Chapter
Thirty Seven
It wasn’t so
much that Nina stepped back to let the woman in, she was barged out of the way,
falling awkwardly against the wall heavily.
“THEO? THEO? Why is some slapper
opening the door to me?”
When Nina
regained her composure, she looked up in time to see Theo appear eyes blazing with
anger. “What the hell are you doing barging in here? Sadie, you need to leave.”
Sadie placed
her hands on her hips, and Nina could see the scowl on the other woman’s face.
Which was a shame as she was probably the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen,
and the scowl took away from that. Theo’s ex wife, Melody’s mother. She’d never
felt so inadequate. The woman who brushed past her wore a designer suit, heels,
hair immaculate. Nina glanced at the mirror across the hallway, her hair had
the ‘thoroughly fucked’, fresh from bed look, and she literally only wore a
shirt...that barely covered her backside.
Taking a
deep breath she headed for the lounge where the raised voices of Sadie and Theo
were emanating from.
Theo was
stood in the centre of the room, hands on hips, so obviously struggling to
contain his anger, his emotions. Sadie was facing up to him equally angry, and
suddenly Nina had a vision of how awful the end of their marriage had been. She
felt awkward, an intruder to the whole personal nature of the moment.
“All I want is to see my
daughter. MY daughter.”
Theo was
shaking his head, “no. She’s OUR daughter, and when you decided to get stoned
off your head in front of her, regardless of her needs...well sorry Sadie, but
you blew it. You are not seeing her, not like this.”
Sadie looked
devastated for a moment, and Nina hated that she was witnessing this, but soon
her attitude changed.
“Where is Melody? You are
screwing that slut...” she gestured in Nina’s direction with a thumb, “whilst
my daughter is sleeping. Is that any better than what I did?”
Theo stepped
towards her and Nina almost flinched at the intent in his eyes, “she is having
a sleep over with her uncle. I would NEVER mix my life and hers. Not on a
whim.”
Nina gulped
awkwardly, everything he said was right, and made sense, but she couldn’t deny
that she hated being referred to as a whim. As they started a new round of
shouts and accusations, Nina sidestepped into the bedroom. She needed distance,
personally, but also for Theo’s sake, this was far too intimate a moment.
Theo noticed
Nina disappear, but then his eyes seemed to have a tracking device on her, he
hated the worried expression on her face, but then he was also glad that she
wasn’t there. He couldn’t deal with Sadie and do right by her at the same time.
Striding
across the room, he grabbed her arm forcibly, “get out. You have no control
over my life, and you no longer have control over Melody’s. You are a mess, and
this is another in a long line of ridiculous scenarios you’ve created.”
“Get your hands off me, you
bastard!”
She
wriggled, and he let go, but he pushed her towards the front door, “you have no
right to come in here making demands, shouting your mouth off. You’re NOTHING
to me.”
That caused
her to cackle, “you reckon? No judge in the land is going to take my daughter
off me, not with your history of violence and ‘her’...” she pointed towards the bedroom as she spat the word out. “She
has nothing on me, you are settling for some short fat woman. Why? She won’t
get her hands on my daughter; I’ll hurt her if I have to.” She waved a camera
at him, “got photos of you pair snogging in the street, like the CHEAP WHORE
she is. NO judge will side with you. YOU HEAR ME FAT BITCH?”
Theo felt sick;
she was delusional, uncontrollable, and quite obviously stoned. He needed her
out of there before she did any more damage. As he opened the door and threw
her out rather unceremoniously, a poor delivery guy stood in front of them his
arms filled with their food.
Theo had to
curb his emotions in front of the stranger, “don’t come causing trouble here
again Sadie. This will all go against you in court.”
He pushed
her gently but firmly, then turned to the bewildered delivery guy and took the
food from him.
Nina was
pulling on her shoes when the bedroom door swung open, when she looked up it
was to see Theo looking at her in a pained way.
“I really should get going.”
He shook his
head, “don’t. The food’s here...she’s unstable...”
Nina held up
a hand to silence him, “it’s nothing to do with me...”
Was she
annoyed that he hadn’t defended her? Or was she just sickened by the whole
episode? She wasn’t sure, but either way she wanted to escape. Whatever he said
or did, from this point onwards, Nina knew she’d always measure...and find
herself coming short, literally, in comparison to his ex wife. How could she
compete with a woman who had so much presence, so much more than she had? If
she had insecurities about her weight, her height or any other part, then they
had just been exposed to the harshness of reality. Saying that even Lilah would
struggle to beat the perfection of the woman who’d been caterwauling to her ex husband
in the next door room. EX. She had to keep reminding her of that.
“Maybe I should have
explained...”
Nina shook
her head, “your marriage, your daughter...that’s nothing to do with me.”
“Don’t Nina; don’t let this get
between us.”
“I’m not.”
