Seduced 3 (4 page)

Same Day, A few hours before Tristan drove Nikki to the courtroom

Tristan

I was on my chair, and Nikki was sitting across the table. My heart was pounding faster and faster, my brain was about to explode by the possibilities. I checked my pocket, and the touch of a velvet box gave me some confidence. I was going to propose to the girl of my dreams.

I stood up. Nikki looked at me with her sparkling blue eyes. I bent on one knee and pulled the ring out of my hand.

“Nikki Jordan, will you marry me?”

Suddenly, Nikki’s face twisted into something else. Her face turned wicked, her eyes lightened with flames. “How could you, Tristan? I trusted you with my heart and you betrayed me.” She lifted the champagne glass on the table and banged it on the wooden surface. The beige liquid scattered everywhere and then dropped on the floor, drip by drip. The inevitable had happened. She said no.
What am I going to do now?

And then my phone alarm started ringing. Alarm, now?
Why the hell is it ringing now?

Shocked, I woke up, dripping in sweat. For a second, I couldn’t understand what was going on and where I was. My heart raced like a sports car, my fingers rolled in a fist. I sat up. I was on my bed and my alarm was ringing. It was a damn dream.
Hell with it.
I could remember everything from it. I was proposing to Nikki and she just declined it.
Holy shit, what just happened?

I checked the clock, and it was five in the morning. A reminder was shining on my cell’s screen. ‘Set the table and make the preparations.’ Yes, I was going to say the three magic words to Nikki tonight, after the court hearing was done. I’d planned to take her back here, arrange a candlelight dinner for us and then ask her on a date with an
I love you
message in a card. Damn, this whole thing looked so girly when I thought that way.
Why don’t I just wear a pink shirt, then
.

I shook my head. I wanted to make the date as perfect as possible. I wanted to ask her to come and live with me. I wanted to know her better. I wanted to wake up to her every morning and help her with her problems.

But that dream? The dream unsettled my entire morning. I couldn’t go back to sleep as the courier with the furniture I’d ordered was on the way. I’d expedited it to reach my house early in the morning. It was my birthday and I wanted to make it special, with Nikki being with me. But that dream?

Heck with it. I’ll do as I’d planned.

My phone rang. It was from the delivery company.

“Coming,” I muttered.

***

I hid the card under the back seat and started the car. The card had a message for Nikki, and I was sure she would be very happy to read it. I whistled and pressed the gas. It was going to be a memorable evening for both of us. The arrangements was were made. Champagne was chilling up in the freezer for tonight’s event.
This day is gonna change our lives, my dear.
I wished Emma was there to see me this much happy.

***

Inside the Courtroom

Something was going on outside. The judge was about to arrive and something happened—some noise, some disturbance. A police officer came inside and asked Nikki to follow him. Someone was claiming to be Nikki’s husband. My heart slowed down.
It can’t be.
I didn’t expect him to be back. I was thinking selfish, but she was meant to be mine and not anyone's else. A rage was building inside me.
I would kill this jerk if he is a fraud.

***

He, Gerome, looked a bit older than his age, but the way Nikki looked at him gave me the confirmation that he was the one. Her husband was back and I was standing there looking at their reunion.
God, can it get worse than this?

Gerome asked her if I was her boyfriend. I thought she would say yes and things could get clear between us. I was thinking about me, but heck, I loved her more than anything. But then she didn’t say anything. She ignored the question.

My heart shattered like a broken glass. My life force was getting sucked out of my body. I couldn’t stand there. I took out my car key and placed it in her hand. She didn’t even recognize my touch. I walked away from them. I couldn’t see anything happening around me. I couldn’t bare the reunion of those two. Damn, I loved her more than anyone could. I knew I was acting selfish and like a jerk, but, hey, my heart was bleeding dry with every second Nikki was in his arms. How could I see her in another’s arms?
What’s wrong in me, God? Why is this happening to me again?
I took a taxi back to home.

When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was the arrangements I had made for our dinner. What the heck? I kicked the table with a straight leg, sending it flying. The champagne glasses I’d arranged banged against the wall and shattered in pieces. I kicked the chair, and then I kicked it again and again until it was broken in pieces.

