Chapter 9

UNEDITED


After tucking Dylan, Matthew, and Emmie in their beds, Clarissa makes a cup of hot tea and goes outside onto the back patio. It was a cool night, the clouds were nonexistent and the moon was crescent-shaped. It was the best night for the stars to show off their brightness and sparkle.

Flashback...

At five months pregnant with Emmie, Clarissa was doing a lot of eating. Baby carrots were her new favourite thing, she had never eaten them before, and now she was sure her baby would be orange. She just got Alyssa and Dylan asleep for the night, and her husband slipped in the shower so it was the perfect time to indulge.

She was sitting on the kitchen counter dipping her carrots in hummus while savouring the taste, when Jacob's phone which was on the table, beeps.

She hops off the counter and being a nosy wife looks to see who it is. "I'll be there in 20." The text read. It was a normal text, right? It was super normal until she noticed it was from her good friend Sue.

Sue was coming over? She thought it weird that the two were texting but didn't suspect anything foul until her husband finishes his shower.

Jacob finds her still sitting on the counter. "More carrots?" He teases her playfully. He goes near and kisses her on the forehead. Then he picks up his phone and reads the message.

She waited for him to have the same confused expression she did, or to say that her friend was coming over but, he shoved the phone in his pocket. He comes near her again cupping her head and kissing her once again on the forehead, before saying, "I have to go out for a few. I'll be back in a little while."

"Where are you going?" She tried to sound calm and not accusatory.

"Client... Last minute."

When he walked out the door she couldn't hold it back anymore, tears began pouring out. She was devastated. He was cheating on his pregnant wife and lying straight to her face. She couldn't believe that he was doing this to her, she just couldn't. Why was he doing this? Was he unhappy? She wanted to pack up all her things and leave the house at this very moment but, she had two sleeping kids she couldn't do that too.

She decided she would move to the guest bedroom, and as she was packing clothes in her new room, her husband came home. He was gone for almost two hours. She hears him walking through the house and finally, finding her in the closet. "What are you doing?" He glances around confusingly.

"I know that you were with Sue." She just gets straight to it.

"Okay." He shoves his hands into his pockets. "So what's this?"

"I'm not sleeping with you obviously." She was holding back so much anger, pain, frustration, screaming, and tears.

"Hmm." He nods. He didn't really seem fazed, almost like he knew it was coming or didn't care. "Why is that?" He steps into the closet and toward her, so close, that she backs into the wall. His hands remain in his pockets, he just used his large frame to intimidate her.

"You...know why. You're...cheating...on me." A tear leaks down her cheek and she wipes it away with the backs of her hand.

"You have proof of this?"

Her brows knit together.

He scratches his growing sideburn in a kind of annoyed way. "And... you're just moving to the next bedroom? You're not going to call your friend? Scream maybe call her a man-stealer, I mean... she is sleeping with your husband right?"

"Stop it." She orders uncomfortably.

"What about me? You're not going to fight with me? Ask me, how I could do this to our family. You're just going to sleep in the room over? Are you even a little jealous? Do you even care?"

She didn't know what she was hearing. What was he saying?

"Is this what you want?"

"What?" A loud tone finally comes out of her. "What kind of question is that?"

He rolls his eyes and lets out a breath. He had to shake off the anger he suddenly felt with her. "What's next Wednesday?" He interrogates.

She blinks. "My birthday."

"Yeah." He agrees and steps back. "Call your sister." He backs away and stalks off.

So she does and finds out about a surprise birthday party they have been planning. Baylee admitted to being present at his meeting with Sue, and Clarissa felt relief along with stupidity. She just assumed the worst and this hurt Jacob, and that hurt her.

She leaves all her unnecessary packing and goes seeking her husband. He was downstairs in the gym. He had weights in both hands lifting up and down. "Hey." She leans on the wall mirror near where he is viewing himself. When his eye contact shifts to her, she apologizes. "I'm sorry." She pushes off the mirror and goes into his personal space.

He stops lifting the weights and sets them on the rack nearby. "How could you think I would do something like that? You're pregnant with my child. What kind of man would I be?"

"I'm sorry." She states again. Her hand reaches up and rests itself on his cheek. Immediately his eyes roll back in his head and he swallows.

