September 28th 2017
"Darling," she greeted him, her tone laced with curiosity and silent questioning as she opened the door to reveal her lover, not expecting him to be stopping by for a visit. "What are you doing here?" She asked him, her voice sweet as she leaned forward to offer him a warm, gentle kiss on the mouth.
"Trouble in paradise?" She mumbled against his lips while playing with his tie that sat loose around his neck, staring up at him from under her lashes.
He hummed. "You could say something like that." He reciprocated the kiss, enjoying the feeling of both her mouth and body pressed up against him as he wound his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him. "It isn't much of a paradise though." He pulled back from her briefly, though leaned in for a chaste kiss when she pouted at him. "Are you not going to invite me in?"
She merely giggled in response as he strode into her humble apartment, still clutching her close to him.
The door shut closed behind them with a simple flick of his foot.
He braced his arms against the door, on either side of her head as she stood trapped against his body and the door. She didn't mind though. She welcomed his affectionate kisses and goaded him further by pulled on the silky strands of his hair and trailing her hand down his spine, under his dress shirt.
"I've got something to tell you." He mumbled against her warm neck, leaving a trail of open mouthed kisses down from her jaw to the slope of her shoulder.
His lips turned up in a smirk as she released a low, breathy moan, not saying anything. He wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't heard him. "You're going to love this."
She protested as he pulled away from her, but allowed him to lead her into the living room and sit her down on the expensive leather couch that he had bought for her a few months back. She turned her body towards him as she sat down next to her and rested her hand on his arm. "What is it?" She asked, leaning in so that she could plant her lips on his Adams apple, gently sucking on it.
He groaned at the unexpected yet not unwelcome distraction, and pulled her onto his lap so that she was now straddling him, gently grinding against the bulge at the front of his pants as she carried on her assault on her neck.
Another groan escaped his lips as his head rested against the back of his sofa, enjoying the sensual ministrations of his lover. His hands reached out for her hips, holding onto them tightly as he pulled her closer to him. "I really do have something to tell you." He exhaled, rubbing a gentle hand down her back, the other one pushing the bottom of her thin dress up over her hips.
She trailed her lips up his neck and to his ear, gently biting on it. "Tell me," she whispered.
He closed his eyes as her sweet breath tickled his neck, resulting in his trousers to strain tighter in his nether region. "I gave her a divorce today."
Jane pulled away at this, genuinely shocked. Her previous assault on his neck and large bulge now forgotten as she sat back on her legs, her arms wrapped around his neck as she stared at him, waiting for him to reveal that this was a big joke. But he did no such thing.
"What did you say?" She found herself asking.
His lips pulled up into a smile as he tightened his arms around her and buried his face in her neck, nuzzling into the crook of it. "You heard me." A smile graced his lips as she shivered at the feeling of his warm lips against her bare skin.
"How did you do it?" She moaned, arching her body into him, craving even more than he was already giving her.
"That doesn't matter." He groaned into her neck, one hand resting on her hip while the other just below on her plump ass, squeezing it gently. He couldn't help but push her down on the sofa and climb on top of her, pausing for a moment to admire the beautiful view that was the love of his life, his Jane. "All that matters is that it's done."
Jane giggled from under him, enjoying the attention that he was giving her.
"We need to celebrate," she announced, smirking at the grin that he released as she pushed him off of her and stood up, smoothing out the bottom of her short dress as she sashayed over to the kitchen. "How does a bottle of white wine sound?" She asked him from over her shoulder, but she was already reaching for the glasses before he could even respond.
"Terrific!"
It didn't take long for them to end up in bed naked together with more than half the bottle of wine finished.
Calvin made love to his girlfriend that evening, as he did most evenings, without even a thought about how his wife must have been feeling after having been handed divorce papers just a little over an hour ago.
All he could think about was his Jane.
She was all that mattered to him.
