14. Capri
C apri~
A week later, and I was still trying to process how my life had gone from being an uneventful one to having my husband ruin me every single night, something that I was still flying high from.
Ares Cormac was a fucking god in bed.
However, regardless of how good things were in the bedroom, that wasn’t the only thing that I was trying to assimilate to.
While not as bad as earlier this week, there were still cameras in my face, reporters asking me personal questions about my marriage to Ares Cormac, really believing that they had a right to those answers.
Honestly, their audacity was rather incredible.
Then there was my new driver, Hinder Whitlock.
Despite my protests- and I had protested a lot -Ares had put his foot down, and Mr. Whitlock was an honest-to-goodness ex-Navy Seal, and while easy on the eyes, he was very serious about his job, which made small talk awkward enough that I’d only tried it once since he’d started driving me around.
There was also how I was in between homes right now.
With security being a real thing for Ares, I had only some of my personal stuff at his penthouse, often having to stop by my place after work.
Though I knew that he was getting impatient with how I was dragging things out, I just wasn’t quite ready to give up my condo to move in with Ares fully.
A part of me was still trying to get a solid grasp on everything that was happening, and until I could process my new life completely, my condo was my safety net.
As for the buyout announcement that had occurred on Monday, Ares had blindsided me when he had announced that we had simply merged Martha Holdings with The Cormac Corporation, what with us being a love match and all.
It’d been all that I could do not to throat punch him when he had referred to me as Capri Cormac, letting all my employees believe that these were festive times.
Honestly, the only thing that had stopped me from doing violence to the man was the fact that my father had stood next to him, seemingly on Ares’ side, and also that the employees had embraced the ‘merger’ with the confidence that their jobs were not at risk.
Needless to say, it was Monday, the start of another week, and I was still a mess. Between Ares not giving me any room to breathe, the press, and reassuring everyone that it was business as usual at Martha Holdings, it was a wonder that I wasn’t drunk at my desk every day.
Seriously.
At any rate, when Ares had texted me earlier that he was having a bad day, so he expected me to be waiting for him at home after work, and I better be on his bed ready with my legs spread, I told Gina that I’d be going out for lunch rather than ordering in like I usually did.
Ares Cormac was a lot to deal with, and I just needed some fresh air sometimes.
So, now I was at Rye Rye’s, sitting at a lunch table, enjoying the peace that I desperately needed.
Yeah, the place was noisy and crowded, but no one was bothering me, so it was easy to tune out all the excessive busyness.
Besides, nothing was interesting about me eating a grilled-chicken salad with a watered-down iced tea.
“You know, you’re not special.”
Whoa, what?
Lost in my own thoughts, I hadn’t noticed anyone approaching my table, and when the real world around me finally registered, I looked to see a very stunning blonde glaring at me.
I also knew that I’d never seen her before in my life because she had the kind of beauty that was unforgettable.
Regardless, I had no idea what in the hell she was talking about.
“Excuse me?”
“I said that you’re not special,” she repeated, throwing me for a bit of a loop.
“Who are you?”
She arched a perfectly groomed brow as she looked down her nose at me. “The woman that was warming your new husband’s bed not even a few weeks ago.”
Had I known that lunch was going to come with a side dish of jealousy, I would have just gone hungry.
Whether this woman was telling the truth or not, I didn’t have time for this kind of bullshit.
Ares had always been known to be seen with a beautiful woman on his arm, so I wasn’t exactly surprised to come face-to-face with one of his conquests, but if she thought that I was going to get into a catfight with her over a man that couldn’t care less about either one of us, she was wrong.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish by approaching me, but I’m not playing this game with you,” I told her. “My marriage is none of your business.”
“Well, considering that your husband’s phone number is still in my contacts list, I’d say that it is,” she fired back, and even if my marriage to Ares wasn’t a love match, I didn’t appreciate his future infidelities being shoved in my face.
“Is there a point to this?” I asked, doing my best to remain unaffected.
“I just wanted to let you know that Ares will eventually see you for the gold-digger that you are and come back to me,” she replied, and so much for acting unaffected.
I was not a gold-digger.
My lunch forgotten, I lifted my chin as I met her stare head-on.
“While I might be a lot of things, a gold-digger isn’t one of them.
In fact, since the day that I could walk, I’ve worked my ass off to make sure that I never end up one of those women that are only good for laying on their backs.
Something that I’m sure you’re very familiar with. ”
She gasped.
Seriously.
“So, think what you want, but I was the vice president of Martha Holdings before Ares Cormac ever entered my life, and I didn’t get there because my daddy felt sorry for me,” I went on, heated at being labeled a gold-digger when all I’d ever done was make sure that I had earned my position at work.
“So, take your jealous ramblings and fuck off.”
Ignoring all my achievements, she said, “If I were you, I wouldn’t get too used to that ring on your finger. Gold-digger or not, it’s obvious that you don’t have what it takes to hold Ares’ attention for long.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her how Ares had come after me, but what for?
Not only would she not believe me, but she also wasn’t necessarily wrong.
I was average-looking, creeping to a seven on the scale if I really took time with my appearance, so it wasn’t hard to believe that Ares might stray from time to time. Again, ours was not a love match.
Nevertheless, I wasn’t about to explain my marriage to this woman.
Not only was she a complete stranger, but I didn’t owe anyone an explanation about my life choices.
Plus, since jealousy was her motive, I didn’t need to inadvertently give her any ammunition to come at me again.
In fact, she looked like the type of attention whore that would do a live rant on social media just because she could.
Ares sure knew how to pick them.
“Leave and let me finish my lunch in peace, or else I’ll call someone to escort you out,” I threatened. “And as long as I do have this ring on my finger, guess who management will side with?”
She bristled, but didn’t back down. “Just don’t say that I didn’t warn you when Ares starts calling me again.”
The woman stormed off, and I let out a deep breath, hating that her words had managed to bother me.
Now that I knew what Ares was capable of in bed, it turned my stomach to think of him with someone else, doing all the things that he’d done with me.
It also bothered me that I was bothered by the thought.
If I was bothered this much, then that meant that I actually felt something for Ares, and I had to be at a dangerously high level of stupidity to actually care for him.
One week of great sex shouldn’t make me eager to see him after work, but here we were.
Royally screwed.
There was also how Ares had insisted that I change my last name, which didn’t seem ideal now.
Not only was it better for Martha Holdings if I kept my last name, but I didn’t want to be walking around with Ares’ last name as random women approached me to tell me that I was never going to be enough for him.
While I was adult enough to survive a bit of humiliation, I also had no desire to invite it into my life.
With that thought, I automatically glanced at my wedding rings, and they no longer looked like elegant, flawless, expensive pieces of craftmanship.
The weight felt like a joke on my finger, and all because I’d begun to feel something for my husband, and I didn’t know how to pull those feelings back.
I’d gotten caught up in all that was Ares Cormac, and I hadn’t even thought to protect myself from how fast things had been moving.
To top it all off, I knew for a fact that Ares didn’t care about how our rushed marriage might be affecting me.
He had his reasons, and that was all that mattered to a man like him.
He wasn’t one of the richest and most powerful men in the nation because he cared about other people’s feelings; I’d been unfortunate enough to learn that fact last week.
Nonetheless, I was going to have to find a way to navigate my new world without losing myself in the process. I needed to keep my eyes on the prize, and that prize was Martha Holdings.
It would always be Martha Holdings.