by Anders, S.
Liv sat, with a plop, on the lawn chair. She grabbed her wedding ring finger. The ring was just a simple gold band. No buying his wife diamonds with any of that money he had. Oh no, not for Andrew Darwin the Third. Liv gripped the wedding band on her finger and tugged it off, then she raised her hand. She took a big swing backwards, then forwards and she let the ring fly out into the grass.
“Was that your wedding ring?” Axel’s voice sounded behind her.
She peeked over her shoulder at him. It looked as if he’d taken a quick shower. She nodded, not saying a word. He walked to her carrying a glass of wine. “Way to go, Liv.”
She nearly smiled. She took the wine glass and thanked him for that. He looked good in jeans and a white tank top that showed off his muscular upper arms. The white against his dark bronze skin was riveting as she watched him go and get a grill out of the back door of the garage.
For some reason she was thinking that just jumping Axel, and having hot sex with him, would make her feel better. A new man, new feelings ... could they wipeout the old bitter feelings? Liv turned her gaze away from Axel and toward the hills. That would be using him and she didn’t want to think of Axel that way.
She drank half her glass of wine, while sitting looking at the hills. Every time her mind drifted toward that video, she forced it back. She heard the screen door open and close behind her.
“Nice steaks, Liv. I made a salad too. Do you want to eat out here?”
It was time for her to stop being a slug, Liv thought, setting her glass of wine down. She stood, turning to look at Axel. “Out here would be nice, let me get the plates and stuff.”
He looked her over as though judging her condition, then nodded and turned to start tossing the steaks on the gas grill. “I’ll take whatever dressing you are using,” he said.
She wanted to hug him for making it all so normal. When she scooted inside, she stopped in her room to fix her makeup a bit. Then when she went to the kitchen she noticed the camcorder was gone out of the living room. She immediately turned her mind away from that.
Over dinner, she and Axel had another silent agreement not to talk about their soon to be ex’s.
“Seems we should have known each other in high school, Liv,” Axel said, sitting back after they finished eating. His temple scrunched a bit as he studied her. “I know I would not have forgotten seeing you.”
Warmth spread through her and it was the pleased kind, not the embarrassed kind. “I went to high school a couple towns over because my mother worked over there and stayed during the week. My dad was trying to help Gran with the rose farm by then, because he’d lost his job when the mill shut down.” She paused looking through her glass of wine. “He hated working the rose farm though. I think that was why Gran left it to me.”
Axel turned in his chair toward the hills. “Still, we could have met at any of the football or basketball games.”
She smiled at him, relaxing more. “I did go to some games and sit with the pep rally. Did you play either?”
He shook his head. “My aunt was a single parent trying to raise me. She couldn’t swing getting me to and from practices. Besides, I needed extra help with the school work.”
“I can’t imagine that,” she said.
He shrugged looking at the hills, then back at her. “I couldn’t sit still back then. My concentration was crap. Oh sorry, I mean it was bad.”
She laughed a little. “I was pretty crappy at math and science. I nearly didn’t graduate.”
His nice mouth turned into a smile. “You don’t get fussy at a little word like crappy?” She shook her head, swinging her hair.
“And now you use a tax accountant for the math stuff?” he surmised.
Liv chuckled. “Yep. Maybe we use the same one?”
They discovered over some more small talk that they used the same tax guy, the same auto repair guy, and they both went to the same dentist; a lady this time. An hour later when she was taking the dishes back into the kitchen, she heard her cell beeping from inside her purse in the living room.
She was just looking at the text messages from Carlos saying, the fertilizer was spread over a fourth of the rose field and he thought he could finish it by the end of the week, when it rang.
“Hello.” A second later, Liv realized she’d forgotten to check who it was.
“Liv? Liv, what’s going on?”
Liv cringed, it was Andrew. Damn, she didn’t want to speak to him with the images of that video in her mind. Especially since she needed to pretend she didn’t know all of it. She heard Axel behind her and she looked at him kind of desperately. He mouthed Andrew’s name, and she nodded.
“I’m not ready to talk to you, Andrew,” she said, finding it real easy to put coldness and loathing into her voice.
“But what happened at the damn house? Have we been burglarized?” Oh no. Liv’s eyes widened. Axel grasped her waist, whispering her name in concern. Her gaze darted across Axel’s face as she thought furiously.
“I needed something for the taxes, Andrew. It’s not my fault you are never home to keep our papers straighten out so I can find anything.”
Axel squeezed her waist, nodding as if she was doing well.
“So this mess is just you looking for some tax things. Even in the bedroom, Liv?”
“Your wife leaves you a note saying she can’t take you being absent in your marriage any longer and this is what you call her about? This just shows it exactly.” Liv knew she would hit a sore spot with Andrew.
“That is not fair! I was concerned. Life doesn’t revolve around this stupid town ...”
“Or your wife,” she interjected hotly.
“Now, Liv ...”
“I won’t be home for a while, Andrew. Deal with it. And while you are at it, decide which is more important me or your damn country club.”
Liv cut the call, breathing hard. Axel’s hands left her waist and he stepped back giving her some space. The words left her mouth before she could catch them back. “Now they have time to be together.”
