ignored, we basically just had sex and cleaned out the fridge since neither of us wanted to leave the island. When I finally checked my phone I had a million missed texts from mama and the voicemails to go with them, all of which were begging me to come for a family dinner.
“Why don’t you and I go out for dinner?” I asked Alex while I perched on the counter beside him, watching as he did dishes. “I still have that blue dress you like…”
“The slutty one?” he teased, side eyeing me with a mischievous smile.
I smirked and popped another few grapes in my mouth. “No, you know I only like to wear the most conservative of clothing.”
He laughed and wiped his hands after turning the taps off. “As much as I would love to show off my arm candy, I think you should go see your mother.” His voice was low and persuasive next to my ear, his arms caging me in as he stood between my legs.
“Is that all I am, arm candy?” I tried my best to sound offended, but it came out breathless and I giggled when his lips met my earlobe.
“Only when we’re at a party and I want to make other men jealous.”
I kept laughing all while Alex nibbled and sucked on the shell of my ear and the soft spot underneath, making me squirm against him and arch my chest into the palm of his hand. My own hand came up to grasp at his hair and my legs wrapped around his waist so I could grind against him easier. My flimsy panties and his low riding sweat pants were the only things separating us, but the line of his hard cock was still prominent and pressed firmly against my pussy.
“You need to stop wearing so much,” he mock scolded. “It’s getting in the way.”
“You don’t seem to be having any trouble.”
His hand was under my shirt now, his shirt actually, palming my breast and brushing his thumb over my nipple under it was firm and he could grasp it. I moaned and pulled his mouth from my throat so I could kiss him instead. Why is he so good at this? It wasn’t fair that he could just make me melt and I had to work at it for him to do the same.
Alex was just pushing the shirt up under my chin when I heard it and froze like a deer in headlights – the sound of a key in the front door. Things moved in horrifically slow motion where I scrambled to cover myself back up and Alex frantically tried to get me off the counter.
“Zander, are you home?”
Fuck everything. Mike and Marie were home and now standing in the entryway gawking at us while I tried to pull the hem of my shirt down and sink into the floor. Noel just looked surprised to see us more than anything, Marie looked like she was about to vomit everywhere.
Alex spoke first, quickly and evenly in Greek to Marie, from his tone I figured he must have been telling her not to freak out, but I just cringed and moved further behind him, trying to hide from the inquisitive looks they were giving me. Marie on the other hand, she was loud and angry and gesturing dramatically at me, I could almost see her spitting with every stressed syllable. I didn’t know which was worse right then; the idea that she was putting two and two together to realize that I had been his sugar baby just after their divorce, or that she might assume I did this just to get back at Peter.
“This is why he left isn’t it?” she demanded, grabbing my arm and jerking me forward. “Because of you whoring around.”
“Fuck you, Marie,” I snapped, twisting out of her grasp. “You have no right to talk shit about what I do after a relationship has ended.” I glanced to Mike and he blanched, Marie took a step back with a sharp intake of breath.
“She can’t stay here,” she whispered fiercely to Alex, staring past me to her ex-husband. “I won’t put up with it.”
“That’s not your choice!” I took a step toward her feeling my anger starting to mount. How dare she try to say who could and couldn’t stay here?
“Chloe, watch your temper,” Alex chastened. He pulled me to his side in a protective hold but I knew it had more to do with keeping me from escalating. “And she’s right Marie, I can decide who’s staying in my own house.”
She huffed and crossed her arms defiantly. “This is our house, Zander.”
“I let you live here after the divorce,” he replied in a bored voice. “You got the house in Mykonos.”
“You didn’t tell me that,” Mike said quietly. All eyes turned to him but he just stared at Marie. “You told me your name was on the ownership.”
“Well—”
“It’s not,” Alex interrupted her. “I let you two stay because I have the space and I’m rarely here anyway. But if this is going to be an issue then you need to leave.”
I turned to look up at him, my lips parted in surprise; we hadn’t talked at length about what exactly our relationship was but it was clear that he wasn’t going to try and downplay or hide us. Silence weighed heavy in the room with the only exception being the disbelieving scoff from Marie.
