Take What You Want From Me Ch. 04

Hi guys, hopefully you've read the first three chapters so you know that I'm Hayley, this is my first time writing erotica, so we're being gentle on me, blah blah blah. I absolutely adore your comments, so please keep them coming!!! I soooo apologize for the delay in this post, unfortunately over my spring break my grandmother had a stroke and passed away. That combined with college and finals and everything has just made life super hectic/difficult, so writing has kind of been the last thing on my mind. Hopefully I haven't lost you as readers!! And I hope that you'll like this chapter!! Thank you so much for all of your support, I love you all! Thanks for reading! <3

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The Bahamas -- Day One, Part Two

"...This is Tessa, Brad's girlfriend." My heart stopped. A feeling of pure sickness washed over my entire body, and I started shaking. I fumbled with the phone, almost dropping it, and I hit the little red phone picture button to end the call as hard as I could, as if I could erase what I had just heard. My breathing was labored, to the point of being near hyperventilating. My eyes burned, but I couldn't cry. It was as if I was so shocked that tears just refused to come, to accept the situation.

Brad walked back into the room, holding the other pair of handcuffs, a candle and the nipple clamps, and it was like my body took on a mind of its own. With all the strength that I had within my small body, I shoved myself up (slightly difficult, considering one of my hands was handcuffed to the headboard) and hurled the phone at him as hard as I could. I screamed, no words, just a loud screech because I didn't know what to say.

With quick reflexes from playing football in high school and college, he was able to just narrowly miss the phone, and it hit the wall behind him and shattered into what looked like a million pieces. His eyes grew large, and he just stared at me in utter horror before throwing the handcuffs, the clamps, the candle and the lighter to the ground beside him.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" His voice came out in a roar, a pitch that I'd never heard before. Had I been in my right mind I probably would have been terrified, but right now I was so angry that I couldn't even think straight.

"CLEARLY A LOT OF THINGS, BECAUSE YOU DECIDED YOU NEEDED SOME LITTLE TART ON THE SIDE TO KEEP YOU ENTERTAINED WHILE I WAS AT HOME CRYING OVER OUR FAILING MARRIAGE!!!" I screamed right back at him, my voice high and hysterical.

His eyes lowered with a flicker of recognition, and his voice dropped. "Who was on the phone, Nicole?"

"Your 'girlfriend' Tessa," I sneered with as much venom in my voice as I could muster.

All the bastard could do was nod. The room was still while he stood at the foot of the bed in silence for a few long moments, his eyes glowering down on me. It was only then that I realized where I actually was -- naked, handcuffed to a bed, with absolutely no where to go. And it wasn't like I'd bought some flimsy handcuffs. No, the store that I'd gone to sold law enforcement strength handcuffs. Like the ones the police used. There was no wiggling my way out of these. If he wanted to keep me here, he was more than able to. And we weren't even connected to the main hotel. I was stuck. "Unlock me. Let me up." My voice was cold, almost unrecognizable, even to me.

He just shook his head, and stayed silent for a few more moments. He was going to have to say something. This was so uncomfortable. Hell, I'd much rather us be having an all-out screaming match than this. "No, I'm not going to uncuff you. We're going to talk about this. It's not what you think though."

The nerve! Who the hell did he think he was, to keep me prisoner like this?! The second he finally let me up I was so filing for divorce. This shit was ridiculous. He couldn't do this to me!! This was most definitely some form of kidnapping, right?! Definitely against the law. He was a prominent lawyer. I wonder how much press coverage I could get if I got him arrested. I was going to take him down so hard.

"GOD DAMN IT BRAD, LET ME UP!" I screeched. Okay yes, I got slightly scary-high pitched with I was upset.

He leaned down to the ground to the other set of handcuffs, looking like he was grabbing a key for a moment. But then... oh no. He- he was grabbing the other set! What the hell?! He unlocked both wrists of the new ones, and walked over to me. "NO!" I screamed, and reached out to scratch him, or hit him, or something.

But he just grabbed my small wrist and put it up on the headboard next to the other, and before I even knew what was happening, I was cuffed by the other wrist as well. Fabulous. Now he had me doubly restrained.

