Alex and I spent the rest of the morning in his office while he fucked me every which way, when I eventually did leave him alone it was only because he had a few things to deal with at his real estate office before we were supposed to see the lawyers. I gave him a quick kiss and went to get dressed before heading over to the bungalow.
September weather was still warm, even on the water like this, the breeze the swept across the open field and reminded me of my parent’s house in California. Despite the heat, I was comfortable in my capris and semi-sheer blouse. I kind of felt the need to cover myself more when going to see Peter, I’d worn a lot of revealing clothing during our relationship and had explicitly done that when going to see him about our engagement ring, but now that I was married to Alex, I didn’t want be to trying to make Peter jealous anymore.
I jumped up onto a few boulders off the path and walked across them, watching the waves below crash against the sheer cliffside. The island started to curve down towards the water, creating a soft slope that tapered off further down into the beach. Just as the hill became more prominent, the railing for the deck hit the boulders, I jumped down onto the deck and walked around the back of the house.
I could see Peter sitting on the edge; his legs hung over the side and he had a case of beer beside him, his hair was shaggy and stringy, and from where I stood I could see that he had grown out his beard. Jesus, what happened to him?
“Pete?” I called as I approached slowly.
He turned to me and a shadow crossed his face, he quickly looked away. “Hey, Clo.”
I took a seat beside him and grabbed a can of beer from his case. “Where have you been?” I asked casually.
“Does it matter? I got out like he told me to.”
There was something resentful in his tone, I looked to him; scrutinizing his nose. When we had our confrontation on the porch, after he caught Alex and I in bed, Peter still had bruises, but enough time had passed now that he looked totally normal again.
“I’m trying to extend the olive branch here, I don’t have to be nice,” I replied dryly.
He sighed and lolled his head back. “Did you really do it?”
Okay, I couldn’t resist being a little petty. “Fuck Alex, you mean?”
“Oh, fuck off,” he snarled before grabbing the can out of my hand and throwing my beer down the length of the deck. “Seriously, I’m not rubbing your nose in Lena or shit like that, you don’t have to rub that in mine.”
“Nah, I’ll do what I need to do.” Speaking of… I grabbed another can from the case and cracked it open without asking. “I’m not tiptoeing around people’s feelings anymore. Especially yours.”
He shook his head and leaned forward with his arms on his knees. “Did you tell everyone?”
“About you and Lena? No.” I shrugged and pulled my leg up to my chest. “I don’t want to have to tell them honestly, and I don’t think that’s my place. You reap what you sow and all that.”
“She told me she’s pregnant.”
“Yeah. And?”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know, I’m not the pregnant one here.” I tipped the can back, trying to kill that pain inside me at just saying those words out loud. “I thought you ran off with her or something,” I continued quietly.
“No, mum called me, apparently Lena is with her and dad in Mykonos.”
Dad, wow. “Don’t call him that in front of Alex,” I scolded. “I mean it, don’t make this any worse than it needs to be.”
“Why the fuck not?” Peter demanded, turning to me expectantly. “You know, I’m not blaming the fact that we have no chance of a relationship completely on you, but you sure didn’t fucking help the situation.”
“You fucked Lena!” I screamed. “You went behind my back and screwed my cousin, meanwhile you were leading me on about the wedding and acting normal—”
“Don’t,” he warned. “Don’t you fucking put this all on me, the moment you got that ring you changed who you were, you didn’t want anything to do with me—” He stopped short and looked away quickly. “I guess that was because of Zander,” he whispered to himself.
I wanted to say no, I didn’t change after seeing Alex again but inside I knew that wasn’t true and I couldn’t lie like that. I felt guilty, so goddamn guilty about Alex and that made me ignore my relationship with Peter. When did he stop wanting me? I remembered Peter wanting me any chance he got after the engagement, and how I rejected him at every turn because I couldn’t help but compare the two. That certainly hadn’t helped us.
When did we last sleep together? He proposed March 5th, I knew I slept with him that weekend, but he “introduced” me to Alex on the Sunday. I came on to Pete on my birthday, I knew that as well, but I also remembered the pain of his rejection that evening. Wow, we really didn’t go without for that long before he cheated.. If Lena got pregnant in June, then we had about a three-month dry spell before he cheated.
