Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Maurizio
Five o’clock had come and gone and it felt as though I might be making some headway on the work that I needed to do in preparation for a court hearing the following week.
In my head, I reckoned I could be done here by seven, half past seven at the latest. I had asked my mum to watch the kids for a couple of hours and if my timings were accurate, by the time I got home, Rosie and Craig would be ready for bed.
I could do story time and kiss them good night, and then seek out Flora.
Perhaps if she hadn’t eaten we could have dinner, a glass of wine, and enjoy each other’s company and not sex, well, I wasn’t ruling that out but I actually wanted to spend some real time with her, chatting, getting to know each other, and then the sex.
That was when Raj appeared in the doorway. “Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“What?” I might not know the details but I sure as hell knew the words she was about to speak were going to ruin my plans.
“Leigh has had to leave, so she won’t be coming to help out tonight.”
“Shit! Where the hell is she and why are you telling me and not her?” I was angrier than Raj expected judging by her expression as she came closer.
“Mo, her dad has been taken to hospital with a suspected heart attack, she left in a bit of a hurry.”
“Oh.” I felt guilty, of course she needed to go and telling me personally wouldn’t and shouldn’t have been high on her list of priorities. “Just the two of us then?”
Raj looked a little awkward.
“Don’t tell me you’re bailing as well?”
“No, of course not, well, not entirely, but I only have a sitter until nine.”
“We’ll aim for a nine o’clock finish then, and if we’re not done, I can finish up.”
She nodded and offered me a smile. “We don’t all have a Flora on speed dial.”
Her comment was accompanied by another smile, but somehow it didn’t sit right with me, not because she was wrong, she wasn’t, but I didn’t have her on speed dial like I wanted to. I shook thoughts of Flora from my mind and literally focused on the papers in front of me. “Let’s do this.”
Climbing into my car at ten o’clock brought a sense of relief.
I would definitely have missed bath time and kissing my children goodnight, but there was time for me to catch up with Flora, wasn’t there?
Maybe. It would be half ten at the earliest before I arrived home, and it might take another half an hour to see my mother out, unless she stayed, which she was welcome to do, but that would definitely put an end to any Flora shaped plans I might have.
I hit a little traffic as I was leaving the town centre due to Friday night revellers—how old was I?
Friday night revellers. Regardless of that, it added another ten minutes to my journey meaning by the time I parked my car next to Flora’s it was almost a quarter to eleven.
Rather than entering the house immediately, I took a slight detour to Flora’s side of the house and could see lights still on, presumably meaning she was still awake.
Ducking back round to the front of the house, I found my mother in the hallway preparing to greet me. She fussed and offered to make me something to eat, I declined her offer. I wasn’t hungry. Not for food anyway.
“If you’re sure?” My mother’s frown confirmed that she was less than thrilled that I’d missed a meal.
“I am, Mama, but thank you.” Leaning down I landed a kiss to her cheek. “You are welcome to stay, it’s late and I don’t like to think of you driving home alone.”
A loud pfft sound left her lips as she waved my concerns away.
“I am a grown woman and have managed to get myself home safely my entire adult life. Now, as you won’t eat supper, please promise me you’ll eat a hearty breakfast.”
“I promise.” I was hoping by breakfast time I was going to have worked up an appetite like never before, however, my mother did not need to know that.
With another kiss and a warm hug, I walked her to her car that was parked at the side of the house, affording me another opportunity to check if Flora’s rooms were still illuminated.
They were. Quickly returning my gaze to my mother, I blanched as I realised she had seen exactly where my attention had been.
However, surprisingly, she chose not to pursue me and Flora, she simply gave me a wink before getting into her car and disappearing down the drive.
Leaning back against the stone wall of my house, I wondered if I should call Flora, go up to her rooms or invite her down to join me.
As much as I wanted to simply turn up unannounced and devour her, as I had done before.
Too long before, I didn’t want her to think she was a booty call, no more and no less.
She wasn’t. My thoughts we shattered by the intoxicating sound of Flora’s laughter followed by her muttering something I didn’t hear, meaning she had been with a friend this evening, perhaps Bea or Carrie as they were the only friends I knew her to have.
