Accidental Surprises

by Tia Wylder

  “Not too much. I want you to be able to remember tonight.” Deckland eyed her playfully. He had never seen her enjoy herself so much in public before.

  Charles Kyle Sr. strode across the room towards them. He pulled an envelope out of an inside pocket of his jacket. “I think it’s time I gave you your wedding present.”

  Hayley’s eyes opened wide. “Mr. Kyle, you really didn’t need to. The wedding was more than enough—”

  “Hayley, remember what I said. You’re a Kyle now. The best way for you to start being one is to start living like one.” He handed her the envelope.

  The envelope felt heavier than she was anticipating. When she peered inside, she saw two metal keys and a slip of paper. Deckland retrieved the document and unfolded it. “You’re giving us a house?”

  “What?!” Hayley’s face went pale. It was too much.

  Mr. Kyle smiled softly. “I wanted you both to have a good start in life. If there is anything you don’t like about it, Hayley, we can always have some work done on it.”

  “Oh, no. I’m sure it is wonderful. Are you sure about this?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Hayley smiled and threw her arms around him in a warm embrace. “Thank you so much. I don’t know how we could ever repay you.”

  Deckland’s father blinked a few times before patting his daughter-in-law on the back. “Keeping Deckland on his feet is repayment enough. Now if you both will excuse me, I need to tend to my wife.” Charlotte was laughing while raising her glass to something a guest had said.

  The crowd eventually began to depart. Charlotte had been whisked off by Deckland’s father after she had started to get a little too loud. It was clear she had taken advantage of the evening to drink more than her fill of the alcohol being passed around. Jim and Theresa stood against a wall watching the children eat cake and try to dance like the adults. When the kids started to get sleepy, Jim helped her usher them back into the van they had arrived in. Hayley’s mother had found a tall, dark haired man to chat up.

  As the hired staff began to clean away the dishes and half-eaten pieces of cake, Deckland took Hayley’s hand and pulled her towards the staircase. “I think it’s time we retired, Mrs. Kyle.”

  “I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to that. To me, Mrs. Kyle is still your mother.”

  “I’m whisking you away to go ravish you. How about we don’t talk about my mother?”

  Hayley’s cheeks turned pink, but she didn’t say anything. Suddenly her heart her racing. Now that it was time for them to take the next step with their marriage, she was filled with nerves. She had spent most of her adult life wondering what it would be like, but now that the time had come, she felt almost panicky.

  Deckland pushed open the door to his room. It was the first time she had been in his room. A man’s bedroom had always been off limits for her. She had never allowed herself to venture into such a private space. It was like gazing upon a forbidden fruit but still hesitating before the first bite. The atmosphere was dark and brooding with very little personal touches. She hesitated at the threshold. He squinted at her before realizing what was wrong.

  “We can take it slow. I won’t make you do anything you aren’t ready for.”

  Breathing out a sigh of relief, Hayley stepped inside cautiously. “It’s not that I don’t want to…It’s just that I’ve waited so long for this moment, and now it’s finally here.”

  “All you have to do is relax. I’ll take care of everything else.” He slowly shut the door behind them.

  “Okay.” She still felt anxious as he walked over to her. Inside, she was worried it wouldn’t live up to the fantasy she had painted in her head. Butterflies flitted inside her stomach.

  Deckland gently pressed his lips to her neck. Her body shuddered under his kisses. She could feel her tension start to melt away. One of his hands slowly unzipped her wedding dress and let it fall to the floor. The chill of the air made her gasp. Hayley’s timid fingers fumbled with the buttons on his dress shirt. Deckland smiled and took off the shirt himself. Hayley pressed her body against his for warmth. Kisses continually fell from his lips onto different parts of her body. He lifted her up and placed her on the bed. The cool fabric of his sheets caressed her back.