-
"As soon as the divorce is finalised, we're going to get married." He kissed her shoulder, burying his face in the crook of her neck, his arms tightening around her body and pulling her against him.
She smiled. "You have to propose to me first." She teased, closing her eyes as she enjoyed being in his arms.
"Oh, I will. You can count on that." He chuckled, promising her.
She hummed against him and nuzzled her head further into the pillow. "How long do you think it will take to wrap everything up?" She asked, genuinely concerned.
He didn't say anything for a few minutes, pausing to think of an appropriate answer. He, himself, wasn't sure how long the whole procedure would take. "I'm not sure, but I'm hoping for a few weeks." He said, giving her a rough estimate but he had a feeling that Audrey would not stick to the time constraint that he had just mentioned to Jane.
"Do you think she'll fight?"
Calvin laughed, but the sound was heavy and rough. "She's definitely fight, alright. I can't picture Audrey going down without a fight."
Jane frowned. "You know I don't like you saying her name, especially not in bed."
Adam leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her chest, not feeling too great about upsetting his lover. "I'm sorry, darling. I forgot."
She turned over on his back and shot him a cheeky grin. "Give me a kiss and you're forgiven." She teased him, puckering her lips for effect. She giggled as he leaned down for a kiss.
Pulling away from him slightly, she placed her hand on his face and stroked her thumb on his cheek lovingly. "I want to get married as soon as you've divorced her." She whispered against his lips, a smile spreading on her face as he leaned into her touch, closing his eyes at the gentle feel of her hands on his face.
"Anything you want. I'll give you the wedding of your dreams." He promised her.
Her lips pulled up into yet another tantalising, teasing smirk. "What should I give you?"
"I already have you, babe. I don't need anything else."
Jane hummed against his chest, satisfied with his answer.
He placed a tender kiss against the crown of her head. "Tell me what you want."
She smiled up at him, drawing meaningless patterns on his chest. "Nothing." She replied, but took a moment to think about it beforehand.
Calvin didn't miss her hesitation. "Just name it and it's yours."
Jane bit her lip and propped herself up on her elbows, not sure about how she could say it. A part of her was embarrassed, but another part of her just wanted to solidify their love. "I want the pendant." She told him, her voice quiet and gentle.
He didn't say anything at first.
Not being able to take the silence, Jane sat up and leaned against the head board next to him, silently playing with her fingers in her lap.
Neither of them spoke for a few moments as they both assessed the situation, but he was the one to break the silence. "Which pendant?"
"The one that you gave to her." She stated quietly, avoiding all eye contact.
It was quite a big thing to ask for, even she had to admit that.
Calvin didn't know what to say, so he just said the first thing that came to mind. "Why would you want that old thing?"
"Because I've heard you talk about how beautiful that pendant is and that you gave it to her when you realised that you loved her. And...and, this is stupid." She stopped, burying her face in her hands in shame. She shouldn't have come up with the idea in the first place.
Calvin's heart melted beside her. Reaching out, her wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him, gently prying her hands away from her face and tilting her face up to him by the chin so that she could see the truth in his eyes as he spoke. "It's isn't stupid, my love. I understand."
"You do?" She asked, hopeful.
He nodded and leaned down to place a loving kiss on her forehead, his lips lingering there. "I do."
"You still want the pendant?" He asked, offering her a small smile.
She nodded.
"Then it's yours the minute the papers are signed." He promised her, raising his hands up to his mouth to place a kiss on her knuckles, his eyes not breaking eye contact with hers.
She smiled, and hugged him, content with just leaning into his warm embrace, no words needed. He placed another kiss on her forehead and laid them both down on the bed and the sheets as they both dozed off, happy to just be with one another.
Jane and Calvin slept peacefully for a few hours before they were both rudely awoken by the sound of a phone going off.
"Hey, I'm just going to get this," he whispered to a half asleep Jane who had been startled by the sound of his ringtone. "I'm just going to get this." He told before untangling himself from her and grabbing his phone from the nightstand before heading into the living room to take the call, having already checked the caller ID earlier to see that it was his brother, Kade calling. But why he was calling past midnight, Calvin had no idea.
