Chapter 25

Unedited.....

A few days after their argument Nathan promised the kids a trip to the zoo as long as it was ok with Auntie Sabrina. So here she was standing in front of a stranger with a fake smile and a firm hand around her shoulder, Alyssa, Dylan in front of her and Emmie in Nathan's other arm. "Say cheese. the woman says as she snaps a picture on Nathan's phone.

After leaving his office and refusing to speak to him for the last two days, he's been finding any excuse to be close to her. He hurt her and made her realize that she had been dreaming.

"Thank you." He lets go of her go and takes his phone from the kind woman.

"Come over here!" Dylan runs to his mother and father who were looking at the hippos.

Sabrina lets Alyssa's pull her in front of the tank. "Look how slow they move." She giggles.

Sabrina flinches when a firm hand presses against her back.

"What did I tell you about that?" Nathan scolds her in her ear.

She wanted to let everything go and just be with him. But she couldn't stop thinking about what happened when she gave him the marriage contract.

"What did I tell you about that." She moves away following Clarissa indicating the touching.

They then stop at a pond full of sea turtles. His hand touches her back again. "Stop being stubborn, we're married." He whispers. "I want you and you want me. He spins her to face him and caresses her face. "I've told you many times I'm sorry for the way I reacted. What else do you want?"

He did apologize many times. First in his drunken stupor. That night he entered the room. She was laying on her bed with her back towards him dwelling in her anger. Suddenly she screams when he grabs behind her right knee sliding her down to his side of the bed and hovering over her.

"I'm sorry." He dips his head down on her neck and whispers it again, and again kissing her neck gently. "Sabrina you calm me. You know that?"

Her breath hitches when he kisses behind her ears. She started to pant while his mouth was so soft he almost had her. Keyword almost. She pushes his shoulder. "Get off of me."

Completely surprising her he gets up releasing her. She was almost disappointed watching him sit on the bed letting out an exhausted breath."I'll leave you to calm down."

"I'm not angry, I don't need to calm down, I need you to understand that I'm serious."

He stiffens while walking through the door without another word.

A pressure on her arm snaps her back to the present. She looks into Nathan's concerned eyes back at the zoo and says. "I want you to live your life and to stop trying to force this marriage to work."

She was repeating herself. She told him this the same thing yesterday when he showed up at the shelter to take her home.

Once the limo door closes he hits a button by the driver window to wind it up then sits opposites her. "You can't seriously be this mad at me?"

"I told you I'm not mad." She folds her arms and looks out the window.

"Look at me." He orders.

"No." She bites her lip.

"If you don't want me to touch you then look at me."

She forces her eyes to meet his.

"I'm sorry." He says sincerely. "Can we move past this please?"

"There is no moving past this."

His jaw starts to tick. "Why are you being so stubborn? Don't you think you're overreacting a little."

As a matter of fact, she did, her anger came every time she remembers him saying all he needed was that note her father had. That's all it took to give her a gut retching feeling that wouldn't go away. Knowing he could careless for her, that she meant nothing but sex to him. It nauseated her just thinking about it. She gave her body away in vulnerability to a man who hated her and her family. A man who came to her father's funeral not for her but for pretense. "If it will make you feel any better I forgive you but, that still doesn't change anything. If you want sex, then find it somewhere else."

"I want you, Sabrina." He states bluntly.

She knew exactly what he wanted.

"Well, I don't want you." Her voice held angrily and hurt she was trying to hide.

"That's not true as a matter of fact sweetheart." He slides closer.

"I can prove to you otherwise."

Her eyes get wide she moves as close to the door as she could. "If you touch me, consider it sexual harassment." She makes a last attempt to stop him.

Luckily It works. He runs his hand through his hair. "Sabrina" He groans out just as his phone begins ringing.
He answers it and stays on the call and when they arrive home he takes it to his office.

Sabrina goes upstairs takes a shower, and when she comes down for dinner, she invites the kids to sleep with her.

That backfired on her when Nathan enters the room. He stops in front of the bed realizing they had company again. The room is dark the moonlight from the window shines on the bed showing him where Sabrina lay. He walks over and stands above her. She was trying very hard not to move. She wanted him to think she was asleep. She listened to the door open and heard his movements towards her making her heart beat a mile a minute. She gasps and when his arms scoop her up.

"Wha... What are you doing?"

He places her closer to the middle near Dylan and then lays down beside her. She turns around, so her back was facing him. That's when she felt his arm come around her.

"Nathan." She made her voice stern.

"Shhh... You wouldn't want to wake the kids and then have to explain to them why you don't want Uncle Nathan to hug you." He pulls him close

She made a few small attempts to get out but moving only made him hold her tighter. The last time she tries he seems to have fallen asleep. When she moves, he asks her if she was ok, and when she answers with a "Fine." He kisses the back of her head and goes right back to sleep. She gave up after that, closed her eyes and fell asleep easily.

"Come on!" Alyssa's voice breaks their conversation and brings Sabrina back at the zoo.

Nathan rests his hands on her back and guides her. They were following close behind Jacob, who was pushing a stroller with Matthew in it. They stop again to look at alligators. Nathan grips her hand and pulls her away from his family.

"What's really bothering you?" He quizzes.

A man passing bumps into Sabrina. He reacts by sliding his hand around her waist and pulling her into his arms he presses her into his chest and inhales deeply. He kisses her head and pulls back up to look at her face. "Tell me, sweetheart. Be honest and tell me what you want and I will try my best to give it to you."

She was grinding her teeth on his chest she wanted to push the sweet scent of his cologne away from her nose. She couldn't, at least not with Clarissa and Jacob Around, and they both knew that.

Nathan's not giving her the space she demanded is only making her angry. Angry because she liked his every touch, the gentle rubbing he was doing to her back wasn't helping either.


"Go. We'll catch up." He says to his sister. She takes her kids and keeps moving around the marine animals. As soon as they get far enough Sabrina lifts her head and gives him one hard push. He doesn't budge. He grabs hold of both her wrist and holds them down at his sides. "Stop fighting me."

"No." She glares at him tugging her hands uselessly.

"Sabrina." He inches closer to her face. "Sweetheart I've let you be angry but enough now. We are married we want each other. Let's let go of the circumstances of how we got here, the point is we're here. Make the best of it with me.

"No." She glares at him. "I don't want this marriage Nathan, and neither do you. So why don't we go back to pretending that we don't exist to each other." She couldn't be close to him anymore. He wanted her because he had no choice. He said it himself, that when she finds that sketch he would divorce her.

Nathan's jaw and grip tightened and hauls her up to his chest holding her hand behind his back wrapping her arms around his waist. "I'm sorry for my lack of interest in a wife who hardly wanted to be married herself." He lets out a breath "You need space, so I'll give it to you, but this marriage isn't going anywhere, and neither are you."

He lets go of a wrist and holds on to the other pulling through the zoo. He holds her hand as they walk and once they get home, he goes into his office.

Ten days pass with her barely seeing him. He comes home later and later every day. When he is home, he mostly stays in his office. When he comes into the room, it's so late she's already sleeping. Today, however, was different. Nathan was already home and waiting for her in the bedroom when she arrives. He was wearing a grey suit and was standing watching tv. He picks the remote off the bed and turns it off. "We need to talk." He sits and calls her with a tilt of his head. She walks over and sits a few feet away.

"I've selected three properties for us to take a look tomorrow afternoon. Be home and ready by 1 pm.

"Properties, what for?" She asked confused.

"We're moving out." He stands up and looks at his watch. "I have some work to do."


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