by Christina OW
She shook her head, crying harder. “I’m sorry!”
The last thing he wanted was her apology. “How could you do this to me? How could you have a child with another man?”
“You don’t understand!”
He shook her. “Understand what? That you slept with another man? That you had his baby? I waited for you! I didn’t touch another woman and it wasn’t because I never had the chance. We were married and I respected my vows! I stayed faithful!”
She shook her head. “Ruiz—”
He shook her again. “Did you or did you not fuck him!”
“Ruiz, please.”
“Answer the fucking question!” he yelled.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean too. I was drunk—”
His ears began to buzz and he didn’t hear what she said after. It was a severe blow to the gut. He wanted to hit something, to throw her across the room.
“Ruiz, you’re hurting me!”
She said the words but they didn’t register in his mind, neither did the cries of the baby.
“Ruiz!” Someone shoved at his shoulder and all it did was tighten his grip and pull Melody away from the wall before he slammed her back against it. She cried out and he immediately released her. She fell onto her feet, pressed herself against the wall and stared up at him with fear in her eyes. That only made him madder. He screamed his rage, punching the wall right above her head before he stomped out of the room.
“Ruiz wait!” she screamed grabbing his arm and hanging onto it. She pulled at him, trying to stop him but he only dragged her with him. “I need to tell you something Ruiz. Please stop.”
He stopped, spinning around so fast she stumbled back. Jon Luc caught her by the shoulders and steadied her.
“No, I’m done. I’m done living in a fantasy. I’m done expecting my life to have a happily ever after when it’s clearly isn’t supposed to. I’m done getting screwed over because I left myself open and vulnerable. I’m done! I’m going back to how I lived my life before, single and with very little complications. Why the hell did I think I could do this marriage thing?”
Melody’s face was stricken by his words but he didn’t allow himself to care.
“Wait, you don’t mean that!” she cried.
“The hell I don’t!” he bellowed, “You married another man and had his baby. Consider this a favor. I’ll divorce you instead of having you arrested for bigamy and you can have your little happy family.” With that said, he turned around and fled, his own words burning a hole in his chest. He half ran to his suite and when he got there, he bumped into Cheri at the open door.
“Monsieur Ruiz! I was just—”
“I don’t give a damn what you were just doing, but I do care about what you are about to do.”
Through narrowed eyes she asked, “And what would that be?”
He reached behind her and pushed the door wide open. “Don’t worry, you’ll like it,” he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her to him, viciously taking her lips in a hard kiss. He pulled away and asked, “Any more questions?”
She smiled up at him, licking her lips. “No.” she jumped on him, wrapping her legs around him.
“Good,” he brought her head to his resuming his hard kiss as he walked into the suite, pushing the door shut with his free hand.
* * * *
Melody stared at the door as it swung shut behind Ruiz. The bang echoed right into her chest as his words replayed in her head. It couldn’t be over, not like that.
“I need—I need to go after him. He didn’t let me explain,” she cried desperately, struggling out of Jon Luc’s hold.
“Right now isn’t the time Melody, he’s too angry,” he argued gently.
She turned on him. “What if he falls into another woman’s arms while I wait here for him to calm down, what then? I can’t let that happen!”
Jackie took her hands in hers. “Honey, where is he going to get a woman to sleep with between here and his suite?”
Jon Luc cursed under his breathe. “Cheri. She’s been trying to get some information for Antonio and I wouldn’t put it past her to seduce Ruiz next. And in his current state…” He shook his head and gave Melody a pitying look.
Her blood went cold. God it was him Antonio was talking about on the phone! She couldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t lose him and especially not to her, not to that whore!
“I need to go!” she exclaimed backing towards the door.
“Wait,” Jackie exclaimed stopping her. “Take all your belongings, move into the suite and make him see the mistake he made just now.”
“I don’t think that’s the right approach,” Jon Luc commented skeptically, echoing Melody’s thoughts.
