The Artist's Wife (BWWM)

Chapter 21~ I

I woke up to the sweet aroma of bacon cooking and sat up immediately, it had been a while I had a homemade breakfast since I had stopped sleeping over at Mindy's parents' house. My breakfast mainly included leftovers and pastries with coffee these days, I felt my tummy growl loudly.

I sat up, discovering I was in a bed now, The Jade-Eyed Bastard's bed, he had apparently laid me there when I fell asleep. I closed my eyes, the memory of stroking his hair last night coming back vividly, I wondered when I fell asleep, I didn't think I would be getting any sleep at all. He must have woken and found me asleep then taken the initiative to place me in a more comfortable place, I looked at the space beside me, curious to know he had slept beside me.

It didn't even look touched. I slept here alone.

I stood, tossing the white covers off my body and swung my feet onto the floor, rising the moment they made contact with the floor. I shook off the brief dizzy spell and made my way into his bathroom to splash water on my face, I did that quickly and ran my hand through my tangled hair before packing it up in a ponytail. Generally, I looked better than the woman I was seeing in the mirror last night.

I left the room after that, still seeing no signs of him and followed the aroma to the kitchen. I found The Jade-Eyed Bastard there, sitting on one of the high stools, eating breakfast with his phone to his ear. He had bacon, scrambled eggs and toast in front of him and he used his fork to pick at them with a frown like he didn't like whatever he was hearing on the phone.

I stood there watching him for a few moments before moving into plain sight to announce my presence. He only acknowledged me with a brief nod, now talking on the phone.

"Yes, I'll be there by next month," he told the person, solemnly, still picking at his food. "If he can't wait that long, tell him to find someone else. You can't expect me to do anything on short notice, no I don't care who it is."

I sat down beside him, hungry and even from here I could see he had made mine too, but I instead of getting up and serving myself, I reached for his plate and pulled a slightly burnt toast. I noticed he had cut them into perfect triangles and I studied the shape for a moment.

He was still talking on the phone. "For all you care, I just got married, I'm still on honeymoon."

This time I couldn't help looking at him, this seemed like the first time he had admitted we were married, he returned my look with an eye-roll. I bit into the toast, reaching for the marmalade to apply on it.

"Yes, you can give him the phone. Let me speak to him," Gerard sighed, stabbing a strip of bacon and forking it into his mouth. He chewed slowly, he didn't seem to mind I was sharing his breakfast with him. Suddenly, Gerard switched languages and was talking what sounded like gibberish beside me for the next five minutes.

When he ended the call, he looked visibly vexed. I wondered if he wanted to discuss whatever it was or not, I was still unsure about this whole 'not overstepping boundaries' thing between us.

"Good morning," I greeted, I had now pulled a fork and was eating the scrambled eggs. He was actually a pretty decent cook, I was surprised. Then again, he seemed to be surprising me every day.

"Hello," he greeted quietly, he was now drinking out of a mug and staring at his phone thoughtfully. "How did you sleep?" He sounded off-hand like his mind wasn't with me.

"Great." It was the truth, I had slept without any nightmares like I had been expecting. "What language was that you just finished speaking?"

He seemed to consider my question for a moment like he was trying to remember the answer to my question. "Hausa."

"I've never heard of that language before."

"You probably haven't," he admitted to me, drinking more coffee. "It's not a really common African language, I don't know it all that well myself but I do understand enough to converse with that annoying man."

"What did he want?"

"To book me," he replied, crossing his arms across his wide tank top covered chest. He was always either in a tank, plain tee or sweatshirt, I didn't think I had ever seen him in a long-sleeved shirt or polo or something else. Suits were totally out of it, safe for last night for the event, he never wore suits. I got the feeling he preferred casual a lot of corporate.

"Are you going to accept the offer?"

"No," he said simply. "How are you? You're not upset anymore are you, you were last night."

"I'm fine." He nodded then picked his phone again, ready to zone me out I could tell. "Thank you for hugging me and for the breakfast now."

He nodded without looking up. His hair wasn't as tousled anymore like I had left it last night, I knew at once he had taken a bath and brushed his hair. I had finished the food on the plate at this point and I stood, ready to leave since he evidently didn't want to talk to me anymore. I pushed back the stool, holding the glass dish when I stumbled, somehow managing to trip and struggled to hold onto him for support. The whole shock of me grabbing onto him suddenly and falling must have made him lose his balance too and we both toppled over onto the floor.

I heard the plate shatter as his weight crushed mine on the hard floor, I had taken the full impact of the fall and he fell on me. For a scary second, we stared into each other's eyes, knowing how awkward this position was, he was crushing my body with the weight of his chest directly on my chest. I didn't have on a bra and felt my nipples harden embarrassingly, I couldn't explain why this turned me on either but I knew for sure he felt the sudden stiffness too.

He moved first, scrambling off me. "Rina," he breathed, a dark red blush coming to stain his cheeks as he flushed. He definitely felt my reaction to him. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were falling and --"

"It's fine--" I cut him off, sitting up and ignoring the sharp pain in my back. My nipples were jutting out embarrassingly in my camisole now. He was obviously so uncomfortable by the whole situation. "Don't apologize, it was all my fault."

He helped me up, leaving immediately and returning a moment later with a broom to clean up the broken plate.

"You shouldn't." I made to collect the broom. "Allow me."

"It's fine." He avoided eye contact, looking everywhere but at me and I strangely wanted the bright jades to look at me, to appraise my body but he was obviously not interested.

I watched him clean up my mess and decided to ask him the question I had been tossing about in my mind for a while now. He had finished cleaning up and was picking up his phone ready to leave me in the kitchen when I spoke up.

"Gerard?"

"Yeah."

"Are you a virgin?" It was the only plausible reason a grown man would be this uncomfortable around me, I was so very sure. That or he was gay but the latter seemed very unlikely. Men didn't need these many prompts before they made their advances towards me, this one was totally new to me.

He looked at me for a long while, as if thinking if my question was worth a reply then rubbed the back of his neck, slowly. "Yes."

"Why?" I blurted out, so very surprised even though I had suspected it. I had never met a man as old as he was that was one, it was a big shock. He was twenty-seven, if not that I saw the signs, I would not have believed it myself.

His phone beeped and he picked, now holding it to his ear. "I guess I've never seen a reason to lose it."

Then he left.

***

Don't forget to click that star before moving to the next chapter, guys!❤