"Nicole, we are going to talk about this." He paused, and was silent for a moment. The only sound that filled the room was the slight clink-clink-clink of the handcuffs hitting the headboard, as my entire body was shaking, out of rage. "I know that if I were to let you up, that would be it. So we're going to talk about this until it's resolved. Understood?"

I closed my eyes, and tears ran down my cheeks. I said nothing. He was technically right. The second that he let me up I was out of here. "Fuck you," I whispered.

I could practically feel his smirk as the bed dipped and he sat down next to me. "Such vulgar words from such a pristine little girl. What would your mother say?"

"Shut the fuck up Brad. You don't get to make jokes. Uncuff me. Please." I choked out a sob, and forced my eyes open to look at him. I focused all my energy into what I hoped was a hateful stare, but I knew that it wasn't coming across as strongly as I wanted. I loved the man, that wasn't going to change within five minutes, no matter what the circumstance. But my heart was broken, and I knew that was in my eyes. He had to see that.

At least, if he did notice my hurt, he didn't acknowledge it. That was always our problem in our marriage. He'd close himself off like this. He'd take the offensive, like I was some other player on the other football team. Someone he had to defeat by becoming ultra-cold. He'd resort to sarcasm, mean little comments, and would undercut me. I could practically feel our problematic marriage bubbling to the surface again. It hadn't even been a full 24 hours.

His deep voice, the scary one that he used when we were fighting, or when he was doing lawyer things, interrupted my thoughts. "The woman who called you was Tessa Dallas. She's an intern at the firm. She started a few months ago. She is not my girlfriend."

I just stared up at him. What else could I do at this point?

"I've had drinks with her a few times." His voice grew softer, quieter as he went on, and his eyes left mine in shame. That was something that I rarely saw. I could feel bitterness rise in my throat, and for a moment I was sure that I was going to vomit.

"Did you fuck her?" my voice sounded distorted, like it wasn't me asking the question. It couldn't be.

He quickly shook his head, but remained silent.

"You did something with her though. Oh my God. You're disgusting." I could barely choke out the words.

"It was a kiss. Once. Nothing more, Nicole. Certainly not enough for her to be calling herself my girlfriend. And that was the last time that I saw her..."

I couldn't breathe, and fire rushed through my veins as anger overtook me. We'd had our problems, but we'd been faithful. At least that's what I had thought. My friends had been so sure that he was cheating. Why else would he be gone so much? But I stuck to the fact that no, not my Brad. Not us. We weren't that couple. But apparently he was. He was the guy that went out and kissed random girls despite that little platinum wedding band on his finger.

"Get. Away. From. Me."

He simply shook his head again, and leaned towards me, and pressed a soft open mouthed kiss to my neck. I tried my best to pull away from him, but with the cuffs it was no use. I kicked my legs, thrashing around, trying to push him away from me. He just gave me a sad smile though, and used his large hands to hold down my hips, as he feathered more kisses down my neck, towards my collarbone.

"Stop..." I whimpered, but my body was betraying me. I could feel myself arching towards him, despite all of my internal protests against it. He nipped my right collarbone softly and gave my waist a small squeeze before he pulled away from me, but only far enough to allow his lips enough room to hover about half an inch above my skin.

"Remember that one really big fight that we had, about a month ago? The one-"he paused, and I swear I could hear his voice break, "The one where you mentioned divorcing me?"

FLASHBACK -- THE FIGHT

It was his own father's birthday, and the asshole had forgotten. God, I'd looked like such a fool explaining that one. "Oh yeah, sorry your only son forgot your birthday, Mr. Davis. It seems as though work is much more important to him than you, or his mom, or me these days. Haha!"

I stormed through the front door, and glanced at my watch as I slammed the door closed behind me -- 11:53. I'd spent the past five hours at a birthday party for Bradley's father making up awkward excuses about how he would be there in 'just fifteen more minutes'. It wasn't even as though I had been able to get in contact with him to get an ETA on where he was, or when he'd be coming.

I really wasn't close with his family. Brad knew that. I mean, we tolerated each other fine, but his mother wasn't all that fond of me because she had always hoped that Brad would have married his high school girlfriend, Brittany. Who, coincidently, was also at the party. His dad is fine, but is just quiet, so he wasn't much of an ally to me. And Brad's sisters don't like me any more than his mother do. I'll never measure up to Britt. I've long since accepted that. But normally I can hide behind my husband during these awkward family encounters. Except for you know when he doesn't show up.