He walked up
to her took her hands, “but you are. Half an hour you were lounging just in my
shirt waiting for the take away that we’d eat together. Now you’re about to
leave. That’s due to her...” He dropped his head for a moment, when he looked
up he was more emotional than she’d ever seen him, “she’s on drugs...amongst
other things. I’m trying to not let it become common knowledge, as much to protect
Melody as anything else.” He sighed, “she needs help, but she’s in denial. It’s
a mess. And I can’t have Melody seeing that, being exposed to that.”
Nina could
feel his pain could see the anguish on his face, “she wants to hurt me, and I’m
sorry about what she said. Don’t listen to her, nothing she said is true, you
are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. You’re perfect, don’t ever doubt
that.”
“I AM short thought...” she
offered with a half smile.
His head
fell to the side for a moment and he sighed, “you are petite. Not being six
foot tall isn’t a negative thing. I swear. You do believe me?”
She was starting
to rationalise things, none of this was his fault, “so I’m not a cheap whore?”
He shook his
head sensing that her mood was changing, “definitely not, one of the hardest
things I’ve ever had to do, pursuing you!”
That made
her chuckle, “and you can tolerate me being short, and fat?”
He stepped
towards her and reached for the strap of her dress, loosening it so that it
started to fall away from her body. “You are neither, though you ARE curvy, and
let me tell you...” he shrugged the dress from her shoulders, and ran his
fingers over her shoulders, “let me tell you,” his voice was hoarse, “that you
occupy my every waking moment, as much for you wit, your humour, your
sassiness, as those delicious curves that I constantly want to bury my face in.”
He pushed the dress over her hips, then pulled her into his arms, her body
flush against his warm bare chest, “I don’t think I’ll EVER get bored of you, don’t
think I could EVER get enough of you. You excite me, you tease me, you push me,
you pull me...you stimulate me in a way NO one ever has, you hear me?”
Words were
intoxicating, more than actions in this situation, they were music to her ears,
and it wasn’t until he said those words that she realised how much she was
holding back, how much fear she’d had over this situation. Letting someone in
to her life, into her heart wasn’t easy, but this man was making huge steps in
that direction.
“Don’t ever let ANYONE tell you that
you aren’t perfect, ok?”
His lips
were on her ear causing chaos with her libido, and her head dropping to one
side, exposing her throat wasn’t a conscious thing. Neither were her moans, her
gasps and the goose bumps that erupted on her flesh.
“Theo...” she tried to restore
some sanity to the situation, but she was being engulfed by him. Overwhelmed.
And for once she was more than happy to lose her control on life.
“The food’ll be cold.” Nina
breathed against Theo’s neck. Her body felt limp, she ached and tingled in
equal measure, but somewhere in the last two hours Theo had made love to her.
This was no longer sex, exciting, invigorating sex; this was something that transcended
that.
The rise and
fall of Theo’s chest was the only think that proved he was alive, as he
remained silent for a while, when he did speak his voice was hoarse, “I can
warm that...just not sure my body can function well enough to get me to the
kitchen.”
She lifted
her head and looked down at his serene face, eyes closed, features relaxed, the
fact that he felt the same way that she did, that he was as boneless and out of
body as she was. So she dropped her head back onto his warm flesh and closed
her eyes.
It seemed
like a lifetime later when Theo opened his eyes. It was still dark, so they
hadn’t slept through the night. Reaching for the side table and his trusted
Audemars Piguet watch, he saw it was three am.
As he wriggled he felt Nina’s luscious body plastered against him and
sighed, unbelievable, her, them...what had happened. He couldn’t remember ever
feeling so...connected to someone else, so complete. Slumping back against the
pillows he smiled as she wriggled into him, seeming to wrap her arms even tighter
around him.
Rolling to
face her, he rubbed his nose on the end of hers, and was rewarded with her
wrinkling it, then her eyes slowly opening.
“Hey.”
She gave a
half smile, “hey you too.”
“You hungry?”
Nina nodded,
even though she’d just been fast asleep, she had opened her eyes to hunger, “surprisingly
so.”
Reluctantly
he sat up, “I’ll warm the food.”
“What time is it?”
“Three.”
She gave a
slow nod, “so we can finish off that champagne and still sleep it off in the
morning?”
Chuckling he
shook his head, “you can, but I’ve got to drive to get Melody by eight.”
“Daniel won’t take her to
nursery? Just this one time?”
How would he
ever resist her charms?
They ate the
reheated Chinese food, finished the bottle of champagne, then before they
returned to bed, to sleep...really sleep, Theo sent his brother a text asking
him to help him out. He could only ask...and pray.
I don't think we've heard the last of Sadie. I couldn't help but laugh when she said that she had pictures of Theo and Nina - that woman is definitely crazy. Hope she gets the help she needs, but of course she's still gonna be there to bug Theo, and possibly even Nina.
ReplyDeleteSorry for such a late comment, I lost my laptop... under my bed. I can't believe I didn't check underneath my bed. Anyways thank you for the chapter. :)
Samaira T