by Eve Vaughn
“But still, the possibility is there. I’ll tell you what, I’ll close the shop and we’ll go home and figure out what we should do.”
“No, Fiona, I don’t want to involve you in this.”
“Sweetie, I’m already involved. You’re my friend and friends help each other out.”
“But the afternoon rush. People will wonder why the shop is closed in the middle of the day.”
Fiona waved her hand dismissively. “Let them wonder. This is an emergency. Everything will be all right. We’ll figure this mess out. Now dry those tears and gather your things so we can head out as soon as the remaining customers have left.”
Esther sniffed. “Thank you, Fiona.”
Fiona gave her a hug. “Everything will be all right.”
Esther wished she shared her friend’s confidence. “Thank you.” With a sigh, she stood up. “I should wipe the tables down and pack the remaining cakes to the homeless shelter.”
“Good idea. I’ll be out in a second, hon.”
Esther took a few more deep breaths before going out front. Fiona had a way of putting her at ease. She felt slightly better, but when she walked out to the front, she froze when she saw her nightmare come true standing in the middle of the shop.
Mike’s hands were stuffed in his pockets. He looked as if he’d gained a little weight in the months that she’d left. His hair that he usually kept cropped close to his scalp was now a mini-afro. The neat goatee he once sported was now a full beard. Mike had always taken pride in his appearance. He was after all an attractive man with his light brown skin, hazel eyes, and strong masculine features. She couldn’t remember a time when he ever left the house in his present state. It looked as if he’d gone through a complete transformation and Esther didn’t know what to make of it, but her first instinct was to run.
He actually smiled when she saw her but she wasn’t fooled for a second. In public, he was the perfect gentleman, but in private he was the Devil.
She backed away from him ready to take off at any second.
Mike stepped closer and Esther was thankful that the counter separated them. Her eyes darted to the two customers conversing at a table in the far corner. At least there would be witnesses if he tried anything.
“Esther. Honey. You look well.” His smile widened.
She found it odd that he didn’t ask why she’d left but then again, he already knew the answer. She was certain he was toying with her. Under no circumstances would she fall for this nice guy act.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
He laughed as if she’d just told the funniest joke. “To see my wife, of course. How are you? Did you miss me?” He took a step closer and she looked longingly at the door.
“I left you, so you tell me.”
“Well, it’s a good thing that I found you so I can take you home. Everyone has been so worried about you. You’ve been a bad girl, leaving in the middle of rehab.”
“Just leave me alone, okay? I’m not going back to you.”
He raised a brow. “Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. You’re coming home with me, right now in fact because I could make things very uncomfortable for that old lady you live with. 3828 Red Robin Lane, right? It would be a shame if she had an accident with the two of you becoming so close and all.”
Just as the tightening in her chest had subsided with Fiona’s words of assurance, it came back with a vengeance. He seemed to know everything about her, but did he know about Matthias? She’d never forgive herself if something happened to him because of her.
“Leave her out of this Mike. This is my home now. It’s over between us.”
“I beg to differ. In fact, I have a document that says that it isn’t. You have two minutes to get your belongings and come with me. I’m feeling generous right now and because I miss you so much I’m going to cut you some slack, but don’t mistake my kindness for weakness.”
She balled her fists at her sides. “No. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
A creepy smile curved his lips. “Oh? You think you’re in love with that Asian dude?”
Esther gasped in surprised. Did he have her followed? How long had he been tracking her, and if he knew so much about her life then why did he wait until now to find her?
“You don’t know anything about it.”
“Oh, I know that my wife has been cheating on me with some other guy and she’s very lucky that I’m a nice guy who’s willing to take her back. Now don’t make me tell you again. Get your things.’
Just then Fiona stepped from out back, “Esther, how is everything doing out here sweetheart.” The older woman seemed oblivious to what was going on because she didn’t see Mike at first, but when Esther didn’t respond immediately, she noticed the man standing at the counter.
Fiona looked to Esther and must have gleaned the terror that she felt. “Is that him?” she whispered although it was loud enough for anyone to hear.
Esther could only nod.
Fiona narrowed her gaze, glaring at Mike. “Leave my shop. You’re not wanted here.
Mike smiled, turning on that charm Esther knew so well. “I don’t mean to cause any trouble, ma’am. My wife and I were just having a conversation. I’m sure she must have been a fine employee while she was here and you’ll miss her, but she’s decided she’ll be coming home with me.”
Fiona turned to Esther. “That’s not true, is it?”
Esther was on the verge of saying no when the bell over the door chimed. Her heart dropped to see Matthias.
There was a smile on his face as he entered the shop but as he looked around him, he must have noticed the tension. “Esther, are you okay?”
Mike took that opportunity to interject. He approached Matthias and held out his hand to him. “You must be Matthias? I’ve heard so much about you.”
Esther began to shake. The fact that Mike knew Matthias’s name was terrifying.