“We should leave,” Mike said a moment later. “The puddle jumper is in the airport isn’t it? We can go to Mykonos tonight and come back for clothes tomorrow.”
“Mike—”
“No, I don’t want to stay here Marie.”
I had never heard Mike speak so sharply to her before, I hadn’t really heard him speak with any sort of intense emotion at all. They stared at each other, something unspoken passing between them before he turned on his heel and said he’d be waiting for her at the boat. Marie stood there dumbfounded, staring incredulously after her husband. I knew from being a part of their family for so long that she usually got her way, and that both Alex and Mike had trouble saying no to her or refusing something. I was actually kind of surprised that Alex hadn’t just backed down.
“You can’t tell Pete,” he told her after the door clicked shut. “This doesn’t leave the house.”
“You have to tell him,” she snapped. “Otherwise you’re just throwing away what’s left of your relationship with him.”
“I didn’t tell him about the affair, I don’t want you to tell him about this.”
She paled and I cringed away from him. That was a low blow, and uncalled for, I knew I had anger issues at times but Alex using that against her after a decade wasn’t fair. “Alex don’t be mean,” I whispered, pawing at his arm.
He cast me and icy glare and I looked away as my cheeks flamed. Marie’s lip quivered and I watched her take a few deep breaths before replying, “I won’t tell him.”
“Thank you,” I said while offering her a genuine smile. “It won’t be a secret forever.”
She didn’t say or do anything, she just sort of stood there for a minute before following behind her husband and leaving us alone again in the kitchen. Alex rubbed my arm for a second and then sighed while he moved around me to the living room, sweeping his hair back as he went.
“Don’t agitate her,” I pleaded. “It’s just going to make this worse in the long run.”
He laughed and flicked the tv on, cheers and shouting came a little too loudly from the speakers but he just sunk lower into the sofa. “She’s never liked you and she doesn’t try to hide it, I personally wouldn’t be defending her if I were you.”
“That doesn’t matter, what matters right now is that neither of us gives her a reason to tell your son.” I paused to check the time on my phone and groaned. “I’ve got to go, are you going to meet me at the docks later?”
“I thought you wanted to go for dinner?”
“No, I wanted an excuse to have sex on the kitchen counter and that got shot down. I’ve gotta go see my mom before she comes banging down the door…”
Alex smirked and cocked a finger at me, come hither style and could only move so fast to comply. Once I was close enough he pulled me down into his lap and I squealed in delight; sinking my fingers into his hair and kissing him hard. His hands kneaded my ass gently and rocked my hip back and forth against him. He made a compelling argument.
“Go have fun,” he murmured against my throat. “I’ll be at the docks around eleven, if that’s good for you.”
“Thank you.” With a last kiss on his cheek I jumped off the couch and headed for the door. All I needed was to get changed into something my family would approve of, and then I could be lectured about something else for the next few hours instead.
By the time I got to the house it was already full; from aunts and uncles to my mom and a million cousins, and I didn’t know how to talk to anyone. Aunt Iva made a clear and conscious choice to avoid being within ten feet of me and Lena didn’t stray far from her side. Mama stayed glued to Eleni and together the two of them drank copiously while slaving in the kitchen while their brothers popped in and out for bites of food here and there and I just sat back and watched.
The house itself wasn’t exactly made for a family this size hosting a pretty much daily event, but that didn’t stop people from wandering throughout, bringing music and laughter and comraderie with them. Dimitris would have liked to be here, my brother was doted on by the family, but my father would have been hiding in the back with me and I desperately wished he was here now to lean on.
“Chloe!” mama cried, twisting around to see me from the stove. “Come help me and Eleni!”
The smile on her face, the way her hair was twisted up into a sloppy bun with locks everywhere and tiny speckles of maraschino cherry decorating her cheek made me smile back and join them at the counter.
“You’ve been ignoring my calls, koritsi mou.” Her voice was even, without a hint of malice but I could hear the general mom-guilt in her tone that made me roll my eyes.
“I’m sorry, mama,” I apologized. “I’ve just been busy; you know how it is.”
