Betrayed: Keeping her in the Dark Vol. 3 (11 page)

For a brief moment I thought maybe her family had put pressure on her because John is a black man and she is a white British woman. But after seeing them together and their beautiful children, I couldn’t imagine anyone having a problem with that. 

“Yes, they’re here most weekends and at least once a week. I go over to their house once in a while too, and we have dinner together.” 

“Do you ever think about reconciliation?” I was just being nosey now.

“All the time,” he took a sip of his beer.

“John, what happened between Winston and Norah today?” He explained to me that she had ducked out for a late lunch and not told them about it, which was an issue I would take up with Norah later. He said when she returned she was upset and when he told her she needed to take her security seriously she went off on him. 

“I think we both know my wife doesn’t like to be handled, John.” 

“No she does not, sir.” I offered him another slice of pizza and he accepted. 

“I messed up, John. I have had the opportunity to tell Norah something that she needs to know, several times now and I have failed to do it.” I took a sip of my beer. “She is pissed off at me.”

“When I was married my wife stayed pissed off at me most of the time.”

“And now you’re divorced, so there is a lesson there.” We sat quietly for a few minutes and then started talking about basketball or hockey or something, I wasn’t really listening. 

“Thank you for having dinner with me tonight John, but I need to go face the firing squad.” We shook hands and I walked back inside to see if there was anything I could do to make her feel better. Something was bothering her and she didn’t want to tell me what it was. I knew the feeling. 

Norah 

I heard him walk in the bathroom but I kept scrubbing anyway. 

“Norah, we pay people to do this kind of thing.” I leaned against the doorway. 

“You pay people to do this, I don’t pay anyone to do anything.” I stood up and dropped my gloves and scouring brush in the tub.

“You pay people to clean our house, make our food and follow me around like I’m still your prisoner.”

I usually didn’t mention being his prisoner. Ever. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like be reminded of purchasing me and locking me away for a few months. But at this moment I didn’t care. I was angry and I wasn’t even sure why. I walked past him and he followed me to our bedroom. 

“Are you going to re-roof the house now?” he asked. 

“Stop being a smartass, I’m not in the mood.” 

“Oh, Norah when are you ever in the mood for my…. smartassyness.” I turned to look at him and gave him a crazy look for his new word. “When you make as much money as I do, you can make up words. It’s in the bible…or the constitution.” 

“You don’t believe in God and you are British, you jackass.” I smiled and he grabbed me around the waist, picked me up and carried me to our bed. He dropped me down and started tickling me and I was actually playing along. It was hard not to love Liam when he was being playful and joking around with me. 

I did love him so much. And I really didn’t know if he had done something wrong, so I tried my best to let it go. I was still upset about the lying, but I vowed to do my best to let that go too. 

“There’s that smile I love so much,” he said.

“Do you love me Liam?” I asked. His face became very serious.

“Yes, I do.”

“Still?” I hesitated. “I’m not to boring for you?” I shrugged.

“Norah, of course I love you. I will always love you.” He pulled me up to face him. “What is this about?” he asked.

“I just needed to hear it, I guess.”

Liam went to do some work at his office on Saturday mornings because I usually had to make the rounds for our Saturday events.

This morning I had to drop off a cake for a baby shower Brenda was handling, I drove with Tim to pick up our van so he could go pick up balloons for a few birthday parties he was handling, and I had to cover the shop for an hour, so James could go get fitted for his brother’s wedding. I tried to get Mary, my other shop assistant to cover it, but she had made plans since this was her day off. 

After I completed the errands I sat at the front desk and answered a few emails and counted RSVP’s for Liam’s party. So far 32 yes’s and only 2 no’s. 

I chewed on my pen top while I dialed Tiffany’s number.

I needed to talk to someone who wasn’t involved at all, and could give an unbiased opinion but would be completely on my side. 

“Hey girl, what’s up?” she always sounded so chipper. 

“I’m good. I’m good. Listen, I have something I need to run by you.” She listened as I told her about the sex club, the lap dance and now the older woman he seemed to have some kind of relationship with but didn’t want to share with me. 