Matthias looked at the offered hand before slowly taking it. “Um, yes. And how do you know me exactly?”
“From Esther of course. I’m Mike by the way. I’m guessing from the look on your face that Esther hasn’t mentioned me.”
Matthias shot a questioning glance in Esther’s direction before returning his attention back to Mike. “Should she have?”
Mike smirked. “Well, one would think I’d be mentioned, especially since Esther is my wife.”
Chapter Seven
Three Years Later…
“Come back to bed, Matthias. It’s still early. And there’s plenty of time to…” Rosemary sat up and allowed the sheet to pool at her waist, revealing large, pert breasts. They almost appeared cartoonish on her small frame but he was a man and had gladly taken what she had to offer.
“No, I’m going to head out.” He grabbed his clothing and quickly donned them.
She tossed a wave of blonde locks over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest. “So that’s it? You’re not even going to stay the night?”
He exhaled with exasperation. “I have things to do, Rosemary.”
“At three in the morning? If all you wanted to do was fuck, I wouldn’t have bothered cooking you dinner beforehand.”
Matthias raked his fingers through his hair, frustrated with the situation. He’d seen the signs that she was getting too attached, but work had kept him distracted to the point where he barely gave Rosemary much thought unless she contacted him. When she started to show up at his office and call him at random times during the day, he should have cut things off. But again, he didn’t really give her enough thought. Now in the wee hours in the morning, it was clear that she wanted way more out of their arrangement than he was willing to give.
“I didn’t ask you to cook dinner for me, Rosemary. While it was a nice gesture which I appreciate, I didn’t ask you to do it. Look, when we first met, I’d made it clear that I wasn’t looking for a relationship. You were the one who suggested a no-strings-attached affair. Was that a lie?”
“Of course not, and I thought that’s what I wanted to. But you have to admit, we have something pretty special. You can’t tell me that you haven’t developed some feelings for me on some level. I refuse to believe that.”
“You can refuse to believe that water is wet but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t. I was upfront with you and I haven’t changed my mind because we fucked a handful of times and you cooked me dinner. By the way, I’m not an idiot and I know you ordered that food from a restaurant. You could have at least been smart enough to hide the takeout boxes on the counter.”
Rosemary turned beet red from her neck to the top of the dark roots of her hair. “Well, I still made the effort to have a nice meal waiting for you. You can’t just use me and then cast me aside like some two-dollar whore.”
He rolled his eyes heavenward and silently prayed for the patience to get out of here without saying something he’d regret. Shrugging into his shirt, he turned his back to her so he wouldn’t have to deal with tears. Maybe he was being cold, but he’d never pretended they were more to each other than what they were: fuck buddies. Truthfully, they weren’t buddies. He had a dick, she had a pussy. She was an attractive woman, so he saw no reason to deny himself the gratification of a quick fuck whenever he had an itch that he needed scratching.
“So you’re not even going to acknowledge me when I speak to you?”
He turned to face her. Rosemary slid out of bed. She didn’t bother covering up. “What exactly would you like me to say that won’t further upset you? Because the way I see it, I can say a bunch of things that will make you feel better but I won’t mean any of them. I would hope that you’d appreciate my honesty.”
She closed the distance between the two of them and rubbed her surgically enhanced breasts against his arm as she ran her fingers through his hair. “You mean to tell me you’re willing to walk away from all this?”
Matthias pulled away, unmoved by her attempts of seduction. “I suppose I am. Look, it’s apparent that the two of us want different things out of our association so I’ll do us both a favor and end things right here.”
Rosemary took a step back as if he’d physically assaulted her. Being that she was a beautiful woman, it wasn’t likely that she dealt with a lot of rejection. “Fine, then get the fuck out of my house. It’s not like you’re that great in bed and you have tiny-dick, asshole.”
Matthias didn’t take her words to heart. He was confident enough in himself not listen to the ramblings of an angry woman. Besides, he’d never had any complaints in either department.
“Well, I suppose I’m doing you a favor then. Goodbye, Rosemary.”
“Fuck off, asshole.”
Without another word, he walked away, grabbing his keys on the way out. The last thing he wanted to do was go home and spend another sleepless night in bed. That’s probably why he’d taken Rosemary up on her offer to come over when she’d called.
Instead of going back to his condo, he headed to his office. It was still dark out and the only people in the building were security guards. The earliest any of his employees showed up to work was eight o’clock, including his assistant Kristen.
After making small talk with one of the guards, he headed to his office, but as he sat behind his desk and attempted to do work, he found himself staring off into space. The number. The date on his computer screen taunted him, making him remember things he’d hoped to forget.
The reason he had even answered Rosemary’s call earlier, despite having decided to end things with her before then, was because today was exactly three years to the day when he’d last seen Esther. Whenever he tried to forget, thoughts of her would invade his mind and not go away. So he had thrown himself into his career which had become the success that he and Chris had hoped for. Their two-man operation had now expanded to fifty people and within the year, they intended to further expand again and bring more associates on. Currently, they shared their office building with two other companies. He and Chris had recently hired a real estate agent to purchase their own office building because L & J Corporation was steadily growing.
