Chapter 13
Beth
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I don’t believe it. I’ve gotten so much mail saying practically the same thing, so none of it can be true. This is just a sick joke. Tyson and Allison are getting back at us for not telling them that we hooked up after their party.
Or Tyson’s investigator could totally be wrong, right? Jacob doesn’t seem to believe it either, as he continues to make jokes.
“Is this a belated April Fool’s Day joke?”
“Sorry, bud.”
“I’m not married, I would know if I was. I would remember it.”
“If your week in Vegas was anything like those movies, you could have done some rock star damage to a hotel room, gotten arrested and not remembered it.” Tyson says quietly.
“Well, then if it’s true, I’ll just get it annulled.”
“I think that ship has sailed; it’s been a year or so.”
“But he was drunk when he and this woman did this, if it’s true. That’s grounds for an annulment.” I say.
“He can’t prove that. I mean, granted it’s Vegas and it’s likely everyone who gets married there is drinking. But it’s also likely that you consummated the marriage.” Tyson says, as I cringe.
“Then I’ll get a divorce.” Jacob shrugs as if this whole conversation is no big deal.
I tune out for the rest of the conversation as I was in disbelief. Allison saw my discomfort and motions towards another part of the penthouse.
“You okay?” she asks, as we sit down on the love seat.
“Do you think it’s real?” I question, rather than answer her.
“I think that it’s something that can be easily fixed.” she says, not answering my direct question, but jumping to the other question meandering in my head.
Jacob said in not so many words that he didn’t want to talk about the situation until he had more information, but he acted distant for the remainder of the night. His public persona emerged, the cold, calculating businessman versus the playful, private version of himself was who I was used to being around, and it sucks. This wasn’t something that could be swept under the rug and ignored, and this wasn’t something that is easy to deal with. The bottom line is that my boyfriend is married. Granted he didn’t know he was married, but he’s still married.
We crawled into bed together and, as I settled into the crook of his shoulder, he held me to him tighter. He kisses the top of my head as I snuggle in, then runs his hand down my upper arm.
“So, you haven’t said anything about any of what’s going on.” he says. “I’m going to get this taken care of, I swear it.” He promises.
“Do you remember any of this?” I ask, hoping that he will say what I want him to say.
“Not a thing,” he says with confidence. “Before you, I never even gave marriage a thought.” he says in a whisper as my breath hitches.
I don’t make it known that I had heard him, but I kiss his bare chest and roll to my side with my leg over his and rest my chin on his chest. “I’m not stoked about this, but I’ve got your back.” I assure him.
“You make it sound like I’m going to get in a fight.”
“Isn’t that what a divorce ultimately is?”
***
The next few weeks were busy for Jacob, as he was meeting with lawyers and doing a lot of his own personal research, so we haven’t spent much time together. I stayed at my apartment mostly and we barely talked if we weren’t at work. I tried to not let it all affect me but it slowly was. Because of this distance, which hasn’t been present since we started dating, things were tense. The hate mail was no longer as entertaining as it once was, but thankfully it was dwindling down. So far, the local media hadn’t caught wind of the news of the marriage, but we all knew that the information could leak out at any given time.
Tyson and I were working late on a Thursday night when Jacob walks in slowly. He looks defeated as he slumps down into the love seat beside me. His arm goes over the back of the couch, his fingers barely grazing my shoulder, as I absent-mindedly leaned toward him. He takes a deep breath and leans his head back, closing his eyes.
“What’s up?” Tyson asks.
“McKinney says that Candy is contesting the divorce.”
“What does that mean, she can’t do that?” I ask, looking between the brothers.
“She’s not agreeing to get a divorce.” Tyson says.
“She was served the papers weeks ago, and she finally responded. She’s contesting the divorce, saying that the marriage was an act of love and that it’s a true marriage by the means of sealing the deal, and not something done in the spur of a drunken moment.” He runs his hand through his hair.
“Are you fucking serious?” I swear, causing both guys to look at my outburst and laugh. “You don’t even remember her, sounds like true love to me. I mean, where the hell has she been all this time, if the relationship was real?” I continue.
