Claim (A Dangerous Man, #3) (9 page)

I walk along the street for a while, eventually, I find a bus station. I don’t even know where the bus is going when I climb in, but as long as it will take me far away from David. It’s fine with me.

Luckily, I’m in the right bus. After a couple of stops, it goes over the bridge to Bellevue. I make a few enquiries at the station and find a small hotel close to the main street. I intend to stay there only for a little while until I can find a small apartment and a job.

For the next two days, I scour the job listings and respond to ads. I only succeed in getting turned down for jobs as an office assistant, a receptionist, and even as a waitress. At night, alone in my room I succumb to the weariness, heartache, and the pain that thinking of David brings, but I can’t stop thinking about him. I can’t stop aching for him, wanting him, torturing myself with wondering if he cares that I’m gone.

After three days, I still haven’t found a job. After exhausting all the leads from the job listings, I return to the hotel, tired and painfully aware that I have to find something really soon. 

I haven’t been in my room for five minutes when there is a knock on the door. I haven’t ordered any room service, so even before I go to look through the peephole I already have a dreadful suspicion in the pit of my stomach. Yet the sight of David standing outside my room knocks the breath out of my chest. My stomach tightens as a mixture of feelings assault me, confusion, longing, regret, and an overwhelming desire.

I’m not going to open the door.

“Sophie.” His voice is gentle, as if he knows I’m just on the other side.

I step back, heart pounding, desperate to get away from the sound of his voice and the temptation that comes with it. What is he doing here, what does he want?

“Sophie, I know you’re in there.” He says. “Open the door.”

I take a deep breath. I don’t know why he’s here, but it doesn’t change anything. It’s doesn’t mean that his feelings about our relationship have changed. There’s no reason to let myself get affected by his presence, and there’s no reason to be afraid of talking to him.

I open the door.

And my heart tightens in my chest.

I love him.

Just looking at him. I want to cry. I want to forget everything that’s happened and let him hold me. I devour the familiar planes and angles of his face, the piercing blue eyes, wavy black hair, sensual lips that I’ve kissed a hundred times.

This has always been about sex.

The memory of his words mock me, and I step back before I let myself be overwhelmed by my desire for him.

He steps inside the room, his tall frame dwarfing the small space. Compared to his apartment, it’s little more than a shoebox, but it’s not so different from my old apartment in Ashford.

His blue eyes turn in my direction, scorching my face, so intense, that I almost lose myself. His brow creases in a frown. “You can’t keep staying here.” He states.

I stare at him, barely able to process the fact that he’s actually trying to dictate to me, even now. Anger overcomes any longing I feel for him.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, only managing to keep my emotions in check.

“I’ve been trying to find you for two days Sophie.” He takes a deep breath. “Did you think I was going to let you just disappear? Steve was waiting outside to take you anywhere you wanted, but you never came out. I was worried. You weren’t in the apartment...” He stops and runs a hand through his thick hair. “Why didn’t you go back to Ashford?”

Go back to Ashford. I’m sure your little boyfriend will be more than eager to find you a place in his bed.

I close my eyes against the memory of his words. He really expected me to go back. Did he really believe that Eddie was waiting for me in Ashford, or did he say that just to be cruel?

As if, I could ever choose any other man over him.

I fold my arms over my chest in a defensive movement. “I always had plans to move here.”

“Yes, I remember.” the gentleness disappears from his voice, “but I didn’t think you would do so even though you have no job, no friends, nothing waiting for you here.”

“Why do you care?” I retort, “It’s none of your business.”

“On the contrary, it’s very much my business.” He sighs and draws in a deep breath. “You may have a very short memory, but let me remind you that you’re still my wife.”

For how long? I think mutinously. For all I know he’s already working on dissolving our short marriage.

“Be reasonable Sophie.” He continues more gently. “You can’t stay here. It’s a dump, and it’s not safe.”

I wish his voice didn’t affect me so much. “Just leave me alone, David.”