Matthias wished his personal life was as successful as his professional one because when he wasn’t in the office or focused on work-related issues, things were absolutely shit. When work wasn’t enough he turned to the comfort of one-night stands, but no matter how many random beds he ended up in, none of those faceless women could erase thoughts of Esther.
He could still remember that day clearly, when she’d broke his heart.
“…Esther is my wife.”
Matthias yanked his hand away as if he’d been burned. He was certain he’d heard the other man incorrectly. Esther was married? No. He was obviously lying. But when he looked at the woman he’d fallen so hard for, he knew it was true. Tears glistened in her eyes as she trembled. She looked…frightened, but he dismissed it because he was angry. Besides, it was probably just an act because she had been caught.
“Matthias, I…I can explain.” Esther walked from behind the counter toward him but was intercepted by her husband who wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him.
It took everything within him not to punch Mike in the face. There was something about that guy he didn’t like, the main one being was that he was married to Esther.
Mike grinned. “What’s to explain, babe? That you were playing games with him?” The other man turned to Matthias. “Look, man. I’m sorry if she gave you the wrong impression. This isn’t the first time she’s done something like this. Whenever we have a rough patch, she runs off and toys with some unsuspecting fool. And then when she gets bored, she always comes home to me. Did she give you some sob story about how terrible things were between us?”
“That’s not—” Esther cried out but abruptly stopped.
And then Mike leaned down and pressed a kiss on the side of Esther’s neck.
Matthias wanted to be sick. She’d had him fooled. No wonder she had kept her past hidden. She was still married.
“So if she does this all the time then why are you still with her?” Matthias challenged.
“Because I’m a fool too, and I love her. Besides, the kids miss her.”
Children?
“I don’t have any children!” Esther shook her head vehemently.
Mike frowned. “Honey, of course, you do. Michael Jr. and Alicia.” I have a picture of us together. Mike pulled out a phone from his pocket with his free hand. He tapped the screen a few times and then held the device in front of Matthias.
He saw a picture of Esther holding a baby in her arms and a little girl posing beside her. Mike stood behind them. They looked like the perfect family.
Matthias had heard and seen enough. He turned to leave.
“Wait, Matthias, it isn’t what you think.”
He gave her one last look. Esther's eyes gleamed with unshed tears but he didn’t care. She’d lied to him and what hurt the most was that maybe, just maybe if she had been upfront about her situation in the first place he wouldn’t hold this contempt he currently felt for her. “Save your tears for your family.” He nodded toward Mike before heading out.
Matthias stormed out of the shop and that was the last he’d seen of her.
One day, something had drawn him to the shop, some unexplainable force that wanted him to verify for himself that the those few months he’d spent with her hadn’t been a dream.
As he was staring in the shop, he must have caught Fiona’s eye because she waved him inside but Matthias had silently declined with a shake of his head. Fiona, however, wouldn’t take no for an answer. She rushed outside.
“Matthias, listen—”
He held up his hand to stop her. “If you’re out here to defend her then I don’t want to hear it.”
“But you need to listen. It’s not what you think. Mike is not a good guy.”
“And apparently Esther is no angel either so I guess they’re made for each other.”
“That’s not true. Esther is the
sweetest girl I’ve ever met. She’s had a tough life and that Mike hasn’t helped.”
“Fiona. Save. It. I’m not interested.”
The redhead placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side? “Oh? Then why did you come by the shop?”
Matthias shrugged with a nonchalance he didn’t feel. “It’s a free country.”
“It’s because you still care.”
“Says you.”
She sighed. “Look, I can’t make you listen to me, but just know that things aren’t as they seem. And when you’re ready to finally listen, then I’ll be here to talk. In the meantime, I just hope you believe in some form of higher power.”
Matthias wasn’t exactly sure what that meant or if he should take her words as a threat. “Why?”
“Because you need to pray that Esther will be all right. I’m scared for her.”
“Yeah, well, that sounds like a you problem.” He walked away without waiting for a response.
After that, Matthias went out of his way not to pass the shop again. He would take a different route around town so he wouldn’t have to look at it and be reminded of how he’d been played for a fool.
But unfortunately, avoiding places they used to go and even buying a condo and a new bed hadn’t dispelled the memories of Esther. No matter how hard he tried or what he did, nothing could stop those sleepless nights when he’d lie awake thinking about her. His cock would be so hard whenever he thought of how good she felt wrapped around it. His mouth would water as he remembered how she tasted and his arms felt empty because she wasn’t in them.
Maybe, it was finally time to have that talk.
~~~~~~
“There you go. All done. What do you think?” Esther held up the mirror to her client.
“Wow, I look like a completely different person. You’re a magician.”
Esther smiled at her handiwork, happy that she could make someone happy with her skills. “It was my pleasure.”
