"Arian? I'm home."

That was the end of it. The end of the ease that I felt. The end of the minor lift of anxiety. Aside from Desmond kicking our bathroom door off it's hinges, being drugged in a nightclub and my boss committing suicide, the weekend had been. . . nice.

There was a lot about it that was more fucked up than I could comprehend. But I'd felt somewhat relaxed when I was able to walk around the apartment with out the fear of doing something wrong and being beaten for it.

I had a shift at four. I was dressed, doing my hair in the bathroom when Desmond rounded the corner and leaned against the door frame. His usual pale skin had a hint of red, like he'd seen the sun. That was interesting considering he was meant to be in business meetings all weekend. "Where's the door?" He questioned with an amused smile.

There was nothing amusing about it. Just the fact that he even asked me what happened with so much oblivion made me furious. I bit down on the inside of my cheek and took a deep breath. "A builder came to do measurements and fittings this morning. He's bringing it tomorrow."

"How old was he?"

I stared at him with confusion. "I don't know, what does that matter?"

"Well I don't want some cocky apprentice fitting the door when he doesn't know what he's doing."

The fact that I could have put the fucking door on its hinges if I had the tools was something that I wanted to point out. It was on the tip of my tongue. But I swallowed the remark and shrugged. "He was in his fifties, perhaps. I dunno. Maybe older."

I finished tying my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head and grabbed my mascara, leaning with my hips against the basin so that I could get close to the mirror. Desmond made no more comments about the builder. I suspected that the issue was more in the fact that I would have been here alone with a man. Not because he was worried about the damn door being fitted.

He straightened up and moved further into the bathroom. "I'm going to shower. Can you do me a favour and bring back some of those sugared donuts that the restaurant does?"

"Sure."

He walked past me and slapped my ass so hard that the sound echoed through the bathroom. I winced and frowned at the mascara smear above my brow. "Looking hot babe," he drawled as he began pulling his clothes off.

I hated it when he did that to me. It felt disgusting and possessive. There was just something about the attempt at being hot with aggressive behaviour that he couldn't pull off. But then again, in my eyes, he barely passed for a human being. It made me shudder and I quickly cleaned up the mascara smudge and finished coating my lashes while he climbed into the shower.

When I wandered into our bedroom, I noticed his cell sitting on the top of his over night duffle that he'd left on the bed. I was sure that I knew what he had been doing this weekend. But the need to snoop got the best of me. I wanted to be sure.

Unsurprisingly, there was a passcode on his phone. I was afraid to guess it because if it locked him out, then he would know that I was snooping. I listened to the sound of the shower with a thumping heart while I went over the possible passcodes that he could have used. I had enough time between him switching off the shower and coming out here before he could catch me. But I was still on edge, glancing towards the bathroom entrance every two seconds.

I tried his birthday first. Nope.

Then I tried the digits to our mailbox. Nope.

Then I tried his bank card pin and the phone unlocked.

"What an idiot," I muttered to myself as I went straight into his messages.

There was no reason to be so worked up, he couldn't see through the damn wall. But my heart was beating so hard that it hurt. I felt so irrationally worried that somehow, he knew what I was doing and I would end up with bruised ribs and internal bleeding again.

The first few messages were from colleagues over the weekend. Friends. But further down was an unfamiliar woman's name. I clicked on the thread and scrolled through the conversation.

Are you still coming over for the weekend? 

Yeah of course. Just have to spin something with the wife. I'll be up as soon as I can baby.

Can't wait

Leaving town now. See you in a couple of hours. Can't wait to fuck your pretty pussy.

I'll get started ;)

Hey I thought you were coming back tonight?

Change of plans. Something came up. I'll be back tomorrow morning. I'll stay an extra night to make up for it.

Okay can't wait. x

The shower switched off and I exited the messages. I made sure that I didn't just lock the phone. I pressed back until my steps were cleared and then I left it where it was and ran out to the kitchen.

I knew it. I fucking knew it. I wasn't mad or upset because he would hurt me like that. I hated him for wasting my time and more importantly, that woman probably had no idea who she was getting involved with. Yes, she knew that he was married so she's not a great person by default. But I wasn't sure that she deserved to end up with someone like Desmond.

Part of me wanted to warn her and let her know that he was a monster. But that meant that he found out. And that made life hell. If I left them to it, he would go out of town more. Perhaps he'd be more bearable to live with. It was so selfish though, to not warn a woman that the man that she's seeing is an abusive psychopath.

I leaned against the countertop and stared out the window while I thought it over. Perhaps this woman was stronger than me. Perhaps if he ever laid a hand on her, she would raise hell and make him regret it. Maybe it wasn't even that serious and it was just sex so it would never get to that point.

Those were the excuses that I let myself believe when I decided that I wouldn't utter a word. Instead, I would embrace the freedom that came with my husband being distracted with another woman. I also planned on booking a sexual health test as soon as possible because who knows where else he'd been. He came into the kitchen with his towel around his waist, dripping all over the floor.

