chapter 7

Brinda's court date was set to the twenty-fifth, a week from now. We were both grateful and relieved that her case made it to court we even celebrated over a glass of champagne. When I told Oliver the good news, we had celebratory sex. I couldn't help but feel like I was, once again, stepping out on my marriage. I didn't want Oliver to be under me I wanted Alessandro. He was the only person I could think of while having sex with my husband.

I hadn't even spoken to him since that night, although he's been asking to see me. I've been dodging him with the 'I'm busy' excuse each time. I want to see him, so so badly, and that's the exact reason why I won't. I've already crossed a boundary because of what happened last night, and I can't go any further than that. Not again. Stay faithful, I'd tell myself whenever I'd want to call him.

I was getting ready for the lunch with Oliver's mom and to say I was dreading it was an understatement. Oliver's mom has hated my guts ever since we started dating and I learned to hate her as well. In the beginning, I wanted nothing more than to live up to her standards of the kind of woman she wants for her son but now I could care less for that rude bitch.

I put it off for a few days but Oliver's mom for some odd reason really wanted to see me. Knowing she hated most of the non-business clothing I wore, I put on a mocha mini skirt that fit tight on my hips and a tie back beige lace bustier. Pairing the outfit with ankle wrap heels, I grabbed my Saint Laurent handbag and walked downstairs. "Athena hurry! We're going to be late."

"I'm ready, I'm ready gosh." Oliver rolled his eyes once he saw what I was wearing. He wore a dark blue long-sleeve t-shirt with a button up underneath and grey suit pants, his blonde hair still gelled back.

"You know my mom doesn't like it when you wear stuff like that."

"Your mom is a bitch." I said and walked out to the car.

"She has never disrespected you, so I won't allow you to disrespect her."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "She literally called me a whore the last time we saw her in front of you and you did nothing." I got into the car just as he did.

"She hasn't said a rude thing about you since."

"That's because I haven't seen her ass since." I fixed the hem of my top and pulled my skirt down a bit. "Why does she want to see me if she doesn't like me?"

"She does like you."

"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night." Oliver was such a mommy's boy; he kissed his mom's ass every time we saw her. He'd just disregard her disrespecting me, which she does every chance she gets. At least my parents were mature enough to not like Oliver behind his back.

We drove to a very fancy and expensive restaurant, something about his mom was that she never was the type of person to go to regular place for lunch she had to choose the most high-class place to eat. We stepped out of the car and as I was fixing my skirt Oliver's mom ran over to him and hugged him tightly.

"My dear! I've missed you so much!" She beamed as if she never sees him. I stood there looking awkward until she finally looked over at me. "Athena." She said rather bitterly.

"Mrs. Smith." I gave her a fake smile. She never allowed me to call her mom even after I had married her son.

Looking back at her son with the most genuine smile she said, "Let's go eat, yes?" He nodded, walking beside her and raising his eyebrows at me signaling for me to behave. I rolled my eyes. We walked into a booth and there was another woman sitting there. She was a decent height, brown hair blue eyes and a gorgeous face structure. She stood with a smile and held her arms out.

"Oliver! It's been so long." She said as she hugged him. She came over to me and hugged me as well. "Athene, is it? I've heard much about you. I'm Katie."

"Oliver's ex." Oliver's mother interjected with a petty smile.

"Ah, well I haven't heard much about you. And its Athena." She moved to sit beside Emily, Oliver's mother, as I sat beside him. A waiter came over as soon as we were situated. "What can I get you?"

"Just a water, please." Katie said.

"I'll have gluten free chicken salad with a water." Emily said afterwards.

"I'd like your steak and a glass of wine." I said, knowing this dinner was going to be terrible. Emily raised her eyebrows and looked over the visible part of my body.

"Don't you think you should get something... different?" Oliver leaned over in my ear to whisper that he agreed. The waiter, who was a young brunette, looked over at Emily and discreetly rolled her eyes before looking back at me.

"I assure you; the steak will be delicious. How about you sir?"