“You weren’t exactly hot for me in the past few months,” I retorted. “When did you and Lena start?”
“Pentecost weekend. You passed out and Lena and I kept drinking.”
I didn’t need to know that part. “Why didn’t you just leave?” I demanded. “If it started then, why did you have to drag it out?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit.”
He muttered something under his breath before actually replying, “I wanted you to leave, I assumed it would be easier to continue with Lena afterward if you left me instead of vice versa. Like you wouldn’t be as angry with her.”
Tears burned behind my eyes and I stared resolutely out into the horizon, trying to will the waterworks away. He just wanted me to walk away. He became a complete asshole to try and force my hand so that it wouldn’t hurt my relationship with Lena, while continuing to go behind my back with her. Did she know? Was she in on that plan? How fucking cruel could one person be?
“Then you’re a fucking liar. You said I changed and it ruined the relationship, but you made up your mind to leave me sometime in June or July. You led me on.”
“I didn’t lead—”
“You did,” I interrupted. “You fucking did and saying otherwise is completely untrue.”
Silence swelled between us and I crushed my empty can slowly in my hand, listening to the crunch of the metal. Finally, I made to get up.
“Wait, Clo,” Peter begged, getting up with me. “I’m sorry, alright? I’m really, truly sorry for hurting you.”
“But you’re not sorry you did it.”
“No. I’m gonna be a dad, Lena wants to stay together, I’m happy for myself.”
I stared at him for a long minute; Peter didn’t look away he held my gaze levelly and stood his ground. Tears welled in my eyes again but I ignored it. “I’m never going to forgive you,” I told him quietly. “Never. You watched Alex get crushed by your mother’s affairs and all you did was take that experience and repeat it with me, and in the process, you ruined my relationships with my entire family.”
“I’m sorry—”
I shook my head, cutting him off, “You get to tell them when you and Lena inevitably come back to Athens. You can explain to the entire family what you two did, and if you don’t then I will, and I promise you that any fallout will be ten times worse.” I would describe walking in on them, I’d tell everyone how long it went on and how both Lena and Peter felt no remorse. If it came from them, the family wouldn’t be as harsh, especially if I wasn’t as upset as I was when I told Iva, but I would happily put on a nice show for an audience if they pushed my buttons.
“Lena’s coming back tonight or tomorrow,” he told me, seeming completely unphased. “At some point I’m coming up to the house to see Zander, I need somewhere for me and Lena to stay until I find us a place.”
I laughed mirthlessly and crossed my arms, turning, I looked up at the house and ran my tongue along the edges of my teeth. Here? He was really bringing her to live here? “Is Marie coming with her?” I wasn’t sure why I asked that, but something about him mentioning Lena living with his mother made me question it.
“She was talking about giving her some moral support through the pregnancy.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. “As if she doesn’t have loving parents just waiting for her to come home.”
“After what Iva said to her, and you leaving her at the clinic, she doesn’t think she has any family left.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, just know that Marie is staying with you guys – she isn’t welcome in my house.”
Peter laughed cruelly and slipped his hands into his back pockets. “It’s not your house, he isn’t that fucking stupid.”
I took a step towards Peter, smiling broadly with my hands on my hips. “Alex isn’t stupid, and yes actually, that is my house. And later today we will be finished all the paperwork for the financial side of things. I’m here to stay, Pete. I’ll you tell Marie that too.” I patted his shoulder and started back towards the house.
“We need the spare bedroom for a nursery,” he called out to me. “Chloe!”
“That’s a you problem now! Better get Marie out as soon as you can!” I called back, giving him a dramatic wave.
***
“Child support will be contingent on age, how many children, and only to be granted once a paternity test has been provided.”
I nodded along to the lawyers as the talked, explaining the details of the postnup to us once more before we signed. Alex insisted this wasn’t necessary if I didn’t want it, his financial consultant looked like he would just about shit at the prospect of me getting so much in the event of a divorce. It didn’t bother me though, this was just the reality of life and no matter what came my way, I wanted to be prepared.
