Chapter 1 - Cheating
Lina opened her eyes in an unfamiliar room. Her head felt heavy, and she tried to move her aching body but something prevented her from doing so. Someone pulled her closer; a weighty arm held her tighter and a sturdy naked body was glued to hers, a hard thing poking her naked butt. His hot breath, mixed with a scent of spearmint and tobacco, tingled her naked back.
Adam? She thought, but something inside her told her she was not in her husband’s arms. Tracing her fingers along the man’s body she tried to understand what was happening. She froze midway. This was not her husband. Touching him felt like touching a hard wall. Adam was well-built but not like that. Confused, Lina slowly turned and came face to face with a handsome stranger. He had a strong jawline, a sharp nose and the most alluring full lips she had ever seen. His eyes were closed, but when he felt her move, he half-opened them, revealing the most arresting emerald green irises. Smiling, the stranger kissed her nose and went back to sleep, hugging her tighter.
Lina watched in terror, his face now only a few centimeters away from hers. He seemed younger than her. How had she ended up with him? She was a married woman for God’s sake; a thirty-four-year-old married woman with a thirteen-year-old daughter.
Desperate and lost, she closed her eyes, trying to remember the events of the previous night but an intense headache made it hard to concentrate.
Panicking, Lina tried to free herself from the stranger’s embrace without waking him again. She released herself from his hold and pushed the sheets aside, climbing slowly out of the bed. Trying to gather her scattered clothes, she stole glances at the man’s naked body, feeling flushed all over at his mouth-watering appearance. His body was as if sculpted by an artist. As he lay on his side, a v-shaped upper body with wide shoulders and narrow hips revealed the man’s perfect physique. With his knees bent, Lina guessed he was more or less six feet tall.
Fu.ck! What am I thinking? I need to get out of here, Lina thought as flashes of the previous night drinking at a bar and flirting filled her mind.
Sh.it! What have I done? Did I hire a gigolo or was I taken advantage of? She cursed inwardly and in one move, grabbed a stash of banknotes from her purse and left them on the nightstand next to the bed just in case her first assumption was correct. Dressing hastily, she rushed out of the room holding her shoes in her hands.
Leaning against the wall, exhausted, she put on her shoes and made herself as presentable as possible. She left the hotel with her head low and hailed a taxi to her best friend’s place, switching on her phone and dialling Sally’s number on the way.
“Lina, where the hell were you? You never showed up after the message you sent me last night. I called you so many times and your phone was off. I thought something terrible had happened to you. Adam called me asking to talk to you and I didn’t know what to say. Sia told him you stayed with me last night. I told him you were asleep and didn’t want to wake you. You scared the sh.it out of me,” Sally screamed over the phone, adding to Lina’s headache.
“I am on my way to your place. Stop screaming. I have a terrible headache,” Lina exclaimed, ending the call and closing her eyes, still trying to figure out what had happened to her and why.
Soft Christmas music interrupted her thoughts. That was when everything came back to her, revealing the nightmare she had lived the previous night.
“Flashback”
A muffled sob escaped Lina’s throat and she placed a palm in front of her mouth, stifling the sound. It was more like a hurt animal’s painful cry. Her chest burned with raging flames that threatened to consume her. Overcome with pain, she fell to her knees and gripped her chest, tears streaming down her face. Unable to believe the sight in front of her, she looked through the half-closed door again to make sure she wasn’t delirious from the wine she had drunk.
Her heart shattered as she watched Adam, her husband, pinning his lover to the wall and thrusting inside her, moaning with pleasure like a wild beast.
“Baby, your wife is around. What if she comes looking for you?” Emma, their secretary, exhaled between unstable breaths, moaning at the same time and wrapping her legs tighter around his waist. Hiding her face in the crook of his neck, she licked his earlobe, her sweaty hair spreading around his shoulder.