  His hands slid up her body, exploring every hill and valley of her curves. Deckland lifted her upper body up with one hand as the other slipped behind her. Hayley felt her bra release under his fingers. Her breathing was shallow. Every inch of her skin was alive with electricity, anticipating his next touch. She closed her eyes to focus on the warmth of his skin against hers. His lips closed lightly around her nipple. Hayley squirmed underneath him, trying not to moan. His teeth gently nipped at her. A satisfied smirk twisted across his face. He loved that he could give her so much pleasure when he hadn’t even really started to warm her up yet. A strand of kisses made their way down her stomach. Deckland pulled at her panties. Her body arched automatically to help him take them off.

  Any remaining self-consciousness melted away as his lips grazed along her inner thigh. She sucked in a deep breath. Deckland lifted her legs onto his shoulders. Her initial reaction was to close her legs, but he wouldn’t let her. As he started kissing the most intimate part of her, Hayley found herself getting lost in the sensation. She relaxed into him. Her fingers grabbed his hair. His tongue darted back and forth. It was getting harder for her to keep quiet. Sitting up, Deckland crawled over her. As soon as he moved away from between her thighs, Hayley cried out in disappointment.

  He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m just getting started.”

  Balancing over her on his forearms, Deckland slid himself inside of her. The first thrust felt like a knife inside of her. She whimpered a little, but he soon took her mind off of the pain. Gently, he rocked back and forth. His breathing was coming in short puffs now. Slowly, her body accepted him. It surrounded him tightly in slick warmth. Deckland felt the pleasure building inside of him, but he wasn’t ready yet. He leaned down and kissed her sweetly on the lips. This was something they needed to savor. Her arms wound around him. Hayley dug her nails into his back. Her body began rocking back and forth, following his rhythm. Each thrust drove her crazy. Hunger to reach the summit of pleasure made her release her inhibitions.

  Their breathing increased. His eyes stared at her, unyieldingly. Each small gasp she let out made him want her more. Her nails dug deeper into his back marking him with a trail of red crescents. The pain worked with the pleasure to push him over the edge. Deckland felt her body tense under his as they climaxed together. The sweet ecstasy on Hayley’s face made him smile. He lingered inside of her. Rolling to the side, he pulled her head onto his chest.

  She giggled and held him close to her. Hayley could hear how quickly his heart was still beating. “Wow. I didn’t know it would be like that.”

  “Was it better or worse than you thought it would be?”

  “Better. So much better.” A sudden rush of emotions made her eyes tear up.

  Deckland wiped away the tear at the edge of her eye. “Are you okay? Are you glad you waited?”

  “Y-yes. I’m fine. Sorry, it was just so much more intense than I was expecting. And yes, I’m glad I waited.”

  “I’m glad you waited, too. Call it what you will, but it’s nice to know that I’m your first. It’s refreshing in a way.”

  “I’m starting to feel a little embarrassed. Can we talk about something else?”

  Deckland laughed and petted her hair. “Why are you embarrassed?”

  “It’s just a sensitive subject still for me. Please?”

  “Fine, but we’re married now. You’re going to have to get over your nerves eventually. There’s nothing embarrassing about talking to your husband. My job is to take care of you. Emotionally, fiscally, and physically.” His words sent shivers down her spine.

  “Deckland!” She hissed back at him as her cheeks flushed.

  Chuckling, he sighed. “Okay, okay. We can change the subject. H
ow was your wedding, Mrs. Kyle?”

  Her face instantly lit back up. “It was even better than I dreamed of. Everything was perfect. What about you? Did you enjoy yourself?”

  “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. Even if you had wanted to elope, I would have been happy.” His breathing was slowing now. His words were quieter.

  “Are you going to sleep?” Hayley pushed off of him and looked at him in amusement.

  “Shh.” He pulled her back down so that her head rested on his chest.

  Hayley curled up next to him until he was sound asleep. Once he was passed out, Hayley slipped out of bed and gathered her wedding dress around her. She made her way back to her room to grab her toothbrush and some pajamas before tiptoeing back to Deckland’s room. Stepping into his bathroom, she turned on the faucet and started brushing her teeth. A chime echoed from the bedroom. She peeked into the room. Deckland was still asleep. His phone chimed again. Hayley finished brushing her teeth and headed back towards the bed. A third chime finally won over her curiosity.

