Love Lost

"Miss Paige, Mr. Preston will see you now." My husband's receptionist says to me once she gets off the phone to make sure I'm cleared to see him. I'm about to correct her of my new last name but then she would need proof and I still need to go to the DMV to put in for a change to my license as well as everything else. So instead I stand up and walk through the just unlocked door and down the hall towards his office. I pass by a few of the desk in the big room before the hallway to his office. The employees look at me with what looks like pity, but they must think I'm going to his office to get in trouble for something. I don't believe any of them know who I am. Before I reach the office door, they snap back to their work. My husband's door is open and he is waiting behind his desk with a smile on his face, as he looks up to me but doesn't get up to greet me. I think nothing of it, since we had a conversation this morning shortly after he left this morning, that he wanted no displays of affection at his work place even though we had just come home from our honeymoon. I put the folder he left at our house on the desk in front of him, 5hat he asked me to bring to him. "how is it going, being back?" I ask curiously smiling sweetly. After a moment of him just staring at something I don't see, he stands up and walks around the desk. He places his hand on my hip and directs me out of his office quickly. "I'm sorry to rush you but I have a meeting I need to run to in a few minutes and I need to go over my notes you just dropped off to me." His words seem impersonal to me, but I wonder if this is the big meeting he was worried about before we left for our honeymoon. Again I reminded myself of the conversation of not being personal here. I try to shrug the uneasiness away as he closes the door behind me before I can say anything else to him. I stand there for a moment like a deer caught in headlights. Adam, one of his coworkers across the hall notices me and invites me into his office before I leave. "Hey I haven't seen you in a while, thought you realized what a cold fish Drew was. Guess he still has his hooks into you." Adam jokes. As he hands me a chilled bottle of water. I open and take a sip of the refreshing liquid as I lean against the wall just inside his door.I give him a friendly smile. "No we have been great. We actually just got back..." My voice trails off as I hear a slightly high pitched voice that I recognize. Shyla hadn't bothered to see us yesterday when we got back from our trip, but she came to his office? I turn to face the hallway, expecting my sister to come down it but then my husband's office door opens and she walks out as well as Drew. That's when Drew notices me, and I notice how he is trying to button up his pants and his shirt that was buttoned up and tucked in before and now is crooked and pulled out of his dress pants. His eyes go from me to Adam who is standing behind me. Drew's face contorts with anger, but before he says anything my sister turns to see why he stopped teasing her as she made her way out of the office. Then she notices me as well, but instead of the shock that Drew showed, hers was more triumph. Like she wanted to get caught, or that it was about time that they were caught. Then it dawns on me. She must have been in his office when I stopped by, and the only place to hide would be under his desk. There is nothing else in his office she could have hid behind. I'm angry, hurt and very betrayed right now and instead of saying anything, I storm off down the hallway towards the big room and the way out. How has things gone from pure happiness to this in less than 24 hours of being back home. Tears stain my cheeks as I rush past the receptionist, her shock of me just leaving and my appearance catches her off guard. But she says nothing and continues on with her work. I don't bother with the elevator and instead go down the stairs, if I wait either one of the people I don't want to see right now could walk up to me. I'm not sure I wouldn't swing on my sister, let alone my husband. Just that singular work makes my stomach nauseous. Just before I push through the door I can hear Drew yelling after me to hold on and he can explain but I don't want to hear it. I exit the stairway doors and rush out of the building. When I do I must not be paying attention because I slam into a man that felt like an unmovable wall. I'm surprised I don't just bounce off him and crash into the ground but then I feel his hands clutching my arms steadying me. I'm about to apologize when I look up to him. "Don't you..." His deep voice cutting off mid sentence when he notices the tear stains and puffy eyes. He's about to ask me if I'm okay, but I cut him off. "I'm sorry," I mumble softly before pulling out of his grasp. I'm running down the sidewalk away from the sort of kind man who didn't let me fall over. As well as away from my husband's office, away from Drew and my sl*t of a sister. I rush to a waiting taxi and give him the address of my home, well Drew's home. I need to pack my things and leave before he gets done at work. I don't want to deal with or see him right now. Plus side being one of the higher ups, but not the owner of the building, he can't just take off. So I have a few hours to get what I need and to get out of there. Where I will go, I'm not sure but I'm not staying with him. The taxi pulls up to Drew's house and I pay the driver before leaving the cab. I climb up the few steps and press my fob against the scanner. The door clicks letting me know it's unlocked and I enter the home. I don't bother looking around, this was his home. Any time I mentioned something to change or do to it, it was shut down or put off. I storm into our bedroom and pack everything I absolutely need into my two suitcases. Anything that doesn't fit in them will have to stay behind, and I won't bother getting them afterwards. It's just clothes and non-sentimental things. I grab an additional bigger bag and pack 6 pairs of shoes in it instead of trying to fit them in the suitcase. I have a little bit of everything that I own. Professional suits and dresses for important meetings, nice outfits for a work setting, lounge clothes and pajamas. Not to mention a few sets of bras and underwear. I also pack my jewelry from my jewelry box, even the items he had given me. I was going to leave them but thought better of it. I hadn't worked in the last year, planning the wedding then going on our honeymoon. I would have to get a job and if that took too long I only had so much savings saved up. I bring the two suitcases and the big purse that is slightly overflowing to just in front of the door. I also grab my laptop case next to the stand by the door. I notice the envelope by the front door and remember it's our marriage certificate that I needed to change my name on everything. I open the folder and look at the red stamped letters that say denied. Then in the margin it mentions the person who had married up wasn't licensed to wed us. Had I noticed this before I would have thought it was just a random coincidence but now that I caught Drew, I doubt it. This spikes the anger in my system more, before I can do anything stupid, I take the key fob off my keychain and any extra keys to the house or his vehicles. I place them on the paper making sure not to cover the note and storm out of his place, determined I will never look back. I flag a cab and ask them to bring me to a local hotel downtown but not one of the main ones, I don't want Drew to find me so easily. He would never think of this place, or even know it existed. Though I'm not sure he will even look. Then again I still have the ring he gave me and the other gifts over the years. We pull up to the hotel about a half hour later, I pay the cab and enter the building headed straight for the reception area. As I wait for the receptionist, I dig out my purse and look at the cards blankly. I'm glad I never combined out accounts or closed mine out all together. "I'd like a suite if possible and I'd like to rent it for about the next month or so." I say after being greeted. The woman looks at me surprised but doesn't say anything to my words and she types on the computer to get me a room. "Your card will be charged for a month now and on this day next month if you haven't checked out, you will be charged again. Anything charged can be undone but it takes time for the refund, so it's just easier to let us know ahead of time. Thank you for your patience and here is your key " She says sweetly before handing me the key to check into my suite. I take the key and then stop before I walk off. "Is there anyway to restrict visitors and them knowing my room number? As of right now I don't want anyone seeing me." "Yes ma'am, I'll put that in our system now and it will automatically flag the receptionist on duty. Just come down and let us know if anything changes or call the desk and we can add someone at any time " She replies. With that I head over to the elevator and hit 4 for my floor. When I exit the elevator I noticed there are only two rooms on this floor. One to the left and one to the right. I go to my room and unlock the door before entering the room. That's when I notice other people's items already in this room and a mostly naked man wrapped in a towel. I also notice it's the man I bumped into on the street, and he looks pissed again.