“That stupid wife of mine won’t bother looking for me, babe. She thinks I am attending a last-minute video conference that I couldn’t postpone. She is playing hostess at the party right now,” came Adam’s reply, his voice husky and quivery as he thrust once more, sucking Emma’s t.its, and making her groan with pleasure.
Lina felt dizzy and had an intense desire to vomit. She forced herself to lean against the wall, drowning the sobs that shook her entire body, threatening to reveal her presence to the lovemaking couple. She closed her eyes, despair engulfing her down to the core of her existence and rushed into the hallway. She didn’t care about the noise her heels made on the marble floor, betraying her presence outside the company conference room.
“Lina? Baby, wait… I can explain…” Her husband’s anxious voice echoing in the hallway did not stop her. He ran after her while trying to pull up his trousers. If she were not involved in the incident, she would have laughed her a.ss off at the funny way Adam moved. She sped up, wiping the tears from her face angrily, not bothering to look back again.
Lina rushed to the lobby where the Christmas party was at its peak, grabbed her bag and car keys and left the event, not caring that everyone’s eyes were on her.
Not waiting for the valet to bring her car, she dashed to it and drove at high speed, trying to get away as fast as possible.
With blurry eyes and her thoughts in turmoil, she drove so fast that she almost lost control of the car. What the hell happened back there? Was what she saw reality, or was her imagination playing tricks on her?
Her vision blurred, and she touched her wet cheeks, realising she had been crying the whole time. The ringtone on her phone snapped her back to reality. Adam was calling her non-stop. Lina parked the car on the side of the road, unable to control her sobs, her eyes not leaving the flashing screen. A message popped into her phone; she picked it up with trembling hands, thinking it was from her cheating husband. It was from Sia, her thirteen-year-old daughter. “Mum, what time are you and Dad coming home?” How could she reply to her daughter in the state she was in?
Trying to compose herself, Lina breathed deeply, wiping the tears from her face.
“Sorry, sweetheart. Your aunt Sally called, and she is not feeling very well. I will spend the night with her. Dad is coming back alone,” Lina replied, knowing Sia would believe her lie. It wasn’t the first time she spent the night with her best friend when she wasn’t feeling well. Sally was pregnant and since her husband was away on a business trip, Lina often stayed with her on the nights she felt uncomfortable.
She then texted Sally: “I am on the way there. Something happened.”
“Are you okay?”
“No!”
Lina switched off the phone and drove to the other side of the town where Sally lived. On her way, the Christmas lights brought more tears to her eyes as she thought of their cosy decorated house in London. The three of them had put up the lights and Sia was excited that everything looked so beautiful.
I can’t do this! I need a drink, Lina thought and stopped at the nearest bar. Dressed in a tight, dark red midi dress, and with her beautiful black hair in waves, she cleaned her face with a wet tissue and left the car, ignoring her puffy eyes and swollen lips. She could not care about looking sexy just then.
Devastated, she found herself at the bar ordering one drink after the other. She disregarded the funny looks the other patrons gave her. She kept drinking until her heart felt lighter. Someone tried to hit on her. He was persistent and Lina found it hard to avoid him. She suddenly felt someone hugging her from behind and a sexy voice with a strange accent whispering,
“Baby, didn’t I tell you to wait for me? Why are you drinking alone?”
She turned to face the man who had been talking to her and lost herself in a set of large almond-shaped eyes and a wide, sexy smile.
Author's Note:
Embarking on yet another journey! This new story centres around the entangled lives of Lina, Adam, and Lucas-a tale woven with spouse infidelity, divorce, and a concealed love that sparks a fierce dispute and a plot for revenge. Because, as they say, revenge is a dessert best served cold.
I acknowledge that I'm not perfect, and mistakes may occur. As a Greek Cypriot, English is not my native language. This book will not undergo professional editing, but I'll strive to proofread it thoroughly for errors. If anything slips through the cracks, I ask for your forgiveness.
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Ritsa