  Digging thorough Deckland’s pant pockets, she found his phone. A light flashed signaling he had an unread message. She didn’t want to wake him up, but if the message was important, she didn’t want him to miss it either. Innocently, she turned on his screen and clicked on the unread messages. The screen staring up at her made her lose all color in her cheeks. Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach.

  Naked photos of a woman she didn’t recognize filled up the phone’s screen. The messages dated back to before she had even met Deckland. It looked like he had stopped replying, but he hadn’t deleted the messages. The whole time she had been with him, he had been keeping photos of another woman. He hadn’t even told her to stop sending them. Hayley choked back a heartbroken sob.

  Her thighs were still sticky from their wedding night. Overwhelming devastation devoured her. Inside she was broken. Her trust, her purity had been given to a man that had been betraying her throughout their entire relationship. Hayley choked back the nausea burning her throat. She couldn’t crawl back into bed with him. Not after seeing the pictures on his phone.

  Trembling, Hayley’s fingers managed to find a notepad and a pen on a desk in Deckland’s room. Tears splattered on the paper as she wrote a note to her new husband. In the same night, she had gone from the happiest she had ever been to a shell of herself. Hayley placed the note on his bedside table. Deckland’s face remained serene as he slept oblivious to the pain he had caused her. Hayley gathered her things from her room and disappeared into the night.

  Chapter 18: Blurred Lines

  Deckland stirred and stretched. Sunlight drifted through the curtains. “How did you sleep?” He felt beside him with his eyes still closed. His hand skimmed across the empty sheets. “Hayley?” Deckland sat up with a quizzical look on his face.

  Something in his stomach knotted up. His eyes scanned the room. Was she already awake? He ran his fingers through his hair. The scratches Hayley had left on his back sent out an echo of pain from the night before. Deckland noticed a slip of paper beside his phone. He lifted it up, expecting a sweet love note. As he read over the tear-stained paper, his veins ran cold. Terror and shame invaded him.

  “Deckland,

  I found the pictures on your phone. I don’t want to cause you any problems. Just tell your parents I went to the new house early if they ask. I can’t stay here. I don’t want a divorce. I think that marriage should be forever, but I can’t share a bed with a man who needs to look at other women like that. You can live your life. I’ll live mine. Please, don’t try to find me. You’ve already hurt me enough.”

  His face felt numb. Picking up his phone from the bedside table, he turned it on. Staring up at him were the pictures that Brittany had been sending him. It was true that he hadn’t deleted them, but it wasn’t like he was asking for them either. He hadn’t even texted her back since he met Hayley. In hindsight, he should have blocked her number or deleted them as soon as he had gotten them, but part of his old lifestyle must have been hanging on. To him, it wasn’t a big deal, but Hayley operated on a different level than he did.

  ‘Please don’t try to find me?’ Where could she have gone? It didn’t matter what the note said. She was hurting, and it was his fault. They had been married less than twenty-four hours. This wasn’t how he had wanted her to remember their first night together. He had taken something that should have been perfect for her and managed to ruin it. All because he had kept some pictures that he didn’t even really care about.

  Deckland pulled up Hayley’s number on his phone and pressed the call button. “Come on. Come on! Pick up.” The phone went straight to voicemail. He hung up and tried again. Still no answer. “Hayley, when you get this, call me. We need to talk about this. I love you.”

  His voice shook as he hung up the second time. Anger at himself and disappointment burned him from within. In a sudden burst of self-loathing, he hurled his phone across the room. The screen shattered leaving behind a spider web pattern. Deckland huffed and stomped across the floor to snatch it back up. Half of the screen was black even when he turned it on now. The dead pixels glared up at him. Despair ate at him. He had never let his temper get that out of control before. He couldn’t just sit there and do nothing while she was out there alone.

