He looked at her longingly, all the agony inside him seemed to evaporate with the sight of her. He finally found his peace again, all those days he couldn’t sleep thinking about her is over.
Her heart was heavy with pain when she looked at him. She felt her body start to tremble again. All the memories from that day were coming back like a hurricane. Nothing was resolved, yet he was acting like everything was fine just because they haven’t seen each other for ten days.
He walked over and stood right in front of her.
She clenched her jaw and with all the strength she had in her, she swung her hand and smacked him on the face. She was breathing faster, tears started to form in her eyes.
“You were fucking another woman in our bedroom … on our wedding day …” she said with a shaky voice. “You turned away when you saw me in the hallway … to go back to your whore?” she screamed it this time.
Armand held his cheek, it was a hard blow. He didn’t have any good defense for his behavior, he quickly grabbed her and wrapped her in his arms tightly. “I’m sorry … I was an asshole … okay … I’m sorry.”
She struggled to free herself from his embrace, “No … you don’t get to apologize for that, Armand, it was our wedding day … you fucked another woman on my bed! In my room!”
“I know … it was a big mistake, Ari, I couldn’t help myself, I wanted you so badly but you were so busy with the party in your dress … you know how it gets, baby, you know how it gets when it’s really bad … I wanted you, not her … I was fucking you.”
She managed to break away and slapped him one more time, “You’re a liar, and a cheat, you think I’m stupid? Is that how it’s gonna be in this marriage? Always finding an excuse to fuck another woman because of me? You’re trying to put the blame on me?”
He grabbed her wrists, “No … I swear … that’s never gonna happen again, I swear it’s gonna be different now, Ari, no more girls … okay, she’s dead, I hated her so much after what it did to you, I shot her … she’s gone.”
She creased her brow and looked at him in horror, “You killed her? Are you fucking crazy?” she tried to pull herself away but he was holding her strong.
“I did, right there on our bed, I shot her face five times and they dumped her in the pond … because I swear to God … that will never happen again, Ari, not after I’ve lost you … I love you, baby, I love you, you’re the only one I ever really love.”
“That was her? The woman they found in the pond … oh my God …” her head felt light, she didn’t have the strength to struggle with him anymore. She cried.
He turned her around and hugged her from behind, he kissed her hair, “I love you, Ari, it was a mistake and I took care of it … I had to prove to you I mean what I say.”
He held her tight to his chest, he didn’t want to let her go, “Let’s start over, baby, okay … give me another chance, we’re married now, this is forever … I’d burn that house down if you ask me to, I’d burn it all down and we’ll start over,” he said into her ear.
She was panting, “My parents died in that house, I saw them when they were shot … in the head,” she weeped.
“I’m sorry you had to see that, I really am … we will make this right again, right, Ari? You and me now, we will make this right?”
“How? How are we ever going to make this right? All you ever do is kill each other … when is it ever going to stop?”
He turned her around to face him, “It’s never going to stop, Ari, it is what we were born to be, but we have each other now … you and me, and we’ll have children of our own and we’ll build our own family.”
There was nothing about what he said made any sense to her, but she was too tired to think. She covered her face and walked away from him.
He walked over to her again and held her in his arms, “Please, Ari, you just got back, I’m just so happy that you’re back, can we fight another time? You’re tired, and upset, we’ll go to the villa tomorrow and we can talk about everything then,” he ran his fingers through her hair, “I’ll prepare the bath for you, will you let me take care of you now?”
He didn’t wait for her answer, she always liked it when he bathed her. He swooped her off her feet and carried her into the bathroom. He turned on the tap and filled the tub with warm water. He sat her on his lap and he kissed her passionately. It’s in these gestures that Ari could feel how much he loved her, her anger subsided but it was tearing her apart.
He pulled up her shirt and traced his fingers on her skin, his eyes were hungry for her, he cupped her breast.
She stopped him, “Armand … I can’t do this right now,” sex was the last thing she wanted.
“I’m sorry … I know … I just want to feel you in my hands, I miss you so much,” he kissed her. “Did he …” he couldn’t say it.
She shook her head, “He didn’t rape me, if that’s what you wanted to know.”
Armand let out a breath of relief, she was still all his. He unbutton her pants and took off every piece of clothing she had on her and threw them on the bathroom floor. She stood naked in front of him, and he ran his tongue from her calf up to her thigh, to her waist, to her front and landed on her breast.
The hairs on her body stood up, they always betrayed her, no matter how angry she was at him, they always reacted to his touch. “No,” she whispered.
He lifted her up and laid her in the tub that was now filled with warm water. He poured the bath salt and bath soap in, he rubbed her softly to clean her. He washed her hair. He can be very gentle at times, and he knew how much she liked it. He kissed her ear and shoulder, his hand slowly finding its way between her thighs.
She was relaxed, his hands felt good on her, her head was saying ‘no’ but her body was not rejecting his tenderness. “Armand …” She called him, “I want to find our parents killer.”
He paused for a moment, he couldn’t possibly tell her the truth at that sweet moment. He kissed her temple, “Of course, my love.”
He slipped his fingers inside her, she moaned.
She tried to pull his hands away, “No … Armand … please.”
He grabbed her from behind the tub and grazed his teeth on her ear, he kept his fingers inside her and kept going. His other hand was caressing her breast. “Just relax, baby, you’re home now … I’ll take care of you, you know I always do.”
There was no escaping him, once they were back together, her body was his. No matter what she says, he wouldn’t listen, she might as well surrender to the pleasure he always seems to be able to give her. She tensed in his arms. He knew exactly what to do to her.
She felt his warm mouth on her neck, she didn’t want him to touch her at first, but now her body was screaming for him to take her higher. She kissed him, he was making her feel dizzy. She was moaning, she was getting higher until he pulled down his pants and got into the tub.
Before she knew it, he was inside her, he groaned, the water spilled all over the bathroom floor. They look into each other’s eyes, how their bodies fit together and give each other a lustful sensation that they just want to reach that high together. Lovers for 10 years, they’ve done this thousands of times and it was something that came naturally, no matter how many times she told herself she didn’t want to, she always ended up bursting beneath him.
Whatever he had done, it was to be dealt with in another time. Right there and then, they were husband and wife, repairing what was broken, greeting each other warmly, sharing an unbreakable bond no matter how damaged it was.