"Rainbow persimmon salad with a water as well. Thank you." She gave a fake smile before walking off and mumbling something under her breath.

"So, Oliver, how have you been?" Katie asked with way too much enthusiasm.

"Good, how about you?" The waiter came back over and gave us all our drinks and I took a sip from my wine.

"Great." She looked over at me. "You've hit the jackpot with this one."

"Yes, I have." I said, looking over at Oliver and kissing him quickly. "So, how did you guys meet?"

"Oh God, that's a long story." She sat straighter. "Well, we met in high school, and I know this sounds cliche, but he bumped into me, and after that he asked me out."

"High school? What year?"

"Tenth, I'm sure. We broke up around eleventh because..." She paused, looking ashamed. "Just the wrong time for us."

There was a moment of silence before Emily cleared her throat. "Well, that is all in the past now. I'm so glad to see you two reconciling." I internally scoffed.

"So, Athene, how does it feel to be married to the Oliver?" She asked all too interested.

I chuckled and responded, "Great and it's Athena, with an a. He treats me amazing and I couldn't be more grateful to be married to him." I smiled probably over-doing it. I felt Oliver kiss my cheek and I put my hand in his.

"You guys are so cute! And my apologies." I didn't miss how Emily rolled her eyes.

"How about you Emily? Seeing anyone?" Oliver asked way to intrigued.

"No, not at the moment. No one's really... caught my interest." Her eyes focused on Oliver's and he stared right back. If you're going to eye fuck her at least have enough respect to not do it in front of me.

I cleared my throat, Oliver's head snapping into my direction. "Sorry, baby." He kissed my cheek once more. I took a sip from my wine as the waiter came with all of our meals. She set them down and asked if I needed a refill for my wine, which I of course accepted.

As we ate everyone was silent, exchanging words of how good the food was every once in a while. Emily was the first to speak, "So, Athena, how is the case going?"

Surprised by her sudden interest in me at all, I set my fork and knife down. "Um, it's going great. I think we have a real shot at winning."

"You think?" She questioned.

"Positive." I smiled trying to hide my annoyance.

"Isn't Mr. Dubois's lawyer better than you? You don't think he'll use his connections to win?" I was taking a sip of my wine and almost choked when I heard her.

"Mr. Dubois's lawyer is not 'better' than me. I've won plenty more cases than he has; the only reason he may seem better than me is because he's won more awards he didn't deserve. Plus, connections aren't really a thing in court unless your playing the illegal way." I said, the annoyance in my voice rising. And Oliver says his mother respects me, lies.

I sighed and excused myself to the bathroom, every time I was around that woman, she made it her mission to insult me. I pulled my phone out of my purse and saw I had a few messages from Serene but a message that caught my eye specifically was Alessandro's.

Alessandro

My love. How are you?

I blushed at the text before responding.

Me

I'm fine. How are you?

He responded almost two seconds later.

Alessandro

Im in a better mood now that I'm talking to you. When can I see you again?

Me

I see, eager to text me. I don't know, I'm still married Alessandro.

Alessandro

Always. Athena how many times do I have to tell you; your husband can go fuck himself.

Me

As you've told me plenty of times.

Alessandro

I'll keep telling you until you get it through that pretty little head of yours.

Me

Are you working right now?

Alessandro

Yes.

Me

Oh. I'll talk to you later then.

Alessandro

Later tonight. You'll talk to me later tonight.

Me

Sure.

I put my phone back into my purse and left the bathroom, trying my best to hide my smile. The rest of the dinner was me fourth wheeling to Katie, Oliver and Emily. I didn't really mind though; my mind was elsewhere as they spoke. When he said later tonight did that mean he was going to be at the award gala? Oh God that would be terrible.

"It was nice meeting you, Athena." She said, finally getting my name right.

"You as well, Katy." I smiled, being petty. As she tried to tell me the right way to pronounce it, I started walking off and dropped the fake smile. Oliver hugged Katie and his mom once more before getting in as well.

"Did you have to be disrespectful?"

"I wasn't being disrespectful. Your mother was."