“It’s how I got my husband. We were married forty two years before cancer took him,” she turned fully to Jon Luc. “Try to get her out of her second marriage. Knowing Antonio, I’m sure there was something illegal about it—besides the bigamy thing,” she finished with a dismissive hand wave.
With a faint smile Jon Luc said, “Oui madame. But be careful, Antonio may not like your move and with everything that is about to happen, being near Ruiz is the best protection you can get.”
Melody fisted her hands in her hair in despair. “I don’t care about Antonio right now. For the year we’ve been apart, it hurt but I always knew I’d get Ruiz back but now…” She clutched her hand to her chest gasping. “It feels final. Right here I feel like I’m dying!”
Jackie hugged her tight then held Melody away from her. “Let’s go pack.”
“And I’ll go work on your hopefully fake second marriage. Au voir,” Jon Luc said before he left.
They made quick work of packing Melody and Esme’s things. They didn’t even take much just the bare necessities. Melody was so antsy she asked Jackie to carry Esme as she carried the bags. She’d already pissed Ruiz off, dropping his daughter because she was shaking so bad would be the final nail to the coffin.
She wasn’t sure how long it took them to get here. Her mind was filled with explanations, apologies and the amount of begging she would have to do to get him to forgive her. She used her key card to get in and her heart stopped the moment she stepped in. The bags fell out of her hands and onto the ground with a loud thud. The noise was enough to get their attention that they stopped mauling each other and looked up.
“No,” she croaked, falling against the landing table. It couldn’t be, her thoughts screamed as she vehemently shook her head. She was just having a nightmare, that’s what it was. “This isn’t real.”
Ruiz stood up, his pants hanging open, riding low on his hips, “It was about to get even more real before you interrupted us. What the hell are you doing here Melody, and with those?” he asked, pointing to her feet.
She looked down. He meant her luggage. But that was inconsequential at the moment. She looked up at him. His open pants that exposed his black briefs and the obvious arousal, his chest filled with red lip prints from Cheri’s lipstick that set a trail to his neck and ending on his pink lips. She turned to Cheri. She was laying on the floor by the fireplace, naked except for the barely there black thong. She was flushed, sweaty and panting for breath, her swollen and red lips spread in a satisfied smug grin.
It was just a few hours ago he had Melody on that floor, making love to her and now…
She turned to him rage blazing inside her. “You were going to fuck that whore there?” she yelled.
He shrugged combing his hand through his mused hair to push it out of his eyes. “So?”
“So?” she echoed. That word and the manner he said it was like a dagger through her heart.
“Melody,” she felt Jackie’s hand on her arm but she pulled away. She didn’t want to be comforted. She wanted to hurt someone as much as she hurt.
“So?” she repeated turning her gaze to Cheri. She still lay on the floor, her breasts exposed moving up and down with each breath she took, her legs spread wide like she was waiting for Ruiz to fall back
between then and of course that smug joker grin. She thought she won. Melody was about to disabuse her of that notion.
She matched past Ruiz to Cheri. The bitch was so sure of herself she grinned wider as Melody approached.
“You like being the hotel whore? Well then, I’m about to expand your client list.” She grabbed Cheri by the hair and pulled, forcing her to her feet. She screamed and cured as Melody dragged her past Ruiz and Jackie—who didn’t attempt to stop her—to the door. She then opened the door and literally put her foot on Cheri’s bare ass and pushed her out.
Cheri flew falling to her knees before she quickly stood covering her two floaters with her hands. Such modesty when seconds before she’d laid herself out not even caring Melody and Jackie were in the room.
“My clothes!”
Melody shook her head. “Why? I’m sure every male in the hotel has already seen it all. And hey, this way, you won’t have to say ‘cunt open for business’ with each john you meet. One look at you and they’ll know for sure.” She went to close the door but stopped to say one last thing. “Go back down on your knees, I promise you’ll have a line all the way down the corridor in minutes, but please do that in the lobby.”