She tips her toes and rises up to touch her mouth on his lips. His hands circle around her waist and a sound like humming escapes from his throat.

"Do you forgive me?" She whispers.

He angles her head and deepens the kiss with his tongue. He proceeded to lift her up and carry her to the nearby weight bench where he set her down gently and stood in between her legs. He continues with hunger and passion, giving attention to her neck and shoulders. "I love you." He mumbles near her ears. "I would never cheat on you." He tilted her head so he could clearly see her face. He moves away strains of hair from her face and gazes down at her lovingly, yet seriously. "Trust me, Clair, I only have eyes for you. Don't ever doubt me again."

"I won't ever, ever again." She encourages him back on her lips.

Present time...

Clarissa blinks away from the star-colored night. That was the only time she had ever had any hint of Jacob not being completely satisfied with her. The only time that she could remember of him admitting in any light that she may not have been the best wife to him. It was so subtle that she didn't get it at the time but she was getting it now.

The sound of footsteps penetrates her ears. Jacob steps onto the patio and puts his hands in his pockets. He furrowed his brows as his focus settled on her but he didn't say anything.

"Is she okay?"

He nods. His mind raced. Knowing who Clarissa is, what she wants, and the things she concerns herself with, he never even thought of her being with another man. She never gave him a reason to. She didn't want him, why would she want another man? He has never had to even think of it, and now that he has, he felt his veins permanently swell in his neck.

"Jacob," Clair calls. "What's going on with her?"

Suddenly this rage was coming over him. As if he could commit murder. He runs his fingers through his hair. He couldn't bear the thought of Clarissa being with someone else. She was his. No one else can touch her or even look at her.
Her thoughts on someone else, her hands on someone else. He clenches his jaw. "I don't know." He felt betrayed. He no longer had the right to be, but still, he felt it. He glances at the area where her tattoo was placed. It was driving him insane wondering what it was, and why she put it there. Who did she put it there for? "I have to go." He couldn't utter a word about it. He wasn't sure what he would do if she told him that she was dating.
What if her answers weren't what he was prepared for?
His rationale was slipping away.
He fell out of love with her, he ended it, and he wasn't happy. Why did he feel like punching something?

He was going to have to learn to adjust because if he didn't want to be with her, then he had no right to be so upset that she was moving on.

Another man in his wife and kids lives. Another man in Clair's bed. He slams his car door shut and starts it up. Clair being with someone else, the mere thought was turning him ugly on the inside. Images that were turning his stomach sour kept appearing before his eyes. He had to do something, so he picked up his phone and dialled Regina.

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Meanwhile back at the wedding...

The party progressed. Music, dancing, laughing and alcohol. Baylee wasn't herself at all. She could barely fake having a good time.
To make her emotional state harder, her sister was gone and she kept glancing at Niko. It was like gravity yanking her that way, with absolutely no control. Each time she would peek, he was involved somehow with Melissa. It was like being in hell, she's been wanting to leave ever since the I-do’s were over but, as the maid-of-honour, she was bound till the very end.

A male friend approaches. "Hey, Baylee wanna dance?"

"I'm okay. Thanks." She was sitting off to the side with her arms folded and legs crossed.

"Come on. You have been a downer all day. Lola can't even have fun. All she keeps talking about is what's wrong with you."

"Uggh." She was being a downer. And crap for having ruined Lola's fun. "You're right." She takes his extended hand.

She jumped right onto the dance floor for her best performance. Luckily, there was a fast-paced song and she was able to make it look like she was having a good time. She looked over at Lola and she was smiling, a bright real one towards her.

Baylee kept dancing and her eyes reverted to Niko's back facing her, standing by the bar with a glass of dark rum and ice in it. He rarely, if ever, had a drink. She didn't know what had gotten into him. Accompanied by the two champagne glasses he gave his toast with, this was the fourth drink that she had seen him with.
She tried not to let it concern her and went back to dancing.

A couple of hours later, Lola and Conner were off to their honeymoon in the back of a limo. She could finally go home. She goes seeking her purse in the bride's dressing area and finds it on the vanity. She picks it up and when she looks into the mirror, behind her she sees Niko closing the door.

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