“Have you seen her yet?” Tyson asks, as Jacob shakes his head. “Seeing her could jog your memory maybe of the evening.”
“No, McKinney says to keep my distance, that anything that I could potentially say to her, she could use against me.”
“I agree with him. You’re pissed, that could bite you in the ass and then she could go to the press.” Tyson says.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t already.” I mutter.
“Her lawyers are suggesting that she doesn’t, and so far she is listening to them. She’s rented a house here for a bit, apparently, to show residency or something.”
“But, okay, so you guys live in different states, and have been since this marriage began. Does that mean anything?”
“Yes and no. Mad Designs is here, but in the past year, I have flown to Vegas with Brad at least five times. That could be argued that I was there to visit her. Apparently, a lot of couples do that kind of thing.”
“But you weren’t, right?” I say without thinking.
The atmosphere of the room shifts and suddenly feels cold as both Tyson and Jacob look at me. I feel like a complete idiot, but anyone in my place would question the same thing.
“Of course not,” Jacob says sternly, turning his entire body to me. “I don’t even recall meeting her.”
“Does Brad?” Tyson asks, breaking the silence of the room, bringing Jacob’s attention back to him.
“He’s been MIA. I haven’t been able to get a hold of him since we all found out about this.” Jacob shakes his head and then his hand comes from around me to grasping my shoulder.
“I’ll see if I can get a hold of him. It’s not normal for him to be radio silent for longer than a few weeks.” Tyson says, standing from his chair and then looking over to me. “You two go home. Go pretend this bullshit isn’t happening. Better yet, see you both on Monday.”
“You aren’t the boss of me.” Jacob laughs.
“Technically, I’m her boss, even though she practically runs this ship. Seriously though, get out of town, go do something to get your mind off this shit. I mean it. I don’t particularly enjoy that she is moping around here.”
“I’m not moping.” I cut in.
“You didn’t laugh at my joke about the bonobos. You are clearly moping.” Tyson laughs.
“Ty, your joke is horrible. You’re not that funny.”
“Allison cracks up every time.” he says, offended.
“Yeah, well she’s marrying you; she has to laugh at the ridiculous things that you say.”
“I’m funny.”
“Looking,” Jacob says, laughing.
Jacob
Since Tyson told Beth and me not to come into work tomorrow, I’m taking that as incentive to plan for us a getaway for a weekend. People in relationships do that, and if I’m being perfectly honest, I haven’t been the greatest boyfriend since finding out that I was married. Just even saying that word “marriage” in the context that I was thinking, I was having problems digesting. I wasn’t supposed to be married to someone else, not when everything was falling into place between Beth and me.
On our way out of the office, I told Beth to pack a weekend bag and to meet me at the penthouse in an hour.
I call the company travel agent and set us up with the company plane to Napa and found a last-minute Airbnb deal for a spur-of-the-moment vacation, as my brother suggested, starting in the morning. Tonight, I wanted to make it known that I am 100 percent in this relationship with her and that also means complete transparency. While I am aware that she knows some of my past, I may have to be graphic and describe everything to her in hopes that she sees that what is between us is completely different.
I’m throwing my clothes in the laundry when I hear the elevator chime and the sound of flip flops echoing through the space. I poke my head out from the laundry room and smile as I watch Beth set her bag down beside the kitchen island and look around for me.
“Hey, I’ll be right out. I want to make sure I have clean clothes for this weekend.” I say.
“You do your own laundry?” she says with surprise in her tone.
“Well, I am an adult. I can do things. I don’t like other people going through my dirty laundry.” I pause for dramatic effect.
“I just thought that you had a maid or something that did that for you.”
“I have a house cleaner who comes by once a week, but laundry isn’t on her list. Did you think that I was that type of guy who can’t do things for himself?” I pretend to be offended.
“Well, I don’t know. Ty has people like that. I just figured you did too.”
“While we may be related, there are several things that are different between us.” I wink at her.
She stands in the doorway to my laundry room, watching me put my wet clothes into the dryer.
“I didn’t take you for the domestic type.”
