The Billionaire's Second Chance Romance

BITTERSWEET AWAKENING

Dana's POV

It was like deja vu. This feeling of waking up and not remembering a thing. I stared at the white ceiling above and then slowly turned to my side; I could see the white marble floor and, in the near distance, a mirror. There were two people in the mirror; the image of what could only be me and someone else… a man?

I stood up startled and even in more shock to discover that I was naked. I was about to rail at the man at my side when a piercing headache brought back the memories of my husband, Jude.

I sighed in relief as I laid back on the bed but my relief quickly faded with another wave of headache. It felt like I ought to remember something like there was something there just within my reach but just as it was in my grasp it eluded me.

I turned to my side, to the man sleeping beside me, and I saw him staring into my eyes with affection. If my memories served me correctly, this had been a tumultuous marriage, one that lacked affection, so why the starry eyes? I did not question it, though, and I smiled back, but his affection was gone. In his gaze was a dry winter cold; I could tell from his gaze, he hated me.

He cleared his throat and turned his face so that instead of facing me, he was now looking at the ceiling.

“This…is a mistake,” he said it so quietly I almost did not hear him.

“Huh?”

“I was drunk…I was definitely not in my right mind yesterday. Best not to make a big deal out of this, okay?” his voice was low but his meaning was clear. He did not want problems with his mistress, Josephine. If she found out that he had cheated on her with his wife, especially, chaos was bound to break loose. I almost laughed out loud at the image of Josephine, eyes red and fingers shaking, demanding from me how I could possibly live with myself for seducing her man into bed.

“It was a fucken drunken mistake.” His voice was raised a little higher this time; his frustration stemmed from the fact that I refused to respond to him.

“We are married; there is no need for…”

“I was horny; you were just fucken available,” he said rather too harshly.

To this, I did not say a word. I slipped out of bed, put on a robe from the litter of clothes on the floor, and walked into the bathroom, where I washed my face several times as if trying to get rid of some imagined stains.

My hands were on the door; I was ready to leave the bathroom when I heard Josephine’s voice.

“You f*****g slept with her?” Her voice carried genuine disappointment, which I found ironic. If Jude could constantly cheat on his wife, why did she expect that he would remain faithful to her?

“It was a mistake,” came the reply.

“A mistake?” I heard her echo Jude's response.

“Yes. Just let it go; it doesn't mean s**t,” he said it in a tone that suggested he had hated every second of being with me.

“Doesn’t mean s**t? We were together last night, and just after that, you went and slept with her. She sounded betrayed, but I was the one who had been emotionally stabbed.

If he'd been with her yesterday, it was likely that in his drunken stupor, he had mistaken me for her. I could not imagine anything worse than being mistaken for Josephine. She was a vile person. If she could poison her best friend so casually and then blame it on someone else, I could not imagine what more she was capable of.

“That is why I need a cleansing. You should be purging me of her and not giving me a lecture,” Jude said in a suggestive tone.

The next few minutes were marked by loud moans and heavy sighs. I was stuck in the bathroom where I was and my only comfort was that as it was a weekday, Jude would have to leave for work eventually.

While I was right about that I had not taken into account that Jude was his own boss and could leave for work at whatever time he pleased. I waited and waited until I fell asleep on the cold floor tile.

I woke up what I think must be an hour later to Jude's naked butt.

Instead of lying on the bathroom floor, I was on a comfortable bed, the one I had woken up in this morning.

“If you're awake, just get lost,” Jude said without even turning to face me.

I did as he said and left the room despairingly.

This was not working.

Perhaps it was time to consider a divorce?

Besides, the reason Jude had married me was now obsolete. I had lost our child, and aside from yesterday's drunken mistake, we were doing nothing to make another; was it not best if the both of us called it quits?

“Jude?”

“What?”

“Last night, you are not the only one who made a mistake,” I said to him as I stood up from the bed with the intention to leave his room.

“What?” His voice held utter disbelief and shock. I was pleased with the reaction I got. However, what I said was true. More than anything I valued my dignity; if my judgement had not been impaired by alcohol I would never have allowed a man who blatantly disrespected me to touch me.

As I was about to leave the room, however, Jude grabbed me roughly by my wrist and dragged me up against a wall.

“What did you say? Fucken repeat it you w***e,” his eyes were blaring red but my hands were ignited with fire. I forced my hand out of his grasp and hit him hard across the cheek.

I was no w***e, and no one had the right to speak to me in that manner.