“And you want to know what I think?” she asked. 

“Yes, because you know the truth about Liam and I. You know our history.” She took a deep breath and told me that with the things I had told her, she would think he was hiding something from me. She said something probably happened that he was ashamed of at the sex club and he was afraid to tell me.

“You think he had sex with someone?” I asked. 

“No. No, I don’t. I don’t think that.” 

“Then what do you think?” I asked. “You did hear me when I said it was a sex club, right?” 

“Yes, I heard.”

“People have sex there. There is lots of sex all around. Sex in the back rooms, sex with couples, sex with groups, peep shows, dancers, waitresses and nothing is off limits. It’s just as much sex as anyone can handle.”

“Yes, I have a rough knowledge of what a sex club is, Norah.” 

“Ok. And you know his history. You know he bought me from a sex auction. He wanted me to be his sex slave.”

“I know that too.” 

“So why don’t you think he had sex with someone else?” I asked again. 

“Because I don’t think he did. Norah, he loves you. He loves you more than oxygen. I saw how he was with you at my wedding and how you were together at your own weddings. I think he would sooner cut his arm off his body than lose you again.” 

“Exactly! Exactly!” She made my point for me. “He doesn’t want to lose me. So maybe he did do something really bad and now he thinks if he tells me about it he will lose me.” 

“Well then ask Jane about it. She was there right?” 

“No. No. I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” she asked me. 

“Because she will tell me the truth and if she tells me something that Liam should have told me first, then I think I will lose it!” 

I had to end the phone call with Tiffany because James returned and I really didn’t want to discuss my problems in front of him. But I decided to take her advice and asked Jane to meet me for some shopping since Liam was still at work. 

When she walked up with a young girl with her it surprised me. 

“Norah, this is Josie. Josie this is Norah, Liam’s wife.” We shook hands. She was very cute. Her hair was long and blonde and in a ponytail hanging down her back. She was wearing a summer dress and no bra, which surprised me because it was only about 50 degrees. 

She bounced around like a little cheerleader all day picking out little shorts and tank tops for herself. She bought thongs and little pasty things that would cover her nipples and boots that came up to her thighs. 

The things she picked out were cute and I was sure Liam would have loved to see me in those things too. 

I wanted to say something to Jane but it didn’t seem appropriate with her little friend there. Then she herself started talking about Liam. 

“Wow, Norah, you’re married to Liam. I didn’t know that. By the way he was acting at the club, you wouldn’t know he was married.”

“Josie!” Jane snapped. 

“Oh sorry, was that wrong?” she looked like a little school girl with her ponytail. I didn’t say anything. “I mean, he didn’t fuck anyone or anything. He was just having a good time.” Jane slapped her shoulder and shook her head at her.

“What? I’m just trying to tell her that he behaved. He enjoyed the show, he watched us and didn’t do anything.” She shrugged her shoulders and went back to shopping.

“He is a very good looking man, Norah.” She wasn’t looking at me, she kept pushing and pulling hangers on the rack. “He is very sexy…those eyes and that mouth...” she paused. 

“She knows her husband is sexy, Josie. She doesn’t need to be told by you.” 

“Hey, I’m just wondering how she landed such a good looking man and so rich too.” She was making a funny face at me. “I wonder if he wants a girlfriend and a wife.” She asked no one in particular. 

“Josie that is enough!” We didn’t talk much after that, but she got me thinking. Will had Jane, who was a little older than me, I wasn’t sure by how much, maybe 6 years older than me. I assumed she was Liam’s age. Now, Will had a young girlfriend, younger than me.

Did Liam want the same? He had me as his wife. The young 24 year old wife. And now he was taking late lunches with a woman that looked like she was in her 40’s. Did he want her too? A young girl and an older more experienced woman? 

I thought I was going to get answers from Jane about what had happened. But instead, Josie had created more questions.

Chapter Nine

Liam

I have never liked my birthday. My birthday was a day I would like to come and go. I don’t have memories of ‘pin the tail on the donkey’, balloons, or cake and ice cream. I never went out drinking with friends or attended a college party given for it. 

