“I do, but I’m wondering why you have curled it tonight when you’re going to dance in an hour, are you trying to impress someone?” He asked turning to look at me.
I felt my legs begin to flare up in ashamed heat and spread slowly up through my torso, my neck and finally settle on my cheeks. My mouth opened, and as quick as I opened it, I shut it again. Then the actress in me, the one that Max had created, took over. I quickly tried to deflect his suspicious stare. Slowly I stood up and slinked towards him, “Yes, Max. I am trying to impress someone,” I said huskily. “You.” I came to a standstill behind him, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and planted a kiss on his cheek, “I’m always trying to impress you, but you don’t notice me anymore,” I whispered.
He let out a deep sigh and leant back in the chair, “I know you’ve felt abandoned these last six months, but the last case, as you know, was hard work trying to get that monster convic-”
“I know, I’m just trying to please you, Max, no one else,” I breathed in his ear. A smile formed on my lips at the thought of pleasing Nikoli instead.
“Maybe you should show me how much you want to please me?” He suggested. His hand reached behind him and grabbing my hair, he yanked my head further over his shoulders and I had to fight the urge to scream when the corners of my eyes became blurred with the pain my scalp was suffering. I whimpered instead and Max being the prick that he is took that as a sign of enjoyment and pulled harder, I let out a low snarl, my hand shot forward and grabbed a fierce hold onto his growing erection, which I soon killed when I gripped it as hard as I damn well could and dug my nails in to the material. I clung on for dear life.
“Fucking hell, Raine,” he screamed. He let go of my hair and literally flung me away from him, my body landed in a heap near the bedroom door. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand and raised myself back to my feet, brushing it off as if I was pain free and okay, but the truth was my scalp was throbbing and an instant headache had arrived at full speed making me feel nauseous.
“My dick is fucking killing me,” he cried. I watched him hop around the bedroom clutching his groin. I smiled as I looked on, finally I’d hurt him, finally I’d caused him pain, finally I had retaliated. It may not have been something to shout from the roof tops, but it was a start and I could feel pride soar through me that for once in my life, I had attacked him back.
“I’m sorry, Max I thought you liked it rough?” I said, carefully trying to move my hair from my face.
“God, damn it!” He shrieked as he dropped to his knees and panted heavily. I walked past him and went back into the bathroom as if nothing had happened.
“Go and get a bag of frozen peas or chips, stick that on your groin, it should help,” I shouted with a smirk as I listened to his deep grunts and gasps for breath. Then it went silent. I poked my head back around the door to see that the spot I’d left him, was now Max free. Noticing the laptop still open on my dressing table I decided to check my emails, it had been two weeks since I’d logged into them.
Unbeknown to Max, I had enquired about some online journalism courses, I knew I was playing with fire going behind his back but I was stuck in a rut, miserable as sin and lonely as hell. I wanted a life but I wanted a life away from Max. I suppose subconsciously I was already planning my future without him when I enquired for further information. My fingers moved across the keys with speed, continually aware his presence would soon be felt again. My pulse quickened while I sat and watched the circle spin around slowly.
“Hurry up, you piece of shit,” I grumbled. My nerves became shot hearing him moving around downstairs. Finally, my account sprang to life and I noticed seven new messages. Two weeks I hadn’t logged in and all I had were seven messages. I shook my head ashamed that I had no friends, that I’d lost them all through Max. I noticed the first message was from an unknown sender, I quickly opened it and my heart twisted and sunk as ten photos of Max sprung to life. He was laughing and smiling with a woman stood next to him, but not just any woman, that woman in the emerald green dress, that woman who looked like a goddess stepped straight from out of a painting.
My eyes glanced from one picture to another as the white light from the computer enveloped me coldly. My body shook and my breaths came in short, sharp pants. Visions of her that night, partially hidden by the shadows, flooded my mind. I looked away from the screen. The bastard was cheating on me all along. I had felt it that night, deep in my gut, the look of panic in his eyes, the look of shock across his face and as my eyes closed and bowed towards my clasped hands, trepidation swelled through me. I heard him mount the stairs, each thud of his feet echoing in my head and my anxiety increased. I blew out a deep breath and opened my eyes, raising them yet again to the shining screen, and that’s when I spotted the last picture.
Quickly clicking on it to bring up the bigger version, my heart slowed to an unhealthy pace when I noticed the jewelry piece adorning her wrist, the pearl bracelet, the one I thought was for me, the one I should have had.
“Raine,” he said coming back into the bedroom. A large dark circle was prominent on his groin against the greyness of his sweats.
Anger filled me as I glanced towards him. I had no right to feel as angry as I did considering I had been enjoying another man’s company, but we hadn’t slept together, we hadn’t exchanged gifts and flaunted ourselves out in public for someone to take photographs of, and those reasons fueled the temperature of rage to turn up a notch as the venom dripped from my tongue. “Why did you lie to me?” I snapped.
“Lie? Lie about what?” He asked casually.
“You denied to my face you weren’t seeing another woman,” I growled pushing to my feet.
“Not this again, Raine please!” He shot back, his hands raked through his blonde locks in exasperation.
My feet were moving of their own accord, slowly moving towards him, my fists were balled at my sides ready to attack, my breathing was labored and even though anger coursed through my veins, I felt strangely calm. This unnerved me. “You lying bastard,” I screamed. I picked up the bedside lamp and struck him across the face with it. I dropped it straight to the floor and he staggered backwards clutching the side of his head.
“You fucking bitch,” he roared when his back connected with the wall. “I’m not cheating on you!”
“You’re a liar, Max! A fucking liar and now I have the proof!” I ran towards the laptop and picked it up, turned it around and showed him the pictures.
Expecting a look of guilt and silent admittance at being caught to radiate from him as his eyes briefly flickered over the screen, I was surprised to see the complete opposite when his wide eyes that now seemed malicious and sinister, fixed onto my face. He let out a deep laugh, spitting the blood from his mouth and slowly walked towards me. The evilness behind his laugh had my blood running cold and my body to tremble. His face hardened and I dropped the laptop to the floor and edged myself backwards, away from him.
“I’ll give you that, Raine. Now we are even. But you truly are as stupid as you fucking look,” he sneered lowly.
He was boxing me into a corner and I realized with great horror that I had nowhere to go as he continued towards me. Before I could catch my breath, I was pinned to the wall by my throat. My nails instantly dug into his sleeved arm as I gasped and tried to claw my way free. I felt him pull me away from the wall, then he slammed me back into it with force causing my breath to fly from my mouth in one sharp grunt.
“Stop fighting me and listen to me,” he growled into my ear. His next words immobilized me in to submission.
“That woman in those pictures, the same woman you accused me of eye-fucking last week, the same woman you called a bitch? She is not my mistress, my lover or my girlfriend, she is my fucking daughter!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
“Your daughter?” I whispered as he let me go. My eyes felt like they were popping from their sockets while his words bounced around in my head. He wandered towards the edge of the bed and dropped himself down, his head falling into his hands.
“She turned up at the office about a month ago,” he began. I remained emotionless leant against the bedroom wall. “Claiming she was my daughter, her mother being none other than Clarissa Major.”