Pleasure and Sin

CHAPTER THREE

“It's Amira,” I mumble in his mouth, wriggling my body free from his grip.

Jack moans deep in my mouth.

“You taste so good, Laurina,” he whispers.

Amira walks in holding up the coffee to me. Urgh! I rolled my eyes at her, she should have stayed at the cafe instead of returning so soon.

“Ms Laurina, your coffee is here. I got your favorite.”

I glanced at Jack. That was a close call. He smirks and walks away. Amira walks closer glancing sideways at Jack, while I use that opportunity to straighten my dress.

“Mr Derrick called,” she announces, her eyes fixated on me as if she is scanning every bit of me. Why would my father call me? He must have seen the news earlier. I'm already mentally exhausted by the incident that occurred earlier today and he's calling to add more pain to my injury.

“What does he want? Tell him I'm in a meeting.”

“You can say that to my face!” A voice thundered in the room immediately sending shivers down my spine. He walked towards me pointing his fingers aggressively at me.

I pulled away, “Father!”

My jaws dropped. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my dress for the third time as he advanced towards me. His red face made my heart race.

“Father, why…”

In a quick jerky movement, he slaps the words back into my mouth, the sting making me wince. Amira flinches. The sting on my face worsened as the marks of his fingers plaster on my cheeks.

A soft metallic taste like rusted pennies and salt with a warm sensation filled my mouth, I wiped my lips and swallowed it. Instinctively, I wanted to spit it out. Splash it on the old man's face, but it took a lot to make me withhold that urge. I drag my eyes slowly to meet his scowling face, my palm holding my right cheek. I glare at him.

He raises his hand to hit me again, “You!”

I scoff and look away, walking towards my seat. “What do you want, Father?”

“How could you let this happen?”

“Perhaps, you should ask Charles and not me.”

“You worthless and ungrateful child!”

Amira walks out of the office.

I scoff again, this time staring blankly at him from my seat, and tapping my fingers on the desk. He always does this, blaming me for everything that never goes right.

“I took after you.”

My response jabs him. He pauses, and lets out a short humorless laugh. “Make sure you clean up this mess without waiting for me to intervene. Do not let your mistakes weigh on my company.”

Watching him walk away like he always does without bothering to ask how hurt I am or why my marriage is crumbling. For more than ten minutes I was still lost in my wandering thoughts. Maybe things would have been different if he was still married to my mom. I was just six when they separated and it's been twenty years now since I last saw my mother. Nobody ever told me why she left. I had just woken up one morning like every other day, my eyes caught a glimpse of her back entering the car. She left without even bidding me goodbye. I sniffed, wiping off the tears that trickled down my cheeks.

Amira walks in.

I look up, “Let's go!”

“What? Where?” Amira asks, walking behind me.

“To Charles. I'll go to him before he comes to me!”

"But you can't go now! The paparazzi are lurking around and things would get crazier if they saw you. You got slapped today because of your father."

"I want to see the look on his face while he still tries to force more lies down my throat."

Amira heaves a sigh, she looks worried but I'm not in the right state of mind to listen to her. Not when my blood is boiling in fury. I need to unleash it on that godforsaken son of a b***h!

"I guess you love getting slapped... By your father."

I roll my eyes at her, and snatch my phone from her hand. My eyes narrowed on the phone screen and the name displayed made me nauseous, my eyes still fixated on the screen while my mind debated whether or not I should answer the call. I bumped into something. Someone. Just an exact recognizable height and a familiar scent. I felt a cold crawl on my skin. The nerves!

"How could you!?" I shrieked, my palm landing on his face with a sound deafening slap, and letting off all the repulsion I felt towards him earlier.

He flinches. My hand moves towards his right cheeks again, but he grabs it and yanks off my hand, dragging me away from the watchful eyes of my employees. From the corner of my eye, I could see their preying eyes.

"Is this how you're supposed to act? Do you think that it's the right time to shift the blame?" He barked.

I took a few steps back.

"Huh!"

I was taken back. My eyes widened in shock at his audacity. I've always known Charles to be self-centered and a coward, but this? This is the peak of it!

I let out a high pitched delirious laughter, my stomach retching. I paused, wiping off the glints of disbelief from my eyes.

"How audacious, Charles!"

He snickers, "You should help me calm the storm. You know how much I love you."

"Love? Oh, Charles! Love???"

I let out another hysterical laughter, clenching my fist in agony. How can he talk about love in the face of clear betrayal? Could he even utter that word when he hasn't even whispered it in ages? How??

"Let's face it. Let's tell the whole world how much of a coward and betrayer you are!"

He takes a few steps closer, slowly grabbing my hands, "You would only look pitiful. Can you stand your father's wrath? You know he would disown you."

He was right. My father clearly warned me, he doesn't care about me. The world will criticize me for overreacting when I should have just shut up and supported him. Not like I gave him a child in our three years of marriage. I've had three miscarriages in the span of three years, the last miscarriage almost took my life and the doctor said I should take a year or two off before considering having a baby again.

My eyes lowered, tears trickled down my cheeks. He closed in more and hugged me.

"You're right. I'm pitiful."

"I told you. Just support me, I promise to retrace my steps. It's a good thing since you're barren."

Those words pierce my heart. I look at him with tears starting to build up in my eyes, how can someone I've sacrificed everything in my life for say this to me. My hands landed thrice on his cheeks before he could utter another word.

“Bastard!”

I know by now my father will be watching us live and the whole world will have a reason to curse me out like they always do. The paparazzis close in on us, the sound of their cameras going. Click! Click!! Click!!!