“Now the wills,” Darius continued, reaching for the two papers off to the side. “That is going to need to be updated as well, because right now it stands that Mr. Hatzistefanis is leaving forty percent of his financial assets to his ex-wife, Marie Lowry, twenty percent to his son, Petros, and the remaining forty percent to his sister, Daphne Vlachos. The entirety of his property holdings are also to be left with Mrs. Lowry.” He sat back in his seat and adjusted his glasses. “I recommend that Mr. Hatzistefanis remove Mrs. Lowry entirely and leave that portion of his will to Mrs. Hatzistefanis.”
“We can discuss that at another time,” Alex’s attorney said dismissively. “For now, if both parties are in agreement to the new postnuptial terms then we can proceed.”
Alex squeezed my hands in his and I turned to him, beaming excitedly. He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my ring, holding my gaze all the while and making my heart pound so hard in my chest I thought everyone in the room could see it.
Our attorney’s handed us each pens and slid the papers across the desk
“And I’ll just have you sign right here,” the attorney explained, tapping the line with his own pen. “And here…”
I finished signing my name on several pages and slid the document to Alex, watching as he did the same. Mr. and Mrs. Hatzistefanis. I was a Mrs. now, like no shit no foolin’, we were really and truly married. I mean, we had been married for a little over two weeks, bridging on three now, I don’t know why it seemed to outlandish to me still but now, seeing our names on the paper together really solidified it. On the least romantic paper in the world, I finally see us as married. Cute.
The lawyers finished and walked us out of the building, chirping in our ears about the wills and to call them as soon as possible to get them worked out. I paid them no mind, keeping my arm around Alex’s waist and my head on his shoulder while we continued back to the car. There was one tiny little thing I needed to ask him though, but in private.
He led us to the car and opened my door for me, I slipped into the passenger seat and waited for him to get in beside me. Just as he reached to start the car, I stopped him.
“Alex, can I ask you something?”
He turned to me, frowning in confusion. “Of course, you can, baby girl. What’s going on?”
“Um…” I looked out the window for a minute, trying to get the balls to ask him directly. You can talk about family now, it’s not like before. “Your sister, Daphne, what happened with her that you still want to give her so much but you don’t speak? Not that I think you need a reason, I’m just surprised, you know?”
Alex nodded and looked down at his hands. “I told you Marie didn’t get along with her, that’s not entirely the truth.” He paused and sat back in his seat. “Can I take you somewhere else to talk about this?”
“Yeah, anywhere you want.” Or need. I had no idea why he needed to go somewhere else, but that was alright with me.
Alex silently started the car and I sat quietly beside him, watching the city fly past us. Athens was a deceptive city, because when I was younger I always considered it a small area, in reality it was absolutely massive. About an hour later, we were on the outside of the city limits and traveling up a large mountainside. The trees became thick, the road turned to gravel and then dirt further up. He pulled over to a small area and parked the car. I took the hint and undid my seat belt, waiting for him to do the same before I got out.
I glanced around at the forestry, it felt like I was in some woodland fairy-tale, but not the happy part. I reached for his hand and he smiled, pulling me along close beside him.
“There’s some nasty wildlife out here, so just stick close to me,” he instructed, nodding to the woods.
I glanced to my left, where the trees were thickest. “What’s out there?”
“Lynx, jackals, wolves, foxes, and bears. The deer are beautiful, but you need to stick to these paths for safety.”
“What does that have to do with your sister?” I asked casually.
“You’ll see up here.”
The trees up ahead were becoming sparse, opening up into a small clearing at what was probably the cliff. Alex laced his fingers through mine and I smiled down at our clasped hands. It felt amazing to have him opening up to me, no lies, no secrets, no ‘because I said so’.
We came to the edge of the path, right up onto a cliff overlooking the gorgeous blue waters. I looked out over the edge, wondering if I could spot Alex’s island when he called my attention. He was standing next to a crumbling stone fence that surrounded a small cemetery. My lips parted and I sucked in a sharp breath. Why are we here?