Natalie’s POV
Gathering my bag to myself, I try to see past the tears blocking my sight and make my way out of the building. The receptionist stands to her feet when she sees the way that I’m staggering but I ignore her question on what the problem is.
When I walk out the glass doors, Baldwin, who is on a call quickly gets off the phone when he sees me. He rushes towards me in concern, and just then I hear Brandon’s voice call out to me from the door.
“Let’s go,” I say frantically to Baldwin. He wraps an arm around me and leads me to the car. Just as he opens the car door, Brandon reaches us.
“Get your fucking hands off my wife!” He barks.
I take a deep breath and turn around to face him. Baldwin gives me a questioning look, and I nod at him to assure him that I can handle this, after which he stands back. The single gesture causes the tears that I have been holding back to fall. That Baldwin would be willing to go against Brandon and risk losing his job to make sure that I’m fine is more than I would have expected.
“What do you want?” I ask Brandon in a hoarse voice that I barely recognize as mine.
“I can explain, Natalie. Whatever you saw in there, trust me, it’s not what it looks like.”
Trust him? Trust him? Why in God’s name would I want to trust him? Why did I even let myself get so invested that something like this is causing me so much pain? I shouldn’t care. He can live his life however he wants. We signed a contract, after all. I try to muster enough courage to voice my thoughts, but more tears fall from my eyes. God, I hate this feeling.
He moves closer to me and tries to place a hand his hands on my arm but I flinch, and his hands hang midair. “Natalie, I swear I can explain.”
“I don’t need to hear it,” I say in a small voice.
“What?”
“I don’t need to hear your explanation, Brandon.” My voice is still very low, but it has gained some weight. I wipe my tears off with my hands and stand straight.
“What?” He asks again.
I feel my heart beat faster than it ever has even before I utter the next words, but I say them all the same. “I don’t care about your explanation, Brandon! We’re on a contract, remember? You don’t owe me any explanations, and I don’t owe you any. It was foolish of me to start getting attached.”
He steps back as though I have just slapped him, and I feel my temper getting riled. What right does he have to be upset? What I’ve said is the absolute truth, and even if my heart disagrees, my head recognizes it as truth.
It was stupid of me to think that his inconsistent attention meant I mattered to him. For a minute, I let myself forget that I am not his type. How could I even forget that his first impression of me was that I was an ugly swan? She’s more his type, more the sort of woman you’d expect to see with him on a magazine cover.
“Listen to me, Natalie. She doesn’t mean a single thing to me.”
“Of course, she doesn’t,” I respond and my voice breaks. “Well, neither do you mean anything to me,” I say, and reach for the car door. “Also, don’t try to tell me who I can or cannot see anymore. You have lost that right.” I say and get in. Right on cue, Baldwin gets into the car as well, and drives off, leaving Brandon standing there.
As soon as we get on the road, I feel all of my courage seep out, and I begin to cry again. My proneness to tears is something that has always annoyed me. I could be in a situation that requires raw anger, and I’d simply burst into tears. Now, I find myself feeling put off by the tears that continue to flow down my cheeks.
I’m not heartbroken. For God’s sake, I had no business liking the man in the first place. He’s never given me a reason to think that I mean anything to him so what right do I have to be angry or to feel betrayed? Suck it up, Natalie. I say inwardly to myself, but even then, the feeling at the base of my stomach remains.
“Would you like to go home, Mrs Martinez?” Baldwin asks, and I see that we are nearing the roundabout that would either take us to Giancarlo or the Martinez mansion.
Wiping my cheeks, and mentally chiding myself to stop crying, I pick up my phone to text Hailey and tell her I’m coming to hers. “No, Baldwin. Please take me to Hailey’s.”
When we get there, I ask Baldwin to go home and assure him that I’ll be fine. I’ll pass the night at Hailey’s. I let Hailey gather me into her embrace, as I tell her all that happened. She holds me, and later, tucks me into bed like a child.
The next morning, I wake up earlier than Hailey and go into her kitchen to make coffee. I am as at home here as I was in my apartment, and as I am at the Martinez house. I decide to make breakfast to go with the coffee. I hurriedly make a breakfast of toast and eggs. Hailey walks in on me just as I am serving the eggs.
“My God, Nat! This place smells heavenly.”
“Oh, come on. It’s just eggs.” I say with a smile and hand her a plate. I watch her pour a ridiculous amount of milk into her coffee and chuckle.
“Thank you for letting me stay the night.”
She frowns at me. “Since when do you have to thank me for that?” I don’t reply, and Hailey takes my right hand in hers. “How do you feel now, Nat?”
I shrug in response. Better to ignore the gnawing pain than to let it eat at me. She puts down her cup and continues to stare at me. Trust Hailey to stare you into giving her a response. “I don’t know, Hae.”
Her eyes search mine before she speaks again. “I’m worried about you, Nat. Falling in love with Brandon was not a part of the plan.”
“I’m not in love with him,” I respond immediately.
“Then why were you so shaken yesterday? Natalie, you were white as a sheet, and you were crying so much.”
“I felt betrayed. And cheated. And humiliated. He knew I was going to come there, Hailey. He asked me to.”
She stares at me for a full minute before responding again. “You can’t let Brandon have this much power over you, Nat. It’s only been a few months, and you still have almost 5 years ahead of you. If he has this much power over you now, what’s going to happen when you two have to go your separate ways?”
I raise my chin and stare her straight in the face. “Nothing’s going to happen. He doesn’t have any power over me. Yesterday, I was caught off guard, but I know better now. I know where I stand.”
“Easy tiger. I’m on your side” She says in a small voice. “Always remember that.”
When I step out of the ride that I ordered to take me home and into the living room, Brandon is seated on one of the chairs as though he is waiting for someone. For a few seconds, my composure falters, and I almost turn around and walk out of the house, but I brace myself and walk past him, and straight into my room.
Within minutes, I am dressed and ready to leave for work. Brandon is still in the same place. Again, I ignore him and walk out to find a waiting Baldwin at the car. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I wonder if this is how it is going to be now; if Brandon and I will no longer speak to each other. At this moment, I do not care, but then again, I wonder how long I can keep up.
Between the both of us, Brandon is more likely to be capable of living in total silence. Forcing myself to stop thinking about it. I settle into the car and turn my thoughts to Giancarlo’s website testing scheduled to happen today.
From his place in the front seat, Baldwin holds my gaze in the rearview mirror. “Are you okay, Mrs Martinez?”
I wait a few seconds before responding. “Absolutely.”