My mother had a stroke and died on my 20
^th
birthday. That particular year I had planned something special. Ever since that day I have aged without a fuss. 

This year I was hoping to break that streak of nothing. I wanted to go away with my wife for the weekend. But Norah hadn’t been herself the last 2 weeks. 

I tried to get her to make plans but she wouldn’t. I tried to get her to tell me what was bothering her, but she wouldn’t. 

She swore she was over the lap dance thing, but ever since her shopping trip with Jane and Josie, she acted as if something else was bothering her. 

We were talking about work, we talked about the gossip going around the house that Sofia might be pregnant again, we ran together, we ate together and we even made love. Things seemed normal again, but I still felt like this was hanging over our heads. 

On the Tuesday before my birthday, I decided to surprise her with a trip. I picked up the phone and booked us at a beach resort in Florida. Tampa to be exact. We could fly over on Friday and have a romantic weekend around a pool, drinking little drinks with umbrellas and she could rub oil on my back on a beach while wearing a very small bikini. 

She could also see her sisters, since they attended college at the University of South Florida. She hadn’t seen them since Christmas break. 

Just as hung up it buzzed again, but it was Macy on intercom. 

“Yes.” 

“Mr. Hastings, Ms. Whitman is here to see you and she doesn’t have an appointment.” I rolled my eyes and cleared my throat. Obviously our meeting 2 weeks ago didn’t sink in with her. 

“Ok, send her in, please.” She walked in wearing another slinky dress, but this time it was green. 

“Samantha, I told you, I’m married now.” 

She sat down and crossed her legs so that her dress fell to the sides and I could see most of her legs all the way up to her thighs. 

“I know that is what you said.” Her voice was sultry as always. 

“I didn’t just say it, Sam. I am married. I got married seven months ago.” She shrugged her shoulders. 

“Seven months, please,” she stressed the‘pl’ in please. “Try two years, honey.” 

“We were together for a year before we were married. We have been together for almost two years now. Two years in June to be exact.” 

“Liam, being a faithful husband isn’t you. I know you.” 

“You don’t know me. You think you know, but I have changed. You use to know me. But Norah has changed me.” 

“Norah? Her name is Norah? What is she 85 years old? Norah…sounds like my grandmother.” She was trying to be charming but she was coming off rude and jealous. 

“Green isn’t a good color on you, Sam.” I meant it both about her dress and her attitude.

“Not that it is your business, but she is 24 years old, not 85. And she isn’t anyone’s grandmother, she is my wife. You should take that under advisement when speaking about her.” 

I stood up and put my hands in my pockets. “Actually you shouldn’t speak about her. It’s safer that way.” She stood up too. 

“Liam, please don’t try to tell she makes you happy. Please don’t try to convince me that she will be enough for you forever.” I walked around my desk and took her elbow in my hand. 

“Don’t tell me how I feel, alright?” I pulled her close so she knew I was serious. “So what is it Sam? You think you are woman enough to satisfy me? You think being with you will make me happy? I told you I am not interested.” I pulled her behind me as I escorted her out of the building. She kept talking and I decided I could be the bigger person by not defending my wife to this low person. 

“Listen to me and listen to me very carefully,” I said to her. “We ended things years ago and on a good note. We parted ways as friends. Don’t mistake our friendship for anything else. I don’t want to get ugly with you but I will. I have changed in many ways. But one way I haven’t changed is that I still get what I want. I don’t want you and if you want to remain my friend then you will stop coming around here unannounced, bad mouthing my wife, and telling me how unhappy I am going to be.” I shoved her in a cab and leaned down to her level. 

“Are we clear?” I asked her. She nodded. “Good. Now if you would like to get together in the future please call my secretary and schedule it like a person does and do not just show up at my office again.” I slammed the door and tapped the top of the cab. 

I had hoped Samantha had changed. It was nice to see her again at the club and see that she was doing well. But she was still playing games and trying to control me. The Dom/Sub thing was way over. Being a Dominant was something that didn’t interest me anymore, not in the traditional sense. I was happily married. My wife and I made a relationship together that worked for us.