Axel backed away more, while putting his hands in his jean pockets. “Yeah,” he answered solemnly.
She felt awful. “I’m sorry, I just forgot I was looking at our house for evidence before I left and I made a mess.” She swung her hand up in exasperation. “Just like him to notice now, like he never did before.”
“So he thought ...” Axel prompted.
“Someone might have burglarized the house.” She looked sheepish.
Light amusement hit Axel’s dark eyes. “You snooped that much?”
She shrugged. “I guess I got carried away. But I did find things I thought a lawyer might use like cell phone bills and credit card receipts.” She sighed. “Hopefully Andrew doesn’t realize what’s gone and start to put two and two together.”
“You need to get to the lawyer,” Axel said. “I talked to mine today and he was very helpful.”
She ran her fingers through her wavy hair. “I have an appointment tomorrow.” She bent to put her cell back into her purse. “That felt strange, as if I was guilty of something.”
“Good people have emotions like that even if they are not the right emotions to have about it, but bad people just don’t care.”
She sighed, nodding at his wisdom. Then she said slowly, “I’m not sure ...” She paused, not looking up at him, but she finally just spit it out. “I’m not sure we should be doing this.” She emphasized “this” with a wave around them.
“I’m not coming closer, respecting your space, no matter how much I want too,” he said lowly, making her glance up at him. His brown eyes were bronze in the twilight of the room. “It’s not that I don’t think the same thing at times. We were both married. I mean are married, but thought we had real marriages not days ago. That’s a hard thing to just set aside.”
“You’re right,” she murmured. “It’s a good point, but I’m almost more worried about going to soon for us, and then messing it up.” She sighed, shaking
her head and moving her hair around her shoulders. “I mean if there is an ‘us’ or will be ...”
“Liv, can I hold your hand?” he asked.
She instantly nodded, and she felt so much warmth and intimacy when their fingers entwined. Yet he didn’t come any closer, which she appreciated, while parts of her were clamoring for her to go closer to him. “It’s too soon, I know.” He hung his head. “I’ve moved too fast, needing comfort.”
“No,” she exclaimed softly, squeezing his hand. God she wanted to hug him, run her fingers over his hair and his back. “I’ve been moving too. It’s not been one sided.”
He smiled, a little, looking under his black lashes at her. “At first I thought a fling might be hot.”
She trembled with arousal flaring through her that had been on edge ever since meeting him. Their hands seemed to pulse against each other. “Any other woman,” he murmured.
She wondered what he meant. Any other woman than the woman whose husband was screwing his wife ... and he’d have tried to bed her. Or did he mean, she’d become special and he couldn’t. Yet.
She laughed a little as if she understood all he said, even though she could only guess. “Any other man,” she murmured.
His thumb caressed her palm. “I don’t think I’m crazy, Liv. I think we have something. But it’s too soon and I promise to back off.” He undid their hands, his eyes looking as if they caressed her face. “For now,” he added.
“I don’t think you are crazy,” she whispered, and then she turned and went to her room, quietly closing the door.
Chapter Nine
Axel was gone the next morning when Liv got up after a half-hearted attempt at sleeping. Too many thoughts plagued her from questions about the collapse of her marriage, to disturbing feelings her body wouldn’t let go of. Like the subtle horniness that had her fighting the urge not to get herself off to thoughts of Axel making love to her or having that “hot fling” as he called it.
God, if they could just have sex together — and then not care — and then walk away afterward without a thought. But she was afraid neither of them was capable of maybe hurting the other with another blow, after the punches of the affair. How cruel would it be to double kick each other like that? One of them might care, one might not. She was sure she would care. As much as she wanted to be worldly and just have a smoldering affair, she knew she would care and have feelings about it. She would have feelings about him. Of course she would about Axel — she wouldn’t want to let him go.
He seemed to think more of her than just a fling, but how could he know when his head was so messed up about his wife’s cheating? No, they had to wait — they couldn’t hurt each other more.
“And if I were kind, I’d get out of here,” she muttered, walking into the kitchen wearing her own clothes she’d brought over. “It’s kind of tempting temptation here.”
Immediately, she smelled the coffee and found half a pot on the counter. She poured a cup and turned to see a note on the table. Picking it up, she instantly smiled.
“I won’t call you sweetheart, honey, or babe,” she read, chuckling. “Liv, don’t go.”
Her eyes widened as she straightened her back. How could he know that she’d been considering that? She kept reading aloud.
“We will be friends. We’re both adults. We can manage that and we need each other’s support.”
Liv took a sip of coffee looking out the kitchen window without really seeing anything as she sighed. It was going to get hairy and emotional dealing with their spouses, having Axel around for support would be ...
“Heavenly,” she whispered. “If I can just keep my traitorous body under control.” What Axel didn’t realize was how much she just wanted to fall into bed with him. She was saying one thing, but trying to run away from another thing.
Turning her gaze back down, she read Axel’s scrawl. “I’ll be out all day. I hope we can have dinner tonight together. Talk about things. Your friend, Axel.”
After convincing herself she could be an adult and put aside her attraction to Axel — that they could support each other just as friends — she text him.
