The entire ride home was silent. Not another word was spoken between the two of us, but words weren’t needed.I could feel everything. He was second guessing everything that had happened between us and all it took was a single tearful phone call from Marina.James couldn’t look at me, not that I wanted him to. My eyes were probably bloodshot from fighting the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks. I hated crying in front of him. There was a time years ago that I’d promised myself I’d never cry in front of him again.That was after he’d called me into Marina’s room to berate me for not making sure that her pillows were changed. He was so angry, telling me that I was an incompetent doctor and he’d regretted choosing me as his wife.His words broke something in me that day, and tears streamed down my cheeks.That had made him angrier. He scoffed at me, shaking his head as he told me how pathetic it was that I was crying when I was awake and well.I didn’t know that man anymore. O
The sound of loud knocking against the front door had my face scrunching in pain. Every bang bounced around the inside of my skull, creating one of the worst headaches I’ve ever experienced.My eyes were still closed, and after a few tries, I forced them open to see that I was on the floor of the foyer.Lingering crackles from the fireplace even irritated the throbbing in my head.“Rosa,” Chris’ voice came from the other side of the door, “We’re going to be late.”Late? The expensive empty bottle of wine stared at me from where it was tipped over on the plush rug. It was as if it were staring at me, reminding me of my poor decisions last night. Especially now that Chris is at my door for some reason saying that I’m late for something.Pushing myself off the ground, I wince, feeling the intensity of my bad decisions last night.“One minute,” my voice sounded foreign and scratchy.“Could you at least let me in while you finish getting ready? It’s raining,” Chris groaned.Scooping the b
I glanced in the fold down mirror of Chris’ car, wincing when I saw my reflection in natural lighting. My eyes still held tinges of pink streaks and the puffiness hadn’t gone down at all.The only consolation is that Chris wasn’t lying about his hangover cure. My stomach was no longer rolling with nausea and my headache had dulled down to a brain fog.“Do you think it’s frowned upon to wear glasses inside of a church?”Chris snorted, “Yes. But who the fuck cares? If his almighty greatness can forgive murderers, he can forgive you for wearing sunglasses to church.”My whole body deflated at the thought of my mother ordering them off before ranting about why in the world I thought it would be appropriate to not only wear the sunglasses, but to get drunk enough to need them the night before Easter.I spotted her the moment we stepped out of the car. My mother was wearing a beige satin dress with long lace sleeves. Her shoes matched perfectly, and it appeared she’d called the on-demand ha
“I’m going to plead the fifth when I’m asked about you assaulting that car,” Shawn smirked.“The car deserved it,” I groaned, “The door is locked, and I need sunglasses.”Shawn’s brows pinched together before he reached up, removing the pair atop his head, and outstretching his arm. I walked over, grabbing the pair, and quickly placing them on my face. They weren’t my typical style, but it will do for now.“Why do you need sunglasses?” Shawn closed the distance between us, pushing the pair to the top of my head.“I might be hungover, and my mother might be projecting her insanely oppressive thoughts into my orbit.”“Chris didn’t make you one of his famous smoothies?” Shawn snorted.I scrunched my nose, and my tongue somehow tasted the disgusting concoction, “He did. But I’m not entirely cured, and I can’t handle saving face today around my mother.”“What is she on about now?” he questioned, never breaking eye contact. Normally this level of attention would make me uncomfortable if it
“I’d like to sit next to my wife,” James’ deep voice spoke through gritted teeth. The way he says the word wife with so much possessiveness sends a shiver snaking down my spine. My body reacts to the deep gruff of his voice, but I don’t want it to.I don’t want James to have an effect on me. I don’t want his voice to make my body shudder. I don’t want my thigh to heat where he now rubs against it because Shawn scooted down.“Sorry I’m late,” James whispers against my ear, sending another traitorous shiver throughout my body.My mother dips her head forward, “James dear,” she coos looking starry eyed, “I’m so glad you could make it.”Her fake kindness grates on my already tattered soul. But it’s not her I’m focused on. My father’s head is turned towards us, and his eyes are trained on James. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him look at James in a way that screams his dislike for the man, but the emotion shining in his eyes is new.He catches me looking and instantly, his features so
“Are your sorrows drowned in grease and cheese?” Chris smiled with a mouthful of his burger.We’re sitting in his expensive car eating extra large meals from the local burger shack. I tried to protest both the food and the eating of said food on imported leather, but Chris wouldn’t budge.He’d actually said that his car liked the cheese, so I assumed that despite his perfect physical form; he did this a lot. Which was somehow disturbing on so many levels.“They’re definitely forgotten for now,” I dipped a fry into the large cup of melted cheese he’d ordered and shoved it into my mouth. “Leave it to some cheesy fries,” I wagged another cheese covered fry in the air, watching a glob of the melty substance fall onto his center console.He leaned forward, swiping his tongue against the leather before smearing his hand over it. I stared at him horrified, which only made him purse his lips, “What?”“I’m going to pretend that I didn’t just see you do that.”A large chocolate milkshake sat in
Chris popped his head through the door of my room, “Don’t forget your socks and snacks, brat.”“You grab the snacks!” I shouted as he rushed down the hallway. “Told ya first,” he shouted back, making me groan. Tonight was the final movie night for the three of us for probably…. Forever. My heart shattered into a million pieces last week when Shawn and Chris finally told me where they’d been accepted into college…. San Francisco…. Which just so happened to be thousands of miles away. They were my rocks. My everything. And I happened to be madly in love with Shawn. My brother’s best friend. The only man in my life who happened to be off limits. Well, there were plenty of other men off limits according to mother, but Shawn was a different kind of off limits. Glancing in the mirror, the puffiness in my eyes had finally gone down from earlier. I’ve dreaded this day since Chris asked me to have one final movie night before the two of them set off for their new lives…. Leaving me behin
I’ve been walking around like a zombie since Sunday morning. Every time I circle back to the events that led up to Rosalind saying goodbye; I want to pluck out my own eyeballs.I fucked up. Correction; I royally fucked up and then tried to pitch the line ‘I thought you would understand.’Onyx would have torn me to shreds. He wouldn’t have cared about the people around. He would have pushed forward to tell Rosalind what a piece of shit I was and a coward.When Marina called me, I hadn’t wanted to answer. My mind was strictly on Rosalind and our lovely evening. But the look in Rosa’s eyes when Marina called again and again pushed me to answer it. It was almost like a flash of concern at the fact that the phone calls kept coming.Marina’s sobs were nearly incoherent, but I’d made out enough of what she was saying to determine that I needed to go see her.Despite everything that she’d done; she was still my mate.But the longer I’d sat in the solitude of my office, drinking away the pain