She slammed the door shut and turned around to meet Ruiz’s glaring eyes, Cheri’s clothes in his hand. Melody barricaded the door. “You’ll give her those over my dead body!”
He rolled his eyes. “No need to be melodramatic princess.” He then grabbed her arm and pulled her away like a rag doll. She barely had her footing when he let go and she fell onto one of the suitcases. Ruiz didn’t even spare her a glance. He opened the door and handed Cheri her clothes.
Cheri glared then laughed when she spotted Melody on the floor. She then dropped her hands from her breasts and pressed them against Ruiz’s chest. “Why don’t we take this someplace else?”
Ruiz gave her a lopsided come heather grin. “I’ll call you…soon.” Then he slowly pushed her back a few steps, out of the way and closed the door. He turned to her and glared down at her. “You intend on sitting there all day crying?”
Melody raised her hand to her cheek. She hadn’t realized she was crying, nor what she felt more, rage or hurt.
When he kept staring at her like a spoilt brat, she knew what she felt strongest—rage. She shot up with fists raised and murder in her heart. She punched at his chest, kicking and screaming at him. “How could you? How could you?”
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Basta! For fuck sake, can you behave like an adult for once?”
She pulled away from him. “Behave like an adult? Ha!” She slapped him pushing his head to one side then returned it with a back hand. “How is that for maturity?”
He touched his lower lip and that’s when she noticed she’d cut him. The diamond from her mother’s engagement ring did some serious damage judging by the bleed.
“Yeah Melody, real mature like when you fucked Antonio and got pregnant just to spite me,” he chuckled. “I know you well enough to know the motive behind hooking up with that toad. Knew it back then too when you told me to get lost and then made out with him with me watching, but I never thought you’d spread your legs for him.” She flinched at that. The words were ugly but true. He pointed over his shoulder with a blood stained thumb. “What are they doing here and with bags? If you think I’m going to let you move in you are sadly mistaken.” He finished with a dry chuckle.
Everything inside her told her to declare the suite was hers too, but he would only see that as just her being a spoilt brat throwing a tantrum because she wasn’t getting her way and he might even move out as a result. That was the last thing she wanted.
“Why would you do that to me, especially with that whore?”
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” he hissed with a sneer. He moved to the liquor trolley and poured himself a whiskey. “She was here and I was horny.”
“Didn’t last night mean anything to you?” she cried.
He swirled his glass, staring at the brown liquid for a while before he finally looked up at her with shuttered eyes and said, “Mel, go back to your husband. I’m going back to my life before you happened to it. It was much simpler that way. I always had my eyes open and my heart closed.”
There wasn’t even an ounce of emotion in his voice when he said that. He really was shutting her out, ending it all. Unable to take it any longer, Melody ran out of the suite and only stopped when she got to the elevator. She held herself together right until the doors closed before she broke down, screaming her pain as she cried her heart out. It was all too much and she found herself on her knees rocking back and forth as the image of Cheri and Ruiz on the floor played in her mind like a video stuck on a damn loop.
His body covered in red lip prints and Cheri naked wearing a smug smile.
“How could you do this to me?” she screamed.
“Quit your whining!”
Melody looked up at the sound of Antonio’s harsh voice and regretted it moments later because she had pushed her head right into his hand. He fisted it in her hair and pulled her up. She sobbed her hands wrapped around his abusive one.
“Merde! You are pathetic! You find your boyfriend with Cheri and you cry like a baby instead of fighting for what is yours.” Antonio shook his head, his lips curled in disgust. “What else would I expect from a Sinclair? Spineless thieving cowards!”
Melody kicked him in the shin. “Don’t talk about my family! We have more honor in our pinkies than you do in your entire lecherous body!”
He growled, grabbed her chin and rammed her against the wall. Melody whimpered releasing one hand to wrap around the wrist of his hand that was crushing her jaw. “I want something from your boyfriend, a flash drive. Get it for me or you won’t like the consequences!”