There was her sister of course, so maybe she was on the phone as I hadn’t yet heard another voice, and then I did. A man’s voice.
Moving into the shadows, I watched as she stood on her doorstep, the man leaning forward to kiss her, and fuck me if she didn’t allow him to.
My blood was boiling in an instant and not due to arousal as it usually did where Flora was concerned.
I tried to reason that it wasn’t a passionate kiss and there was no holding or touching to accompany it, but still, it was a kiss from someone who wasn’t me.
I took a step towards them and then retreated.
No. I would not do this, not now, not ever.
Whilst I thought we had an understanding that what we were doing together was exclusive, I’d obviously been very wrong if she was kissing another man.
I acknowledged that things had been difficult, busy for me, and I hadn’t been able to speak to Flora nor spend time with her, but I deserved better than this, didn’t I?
If she had come to me and said she needed more, or less as it seemed, I would have respected it, but this?
“Fuck!” I hissed at myself and as I heard the man’s voice shout something about the banging of her headboard, I had heard enough, and the only plan I now had was a glass of something strong and going to bed alone.
I had no clue what I was going to do about Flora because I wasn’t sure I could be trusted not to lose my shit, sack her, and then end up on trial for killing that fucker, whoever he was who had come into my home and literally stolen her from under my nose.
An hour or so later, with a couple of glasses of whiskey downed, I decided to call it a night. I didn’t need to metaphorically cry into my glass, and if I continued drinking it might not be metaphorical, plus my children did not need to have a hungover father come Saturday morning.
Placing my glass into the sink, a note on the fridge door caught my eye – Bea’s Baby Shower – Saturday – 2pm. Don’t be late! Bea & Seb x
Shit! I had no clue how I was going to face Flora so soon, and God forbid she tried to act as if she hadn’t been cheating on me.
Was it me? First Sophie and now Flora. I pushed that thought away and reread the note.
Of course I would go, for Bea, and the children would have fun playing with their friends who would be there.
Maybe I did need to speak to Flora, but not tonight.
Heading to bed, I checked on the children before moving towards my own room where I paused at the door and then I heard her voice again, just one word. My name.
“Maurizio.”
And if my treacherous cock didn’t turn hard as steel in that second. Seemed I was going to be speaking to her tonight. She had taken that decision out of my hands and if that didn’t piss me off more.
Turning, my resolve to remain mad at her began to dissolve as I drank her in wearing her short and vest pyjama things that clung to her curvy, hourglass figure, teasing and tempting me, while her long golden hair cascaded down, framing her beautiful face, her deep blue eyes, warm and twinkling with warmth and desire seemed to bore into me.
On some level I acknowledged and felt reassured that she hadn’t been wearing so little when she had been kissing her boyfriend, fuck buddy, whatever he was.
“Are you okay?”
No. No I wasn’t. Far from it.
My cold laugh startled her enough that she appeared to take a step back.
“Why?” That’s all I could muster, and she looked confused by my question, genuinely confused. Had I misread what I had seen? I didn’t think so. “I saw both of you outside.”
A look of recognition and understanding filled her face and then it was gone, replaced with anger, no, cold, hard fury.
“And what precisely do you think you saw?”
Her eyes were aflame with rage, and although I probably shouldn’t, I found her as attractive as I ever had.
“I saw you with whoever the fuck it was with his lips on you and fuck knows what else.” I was seething now, just saying the words aloud infuriated me. “And I hope the banging of the headboard was worth it.”
“You are an idiot,” she spat. “A total fucking idiot. Not that I owe you any explanation when you don’t trust me enough not to hide in the shadows to spy on me.
” She didn’t pause long enough to let me dispute her allegation and with barely a pause, she continued.
“However, for your information, you sanctimonious arsehole, whoever the fuck it was, was Ash, my friend. So, unless you’re suffering from illusions or delusions, what you actually saw was nothing more than two friends who had shared a takeaway and a bottle of wine saying goodnight. ”
Now she did pause. Staring at me, she appeared to wait for me to say something, and I had nothing except complete belief in what she’d told me.
