Chapter Fourteen
I wake up the next morning to sunlight streaming through Chris’ window and the sound of his soft snoring behind me. I’m on my side, still naked from last night, with his arm wrapped around my waist and his chest pressed directly against my back. Our legs are entwined and one of his hands rested over mine like we have to be attached at every point possible. I’m grateful for the two glasses of water he made me drink before we went to bed because I feel fine and not like I had multiple shots of tequila last night. I manage to turn in his arms without waking him and I take a moment to stare at him. I’m pretty sure I will never get tired of looking at him and I’m happy to have a second to do it uninterrupted.
Whenever we are together, I can sense that he’s lighter, almost like he gets to take a break from his life but there are still moments where I see the tension all over his face, When I feel his anxiety radiating off of him, but right now he looks so peaceful and I wish it could always be like this. When I reach up to move the hair off his forehead and drag my hand gently down his face, a small smile pulls at his lips and I realize he’s awake.
“I can feel you staring at me,” he murmurs, tugging me closer. Then with his eyes still closed, he presses his lips to mine like he already knows me by heart.
“Sorry for waking you,” I whisper and when he finally opens his eyes, he smiles immediately.
“I love when your face is the first thing I see in the morning.”
My heart flutters in my ribcage. “You waste no time wooing me, do you?” I slowly untangle myself from him. “Be right back,” I tell him with a peck on his lips. I slide on the t-shirt he was wearing last night to cover up my naked form before heading towards the bathroom. “Don’t move.”
It takes me a few minutes to brush my teeth and wash my face and when I head back into the bedroom, Chris’ demeanor has changed dramatically. His face is angry and he’s furiously texting on his phone before he lets out a sigh and rubs his forehead. I move towards the bed, wanting to do whatever I can to de-stress him, but as soon as I drop to the bed, he’s off of it and I frown in response.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask as I look up at him, but he shakes his head and leans down to press a kiss to my lips.
“Nothing.” He pulls away as I reach for his hand and give it a squeeze.
“Want to try that again?”
“Marissa…” He trails off and I let go of his hand because I think I know what the problem is. My eyes drop to his phone that’s still in his hand and then back up to his eyes.
“It’s her?”
He nods and grabs his briefs from the floor, pulling them up over his dick, and I feel that wave of guilt I try to pretend isn’t there every time I’m with him. He’s right; it really does seem like she doesn’t care. She rarely calls or texts from what I’ve seen. She’s never shown up here and I assume she has to have at least a hint as to where his penthouse is located. He really seems like a single man everywhere except on paper. At this point, I’m sure it would appear from the outside that if Chris were married at all it would be to me because of how much time we spend together. “I just…give me ten minutes, please.”
“I can go,” I say.
“No.” He holds his hand out to stop me from getting off the bed. “Please,” he adds, and I nod reluctantly.
I watch as he leaves the room, shutting the door behind him and I fall to my back and stare at the ceiling. This was exactly what you were trying to avoid by not getting involved. Now, I’m half-naked in his bed while he argues with his wife.
His wife he still lives with.
It doesn’t matter that he spends most of his nights here with me. He still owns a house with her. A house that probably has her name on the deed as well. My mind begins to spiral thinking about their shared closet spaces and their toothbrushes that shared a holder once upon a time. Matching monogrammed towels and maybe framed pictures hang in the foyer from their wedding day.
I swallow, trying to stop my brain from thinking about all of the ways she has him that I don’t. He said they sleep in separate bedrooms but what if that isn’t true?
What if they’ve slept together since I came back into his life? I’d like to think he wouldn’t initiate it but what if she seduced him and he just went along with it because he felt like he couldn’t say no?
Okay, you’re freaking out. Relax. Chris is crazy about you . He tells you this all the time.
He was probably crazy about his wife too at one point.
I put a pillow over my face and let out a low groan, trying to quiet the arguing in my head. I sit up and reach for my phone to call the only person I can talk to about this.
“Hi, do I know you?” my sister answers as soon as she picks up and I should have expected a bit of passive aggression after not seeing each other in a few weeks.
“I know…I know,” I say. We’ve been texting the same as always but it’s been the longest Autumn and I have gone without seeing each other and it hadn’t really hit me until this moment.
“Look at you. You get a man and just drop me.”
I run a hand through my hair in exasperation. “I’ve been busy!” I huff.
“Getting turned out, I know.” She chuckles.
“No. Work has been—”
“Oh, I know how work has been,” she says in reference to the sex in Chris’ office yesterday.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “Let’s do something next week.”
“I’m giving you a hard time; I know you’ve been busy and I have been too, but I’m glad you called. Texting is not the same.”
I dart my eyes to the door. “I’m at Chris’ house.”
“I assumed. I talked to Ma this morning and she said you weren’t home. She’s really itching to have him over, you know.” She says it in a way that makes me think our mother put her up to this.
“I know. She only asks me twice a day.”
“Well, what’s the holdup?” I can hear the excitement in her voice like she can’t wait for it either.
“Ummm, what do you think?”
“Well, I wouldn’t suggest telling them he’s married, but you could still introduce him to dad. He’s beginning to think there’s something wrong with him.”
“There isn’t!”
“Well, yes, I know, but you remember how long it took for him to come around to Eric?”
“That’s because you two were horny teenagers and he caught you guys dry-humping outside the house at one in the morning. Like…more than once.” I shake my head, still in disbelief over that because I would have surely expired after the first time.
