Rhea Vs Mia
1326 Words
AUTHOR’s POV
Rhea’s eyes dropped before her brain could stop them.
Rowan stood there, water trailing down his chest, completely unbothered. He reached over and turned off the shower, eyes already on her.
“Done staring?” The smirk on his face was unbearable.
Rhea snapped back to herself. She shut her eyes, turned, and walked straight back to the bedroom. She climbed into bed, pulled the duvet over her head, and lay there like that would somehow undo what she had just seen.
It did not help.
She barely slept. She kept shifting further toward the edge of the bed, chasing sleep that refused to come, while Rowan lay on his side completely unbothered and fast asleep. The problem was not him. The problem was her head, and everything it kept conjuring every time she closed her eyes.
She avoided him the next morning with full commitment. Kept her eyes shut until she heard him leave the room, then called for her breakfast to be brought in rather than face the dining table. She had a whole plan.
Zoe dismantled it in five minutes.
She arrived with an invitation to the pool party and an outfit to match. Rhea looked at the bikini, then looked at Zoe.
There was no polite way out of this.
She stood in front of the mirror fifteen minutes later, talking herself down. You are a grown woman. You have seen a man’s body before. It means nothing.
When she stepped into the shower, when the warm water ran between her thighs, the image she had been fighting all morning came rushing back.
Her thighs pressed together on their own.
She breathed out slowly, then gave up fighting it.
Her fingers found her c**t and she bit down on her lip, the image of him already filling her head without permission. She thought about his hands.
The size of him. What it would feel like to have him over her, inside her, looking at her the way he never actually did.
The orgasm hit fast and hard, her breath cutting short, her free hand flat against the shower wall to keep herself upright.
“Fuck.” She exhaled, still trembling slightly.
She stood there for a moment, chest rising and falling.
It helped. A little. Enough to get through a pool party without making a fool of herself.
She hoped.
She styled her hair, then looked at herself in the mirror with the bikini on and groaned. It looked like something a teenager would pack for a school trip. She tied a scarf around her waist to make it bearable, then headed out.
The pool area was loud and alive. Music thumped through the air and not a single person there was wearing anything basic. Zoe spotted her immediately and jogged over.
“Ma’am, Mr Rowan has been waiting for you.”
Rhea looked up. “He is?”
Zoe led her through and she felt eyes follow her the whole way. She was not sure if it was her face or the swimsuit, but she kept walking.
She settled into the seat beside Rowan. He was mid-conversation with his friends but he turned briefly when she sat down. His gaze dropped, slow and quiet, then came back up.
“You look good,” he said, then turned back to his friends.
Rhea shifted in her seat. The swimsuit was uncomfortable and the compliment somehow made it worse.
Then the atmosphere shifted.
Mia appeared from across the pool, moving like she knew every eye was already on her. Most of them were. She stopped right in front of Rowan and his group, then slowly spun.
“What do you think?”
Rhea watched Rowan’s eyes dip for just a second. Barely anything, but she caught it.
She grabbed the nearest drink and looked away.
The party carried on. Dancers danced, conversations blurred into the music, and Rhea sat nodding her head to the beat and waiting for it to be over.
The quiet did not last.
“Rowan.” She touched his shoulder. “Don’t you think Rhea’s outfit is kinda cute?”
Rowan looked down at Mia’s hand on him. Then he lifted it off his shoulder like it was something he had found there by accident.
Rhea pressed her lips together to hold back the smile. She could not help it, it was all in her eyes. The look on Mia’s face was almost worth the whole uncomfortable evening.
Rhea stood eventually to get water and stretch her legs. As she walked along the poolside, she felt a sharp shove from behind. She grabbed at nothing and went straight into the pool.
When she came up, hair plastered across her face, the laughter had already started. She grabbed the pool ledge and pulled herself out, and it was only when the air hit her that she realized the scarf was gone. The swimsuit, in all its glory, was on full display.
She pushed the hair from her face and stood straight.
She had expected Rowan to react. To get up. To at least look at her for longer than a second.
He glanced over, then turned back to his friends like nothing had happened while Rhea stood there dripping.
Mia, on the other hand, was already walking toward her with a towel and that victory smile. “You look so hideous in that,” she said softly, holding out the towel.
Rhea took it without a word.
Mia was not finished.
Mia was not done. She tilted her head toward Rowan’s direction. “Those girls over there, that is the kind of company he keeps. You see their bikinis and here you are looking so low-class. You are just someone he is stuck with. He won’t be yours for long.”
“The swimsuit was a gift from Rowan.” Rhea kept her voice even. “So I don’t care about what you think.”
Mia laughed, loud enough to pull a few heads around. “You wish. I picked that up from a declutter store. I just thought it would suit someone like you.”
Rhea breathed in slowly. She turned to walk away.
“Run along,” Mia called after her. “You have a lot to lose. We both know Daddy sold you for a promotion. Don’t forget that.”
Everything went still inside Rhea for one second.
Then she turned around, grabbed a fistful of Mia’s hair, and pulled. Mia hit the floor hard. Rhea was on top of her before anyone could move, and Mia’s screams tore across the whole pool area.
Rowan was on his feet immediately. He pulled Rhea up and helped Mia off the ground. Mia stood there crying, her face marked with scratches.
Rhea turned and walked. She heard Rowan call her name but kept moving.
“Rhea. Stop right there.”
She stopped. His voice left no room to keep walking.
“That was uncalled for,” he said, coming to stand in front of her. “I expected more from you.” Rhea looked at him. The anger was still hot in her chest, tight and burning. She let out a short laugh.
“You expected more.” She tilted her head. “Sorry to disappoint you, husband. But I don’t f*****g care what you think.”
She turned and walked into the room. He followed, pushing the door open behind her. His jaw was tight, hands curled at his sides.
Rhea backed up until the wall stopped her.
He crossed the room in three steps. His hand came up slowly and closed around her throat, not enough to hurt, enough to hold. He leaned in close.
“You don’t f*****g talk to me like that, young lady.”
She could feel her pulse under his palm. Her voice came out steadier than she felt.
“And what exactly are you going to do about it?”
- Writer