“See you at dinner.”
He text back. “I’ll cook.”
Then, she went to see her new lawyer, and coming out of the building after the appointment she ran directly into Andrew. Lord help her, if she’d only been looking up and not looking down, while thinking through the things the lawyer had said, then she’d have seen Andrew. And then avoided him!
“Liv, what are you doing here?” Andrew kept walking toward her, while looking at the building she’d just exited, then back at her suspiciously. Had he seen her walk out of the building, she wondered? He came up to her and tried to give her a hug, which she stiffened at, feeling sick to her stomach.
“That’s a hell of a hello,” he accused as she stepped back.
She wanted to scream at him, biting back her response, she just glared. “Hello,” she said stiffly.
He looked angry as if she’d done something to mess up his life and not the other way around. “So, it’s going to be like this is it?” he asked, stepping into her space. “You’re going to be a bitch.”
She nearly slapped him. Her hand rose partway to do it. “And you're going to attack and not listen,” she said slowly, trying to keep the fury out of her voice.
“Maybe I don’t care,” he returned flippantly, and then he stepped back from her with his eyes glittering. “This shit you pull is getting old,” he said, then he just stalked past her.
What the hell was he talking about, she wanted to scream. They argued ... sure. But she’d never left him before. “Don’t expect me home anytime soon!” she exclaimed after him.
Then the worst blow of the entire encounter happened when he only shrugged his shoulders and kept walking without looking back at her.
Liv clutched her stomach, blinking back her tears. She turned and rushed to her car before she outright bawled. Once she reached the SUV she got inside slamming the door shut and her eyes treacherously sought out where her husband had gone.
She saw he was at the end of the block, and before he crossed the street he turned and looked around once, then he crossed and he turned immediately up onto a short drive. Her eyes lifted and she read the sign aloud.
“Oakwood Hotel.” Tears burned her cheeks. “That bastard!” He was going to see her now! Her hands shook as she grabbed her phone from her purse. She tried twice through her tears to get Axel’s phone.
“Hello, Liv?”
“He just made it seem like I’m a bitch and I did something to our marriage,” she sobbed into the cell. Her voice caught several times over her words.
“Oh, baby, did you see Andrew?”
“Yes!” she cried. “Axel, he’s just gone into a hotel, right here where I can see from my car!”
“You’re crying. I can hear you’re upset, sweetheart. Try to calm down. I’ll be there.”
“Axel, he doesn’t care I left him,” she sobbed. “He’s going to use it to get out of our marriage. I can tell!” She scrubbed her face with her free hand, then she watched Andrew come back outside the hotel and walk to a room door out front.
“Liv, where are you? Tell me where you are.”
“He’s going to a room right out front,” she whined, then she told Axel where she was.
“I’m five minutes from you. Liv, try to calm down. The bastard’s not worth it.”
Liv shuddered, feeling the truth of Axel’s words cut through her upheaval. She took a deep breath. “You’re right. He j-just blindsided me.”
“Another three minutes and I’ll be there,” Axel said.
Liv watched Andrew start to open the door, but then the door flew opened on its own and Liv saw Kiki standing there in a towel. There was a brief flash of them together, then they were inside with the door closing.
“No, Axel. I will come to you. Tell me where you are.”
She fought back more tears, but saving Axel from seei
ng what was happening became very important. It took a moment to convince him she was okay to drive and she had to drive too him ... meet him somewhere. Finally, she just said, “I’m not staying here. I’ll be at that big park by the lake.”
She clicked off her cell about whatever else she might say, because he could be there before she could convince him. Then she quickly started her car with images of Andrew and Kiki embracing burned inside her brain ... over the images of them in bed off the video where Kiki was giving Andrew a blowjob. It just heaped more on it.
The park was big, but she parked toward the front and she got out of her car to wait by the bumper so Axel would be sure to see her. She took a moment to try to repair her makeup, but nothing could hide her red eyes or nose from Axel as he pulled up, and got out of his car to walk toward her.
He looked grim, searching her face with concern and she just walked into his embrace. His strong arms folded around her, offering comfort that she soaked up.
“Kiki was there wasn’t she?” he asked. “You saw her, and that’s why you had to meet me here.”
She only nodded with her tears coming hard and fast. It seemed she was always crying and she hated that, but she couldn’t seem to stop.
Axel held Liv, with his chin on top of her head, as she cried. He was pissed — so freaking angry that their spouses kept hurting them. He and Liv didn’t deserve it. That bastard Darwin — treating his wife like that. Yet as furious as he was, it lost its potency before Liv’s anguish. It just fizzled as he stroked her soft hair and murmured that it would be alright.
What wouldn’t he do, to see her not cry like this again, but he was glad he was there for her. Probably, having Liv to comfort kept him from going to kick down the hotel room door. He felt numb where Kiki was concerned. What he wanted was for the divorce papers to be served and for it to be all out in the open so he and Liv could try to move on and not have to wallow in it anymore.
Liv was calming as he slowly stroked her nape. He wasn’t sure how he could just be friends holding her like this. She felt right ... as if she fit him.