  Dressing hurriedly, he grabbed his car keys and his smashed phone. He had to find her. There had to be a way for them to fix this. It suddenly struck Deckland how invested he was in his relationship with Hayley. Before her, he wouldn’t even have batted an eye at a girl walking out on him. He would have had the next girl in line on the phone before the first one had even pulled out of his driveway. The ache in his chest spread outwards with every beat of his heart. No. They couldn’t end like that. He wouldn’t let them. What he had with Hayley was worth fighting for, and he intended to prove it.

  Chapter 19: Numb

  The tears had stopped falling only because she was dehydrated. Hayley had decided to walk around town to clear her head. A backpack with some bare necessities in it clung to her back. As she walked, the city became alive around her. It was an odd contrast to be so empty inside while the world around her continued as if nothing had happened. A small sign propped up in a window caught her eye: Apartment for rent. Inquire inside.

  An apartment? She hadn’t given much thought to where she would go once she left Kyle Manor. Deckland knew where she lived before, so that was a no go. If she went to her mother’s house or Chelsea’s, then Deckland would find her for sure. Maybe a new place was exactly the thing she needed. Her feet carried her across the threshold. Air conditioning stung her bloodshot eyes. Hayley blinked and looked around.

  “Can I help you?” A woman with very curly brown hair leaned out of an office door in the lobby.

  “Um, I’m here to see about the room you have for rent.”

  “It’s just a studio apartment. It’s not much, but it will put a roof over your head.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t need much.” Hayley shifted her backpack to a more comfortable position.

  “Are you in some trouble?” The woman studied Hayley closely.

  “I-I just had a bad breakup.” It wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t entirely a lie either.

  For a second, the woman glanced at Hayley’s wedding ring. “Do you have a job?”

  “I did…but I’m looking for a new one.”

  “How about this? Why don’t you take the room, and in exchange for rent you can help me out in the office? I have some paperwork that needs to be done, and I need someone to mop the lobby and the hallways.”

  “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

  “Come on. Let’s get you set up.” The woman pulled a key from a corkboard behind her and started up a flight of stairs. Once they were on the second floor, she shimmied the key into the lock. “Here you are.”

  Hayley’s eyes skimmed the room. It was plain with some off-color patches where holes had been patched. The kitchen was small, but it would fi
t her needs. Grey carpet lined the floor. A small brown stain darkened one corner. From the doorway, she could see a small window looking out onto the back parking lot.

  “I know it’s not much.” The woman started to make excuses for the room.

  “No. It’s perfect for me. When would you like me to start working?”

  “Why don’t you start tomorrow? It looks like you could use some rest.”

  Hayley nodded. “Thank you.”

  “And by the way, why don’t we just put you down as Jane Doe on the lease? That way if whoever hurt you comes looking around, no one will be able to tell him where you are.”

  “Oh, no, it wasn’t that kind of—”

  The woman held up her hand to stop Hayley. “You don’t have to justify yourself to me. I’m Mrs. Harper by the way.”

  “Hayley.”

  The two women shook hands. After the landlady was gone, Hayley quickly latched the door shut. She placed her backpack on the ground and used it as a pillow. It was a far cry from the plush bedding she had gotten used to at Deckland’s house. Her body had grown accustomed to the softness of the mattresses and the luxurious blankets. Trying to ignore the pain and discomfort in her back, she struggled to fall asleep.

  Hayley managed to rest for a few hours. Her sleep was plagued with images of the girl on Deckland’s phone. She woke herself up screaming at one point. Stiff from the hard flooring, Hayley eventually gave up on sleep and just sat up. She stared off into space. This wasn’t what she had hoped for when she had gotten married. All of the fantasies she’d had as a little girl had been shattered.

  Over the next month, her days were filled with busy work to keep her mind occupied, and her nights were filled with terrors. Deckland had tried to call and text her multiple times, but she had never responded. Hayley hated that every time her phone went off, her heart still leapt when she thought it was him. The stress was starting to get to her. She seemed to be making herself physically sick from heartbreak. It was to the point that even Mrs. Harper was noticing.