“There you go again, insinuating that I am a particular type.” I shake my head with a smile.
“I never insinuated anything of the sort.” She snorts, really snorts. “I’m sorry if I keep doing that though. I’m continuously surprised by you.”
I don’t have it in me to point out that she makes assumptions about me a lot, that everyone does. I’m used to people thinking that I’m as much of a playboy as my brother was or that I was entitled. I’ve been completely transparent regarding all my past transgressions, including my distraction that I had when I first thought she was dating surfer boy. I’m used to the fact that this perception comes with being a Maddox. It’s not that I get pissed off with people when they make these assumptions, I just wish that for once, someone wouldn’t think any of it and form their own opinion.
I shake my head and turn to face her with a smile.
“Tonight, I’m going to explore. Tomorrow, we’re leaving for Napa.”
“Explore?”
“You,” I say, stalking towards her.
***
I wake up with my whole body sore from last night and a massive case of morning wood. I roll to my side and spoon Beth, putting my dick in the perfect crevice of her ass. She is still asleep and she relaxes into me further. My jaw hurts, but in a good way, from devouring her pussy for over an hour, sending her on a multiple orgasm overload. My shoulders hurt from holding her down when she wanted to move positions, but I remember that I wasn’t done feasting on her entire body. And lastly, my dick hurts from denying it to go into the one place it wanted to go last night.
Pussy deprivation - it’s the new form of torture.
I know every freckle and every line on her body now, my mouth knows it by feeling and my nose is in love with her scent. Recalling the events of last night has my dick basically bursting, a spontaneous orgasm could likely happen if she was to rub a certain way against me.
I press myself into her slightly and the friction between her skin and my dick could cause me to nut all over her back if I’m not careful. I pepper light kisses to her shoulder blade as I rock slowly against her. She hums and I’m then picturing her lips wrapped around my dick, her eyes latching onto mine as she bares her teeth and takes me to the back of her throat while humming.
“A girl can get used to waking up like this.” she says quietly as she turns her head and looks at me over her shoulder.
I press myself harder into her, gripping her by the hip as I rub my cock against her ass, relishing in the friction. I bite my bottom lip as my fingers inch to the apex of her thighs. Before it goes too far, I roll back and reach to the bedside table on my side and open the drawer. Retrieving a condom, I slip it on quickly and then roll back over so I’m at her back again. My hand runs the length of her hip and towards the front of her, finding her wet and her legs open for me. I groan inwardly as my fingertips first hit her hot center, drenching my fingers. Her whole body turns to me and her eyes connect to mine. I slowly pull my fingers into my mouth and suck the wetness off. Her lips part and her eyes darken as she watches my movements. I roll her over onto her back and prop myself up on my elbows above her. I grin and lean down, brushing soft kisses against her lips, pulling her bottom lip with my teeth and sucking a little before letting go. Earning a soft mewl from her, I push into her slowly. With each inch, she arches her back and her fingers dig into the back of my biceps. I roll my hips, making sure that when I pull back, my dick drags against her clit. We move together, slow and steady, in a rhythm that works for the both of us.
“Jake?” she pants.
“Yeah, babe?” I hiss in satisfaction.
“I need you to fuck me now!” she directs, wrapping her legs around my ass.
“With pleasure,” I say as I pick up my pace. I thrust myself into her faster. My dick is buried in her to the hilt with each movement, going as far as her body will take me. I do as she requests; I fuckher, chasing that release that I denied myself last night. My fingers find her clit and I gently circle it with the pad of my thumb to bring her where I am. I can feel her walls squeezing my dick and then her eyes go wide, her mouth opens and the most animal-like noise comes out of her mouth, spurring my orgasm as I unload into the condom. Her legs begin to unfold and release me, and then her body practically goes limp as I pump once more into her and then press myself all the way against her. Her walls are still pulsing, milking my dick for all it’s got as I lay on top her, careful to distribute my weight to not crush her.
Her hands run up and down my back in feather-light motions as I catch my breath in the crook of her neck.
“That was some good fucking.” she says with a smile in her voice.
I lift my head, lick my lips and wink. “Always at your service.”