~Marshall's P.O.V~
I stand at the foot of our bed, it's almost two now. I have her phone in my hand and it serves as a harsh reminder of everything I just read. I walk around to her side of the bed and set the phone down on her nightstand. I put it down a little harsher than I meant and the sound causes Rachel to stir. She shifts and stretches opening her eyes for a second.
"You're still awake?" She yawns, her eyes closing again.
I don't say anything and head back to my side of the bed. I can't get past this stinging feeling in my chest. I pull back the covers and get in beside her. I take a deep breath and exhale slowly. I shut my eyes for a minute and will the pain in my heart to go away. She can't be with someone else. She can't. I feel her moving beside me again. Next thing I know, she's shifting over to me and cuddling up against me. Her hand slides up my torso and chest all the way up to my cheek. Then I feel her nose brushing against my cheek and I turn my head. I see now that she's fully awake and she has that look in her eye. The one that makes me forgive her instantly for everything she's ever done wrong or right. The look that makes my heart ache with love for her, the look that makes me want her more than anything.
She puts her other hand on my other cheek turning my face towards her more. We have a split second to look at each other and then she starts kissing me. Really kissing me. Her leg swings across my hips and she moves on top of me. My hands grip the backs of her thighs involuntarily. Her arm curls around the back of my neck and secures me against her. I savor every kiss I'm getting from her, tugging on her lip with my teeth.
For a second everything I just looked at ceases to exist in my memory. But, like everything else that's sick and twisted in the world it tunnels its way back in. I feel a twist of sadness in my stomach and the sensation spreads over my entire body but I just keep kissing her. My hands slide higher than her thighs, squeezing her in my favorite places. She moans straight into my mouth and I feel it between my hips. In that moment my sadness turns into aggravation, and then anger. I'm hit with an intense surge of energy. No one touches my wife but me. I throw my arm around her waist and push us up on the bed, my back against the headboard. Rachel sits straddling me, her hands resting on my shoulders. My hands slide around her torso and underneath her shirt. She breaks away from our kiss with a gasp at my touch.
"Marshall..." She whines, her eyes fluttering shut and her head dropping and resting on my shoulder.
I feel the anger again, she's mine. My hand comes up to her cheek and moves her head from my shoulder and look into her eyes. I flick my eyes down at her lips and back up again, slowly dragging my thumb across her bottom lip. The way she's looking at me I think she's going to kiss me, but instead she pulls my hand down from her face. I watch her grab the hem of her shirt up and pull it off of her body. I kiss her on her newly exposed skin, feeling my want instantly. I place my hand over my crotch, humming against Rachel's skin. She moves my hand almost immediately replacing it with her own. My eyes close and I roll my head back against the headboard, letting her touch me.
"Oh, baby..." I say, shifting my hips. "I can't wait anymore."
She tucks her fingers in the waistband of my boxers and tugs them down. My heart beats profusely inside of my chest, partly from the excitement and partly because of the lingering anger I feel. She rises up to her knees and positions herself over me. I close my eyes as she comes back down, taking me inside her. Her lips part and she lets out a moan. I rest my hands on her hips and guide her movements against me. She leans forward and rests her forehead against mine while picking up the pace. Her hands find mine and fold between my fingers. She goes in for kisses on my neck and I tilt my head to let her, my gaze falling to her left hand entwined with my right. I notice her wedding ring catching any available moonlight coming in from the window and it feels like a thousand slaps in the face all at once. I'm reminded again of what I saw not too long ago and here I am, giving myself to her like nothing's wrong.
The anger washes over me again and this time I grip her hips and lean forward, throwing her onto her back and thrusting between her legs. Her arms fall to the sheets above her head, and I take this moment to kiss her chest. She twists slightly and I move to her neck. I glance at her again and then suck gently on the skin below her ear. Her back rises off the bed and it presses our fronts together. She lets out an agonized moan, I pick up the pace. Her eyebrows knit and her eyes close, her mouth opening slightly.
All of sudden images of her with someone else flash uninvited through my mind. The rage settles in my abdomen, ignites in my chest, and pulses through the rest of me in a matter of seconds. I zone out, all I can hear are my own heavy breaths. I thrust harder, anything to relieve the anger thats manifested itself within me. My eyes close and I feel Rachel's nails dig into my shoulders, the sounds of my own breathing echoes in my ears. Rachel's nails sink harder into my skin to the point where it genuinely hurts. Before I can open my eyes I feel her hands on my chest and with one giant push I roll off of her. She shoves me again and turns away.
