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

 In our last conversation about Nick, just before our wedding, Norah told me to let it go. She told me I had to move on and stop letting it control me. She said he was out of our lives and she knew in her heart he would never come back. I wasn’t as sure as her heart. That’s when I started keeping the truth from her…again. I knew I would keep tracking him until I found him but I didn’t want her to worry about what I would do when I did. 

By the time I found him living it up on a beach and set up a plan, he was gone. He had packed up and left India like he was never there. He made stops in Brazil and Mexico.

 He stayed in Bali and even went back Palolem for some time. But he never stayed long enough for me to formulate a plan as to how to deal with him. 

I lost him over six weeks ago. Maybe he sensed I was close again. Maybe he knew I had finally made up my mind as to what to do with him. I had a plan now, I was ready. I don’t know what happened, but Nick Meyers had disappeared again. Now I waited for my people to find him again, so I could get my revenge. Nick Meyers had become an obsession. But I still had my day job. 

I sat through two meetings, one conference call, and answered what seemed like endless emails before lunch. Then I sat and ate my salad while Will told me about how he and Jane were planning a trip to the Red Club this coming weekend.

The Red Club just happened to be a very exclusive BDSM, sex, swinger club. Pretty much anything related to sex went on there. The membership was very hard to obtain and was also very expensive.

 “Jane is actually ok with this?” I asked. Will just laughed. 

“It was her idea. I was telling her about our history with those kinds of clubs and she said she wanted to check it out.” He laughed and leaned in close to me. “I think I have even convinced her to let me fuck another woman too. I mean how great is that? She thinks it was her idea as well.” I nodded and smiled but couldn’t believe my ears. 

After the very intense relationship that Will and Jane had shared, which was even more intense than mine and Norah’s, they still kept pushing their limits. She was his slave, then she ran from him, then he ‘punished’ her when she came back to him. After they reconciled I thought they would settle down, but that didn’t happen. They had been to private sex parties, hot tub socials and many, many strip clubs. Apparently now taking part in the acts performed in front of them was next on their list. 

I was happy for both of them. Living without each other was something they didn’t want to do. Something in their crazy relationship worked for them. Adding to it and spicing it up seemed to work as well. 

In a strange way I envied him. Although

I loved my relationship with Norah and I was so happy we were married, there was a small part of me that craved a little more excitement. Thankfully our sex life hadn’t become mundane. Norah did allow me to take her to my basement and ‘play’ every once in a while. Since my tantrum in the basement before we were married, she wasn’t nearly as excited about going down there again. She did it for me and I knew that. Adding some spice never hurt any relationship. 

“You should come with us! I can get you in as a guest. Didn’t you say Norah had a wedding for this weekend anyway?” He was actually serious. 

“Yes, her company has a wedding in Italy, but she isn’t going. And I have that meeting on Saturday with Mr. Miller and then brunch on Sunday with him and his wife. I need her here with me.” He told me to tell if I changed my mind and we went back to work. 

I had a mile of paperwork to take care of on my desk. We had just closed a deal with ‘Tuttle Dailey’ an internet startup company that almost went belly up when the economy turned.  “Dammit, Marcy!” I dropped my pen and put my bleeding finger in my mouth. Marcy opened the door and shuffled to my desk. 

“You rang?” Marcy was like Norah in that she too was very sarcastic.

 “There is a little button on your desk that you can touch and calmly talk to me like a person.” Her hands were on her hips. 

“Can you leave the attitude at your desk and help me please?” I held out my finger and showed her my paper cut. 

“A paper cut? Do you need a band aid or are we amputating the finger?” she crossed her arms against her chest. “Because I think I left my scalpel at home.” 

Then without another word she stepped behind the bar in my office and pulled out a first aid kit. She wiped my finger with a cold cloth then put a band aid on it. I nodded. 

“You’re pretty mouthy today. What happened to the assistant that was so eager to please me and jumped at the sound of my voice?” I asked. 

“She got pregnant and moody. Not to mention you hired 3 other girls to replace her before she was even out the door and in case you didn’t notice I did jump at the sound of your voice, sir.” She crumpled the paper from the band aid and dropped it in the trash. 

