36

Warm kisses coated her bare shoulders, waking her from the sweet dreams she was having of her and Isaias. Liesl’s first coherent thought was Isaias had gone home, retrieved the key and came to her condo. She snuggled backwards into his embrace and breathed in deeply, trying to scent the familiar aroma of his expensive aftershave.

A frisson of terror covered her as instead of the smell of the woodsy sandalwood she associated with her current lover, the scent of her ex-husband’s cologne filled her nostrils.

Any remnants of sleep flew out of her body with the speed of a rocket as she rolled off the bed and away from the man in her bed.

“What the actual fuck, Merlin?” she looked around frantically for her robe as she struggled to pull her nightdress back up. He’d pushed the silky material down to her hips while she’d slept. “How did you get in here?”

He sat up in the bed, “I miss you.”

“I don’t miss you.” She spotted her robe on the floor at the end of the bed, and she lunged for it and slipped into it, her hands trembling with terror. She glared at him. “How fucking dare, you? You touched me!”

“You’re my wife.”

“No. No I’m not. Sandy is your wife. You know. My sister. The woman you cheated on me with and got pregnant. You divorced me to marry her.”

“I never wanted to,” he continued speaking calmly and quietly. “Dad forced my hand. I had no choice.”

“You had a choice. You had the choice to not put your dick in her from day one.”

“The first time was a mistake and she blackmailed me after.”

“Considering you couldn’t get it up for me without drugs, the fact you were able to fuck her on a whim tells me it wasn’t much of a mistake. You wanted her. Go back to her.” She grabbed her phone off the nightstand and headed to the door. “How did you get in here?” she asked again as she tripped over his pants. She shrieked, “are you naked?”

“Yes. I want my wife. I want you Liesl. We had a perfect life. I want you back. I know right now you think everything is exciting with Machado, but I know, if you let me in, if you let me remind you of how good we were together, you’ll come back to me.”

She called Fred while she escaped her bedroom and raced to the kitchen. He answered on the second ring. “Merlin broke into my apartment. He’s naked in my bed. Help. Please.”

“For fuck’s sake.” Fred cursed in her ear. “Coming now.”

She turned the lights on in the kitchen and began pacing worriedly. She felt her stomach lurch with revulsion as her ex-husband strolled casually into the kitchen, naked, stroking his cock as if thinking she would give in. Her eyes raked him from head to toe and she felt nauseated. Despite his physical appearance with his muscles and lean frame, he had nothing on Isaias. She felt sick simply from looking at him.

“Go put your pants on!”

“No. Liesl, I know you want me. I heard your moans when I was kissing you.”

“I thought you were Isaias.”

“He’s out of town.”

“I left him a key on his counter to come to me when he got back. I presumed he had used it.” She felt goosebumps rising on her skin as she started to shake. “Why are you in my apartment?”

“Because I love you. You are my wife and I need you in my life.”

“I am not your wife!” she screamed it as loud as she could and noted he flinched with her raised voice. “I hate your fucking guts. You fucked my sister. My sister! You put that,” she pointed at his erect penis, “into my sister and then put it back in me. I hate you for what you did, and I will never forgive you.”

“You will. You have to.”

“I don’t have to do shit!” she shrieked as she grabbed a pretty vase of flowers Fred had purchased for her and chucked them at him. He caught them easily and set them on the counter.

“Babe, come here. We can talk this out. If we sit and discuss this rationally.”

“No.”

“I haven’t touched her since the wedding.”

“Good for you.”

“Her wedding. The one in Turks. I didn’t even consummate the marriage. I want you to know how much I regret my actions. My grandfather left a stipulation in his will if I have any child born out of wedlock, I forfeit my right to CEO.”

“I don’t care!” she raged at him.

“Liesl, we worked so hard to get us where we were.”

“Yet, you still cheated on me. It makes me wonder why your grandfather would put such a thing in his will. He must have known you were a cheating man whore. How many women did you fuck while we were married? How many when we were dating and engaged?”

He shook his head and sighed, “none. Only you and Sandy. I never cheated on you other than with Sandy.”

“I don’t believe you.” She hissed furiously.

“Liesl, it’s the truth. I swear on my life. I only ever wanted you.”

“Yet, you banged my sister.”

“It was a mistake!” he slammed his hand on the counter, uncharacteristically raising his voice. “I was late getting to your mom’s party because my dad had me at the meeting at the club. I had too much to drink and it was why I had the driver bring me. When I got there when of your cousin’s kids walked into me with his ice cream. I went into the bathroom to get it off. I was in my underwear when she barged in offering to help. I was scrubbing the front of my pants in the sink when she grabbed my dick. In the moment I knew it was wrong. I should have stopped it, but I didn’t. She blew me.” He rubbed his face frustratedly, “I tried to walk away but she said if I didn’t fuck her then and now, she was going to go down to the party and tell everyone she just had my cock in her mouth. She said she couldn’t wait to tell you about my freckle. I could hear you laughing outside, and I knew it would break your heart. I lasted all of thirty seconds trying to get it done.”

“Don’t care,” she folded her arms furiously. “You didn’t have to let her blow you.”

“I know!” He yelled again. “It was a stupid drunken mistake. If I could go back in time, I’d have gone to the party with chocolate ice cream on my crotch and sucked it up. For the next eleven months, every time she was around, she was telling me to fuck her, or she’d tell you. She kept telling me how much she would relish making you cry so I gave in. She always had a condom on her. Always except the day of her wedding because she had nowhere to stuff it in her wedding dress.”

“You fucked her on her wedding day in her wedding dress?” She was disgusted.

“Yes. I did.”

“Get out of my apartment.”

“Liesl, please. Come to bed with me.” He waved his hand at her. “I want to hold you. I want to remind you of how good we are together. How it is supposed to be.”

“Are you high?”

“No. Please. Come to me.”

“I would rather die.” She snorted. “I have a new man in my life. I have no need to stare at ceiling tiles waiting for you to finish.”

“This isn’t you talking,” he said gently as he approached her tentatively. “You once told me how much you loved it when I was gentle with you. You told me you liked it when I loved you slow.”

“Not every fucking time,” she growled back. “It was boring, Merlin. It was boring as watching paint dry. I loved it because it was intimate. I knew for you it was how you expressed to me your love and I loved our connection but the act itself was dull. Do you know how much it killed me to know you couldn’t keep it up for me and had to take drugs but for my sister you could fuck her willy-nilly without any problem?”