“I do,” she agreed reluctantly. “You didn’t bring Peter tonight, I haven’t seen him at all since I got here…”
Fuck, it still felt like a knife to the gut and she wasn’t even trying to hurt me. My eyes started to burn and my throat tightened. “Can we um, can we step outside for a second?” I whispered to her, trying to hide the tears.
She turned to me and nodded, her eyes were narrowed and even out of the corner of my vision I could tell that she was scrutinizing me closely. I took her by the hand and quickly guided her through the back patio doors despite Eleni’s protesting.
The back garden was small, with the house being situated in the city it didn’t give a lot of room for much other than a line of rose hedges and a sitting area with wrought iron chairs and a table. I pulled mom over to the table and had her sit next to me facing the door, this way I knew if someone else came outside and they wouldn’t overhear.
Suddenly she took my hands in hers and I turned in my chair to face her knowing full well that the waterworks were about to start. “Koritsi mou, what’s going on with you?” she asked quietly, her face deadly serious.
Tears started to roll down my cheeks and I patted at them quickly, trying to stop them before they started. “Um,” I began shakily. “P-Pete and I broke up.”
Her face fell and she shook her head fiercely. “No, no, what’s going on? We were going to look for your dress—”
I shook my head. “Mama, it’s done,” I interrupted. “We’re done, it’s over.”
She just stared at me, her hands clutching mine tightly with her lips pursed. “Where have you been staying then?” she demanded after a minute. “Eleni says you never sleep here anymore.”
“I’m working that out right now, so—”
“But you’ve been sleeping somewhere,” she insisted. “Where have you been staying?”
I held up my hand. “Mama—”
“Chloe, I have a right to know—”
“No, you don’t!” I snapped, jumping up from my seat. “And you won’t even let me get a goddamn word in.”
She called for me and I just ignored her and made my way through the house, trying to find a bathroom that wasn’t occupied to get myself cleaned up. The downstairs was in use, the master bedroom was locked, and the only one that I could find that didn’t have someone in it was Lena’s. I was sort of shocked that she wasn’t hiding in here, or that I couldn’t see any things that Peter might have left behind. But then again, it made sense considering how risky getting him in and out would have been. I knew, I had done it myself more than once.
I tried to push the thoughts aside as I went into the bathroom and locked the door, trying desperately not to think about all the times I snuck him in when Lena was gone, the time we showered together in this bathroom, or the way he would tell me he loved me when we’d cuddle on the bed. I just wanted it not to hurt anymore, to be able to think about it in terms of the past and not look at my phone expecting a text or wait for him to come home. Sinking to the floor, I buried my face in my hands and let myself sob. I just want it to stop.
Alex texted me, and it hit me hard that I spent nearly two hours sitting on the floor crying. Again. Why did I have to be so helpless? Why did I have to feel so broken? He got to just walk away, Lena did the same, and even though I had known the relationship was over for a long time I felt robbed. How long was this going to last?
I managed to calm down enough to stop the crying and went to push myself up, as I grabbed the counter for leverage I glanced down and froze. No. No fucking way. I had taken my fair share of pregnancy tests to know what one looked like, and that was a glaringly obvious pee-stick sitting in the box. Touching it would be gross, I reasoned, because hey, maybe she pissed on the handle, but I couldn’t just not look. I seized the box and dumped in onto the counter, refusing to actually look as I did it, instead making eye contact with my reflection.
When I finally looked down I made a horrible strangled, choking sound and covered my mouth as my stomach heaved. One dark blue line, clear as day and broadcasting to the world that whoever had taken it was pregnant. Lena was pregnant with my ex-fiance’s baby. I ran at lighting speed into her room and grabbed the nearest fluffy throw pillow to scream into, holding to my face so tightly I wondered if I was going to suffocate myself. My screaming went on for a while and when I finally dropped the pillow my chest was heaving and my hands were shaking.
The door opened in slow motion and I turned, ready to scream at whoever it was to get the fuck out, but I couldn’t tell Lena to get out of her own room. She stood in the doorway in a floaty sundress and her hair cascading over her shoulders in elegant waves. A beautiful waifish princess, right to the bitter fucking end.
“Is the baby Peter’s?”