“Thank you.” I waited for her to look at me. “I didn’t replace you. I hired 3 girls to help you out and by extension help me out when you go on maternity leave. Now can you help me with these forms? I can’t be thinking about this paper work on my desk when I am meeting with Mr. Miller this weekend.” As she sorted the papers on my desk she explained that Mr.

Miller’s wife had some kind of facial peel that went wrong and now had chemical burns all over her face. They wouldn’t be here until next week. 

“So the meeting and brunch is cancelled? That is great news!” I patted Marcy on the butt and grabbed my cell phone. 

“You’re so lucky I’m not sensitive about all your butt patting and am too lazy to file sexual harassment charges,” she said as she walked out of my office. 

“Marcy, sweetheart, if I wanted to sexually harass you I can think of better things to do besides pat your ass. You already run the company what more do you want?” I winked at her as she shut the door behind her. She was right. I was lucky she wasn’t sensitive to my butt patting. 

“Norah, I’m free this weekend! My meeting was cancelled. So you can go to your wedding event this weekend, and I would like to go with you, if that is ok?” She started laughing. 

“Are you kidding me? Liam! That is so wonderful! I am so excited!” She started squealing so loud I had to hold the phone away from my ear. We talked a little more but she hurried me off the phone so she could start making plans for the weekend. I ended the call with a big smile on my face and turned to see Will standing in front of my desk. 

“So, you get the weekend off and have decided to spend it with the ol’ ball and chain? Come on, Liam. Come with us. Let Norah go to her wedding and you come with Jane and I?” I shook my head no.

“Then bring Norah with you! Married life has to be getting a little predictable by now. You guys should join us and kick things up a notch.” He chucked some peanuts in his mouth. 

“That isn’t going to happen, Will. I don’t want Norah in a place like that ever again. And please remember when you speak about Norah, you aren’t talking about someone I am dating or my live in girlfriend. You are talking about my wife.” He apologized.

“Will the difference between you and I is that I like to make my wife happy every chance I get. When Norah is happy it makes my life easier. You on the other hand, like to convince Jane that your screwing another woman is really her idea.” I sat down at my desk. 

“My sex life doesn’t need a kick. We like it on the notch we have it.” Will apologized again and went back to his office. I grabbed some of the paperwork off my desk and went to Steve’s office. He usually just handled the finances but I couldn’t handle anymore papers and signatures at the moment. 

“Steve, please handle the rest of this stuff. I can’t sign my name anymore. The CFO of ‘The L.T. Hastings Group’ is just as sufficient as the CEO.” I dropped the papers on his desk. 

“Well I would beg to differ with you, sir. Most people want to hear from the good looking business owner, not his average looking second in charge.” Steve always under sold himself. He did way more than just keeping track of the money and spending. He handled over half of the negotiations, brought in new business all the time and rubbed elbows with clients whenever it was needed. Out of all the people in my life, except for my house staff, he was the least complicated. We met when I started coming to work with my father, back then he was head of Accounting. When I finally took over, the previous CFO retired, and I promoted him. I knew I could trust him. He did his job and then some, and he was very good at it. 

When I opened the door to the house that evening I smelt something wonderful. I wasn’t sure if it was Rosa cooking up one of her famous recipes or Norah trying something new. Whatever it was I couldn’t wait to taste it. 

“Well hello, Mr. Hastings. You look lovely this evening.” Norah handed me a martini and gave me a wink.

“Come join me in the kitchen while I finish dinner.” She turned back and swished her hips as she walked. She was wearing an apron with a full skirt underneath and red heels. Her hips swayed back and forth as she was waltz in the kitchen.

I loved watching Norah in the kitchen. She moved like she heard music in her head. Her apron was leopard print and had lace around the edges. She was chopping, stirring, and tasting everything. She hummed and bobbed her head. 

“You’re in a good mood,” I leaned over the island and kissed her cheek. 