I blink a few times to make sure I'm fully aware before I find out what's happening. I look at her and she's moving away from me, pulling the sheets up to cover herself and putting her shirt back on. Watching her I know something is wrong. I grab my joggers from the floor and pull them on in a second and rush to her side of the bed. I try to take her hands but she pushes them away.
"What's wrong?" I ask her, getting worried.
"Really?" She scoffs, pulling on her shorts.
"Baby what happened did I do something?" I ask her again.
She looks at me with a confused look.
"Marshall I told you to stop like five times." She tells me, and then her voice gets quieter. "You were hurting me."
My heart might as well have been ripped straight out of my chest and thrown into the street.
"What?" My face twists, and I sit down next to her but she immediately moves away. "You didn't say anything."
"Yes I did." She nods, and I think I can see water lining in her eyes. "I told you to stop and you just...didn't."
Looking at her now I feel like I could die. Did I really not hear her telling me to stop? How zoned out was I?
"Baby. Look at me." I beg her, but she doesn't listen. She crosses her arms and stands up from our bed. "Rachel please."
She grabs a blanket and heads for the door. My body reacts, springing up from the bed. She reaches for the doorknob and I put my hand over hers, causing her to draw back.
"Where are you going?" I ask her, seeing that she's crying now.
"Lo's room." She tells me, moving past me. "I'm sorry Marshall I just can't be around you right now."
"Rachel I'm sorry." I plead. "I didn't know I could've sworn you didn't say anything. I'm so sorry, I would never hurt you. Especially not like that."
"I can't Marshall..." She shakes her head and wipes a few tears away with the back of her hand.
She opens the door and slips out before I can protest. I immediately follow her. She walks into Lola's room and closes the door on me. I rest my forehead on the door in defeat. I know better than to go in there. At this point, nearly three in the morning, it's better for us to be apart. I turn my back on the door and sit down leaning against the wall in the hallway. For some reason I'm instantly reminded of what I found on her phone not too long ago. And now I can't tell if I want to scream at her or if I'm the one who should be sorry. Either way, right now isn't the time to handle it. I roll my head back and shut my eyes for a minute, realizing just how tired I am.
***
~Rachel's P.O.V.~
I wake up on Lola's floor. I can see out her window that it's still pretty dark out. I turn over and look at the clock beside her bed and see that it's barely six. Two hours before she has to go to school. I sit up, feeling a headache coming on. Then I stand up, picking up the blanket from the floor. It's best Lola doesn't know that I slept in here. She doesn't need to think Marshall and I are having any kind of problems. I open the door and almost trip over Marshall's legs on the way out. He jolts awake, looking up at me.
"Have you been out here all night?" I ask him.
"Yeah kinda." He says, rubbing his eyes.
"Get up before Lola sees you." I say, stepping over his legs and walking into the bedroom.
"Before she sees me?" He asks with slight shock in his voice, following me into the bedroom and closing the door behind him. "You slept on her floor because you didn't want anything to do with me last night."
"Don't, okay?" I turn around and pull back the covers on the bed.
"That's not what I meant." He sighs. "I feel like shit about it. Could you sleep?"
"Don't do that either." I tell him.
"Well what do you want from me Rachel?" He snaps, pulling a shirt on. "You hate it when I'm mad at you, you hate it when I'm nice to you, you hate it when I love you so tell me what you want and I'll do it."
"Wow." I say quietly.
"I'm serious." He says. "You should know by now that I would do anything for you, for my family. And I can't understand how the girl I fell in love with, the girl I married, hasn't wanted anything to do with me for the past month and a half aside from the two times we had sex."
I stand there for a minute, so boiling mad I could kill him. Deep down part of me knows I have no right to be angry after everything he's been through and done for us, but I can't shake this feeling. My teeth bite down on my lower lip and I will my tears to stay back. I can't keep crying in front of him whenever he gets mad. I'm tired of feeling weak. I look at him and I can see his pain radiating off of him.
"Marshall-"
"Who is he?" He cuts me off, glaring at me with those eyes.
"What?" My stomach knots up and I think I might throw up.
"You heard me." He says. Jesus, if looks could kill. "Who is he?"
"Who's who?" My heart slams against the inside of my chest. "Marshall you're not making any sense-"
"Don't lie to me baby." He shakes his head. "Just tell me."
"I would but I have no idea what you're talking about." I hiss at him, and I see it ignite behind his eyes.
He huffs out a sharp exhale and grabs my phone off of the dresser that's beside him. He chucks it on the bed right in front of me.
"You have ten seconds to tell me who Vic is, before I walk out of here to take our daughter to school and don't come back."