I fell down on ground when I couldn’t kick the pieces anymore. I was completely drained. I had no emotions left in my body. I crawled to the refrigerator and pulled a bottle of whiskey out of it. I started drinking it neat—straight from the bottle. Freaking destiny had played with me again. I’d lost everything—again.. First Emma, and now Nikki. What had I done wrong in my life to deserve this? What did the Almighty what?

“What?” I screamed, looking above. I wanted answers from him
and I would get them someday.
“I’ll get the answers someday,” I shouted from the bottom of my throat.

***

I woke up middle in the night. I was lying back on the ground while my head rested on the couch. An empty bottle of whiskey dropped out of my hand and rolled away from me.

“I need more.” I crawled to refrigerator again and took another bottle out. I had to erase her from my heart.

Chapter 7

Nikki

While sitting in the living room, I watched Gerome drinking a hell lot of alcohol from my dad’s private collection.
Jerk.
From the moment he’d come inside the house, he was all about complaining what dad had done with him and how much he missed me and—the finest alcohol. He didn’t even ask about Stephen.
Thank God I left him with Carrie for today.

“Babe, do you want so….me…sucker,” he said, and he laughed like a maniac. Did I hate him? Yes, probably I hated him for what he did to my life. But what should I do now was the biggest question I had. What the hell happened to me? I couldn’t even make a proper decision yet.
Why am I so worried about him? I should kick him out and go with Tristan.
But I was afraid to make any decision yet. I wanted to know why Gerome was back and what had really happened.

I went into my room to change. I removed my dress, took my pajamas out of my closet and sat on the bed. I started pulling my pajamas up, bt— the hell with it, it refused to come up.

“Fuck you…” I muttered loud, and checked what was I doing. Instead of my pajamas, I was trying to pull a white top on. “What the heck.” I threw it away and picked a pair of pajamas this time.

“Babe, where are you?” Gerome was shouting from the living room. I was in my room and I could still hear him. “Why is he shouting so loud?”

No, I can’t live here, at least not in the home where this jerk is drinking and shouting. I need to get away.
I pulled on the first top I could find and grabbed the car keys. I used my private elevator to get out of the house, without running into the jerk called my husband.

My Range Rover was parked there. I pressed the digital key again and again, but nothing happened. There were sounds coming from the car, but the door didn’t open.

“Now what?” I pressed the key again; the sound wasn’t coming from my car, but from some other one. I turned around; it was Tristan’s car. I forgot that I brought his car home.

Guilt swallowed my heart. I’d just bailed on him like that. His car had a child seat fitted at the back. Here we sat, three of us having fun, long rides and pep talks.
I’m already missing you, Tristan.
He was really looking forward to this relationship and I bailed on him like that.
How evil I can get?

Unintentionally, I touched the driver's seat. I felt like he’d left one piece of him in that car. A warm tear touched my cheek, fanning my feelings for him. I opened the back door and sat there for a while. I had to clear my head and think this through. There was a lot at stake.

I got out of the back seat after a while, but while coming out I noticed a white paper was popping out from under the driver’s seat, something was hidden behind that. I pulled it out; it was a greeting card. For whom? I opened it.

To Nikki,

Since I met you,

all I can think about

is making you happy.

I want to see your smile

and hear your laughter.

I want to kiss away

old hurts

and hold you

until you know

without a doubt

that this is for real...

Would you come on a date with me, this evening, my house, for my birthday?

Tristan

Tears dropped on the word, fading them a little. A feeling of Tristan fading from my life grasped my heart hard. He had set a dinner date for me and I didn’t know it. “Oh, dear, you are the sweetest man on the earth. And I met you so late.”

For ten minutes, I sat there crying my heart out. I’d hurt him on his birthday. I just couldn’t stop my heart from bleeding.
I can’t do this to him. My heart will bleed out to death if I run away from him now.

I hopped into the driver's seat. I was going to his home to see him, hug him, make love to him and tell him how much I needed him. “Yes, that’s exactly I’m going to do now.” As I pushed the gas, my cell rang. Carrie was calling me.

“Nikki, please come over now. Stephen is not feeling well and he is crying constantly. He is calling your name, so come here as fast as you can.” Carrie sounded worried.

My heart sunk in fear.
No, nothing can happen to my baby.

“What happened to my baby? Is he all right? I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Please, Carrie, be with him,” I said, and I turned my car towards her home.

***

“Where is he? Where are you, my babe?” I hurried in as soon as Carrie opened the door.

