toward the building. I could see his reflection from the glass doors as I approached them, my car and Phillip were still there too vigilantly watching Rob. I almost felt sorry for him, I knew he’d be mortified being left there like that but he needed to know I meant business otherwise this would continue to happen once I returned home. Once I got in the elevator I was able to breathe.

  About ten minutes later after I arrived to my office, one of the security guards came by and delivered the roses to Jerry’s desk. Jerry brought them to me and I saw a note sticking on the side of the bouquet.

  “Dear Alexandra,

  Words cannot express the sadness and sorrow I feel over this.

  I’ve never wanted to hurt you the way I did, I was wrong and I admit it.

  But please give me another chance, don’t leave me, I can’t survive without you by my side.

  I can’t sleep, eat or even breathe, you are my everything.

  Please meet me for dinner tonight, I’ve made reservations for 7pm at that little bistro on King where we had our first date. We got a nice little private table in the back, just how we like it.

  I will understand if you don’t show up, but I will keep trying until I have you back in my arms.