It was just horrible. Just... sitting there. Staring at the door, hoping he'd walk through it, show up and rescue me. But of course not. And it really shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did.

But what did surprise me was to walk into the apartment and find him sprawled out on the couch, watching a TiVo'd episode of CSI: Miami with a beer. "Hey baby! Where've you been?"

I threw my purse and keys to the ground, not bothering to walk over to the little table in the hall that I normally put my stuff down on, and I could feel anger pour through my body like hot lava. "You son of a fucking bitch. How long have you been here?"

He stood up and flipped off the TV, and stared at me, clearly confused, with one eyebrow raised. "Ummm... like two hours? I got home early; I was hoping we could have dinner together or something."

"It was your father's birthday party, you fucking moron! I've been telling you about this for weeks! And I've been calling and texting you all night!"

He pursed his lips and inhaled sharply, "Ah shit, I'm sorry Nikki. My bad. Hope you told Pop 'Happy Birthday' from me?" he paused, and gave me a half smile, "Hey, did you bring back any cake by any chance? I'm starving."

"IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?!" I exploded. I could feel my face turning red, and my voice was so loud that my body shook. Seriously, that was what he was going to say to this? 'My bad?' And then ask for cake?! I had barely seen the man in six weeks, but I'd been leaving him little post-it's all over the place for this. I'd been making sure his assistant reminded him about this party. I'd put it in all of his different calendars and organizers and phones.

He just gave me this strange blank stare and shrugged, and looked at me almost as if I was crazy. Okay, that really set me off.

"Goddamnit, Bradley, I haven't seen you in months! I ask you to do this one little thing, not even for me, but for your damn FATHER, and you can't even manage to do that?! Seriously?! I mean what kind of a heartless bastard are you?!" I threw my arms up and stared at him wide eyed as I walked closer towards him.

"What are you talking about Nikki, I see you all the time..."

God, he was so daft. "No, no you don't. You see me in passing. I see the damn doorman more than you. We haven't made love in nine weeks. NINE. I haven't had a proper meal with you in almost five months. And we haven't had a conversation that wasn't some form of a fight in God knows how long! So no, you don't 'see me all the time'"

He was silent. Yes, there was no comeback to that because I was completely right. He knew that. Which was utterly heartbreaking, because I shouldn't be right about something like this. Where had our marriage gone? Where had the happy couple that we'd once been disappear to?

"Well did you ever think that it's because you're horrible to be around?" His words, although low, and not said in an angry tone hit me like a slap in the face. "Yeah, I mean shit, Nikki, no wonder we don't spend time together, I can't stand to be around you. All you ever fucking do is scream at me and point out everything I'm doing wrong. I'm sorry that I can't be perfect like you are. I'm sorry I wasn't born with a damn crown on my head, like Miss Nicole Paisley Weston here. Princess Nicole. Little princess can do no wrong." He let out a bitter laugh and stared at me with a harsh cruelty in his eyes.

"This is over, isn't it? Why the hell are we even trying anymore, Brad? Clearly it's a lost cause. I mean you clearly hate me so much, and right now, I'm thinking pretty much the same about you." I paused, and stared at the floor and took a shaky breath, "I'll call my lawyer in the morning and have papers drawn up. This is done Brad. I want a fucking divorce."

And with that he was gone. Before I could even look up, he had stormed out and slammed the door. I slid down the wall and started sobbing, and that's what I had remembered about that night. I never did end up making the call to the divorce lawyer, I tried, but I couldn't bring myself to dial the number. We didn't speak for a week and a half straight after that. But then we just sort of got back to normal and pretended it didn't happen.

But apparently his night hadn't ended there.

***

After he'd stormed out of the apartment, Brad had texted the 'hot intern', Tessa Dallas, that he had had drinks with many times before. He didn't really have all that many close guy friends since joining the firm, mainly because he was the youngest. And all of his college friends didn't live around here. But the girl was the closest to his age, her being twenty one. He asked her to meet him at 'their' bar, a little place called Lockdown.

He drove and parked without thinking, barely pausing before he jumped out of the car to go inside, only stopping long enough to slip off his wedding ring. Yeah, it was a shitty thing to do, but he wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind at the moment. To say the least.