"How? And what about the fact you purposely said Katie's name wrong.

"Katy said my name wrong plenty of times, I didn't hear you correct her."

"Because you did."

"Okay, Oliver." I said, not wanting to argue with him anymore.

"Please say what's on your mind. You know I hate it when you do that."

"Well, I hate it when you allow your mother to disrespects. I hate when you sit there and do absolutely nothing about it." I said, not making eye contact with him.

"I don't do anything because you handle it." His voice started to rise.

"Clearly I don't 'handle it' if she continues to speak to me the way she does. I don't want to argue about this, right now. We have a gala to attend in a few hours and I don't want to show up in a bad mood."

He sighed annoyingly but kept quiet thankfully. My phone started making notification sounds and I pulled it out of my purse, forgetting to text Serene back.

Serene

How was the lunch?

Me

Terrible. How was your day?

Serene

Great actually. Rachael and I just got done finding her dress. Now back to you, what did she insult you with now.

Me

Awe, you guys seem close. She told me that Mr. Dubois's lawyer was better than me, basically saying he had more of a chance to win.

Serene

Ugh! I hate that bitch with a strong passion. Let me guess, Oliver sat there doing nothing.

Me

As per usual. His ex, Katy or Kaite was there. Mispronounced my name a bunch of times.

Serene

Yeah, already don't like her. I have to talk to you later... I'm busy.

I laughed, making Oliver look over at me. "Why are you laughing?"

"No reason it was just Serene." I said, slightly annoyed. I couldn't wait to see Serene and Racheal together tonight. They seemed really close but knowing Serene she'd deny her feelings till the day she died. We pulled into the driveway and I didn't waste a minute in getting out and going upstairs, knowing he'd go to his office as he always did when he was upset.

After a few hours Oliver was waiting downstairs for me as I got ready. Usually, I hated going to these things and just asked him to get my award for me but the feeling that Alessandro would be there got me excited. I know I'm married and I know it's wrong to have an attraction or pull towards another man but I can't help it.

Alessandro is embedded in my brain more than ever, ever since I saw him again after six months. It was also wrong of me to hope he'd be there but again I couldn't help it. I wanted to see him again and knowing he wanted to see me as well made me even happier.

I looked at myself in the body-length mirror and checked my body out. I had on the dress I'd pick at that store with clear stilettos, light make-up that included lip gloss and a bit of foundation and my hair had been curled and combed. As I walked downstairs, my white clutch in hand, Oliver didn't spare me as much as a glance before turning and walking to the limo.

"I'm sorry." I apologized as we sat. "I shouldn't get annoyed with your mom and I shouldn't have been petty towards Katie."

He sighed, finally looking up from his phone and looking at me. "Thank you. You look nice tonight."

"Thank you." I smiled. Him complimenting me didn't feel good anymore; it felt forced. There was still a bit of tension as we drove but once we were at the gala all of our problems disappeared and we were happy. We stepped out into the flickering camera's; questions being asked to both of us but neither of us responding.

Serene was beside me and motioned for me to come over, "I'll be back." I whispered to Oliver before walking to where her and Rachael were. "My baby. Rachael." I greeted them both.

"Hi, Athena. Good seeing you again."

"You as well." I said as we posed for our pictures; Serene in the middle, Racheal to her right and me to her left. Rachael wore a long black dress that had split mid-thigh with spaghetti straps. Her hair was curled, just like Serene's, and she had light makeup on.

"Is that Katie or Katy?" Serene asked, nodding in Oliver's direction. I rolled my eyes at the sight of my husband and Katie taking photos together, his hand on her waist and hers on his chest. He doesn't hold me like that anymore.

"That's Katie. The ex." I sighed, diverting my attention away from them and back to the camera's.

"Your husband's a prick. I'm not the type of person to encourage infidelity but he's an acceptation." Rachael said with a smile.

Their probably just trying to catch up on old times, I thought to myself. Looking back at them they looked like a nice couple, fit for each other. A lot of the cameras started moving away from taking pictures of the two and went to the black SUV that had pulled in.