"Kade," he greeted his brother once he answered the call, taking a seat on the leather sofa that he and Jane had been getting frisky on a few hours ago. He smirked cheekily at the thought. "Is everything okay?"
"No, everything is not okay!" His brother screamed at him from the other end of the phone, his voice both loud and gruff.
Panic rushed through Calvin as he held the phone closer to his ear after having pulled it away at his brother's shouting. "What is it? Did something happen?" He asked frantically, sincerely hoping that there was nothing wrong.
Kade was quick to answer. "Of course something happened!"
"You need to tell me what's happened, man. I'm getting worried here." And it was true. His worry was only growing every second that Kade didn't give him the reassurance that he was looking for. For all he knew, there could be something wrong with one of nephews or nieces, his sister in law or even his parents.
"What's there for you to worry about?" Kade chuckled, though no humour or amusement lingered in the dark, low sound that resounded from Calvin's end of the phone.
"What do you mean?" Calvin was getting very aggravated at this moment of time but knew that he would not be getting anywhere if he were to raise his voice and get angry at his elder brother at this moment in time. It would just make the current situation even worse. At this point in time he had deduced that the situation wasn't too serious otherwise his brother would have told him by now instead of playing this ridiculous game of cat and mouse at this equally ridiculous hour of the night.
"You've filed for a divorce, that's what's wrong." Kade stated it, his voice at a much more normal tone now. Though Calvin knew that the fight was far from over.
Calvin faltered, not knowing how to respond. But he knew, the longer he stayed silent, the more his brother would have to say to him. Also, he didn't want to come off sounding guilty, especially since he wasn't the least bit guilty nor remorseful. "How do you know about that?"
"What does that matter? What matters is that you've gone out of your fucking mind." His brother was absolutely seething on the other end, and that only made Calvin angrier.
"Audrey told you, didn't she? That bitch!" He exclaimed, his anger rising very quickly. "How dare she tell you!"
"I haven't spoken to Audrey since dinner with the family the other day."
"How dare she tell you!" He repeated, much more frustrated than before.
"Have you done deaf?" His brother spat. "I just said that she didn't tell me."
It was Calvin's turn to laugh, but just like his brother, he was not amused. "You always take her side and so if she did tell you, you would never reveal it."
"I'm not hear to take sides, I'm here to stop you from making the worst decision of your life." His brother explained knowing that he needed to be the one to make him understand, to stop him from making the worst decision of his life based on his deep-rooted feelings and issues that he refused to address.
It was as if Calvin wasn't listening to a word that his brother was saying. All that he cared about was catching Audrey red-handed. He was in the right mind to march back home and scream her, to accuse her of calling his brother and making him stand between them when the fight was between him and her. This had nothing to do with his brother and he was absolutely enraged that she had bought him into this. "If she didn't tell you then who did?"
"Why are we still on this?" Kade groaned, frustrated.
"Because I know she told you!" Calvin screeched, his voice rising a few octaves, but it was still quiet enough as to not wake Jane.
But little did he know that she was already awake.
"She didn't tell me, your lawyer did." Kade exhaled, finally coming clean with the truth.
"How dare he?" Calvin seethed, though a part of him was surprised that Audrey hadn't said a word, not that he cared about her of course.
"What did you expect? We have the same lawyer." Kade stated it as if it was one of the most simplest things in the world.
"Bloody breach of client confidentiality that is." Calvin was still seething, barely paying attention to anything else.
Kade was slowly losing his temper. "Cut the bull shit and answer the question. What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that I want to be happy."
"Then be happy with Audrey."
Calvin couldn't see why his brother couldn't understand the situation. It wasn't that difficult to comprehend. "I can't be happy with her. I'll never be happy with her."
"You used to be happy with her. What went wrong?" Kade asked, his voice much more gentler now.