With false bravado Melody chuckled. “Good luck getting past her father to get her. Yes, that’s right, Ruiz is Esme’s real father and I thank God she didn’t come from your abhorrent body.” She looked him up and down with disgust. “I can’t believe I even slept with you. You’re slimy and repulsive.”
Antonio chuckled. “And who said we did?”
“Wait what?”
He sneered, “I wouldn’t touch a Sinclair for anything in the world.”
That made no sense. “But I was—”
“Naked in my bed?” he finished with a shrug and a smug smile. “I undressed you and put you there.” He looked her up and down with a leer that made her tremble with revulsion. “I may have liked the view, but you don’t have enough to give a real man an erection.” He barked a laugh. “Ruiz will never look at you the same way after he’s tasted Cheri. Now she can give a man a hard on.”
“You bastard!” she hissed.
He pinned her to the wall with his body and she almost gagged, his grin on her chin and hair growing harsh. “Do as I say or you’ll regret it.”
“All you do is threaten like a toothless dog—all bark and no bite.”
“Oh really?” He released her and she worried what he was going to do when she saw his hand swing. He punched her pushing her to the adjacent wall of the compartment. She hit her head and sank to the floor, her head swimming.
“How is that for bite?” he crotched down and leaned right in, close to her face making her move back, “And no telling of our little secret. That baby is mine until I have no use for her, is that clear?”
“I hate you!” she seethed, holding her head steady, trying to stop the spinning.
“The feeling is mutual.”
* * * *
Ruiz did up his pants as he moved to the liquor tray. He needed another drink. A stronger one if he was going to get through the day without losing his mind. He poured himself three fingers of whiskey and tossed it all back in one swallow.
“Monsieur Albury.”
He turned to the old lady with the decanter held out in offering. “Drink?”
She shook her head no but he was barely paying attention. His gaze had fallen on the wiggling mass in her a
rms. The baby’s face was scrunched up like she was about to cry, her hands waving around as if she was trying to draw their attention. Soon she would whine then it would be a full blown cry. His insides twisted with the need to go to her and give her all the attention she desired before she let loose one hell of a siren. But he held that urge in check, tightening his grip on the decanter. If only she was mine, he thought then quickly yanked his gaze away and poured the whiskey in his glass till it was three-quarters full. He placed the decanter down so forcefully that it rattled the other glasses on the trolley. He took a big swallow and like a moth to light, his gaze returned to the baby. The old lady was rocking her with shushing sounds, giving her the attention she wanted.
“I think she’s wet. May I change her in one of the rooms?”
Ruiz nodded not taking his eyes of the baby. Her eyes were wide open, staring up at the woman who held her, her fingers in her mouth as she made a suckling noise.
“She’s hungry,” he croaked.
“Oui. I will feed her after. I will use that room.”
Ruiz nodded again, not even bothering to see which room out of the five she had picked. His gaze was riveted on the baby.
“Excusez-moi.”
His trance was broken when the lady turned giving him her back and shielding the baby. For some unexplainable reason he felt bereft not being able to see her.
“Fuck, what’s wrong with me,” he took another huge swallow. He stomped to the couch and grabbed his shirt, yanking it on as he held the glass of whiskey steady in his hand. He had just pulled it down to his waist when the main door swung open and Melody stumbled in, Antonio right behind her. Ruiz didn’t say a word he just watched the two of them. Melody was looking down, hiding behind her hair. Antonio on the other hand, stood ram rod straight like he was ten feet tall instead of his five ten. He had a smug smile on his face and he was attempting to stare Ruiz down. Ruiz scoffed, turning fully to face him as he casually sipped on his glass of whiskey. He held Antonio’s gaze in a glare stare down. The battle took only a few seconds before Antonio turned away, a visible flush on his face. Ruiz chuckled shaking his head.