He walked inside the dark, smoke filled bar and smiled when he saw her sitting in a corner booth, waiting for him. Tessa was everything that Nikki wasn't. She was model thin and tall -- he figured she was probably around 5'10'' or so. And she was a blonde, with this wavy hair that somehow always looked like she had just come from the beach. Her skin was deeply tanned, and her eyes were a deep purple, a color so startling that she was often stopped on the street and asked if her eye color was 'real' or not. She was stunning. Absolutely stunning.

But honestly, he wasn't all that 'into' her. Sure, she was hot. Anyone could see that. But he wasn't really attracted to her. Sure, maybe a little bit, but it was more that he just liked her personality. He liked that she was still in college, and that she was this upbeat sorority girl. He liked that she was like Nikki was when they were in college. Spending time with Tessa was like spending time with the woman who used to be his wife. Tessa was so much fun. She had such energy about her. So much spirit. So much passion. He could talk to her, or argue with her, for hours.

He'd been going out to have drinks with her after work for the past few months, since she started at the firm. After all, he was done with work most nights around midnight, and it wasn't like Nikki was going to be up anyway (at least that's what he figured). So he would take Tessa out for a few hours, and just enjoy her company. She'd become one of his closest friends. His confidante. But really, there hadn't been anything sexual about their relationship.

A bit of sexual tension, just by nature, sure, but nothing more. Until that night. He broke into a grin as he approached her. With one hand he signaled the bartender to bring him a drink (he was a regular, so he didn't need to really say what he wanted), but he kept his eyes on her. He mouthed 'Hi' to her as he got closer, but he walked slowly.

His heartbeat slowed. He hadn't even realized it had been beating fast. It was the first time he felt calm all night. It had been such a stressful day at work, and then to come home and have his wife flip a shit on him hadn't helped. But just being near Tessa was like an instant anti-anxiety drug. Finally he approached the booth and slid in next to her. Without a word, he pulled her thin body into his, into an almost crushing hug.

He breathed in her scent -- a mixture of vanilla and some flower (lilies?) -- and just held her. It was like he was releasing his stress into the universe, through her. Feeling her skinny arms wrap around his large body in an effort to hug him back with just as much intensity sent his heart soaring, and he just squeezed her tighter. The two sat there, embracing, for about three minutes, without a word. Neither realized when the bartender brought over his scotch, or when the song changed in the background. It was only them in the world at that moment.

When they finally pulled apart, her eyes were huge with inquiry. He had never touched her like that before, so why now? He just shook his head, and closed his eyes. He put his hand up, in a 'stop' type of motion, and quickly downed his drink.

When he had finished, he put down the glass and his hand, and took her hands in his. He just looked at her before he shook his head in awe, and then began spilling out the entire story, of how he and Nicole had been fighting lately, about how bad their marriage really was. Sure, he'd told her that things weren't great, but he hadn't let on just how terrible things really were. And then tonight, he'd worked so hard to finish up work early enough to get home to try to catch her for dinner, but she hadn't been there. So he'd just taken the night to relax, and had caught up on CSI. Honestly, it was a complete mistake that he had forgotten his father's birthday party. It wasn't like he was this horrible, malicious man that was out to make his wife suffer through things with his family. His assistant hadn't been in that day to remind him, and he'd lost his blackberry that day. He hadn't gotten any of her texts or calls either. There were simple explanations for everything.

No, it didn't make it okay. He understood that. But he'd apologized! So why hadn't she just forgiven him?! It was a legitimate mistake! He was just under so much stress lately... everything was just getting to him. It was like the world was crumbling down around him, and he couldn't even rely on his wife to be on his side. Hell, tonight she said that she hated him. She said that she wanted a divorce.

He paused long enough to lean his head back against the wall, and apparently long enough for Tessa to think that he was leaning towards her, or 'making a move'. Because she certainly took that and ran with it. She pulled one hand away from his, and wrapped it around his neck, and pulled him close to her, bringing their lips together. Softly at first, as if testing what would happen, their lips just barely brushed. But before he even knew what he was doing, he had let go of her other hand, and grabbed her waist, pulling her over to him and lifted her onto his lap so that she was straddling him on the seat. He massaged the back of her neck as he pressed her head down towards his, and slipped his tongue between her open lips.