“Shh, he is sleeping, don’t wake him up,” Carrie whispered.

I stared at her, one of my eyebrow raised. Just ten minutes ago, she’d called me to tell me that he wasn’t feeling well.“I thought he was crying?” I caught my breath. I just ran three floors to see my son, because the stupid elevators were dead.

“He was, but then I gave him some milk and BOOM, he stopped crying.” Carrie was sweating in the air conditioner.

“When did you give him milk the last time?”

“Four hours ago.”

“Idiot.” I slapped her forehead. “He was hungry. I told you to feed him every two hours if he wasn’t sleeping.”

“Sorry.” She made a ‘O’ with her mouth.

“It’s okay. I know it’s your first time. But who knows, you may get your own kid sooner than you think.” I giggled. I was angry at her at first, but she seemed to be working hard to calm Stephen down; her face was telling the story.

She punched me back. “Not before you get married to someone good, like Tristan.”

My heart sunk in pain; that was the thing that looked impossible. “I forgot to tell you one thing. Gerome is back.”

“What?” She jumped from the couch. “Did you just say Gerome, who died two years ago?” She covered her mouth with her palm, her pupils widened.

“Yes, indeed. And this all happened when Tristan was going to ask me on a date.”

“What? Your macho man was going to ask you on a date and your dead husband came back? Is it a fiction story? Last time I checked, the dead only came back in Walking Dead and not in real life,” she muttered very fast.

“Yes, but it’s true.” I showed her a picture of Gerome drinking whiskey in my home.

“But how is this even possible?”

“Apparently, my dad made it all up and forced him to stay away from me. I know it’s possible and it’s really him. I can promise you that.”

“That’s a bummer, dear. What about Tristan now?” Carrie asked.

“I don’t know. I really like him and he is the one who saved my life, pampered me like a princess and played with my kid so much that even Gerome wouldn’t have done that.”

“But Gerome is the father of your son and you can’t deny that.”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to know what to do. I feel lost. Tristan was about to ask me on a dinner date. And the card I found in his car said more than a date.” I released my breath. Whenever I thought about getting away from him, my heart skipped a bit and I held my breath for moments.

“If you ask me, I would suggest you go with Gerome. He is Stephen’s father and sooner or later, Stephen would start asking about him. What would you tell him then? And I think you should give him a chance. It wasn’t like you hated him before he left. If he is telling you the truth, then he deserves a second chance.”

“I don’t know, Carrie. I don’t know anything. It’s just weird and I feel like running away from here, somewhere very far where I can just leave with Stephen.”
And Tristan,
I said to myself.

“Nikki, you know that I love you as my sister.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Then try to think logically. You know Gerome from your college days, and as much I know him, he is a nice guy.”

“He was and he may be. But not as nice as Tristan.” My heart was squeezed between my own wishes. I wanted to be with Tristan as much I wanted to live. But what Carrie was suggesting was also true and logical. “Logic doesn’t go well with my heart.” I was exhausted by all these thoughts. “Right now, I just need a glass of wine and a good night’s sleep with my sweetheart.”

“Take the bedroom, I will sleep on the couch. But before that, let me give you a glass of wine—some I stole from your refrigerator.” She giggled and went inside.

Tristan

I woke up when the sun’s rays started burning my cheeks.
What the fuck
? Then I remembered what had happened to me. How I’d gotten into a frenzy and finished complete bottles of whiskey in one night. Reality sank inside me slowly and along with it, the heartache, disappointment, and loneliness filled in. I relaxed my head on the couch and closed my eyes. There was nothing I could do. I just couldn’t ask Nikki to be with me when her husband was back from the dead. I couldn’t be that selfish with the woman I loved. But then, also, I couldn’t just sit alone and do nothing to get my anger out.

I need training. I need to hit someone so I can take my anger out on them.

I pressed my hands on the couch to balance myself. Blackness covered my eyes for a second when I stood on my legs.
Damn it
. Slowly, I walked to the training room. I picked up my gloves and tied them to my hand. The boxing bag was the only thing I could hit and feel better.

“Here you go.” I hit it with my right hand first, and before I could hit it again with my left hand, everything went dark. Something hit my face hard and my ass touched the ground pretty fast. A wave of pain shot across my hips and then everything went blank.