He moves until he’s standing right in front of me, so close that my nose fills with his masculine scent, his cologne, the clean smell of his clothes. All my senses are screaming for more. “Is that what you want?” His tender voice assaults my ears. I look up at him, at the concern on his face. The temptation to shake my head and lean into his chest is so strong. I step back

“Yes.” I lie, looking everywhere but at him, I’m not going to be trapped into thinking he cares about me again, and I can’t be with him knowing that he doesn’t love me. I love him too much for that.

He sighs and steps away from me. “You can have the apartment.” He says tiredly, “I’ll leave, You don’t have to stay here.”

As if I could go back there. The idea of living in that apartment, among all the memories of our time together, is not something I can contemplate.

“I don’t want your apartment.”

“Then what do you want? Tell me, Sophie, because I’m not going to leave you here at this third rate hotel for God’s sake.”

I close my eyes. Part of me wants him to leave, the other part want everything that’s happened to go away, so I can go to him and take comfort in his touch.

“Look,” he says when I don’t say anything. “Let’s be reasonable. You want to stay in Bellevue? Fine. I’ll get you a place to live. I have the resources to do that.”

I shake my head. “No.”

“Don’t argue.” His tone takes an air of finality. “You are entitled to a lot from me, and I don’t mean just because we’re married. Much of what I have is yours now. Think about it. You can go to art school, design jewelry, do anything you want. Whatever you want, I won’t fight you. You can have anything you want.”

I want you to love me. The words are silent in my head. That’s all I want. It’s all I ever wanted.

His jaw hardens, “In time we’ll have to discuss some sort of settlement...”

It’s the word ‘settlement’ that does it. I don’t hear everything else that he says. The thought of lawyers, the finality of a divorce, it makes me want to curl up somewhere and weep. Maybe Aunt Josephine was right, maybe I’m weak, spineless, not worth the space I occupy. Maybe David can see that, maybe that’s why he can’t bring himself to love me. Desperation floods my stomach. I feel sick.

“I don’t want your money,” the words come out in a torrent. I feel the sting of tears in my eyes. “You can keep your settlement. I don’t want anything from you. Just leave me alone and let me forget that I ever met you.”

I hear his sharp intake of breath. “Sophie.” He steps towards me, his voice so tender I can’t bear it.

“Please David, just leave me alone.” I whisper.

“That’s the thing,” he says, stopping just shy of touching me, “I can’t.”

I swallow, closing my eyes against the pain and the tears that are threatening to erupt. “It was all a mistake.” I can hear my voice breaking, “I should never have left Ashford with you. I should never have...” I’m about to say that I should never have fallen in love with him, but I stop myself.

He takes my hands, and the sudden contact makes me start to tremble. I look up at him. “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you Sophie.” He says, his voice a little rough. “But it wasn’t a mistake, not for me. I’m not sorry I met you.”

I look down at my hands, entwined in his. I hate that he’s talking like this, playing with my emotions, turning me against myself. I pull my hands away. “Well I am. I meant everything I said before I left David. You’ve hurt me, humiliated me,” I swallow the painful lump in my throat. “I never want to see you again.”

His eyes close and I watch him take a deep breath, when he looks at me again the pain I see in his eyes is crushing. I have to try very hard to remember the hurtful things he said to me and the utter humiliation he made me feel.

I wait for him to go, but he doesn’t move. For a moment, I think he doesn’t believe me. We’re standing so close, I can feel the heat from his body. I almost imagine that he’s going to come towards me, to hold me. My skin heats up in all the places that anticipate his touch.

Finally, he steps back from me. “Just call me if you need anything,” he says finally, his voice impersonal.

I nod and look away, waiting silently until he leaves. Only then do I crumple onto the floor and burst into tears.

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Thank you for reading Claim.

Love,

Serena Grey

S
erena Grey discovered her first love when she was a child, and has been reading non-stop since then.

Now she also writes, because the stories in her head won't leave her in peace otherwise. When she's not reading and writing, she enjoys cocktails, coffee, ice cream, the Vampire Diaries, Smash, and constantly drools over Gabriel Macht as Harvey Spector in Suits.

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