What next?
What a mess!
Is he using protection?
What does the future hold?
I am a hooker, one with a single client. He has belittled me to this point. Once, he told me I was too much to resist, that he did this because he had to have me. Feeling like a prize is better than feeling like a possession. I’m no one’s prize, though. I am a whore, and with every thrust inside of her, that is one less pound to my pussy that could go toward my debt.
What a sick and twisted life I live. What a giant clusterfuck of manipulation.
Rage boils inside me, and shame washes over me as my final thought hits me.
Will my daughter be subjected to seeing this? He doesn’t know she’s not with me. What if she came barreling into the room like she does most days when she is looking for me? How would I explain any of this to Marisa?
“Oh Ris Priss, Daddy is just having special time with a friend . . . in Momma’s bed. No worries.”
Regardless of his lack of fatherly adoration, regardless of my fucked-up marriage, no child ever needs to walk in on one of their parents committing adultery in their home. Mess my life up completely, fine by me. Fuck with my daughter’s head and it’s done, son!
Now what the hell am I going to do?
Absently, I tap my fingers on the granite countertops as I stand in the kitchen, trying to come up with a plan, because waiting is no longer an option.
The clicks of the stranger’s heels on the hardwood floor of the entryway let me know she is leaving, at the same time I hear a cab honk its horn. I suppose Monte drove her here and originally intended to drive her home. He comes and goes without rhyme or reason. With the multiple vehicles in the garage and out front, I wouldn’t have a way of knowing he was inside when I returned with the groceries.
He enters the kitchen and washes his hands, and I say nothing, nor do I move. When his arm comes around my waist, pulling me against him with my back to his front, I freeze. My stomach churns as he moves my hair off my shoulders and behind my neck. He inhales my perfume, and then his moan vibrates against my exposed skin.
I want to hurl.
“Did you like watching, Hailey? I liked you watching.”
“Are you fucking serious right now?” The words escape my mouth before I can stop them.
I grip the countertop as he pulls me tightly to him, his grip now firm, and getting painful.
“Quite serious. In fact, I don’t want you to just watch; I want you to participate.” He nips at my earlobe, and I lurch forward, trying to get space between us. However, he is bigger and stronger, and my attempt is a failure as he growls in my ear, “I want to see your golden locks spread across her thighs as you lick her pussy like a thirsty man in the desert.”
His erection pressing into my back lets me know just how serious he is, and the room spins as I fight to keep my stomach contents at bay.
“And if I refuse?” I boldly question him as fear creeps into my veins.
His hand leaves my waist and slides up my body until he wraps it firmly around my neck, not squeezing but warning me.
“You don’t have a bad life, Hailey. You’re no longer living the ‘hard knocks,’ and yet you really want to deny me something?” His grip on my neck tightens. “You want to make me the villain here . . .”
I say nothing while he continues to squeeze my neck, my lungs burning as he cuts off my air supply.
“I’m your motherfuckin’ hero, Hailey.”
I can’t breathe. The room spins. It hurts—the burn, the sting. The adrenaline kicks up inside of me as my body instinctively fights, my mouth opening and closing rapidly, but no oxygen is coming in. This is how it’s all going to end.
Then there is a noise to my left at the side door, and Monte suddenly releases me, then pushes away as I hear Marisa and Jamie walk in.
My future flashes before my eyes as I turn to the sink to hide my tears from my only friend and, more important, my daughter. My lungs painfully fill with air as I slowly catch my breath.
“Momma, Momma.” Marisa rushes to me and hugs my leg while I wash my hands and splash water on my face.
She can’t see me in this moment of weakness. I will be strong for her.
While I pick her up and hug her, Jamie looks at me and shakes her head just as Monte comes back in the room.
“Well, well, well, if you don’t have perfect timing, Jamie.” At his words, my friend visibly flinches, and my eyes grow wide as I look between the two of them. “Alex tells me you want to leave him. He explains that you are having a trial separation.”