“I am in a great mood. My man is going to get to see me in action this weekend, and we are going to get to take a little ‘us’ time. Life is good.” She jerked her head so a little piece of hair moved from her eye.

“I thought I would celebrate by playing ‘June Clever’ tonight,” she gave me a sexy smile.

“Well you know how I love June,” I replied.

She finished dinner and we ate while we laughed. I told her about my paper cut and how Marcy told me to quit my crying. Then she told me how Tim had managed to trip and break an entire case of wine, while at the same time ruining invitations to an event in two months. When dinner was over, she washed and I dried the dishes. We slow danced around the kitchen floor as she hummed the song from our weddings. 

“Norah, is it necessary for us to make dinner and clean up as well? Don’t I pay someone to do this?” I kissed her nose. I wanted to get her upstairs as soon as possible. Her red heels were driving me crazy.   

“A little hard work never hurt anyone.

Drying dishes keeps you humble,” she pressed her lips to mine. 

“You think I’m humble?” I asked. She laughed. 

“No, actually I don’t and drying all the dishes in this house won’t help you with that either.”

While we made love on top of the island with her red heels against my back, I knew…I knew that this was the life I wanted. Nothing about Norah and I was predictable or mundane. We might not be as exciting or adventurous as Will and Jane, but our relationship worked for us. Both of us.

Chapter Three

Norah

When we left for work the next morning, I told Liam I had forgotten something inside so I could go back inside without him. I wanted to talk to Gerald about my plan, but I couldn’t have Liam hear my discussion. I waved good bye to him and ran back inside. 

“Gerald!” I yelled from the front door, “Gerald!” I kicked off my heels and ran to the kitchen just as Gerald came running out to meet me. 

“Yes, Mrs. Hastings what is it? Is everything alright?” he was wiping her hands with a drying towel so I assumed he had been washing dishes. 

“Yes, everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to you about something.” I motioned for us to go back in the kitchen so he could finish what he was doing. Rosa was at the sink washing dishes and I could hear Maria in the pantry yapping about something in Spanish. 

“Great! I’m glad you’re here too, Rosa, I’m going to need your help.” 

She turned and took the towel from Gerald and wiped her hands off too. They both kept looking at me waiting for me to say something. 

“I want to plan a surprise party for

Liam’s 30
^th
birthday,” I just blurted it out. I had this huge smile on my face because I couldn’t control my excitement. Rosa started to chuckle and turned back to the dishes and Gerald looked over at her and bit his lip. 

“Ah, Mrs. Hastings….” He started. 

“Please, my name is Norah, Gerald,” I had asked him to call me Norah since we met. He had on occasion. But since Liam and I were married he refused to call me by my first name. He cleared his throat. 

“Mrs. Hastings, I don’t think that is a good idea. Mr. Hastings doesn’t really celebrate his birthday.” He nodded toward Rosa, “Rosa made him a single cupcake when he turned 25, and he never even ate it.” I started tapping my fingers on the island top. Who didn’t like birthdays? Who didn’t like parties? 

“Well that is going to change this year. I don’t care if he has never celebrated it before. He will get a party this year and he will like it!” Gerald started to say something but Rosa stopped him. She waved her finger in the international symbol for ‘no, no, no’, and said something to him in Spanish. He nodded in agreement and turned back to me. 

“I don’t think it is a good idea, but of course I will do whatever you would like to do and help in any way I can, Mrs. Hastings.” I started to giggle and jumped around like a little girl who just got her way, which I guess I kinda did. I wiggled and wrapped my arms around Gerald for a big hug. He patted my back a little. I leaned away from his face. 

“You are such a good man, Gerald.” I kissed him on the cheek. “And for heaven’s sake, you gave me away at both of my weddings, I think you can call me Norah.” I could see his face turning red so I let him go.

“Okay! This is going to be great! This is what I do for a living so it should be easy, right?” I held out my hands to my sides. “The hard part is going to be keeping it from Liam, because he is such a control freak.” I shook my head. “But don’t worry about him. If the ship starts to sink, the Captain,” I pointed to myself, “will throw you a life raft and go down with the ship.” I nodded and grabbed my purse.