The Honeymoon

Ace 

“Aren't you going to kiss him goodnight?” 

She stopped at the foot of the bed as she looked like a deer caught in headlights. 

“I'm sorry. What?” She sounded confused. 

“You didn't kiss Noah good night. You know he hates it when you forget to kiss him good night.” I reminded her. 

“But he's asleep now. He's not even going to find out.” She countered. 

I shrugged off my already unbuttoned shirt and folded my arms across my chest as her eyes dropped to my naked chest immediately.

“You think so?” I smugly responded. 

How could she actually forget something so important to Noah. 

He loves her like a mother and she in turn looked after him and catered for him like her own. 

But tonight, for a second there she looked like she didn't even know him. Nor I. 

I noticed her tense up when my son wrapped his arms around her. 

Her eyes were empty and didn't hold the usual warmth they used to contain. 

It's like she's a totally different person now and we're nothing but strangers to her. 

I know something is wrong with her and I need her to loosen up for me to find out. 

“Ace, the kid is asleep, how is he going to find out that I didn't kiss him goodnight.” She sounded tired. 

Even the way she addresses him now lacks warmth and that tinge of familiarity. 

Does her recent coldness towards us have anything to do with my brother? 

I'll have to find out. 

“You really want to know how he's going to find out?” I laughed. “Let's put this to this test now, Annabelle. Go kiss him.” I nudged her towards him as she took slow steps towards him and slowly leaned down and placed a kiss on Noah's forehead. 

As usual, his hands reached out and grabbed her face before placing a sloppy kiss on her cheek. 

“You were saying?” She froze once more at the contact before gathering herself together. 

“I thought he was asleep? How does he do that?” She asked. 

“It's a habit, Annabelle. Have you forgotten?” I questioned. 

“Sorry. It slipped my mind.” She gathered the skirt of her dress and tried to leave before I reached out and grabbed her hand. 

“You've been forgetting a lot of things lately. Are you okay?” I pulled her closer. 

“Uh yes. I'm okay.” As her back was pressed to my front I wrapped my arms around her and placed my chin on her neck never missing how she trembled at that little contact.  

“Is it about the hotel? You're still shaken up about the bombing?” I gently asked her. 

“Kind of.” She whispered as I rocked us from side to side. Almost like we were slow dancing. 

“Don't think too much about it, Annabelle. The police will handle it.” I assured her before placing a kiss on her shoulder. 

Her breath hitched on her throat as soon as my lips met her neck. 

“Ace.” Her voice came out like a moan. 

“Relax, Annabelle. It's just me.” I whispered. 

“Ace.” She moaned out again as I pulled down the zipper on her dress, all the way down. 

Tonight is our wedding night and I plan to make the most out of it.

“You're tense. You need to relax, Annabelle.” 

“Ace, Noah's right there.”

“Relax. He's asleep now. It's just us two.” I reassured her once again as I slid the dress off her shoulders. 

This is our wedding night and she had been looking forward to it since we started the wedding preparations. 

The dress didn't fall to the floor immediately. I unzipped it because she held it tightly against her chest. 

I turned her around and fear was written all over her face, “Annabelle, are you okay?” 

“I'm fine.” She stated, shaken up. 

I held her face in my hands as her eyes stayed glued to the floor. Slowly, I leaned in and kissed her.

The kiss came unexpectedly and that should explain why she froze on the spot and didn't kiss me back. 

I deepened the kiss and sucked on her lower lip while I held the back of her head when I felt her trying to withdraw from the kiss as I tried to release her hold on the dress she was clutching to her chest. 

She didn't want to let the dress go.

“Let it go, Annabelle.” I told her as I kissed down her neck. 

“No.” She responded with a slight shake of her head. 

What? 

“This is our wedding night, Annabelle. Don't resist me.” I reminded her. 

“But Noah's right there.” She pointed to the bed. “This isn't right. We'll wake him.” She said, 

“He's asleep. All the more reason why he's not going to notice.” I replied before attempting to snatch the dress away from her. 

“No.” She refused, still clutching the dress to her chest. 

“Okay, fine.” I grabbed her wrist, “Let's go to my room then.” I led us to the door. “We'll have privacy there.” 

“No.” She repeated, standing her ground. 

“Excuse me?” Did I just hear her correctly?

“Please.” She added while still clutching the dress to her chest. 

“Annabelle, you do realize that this isn't our first time together. We've done this before. I want you now, so what's the problem?” I reminded her. 

“I know. But it still doesn't matter.” She still insisted. “I don't want to have sex with you, Ace.” She cried out. 

“What?!” 

I couldn't believe my ears. What did she just say? Did Annabelle just reject me?

“I'm sorry.” She said before running off into the direction of the guest room she was in earlier, leaving me dumbfounded. 

What just happened here? 

I marched towards the direction of the guest room and was met with a locked door. 

“Open the door, Annabelle!” I pounded my fists on the door. 

“Just go away, Ace.” She was still crying. 

“We seriously need to talk, Annabelle. Come out.” 

“I don't want to talk to you, Ace. Leave me alone.” 

“What? Have I done anything to offend you?” I questioned in confusion. 

“You didn't do anything, now please leave.” She further insisted. 

“Okay.” I resigned. “Good night, Annabelle. I hope you feel better in the morning.” I told her before leaving. 

I unlocked my door and slowly walked in to see the soft rising and falling of Noah's chest, he was fast asleep now. 

I sat in silence and slowly went over what just happened. 

Annabelle rejected me on our wedding night. 

That sounds very strange. It usually is the other way around with her trying to drag me to bed with her. 

Now that I'm in the mood, she suddenly pulls this stunt? 

She had always been the one to drop subtle signs initially when we were still getting to know each other. 

The first night we had sex, she initiated it because I had been reluctant about having anything to do with women after Marie left. 

Annabelle had changed that for me as I slept with her a few months after we first met. 

I wasn't proud of what I did so I kept my distance and vowed not to have a repeat of it. 

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and the screen came alive with notifications and there was one of a missed call from my brother, Carter. 

I dialed his number and after two rings, he picked up. 

“You called?” 

“Yeah, I did. Hope I'm not disturbing anything.” He chuckled at the end. 

“You're not.” I curtly responded. 

“What?” He faked a shocked reaction, “Shouldn't you both be on your honeymoon? You shouldn't be sleeping tonight for crying out loud, Ace.”

I rolled my eyes in irritation. 

“Annabelle is asleep now. We're leaving for the honeymoon in the morning.” I answered. 

“Uh, you're such a bore, Ace. I didn't know you for being boring.” 

“She's tired, Carter. It's been a long day.” I reminded him. 

“Indeed.” He said. 

I'm quite confused and lost as to why he's calling about this. 

Carter is my brother but we never actually were like buddies or other brothers who were close to each other.  

Growing up, he never extended an olive branch and I felt alone despite having a brother, so we just grew up separately but under the same household. 

I particularly find this call strange as I feel there's a reason for Carter calling me late at night on the night of my wedding to know if I've slept with my wife. 

I feel he wants to find out something. 

“Ace, where are you guys going for the honeymoon?”