“We weren’t dry humping!”
I roll my eyes at her trying to rationalize it. “Semantics, you were sitting in his lap.”
“Aaaaanyway, you need to stop hiding your boyfriend. He’s met mom, and she’s given dad the rundown. Apparently, he’s even okay with his age and the fact that you obviously work for him.”
“He’s not even that much older!”
“They think he’s thirty, Marissa, which I believe is still what—four years younger than what he actually is?” She laughs and I hear the sounds of her treadmill starting up.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to bring him home,” I blurt out when she finishes laughing.
“Why?”
“Well, for starters, because he’s currently in the other room arguing with his wife.”
She’s silent and all I hear are the sounds of her walking on her treadmill. “Seriously?”
“Yep.” I sit up in bed.
“I thought you said they had an open marriage or something.”
“I never said that. I said that he said that his wife didn’t care if he slept with other women.” I groan as soon as the words leave my lips. “I can’t believe I just said that.”
“Okay, why are they arguing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay, maybe they’re arguing over something house related.”
“What does that matter?”
“I just mean it’s different if she’s calling him to complain that he’s not home or that she misses him or something. Then yes, I would say that’s a bigger problem, but if she’s just calling to pick a fight with him because their coffee maker broke or she needs money or something then…that’s different.”
“Do you hear yourself, Autumn? He’s married and that is the bigger problem.” I sigh. “I should not have gotten in so deep with him.”
“Okay, come back from the dark side please. Do you love him?”
“I…it’s too soon to tell.” My knee-jerk reaction is to say yes but I can’t admit that to myself yet, let alone anyone else because I cannot be falling in love with a married man.
“Okay then maybe…maybe you take a step back.” I don’t say anything but the painful feeling in my chest leads me to believe that I am definitely in the process of falling for him. “Not forever, but just let him figure out what his plan is long term for leaving her and being with you. This doesn’t sound like it’s just sex for either one of you, but it’s impossible for you guys to really move forward unless he’s completely unattached and free to do so.”
I sigh. “How long does it take for a divorce to be finalized?” I ask, hoping she can provide some legal insight.
“It depends on so many things. If she were the one filing, she could obviously cite infidelity and that expedites the process but if he’s filing without a reason other than he doesn’t want to be married anymore and she’s not on board with that, it could take a long time.”
“What’s a long time?”
“A year of separation. Maybe longer?”
“Ugh, awesome.” I sigh.
“And if they have a lot of property and assets to divvy up, who knows. Him not having a prenup is going to make things dicey.”
“Yeah. I think that’s what the holdup has been this whole time.”
“Well, you’re twenty-one, Marissa, and if this guy is worth it, you just wait.”
“He hasn’t even taken any steps to do that though.”
“Which is why I said you need to talk to him and figure that out,” she says just as the door opens and Chris enters the room looking even more annoyed than before. He sits on the bed in front of me and gives me a sad smile.
“Can I call you back?”
“Of course, love you.”
“Love you too,” I tell her as I slide my phone away from my ear and toss it to the side. He looks at the phone and then back at me. “My sister.”
He nods and lets out a sigh. “I’m sorry about that.” I nod not really knowing what to say. I want to ask if everything is okay, but that feels like a ridiculous question because nothing about this is okay. “I uhhh…I need to run to my house.” His words feel like a punch in my stomach. Goosebumps pop up everywhere and I feel the tears building in the back of my throat. “Marissa, please just stay. I’ll be an hour tops.”
I shake my head. “No…” I let out a shaky breath. I want to ask him why he’s leaving but it really doesn’t matter.
“She tripped an alarm in one of the garages where I keep my vintage cars and I have to go disarm it,” he says as I get off the bed.
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell him as I grab a pair of leggings from one of the drawers. I’ve started leaving clothes here and I just realized I should probably take them back with me as this may be the last time I’m here.
“It does. Baby, please—” he starts and I snap my gaze to his because it’s the first time he’s ever called me that and I hate that it’s under these circumstances.
“No.” I bite my bottom lip. “It’s fine.”
“Marissa, there’s stuff you don’t know. Please just let me go home and deal with this and then I’ll explain everything.”
“What’s there to explain? You’re married,” I whisper as I begin to pull more of my clothes from the drawers. “And I knew that, so I’m not blaming you—”
“I’m serving her, Marissa.” He stands in front of me, slowly pulling the clothes out of my hands and putting them back in the drawer. I frown, because I’m trying to do the right thing by leaving and ending this, and he seems to be derailing my plan. “I’m serving her divorce papers.” He rubs a thumb over my bottom lip. “Monday.”
I narrow my eyes, confused because I was not expecting him to say that. “W-what?”
He sighs. “The papers are drawn up and she’s being served. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to wait until everything was done. My lawyers have been working nonstop for a week.”
“Mon…day?” I struggle to get the word out and when it leaves my lips, I feel like my heart has started to race.
“One hour, please.” He grabs my hands and brings them to his lips. “Don’t leave.” I nod slowly because that does change things. I don’t think he’d lie straight to my face just to keep me here, so I do believe him, but I think I’m in shock. “You’ll stay?” I nod again because I think I’ve lost the ability to speak. “If you leave, I’ll come after you.” He rubs a thumb over my bottom lip again. “I’ll always come after you.”