Calvin sighed before answering the question, now controlling his tone of voice so that it matched his brother's. "She lied to me, that's what went wrong. I hate liars." It was as simple as that.
Kade couldn't believe that they were back at this again. There were a countless number of times over the past 2 years where he had spoken to his brother about this very same situation, but not once did Calvin stop to think of Audrey. All he seemed to focus on was how this situation affected him. Him. Not once did he think of her because he was too busy thinking of himself. Kade often wondered if was making a mistake by constantly pushing his brother to stay with Audrey, to give their relationship one more chance. But just as quickly as his mind would wonder, he reminded himself that his brother had once loved Audrey; their love so rare and complete, it wasn't the kind of love that you came across twice in one lifetime. He had to be selfish and think of his brother even if all Calvin seemed to do was think of himself. "She couldn't have known, you can't blame her for this sort of thing."
"I hate her, I fucking hate her." Calvin was seething again, his anger levels rising. "And then you question me as to why you're getting a divorce?" His voice grew louder and louder as he spoke into the phone, forgetting that he was in Jane's apartment and not his own town house.
"Of course I'm going to question you. I'm your brother, it's my job to look out for you." Kade remained calm, reminding himself that he would not get anywhere by shouting at his brother. But it was very difficult to not lose his temper in such a situation.
"If you're looking out for me then just sit back and let me do this. If you want me to be happy then you have to let this happen."
"And what about Audrey?" Kade asked.
"What about her?" Calvin shot back with the same tone.
"Have you thought about her feelings in any of this?"
"No, why should I?" It was clear that Calvin had long stopped caring for Audrey, yet one had to wonder why it had taken him this long to file for a divorce.
"Because she's your wife." Kade reasoned with his younger brother hoping that he would just open his eyes and see sense.
"Not for much longer." Calvin exhaled a breath of relief at that. "Look, you might love your wife and have a happy family with her, but that doesn't mean that all of us are lucky to have such a life."
"I know, I know. But I know that you won't be happy with anyone but Audrey."
"How can you know that?"
"Because I know how much you used to love her."
"Exactly, used to love her. Notice the past tense here?" He was very slowly losing his mind.
Calvin and his brother Kade spoke on the phone for much longer, constantly circling around the dangerous topic of the impending divorce.
Neither of them were aware that Jane was awake in the bedroom and that she could hear everything her lover, Calvin, was saying to his brother over the phone. Calvin had very carelessly left the bedroom door open when he had picked up the phone and began the heated argument with Kade, and this only played to Jane's benefit.
Jane did not doubt at all that Calvin absolutely adored her, that he loved her with all of his heart. She was also aware to the fact that he was currently married; she had known this once she had first started fooling around with Calvin, but that had soon turned into something more.
She didn't care though, especially not now that Calvin had already handed her a divorce.
Jane had never thought that Calvin would actually leave his wife, and at the time, she had preferred it that way. But now, the prospect of actually being married to the man was far too great to turn down right now.
Jane had been attracted to Calvin at the beginning, she couldn't deny it. But as the months past and she got to know him better, she had soon realised that there was nothing to their relationship other than attraction. She had no idea what she had done to have Calvin so helplessly in love with her, but didn't dare change any of it. Even though she didn't love him, there was something oddly comforting about the fact that she mattered to someone, that they loved her completely and would do anything for her. And frankly, his wealth, riches and generosity just made the whole situation sweeter than it already was.
Some may argue that Jane was only using Calvin for his money, but she couldn't agree with that.
Not completely, anyway.
She was definitely fond of him and enjoyed his company, but she just didn't love him. He was a great guy and could see why his current wife was utterly infatuated with him, but she just wasn't the guy for her.
She didn't know if he was 'the one' for her, or even if she would spend forever with him. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to get married to him. But for now, she would simply sit back and enjoy all that he had to offer.
-
Layla Knight
03.06.17