"I've got another meeting out of town this weekend by the way," he said as he shook out his slicked back brass hair. "It'll just be Friday to Sunday this time. Our client list is growing. We've got a lot more cases coming from out of town."

"Sure," I smiled with a stiff nod.

"We'll have to make some time for each other during the week," he added with a wink that I think was meant to appear seductive. All it achieved was to nauseate me.

___

"Arian," I turned around with a handful of plates and faced Gabbie. She pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "There's a hottie outside asking for you."

Gabbie was the new Maître D that had taken over for Hailey, who stepped in for Michael as our new manager. The position had been filled fast due to the fact that we had a long list of people waiting for a position to open up. There was no shortage of potential that could be hired and finding someone to begin immediately wasn't difficult either. She was nice so far.

I peered over at Jules who was washing her hands. She shot me a harsh scowl and I turned back to Gabbie, speaking loud enough so that the eavesdropper in the corner would hear. "Tell him that I'm busy."

She shrugged and I walked out after her, heading straight for the table that I was delivering dishes to. I set the food down and took a few drink orders before I turned around and spotted Gabbie talking to Aiden beside the Maître D desk. She was prattling on but he was watching me with his hands in his pockets.

I hadn't seen any orders for him in the kitchen and he didn't appear to be ordering. So I wondered if he'd come in with the direct intention of talking to me. I thought about what I told Gabbie and winced. It sounded so harsh and mean. I imagined how he'd feel when she told him that I was too busy to have a quick conversation with him.

Before I could concern myself with Jules and what she might think if she saw us, I weaved through the tables and smiled as I approached him. His brow arched in surprise.

"Thanks Gabbie," I touched her shoulder and halted her sentence. "I'm free for a sec."

"Are you two friends?" She glanced between us with excitement. "Because phew, help a sister out."

She tossed her blonde ringlets over her shoulder and it was obvious in her body language that she was confident as hell. Which I admired. There was nothing wrong with a woman who knew how to speak up about what she wanted. But I was wincing as Aiden stared at her with boredom.

"Uh—"

She cut me off with a nudge. "Na uh. I know that you're married. Look at that rock. Leave some talent for the—"

"I'm not interested," Aiden interrupted, staring directly at her with a flat expression. I was blushing for her. It might have been possible that I was the most embarrassed person in this situation. His lips twitched into a small sarcastic smile. "Thank you though."

Gabbie shrugged a shoulder and twisted on her heel, leaving without another word. She didn't seem too hurt or offended. But my cheeks were on fire. I could feel a rash forming on my chest from the second hand humiliation.

Aiden watched her walk off with boredom and then turned to me and smiled. His dark blue dress shirt was snug around his chest as usual. "Hey," he said as though that horrific incident hadn't just occurred.

"Hey," I leaned an elbow on the desk and attempted his approach at oblivion. "What's up?"

"I didn't mean to interrupt," he said. "I just wanted to ask a favour."

"Yeah, go ahead."

"So, Cameron is celebrating his twenty fifth this weekend. We're having dinner. Would you like to come? It's at my apartment."

I remembered Maddie mentioning something about her fiancé's birthday coming up. But I gave him a small shrug. "I wasn't invited."

"Well, when I mentioned to Maddie that you should come," he gave me a sheepish look. "She said that she told me to tell you, no offence but Cameron doesn't like Desmond and I didn't want to invite her without him," he nodded at the end of his message and shrugged a shoulder. "If you'd still like to come, you're more than welcome as my plus one. Even though. . . It's my place."

I was a little surprised to hear that Cameron didn't like Desmond. Most of his co-workers thought that he was the most stand up man they had ever met. But I didn't know a lot about Cameron. I was intrigued to find out what he didn't like about him. It was also surprising that Aiden didn't seem to mind extending the invitation to me without Desmond coming along. We never really talked about my marriage. But this was a blatant disregard. Not that I minded.

"Yeah," I nodded, realising that I once again had the weekend free. "Sure. That sounds nice. Should I bring something?"

"Well that was the other thing," he winced with a guilty grin. "I told Maddie that I could convince you to cook."

"Ahhh," I nodded and stepped aside so that a couple could pay for their meal. Gabbie was back at her station but she didn't seem interested in our conversation. "I'm being used. I see."

He laughed and tousled his hair. "You owe Maddie a meal, remember? Plus, I know that you loved cooking in my apartment last time."

"Mhmm this is true," I giggled with a quick nod. "Yeah I'll do it. What am I cooking?"

He started to saunter backwards with amusement. "Whatever you want. I'll pick you up on Saturday."

"Oh, no," I stepped forward and stopped him from leaving. "No I can catch a cab."

"Na we'll need to go shopping," he said. "It's alright, I'll get the address off Po or Maddie. I have to get going. But I'll see you at around three. You look beautiful tonight."

I stood there while he smiled and turned around, leaving without another word. There were a lot of things that had me stuck to the spot, staring after him. The first was his casual compliment. The other was the fact that Maddie and Po would have different address' to give him. And that would be confusing. I guess I just had to hope that he didn't notice because that would be hard to explain.