She let out a single laugh. “Do you know something, Mr Walker?”
Fuck! There was no warmth in it. There was certainly no arousal from it on my part.
I had ballsed this up badly. I had seen something innocent and had overreacted.
I should have spoken her, maybe even made my presence known outside and given her an opportunity to introduce me to Ash, the nanny who I had assumed was a girl not a boy.
Seems I had got that horribly wrong, too.
Briefly, I remembered that she hadn’t told me that, but quickly reprimand myself because she didn’t need to tell me Ash was not one of the girls. I had assumed he was. That was on me.
“Sophie lied to me, cheated, sorry, I just saw you say goodbye and got it wrong. I shouldn’t have assumed and got angry.”
She shook her head. “No, you shouldn’t, and yet you did. Maybe it’s my fault for letting my guard down. I can’t say you didn’t warn me, you did, every time you told me to tell you to stop, but I ignored your warnings and enough red flags to cover the house in bunting—”
“No.” I interrupted her, knowing where this was going, where she was taking it and now, in this moment, I knew for certain that the only thing I wanted was to make this right and for her to forgive me.
“Yes. It was a mistake. We were a mistake. I don’t do mistrust and jealousy, it’s destructive and damaging, and I won’t do that to myself. I know my worth, so, let’s forget what happened between us.”
Opening my mouth to object, she didn’t give me the chance.
With an expression of dogged determination, she continued, my heart sinking with every word she said.
I had fucked up in spectacular style and she was taking no prisoners in handing me my arse.
I needed to stop her before she said anything else, anything that would end this.
“Flora.” The desperate whisper of her name as I stepped closer seemed to register briefly, but before I could consider taking a second step, she waved her hand, dismissing me.
“No, this is me telling you to stop, Mr Walker. I should go to bed, and I will see you on Monday. Have a good weekend.”
She turned, leaving me speechless, regretting ever telling her to tell me to stop because now she was using it against me.
Unsure of what to do, I stood, impotent, and did precisely nothing.
With a sudden and sharp turn, she startled me, causing me to all but flinch.
“Oh, and one last thing, do not awaken feelings in the next woman who comes along and takes your fancy if you’re not man enough to deal with them, and her like an actual adult.
No, this is actually the one last thing, the banging headboard you clearly heard about was yours.
I was feeling a bit jittery since we, you know, fucked. ”
The venom in her delivery of the word fucked, cut me deep. It was so much more than that, but I had made her doubt that, like she was nothing more than a convenience, a port in a storm, her earlier reference to knowing her worth confirmed that. She was anything but.
“I know you’ve been busy with work, but I felt like you were avoiding me, especially by asking Carmella to help out with the children rather than me, so, I got jittery.
Ash told me that rather than bottling things up, I should put my big girl pants on and make the first move, not stopping until your headboard was banging against the wall like a barn door in a storm.
Me coming down here was me doing precisely that. ”
With a final turn away, I watched as she walked from me, sadness washing over me as I acknowledged that I really had messed up. Badly. I hadn’t trusted her and that had hurt her and now I feared she might never forgive me.
I had no idea how long I lay in the dark, desperately wishing sleep would come and take me away from my own miserable thoughts that became stronger each time I replayed the night’s events with Flora.
Rolling over again before punching my pillow, I grabbed my phone from the bedside table and sighed that it was two in the morning.
I needed to sleep because my children would be up in around five hours and then we needed to attend Bea’s baby shower.
Shit! That was going to be awkward with the tension between me and Flora, something Bea would pick up on, not that anyone could miss it if tonight was anything to go by.
Even with my eyes closed, I could have sworn there was a flash of light.
I was delirious clearly because when I opened my eyes, there was nothing.
The sound of something akin to an explosion caused me to shudder and leap up in bed.
Thunder. Maybe not delirious then, just a storm.
Shit! A storm. The sound of a petrified cry saw me up on my feet with only one destination in mind. Flora.