Hope

12. "I think its kind enough."

I had never seen Tommy like this. Over the past two years I had seen him deal with his parents with many situations, one even being trying to end things with me. Yet, here we were waiting at one of his family restaurants for the couple who believed I was called Hope and had done for as long as I knew them.

All day we had been trying to think about what to do about our so called wedding until Tommy broke down. It was all on me. He couldn't function and told me he was trusting me. You know, no pressure or anything. My parents were sitting with us already and it was beyond uncomfortable, I hadn't seen them since that slapping incident and I did not see things getting any better from here.

"Hey, Tommy. It's fine. Calm down. We won't be getting married." I whispered in his ear, which my dad clearly mistook as affection as he smiled. "Raymond, Shelia, it's nice to meet you." My dad stood and my heart was suddenly was pounding. I looked over to see Tommy's parents staring at me in confusion, understandably. "You too, I'm sorry. I thought we were meeting Thomas's current girlfriend. Not, Hope." There was so much distaste to Mr Xavier's words. All I could do was purse my lips and nod my head. How was I going to do this?

"This is, this is Annabeth."

"Maybe I should explain." I started, trying not to wince from Tommy's nails suddenly digging into my leg. "Since moving out, most people call me Hope, outside of my parents circle at least." Mrs Xavier huffed out a breath and glared at her son. "And there was me thinking you'd gone up in the world. My apologies Nicholas and Uma. We have indeed met Hope, um, Annabeth before. They've been a couple for two years."

Of course my parents turned to glare at me. All eyes were on me, four pairs narrowed and one anxiously pleading. I sighed. "We're not a couple. Tommy and I are friends and because we have annoyingly controlling parents in common, we thought we'd help each other out."

"Ridiculous. Thomas is clearly in love with you, Annabeth. Don't come out with this crap just because you both don't want to get married." My dad growled. It was quickly silenced as a waiter came to the table to take our order. Wine was definitely on that list of orders.

"You're right, we don't want to get married. I am speaking the truth though." I took a breath. I knew Tommy may get pissed at me but this was the only way to get them to believe me. "I'm an escort, not a prostitute before you assume as much and Tommy has been hiring me for any family gathering since you've been pressuring him into marriage. He's only twenty six for fucks sake."

There was a long, agonising silence as my confession sank in. "Not a prostitute, just want to make that bit clear again." I reminded them all. The silence was horrifying. If it weren't for Tommy, I would have just left. "Do you really hate us that much?" My mum suddenly asked. She didn't look hurt, she looked pissed and I said next was not going to help with that. "I don't think you want me to answer that, mum."

"You two are getting married." Mr Xavier surprised us all by saying. "Annabeth comes from a good family and you clearly are fond of each other, I think that's kind enough."

"You can't make us marry!" I squeaked thanks to Tommy's nails probably now drawing blood. "You can and you will. If you don't, we will fire Thomas and disown him." Tommy tensed.

"As for you madam, if you don't marry Thomas; we will fire your sister, disown her and make sure she never gets a decent job again." My jaw dropped. My parents were playing hard ball. Ellie was my weak point, they knew that. I wouldn't have slapped my mother if she wasn't. My heart hurt. I didn't want to marry Tommy and I didn't want Ellie marrying Richard.

"You both will be marrying in two weeks along side Elenor and Richard." I bit my tongue, tears were brimming in my eyes. I hadn't cried in years, it said everything about how I felt about those being hoodwinked into marrying. "Excuse me for a moment."

"Don't think we haven't noticed those marks on your face, Annabeth. Your makeup isn't fooling anyone. Stop getting into fights."

I ignored my mum's comment and moved to the bathroom with my bag. I had to have a moment. Resting my hands on the side I let my head fall. How did my life come to this? How could my parents threaten to ruin their daughter? They were despicable.

To Rick: I wish you were here! My parents threatened to ruin Ellie if I don't marry Tommy xxx

I found myself sobbing. I never sobbed, never not even as a kid. I couldn't do this. They'd use this against me forever so I couldn't even divorce him.

From Rick: We will think of something Angel, we will all talk about it tomorrow. Sneak into my room for cuddles later? Xxx

To Rick: Obviously! It's needed xx

From Rick: Okay, be strong, angel I'll wait up xxx

I took a while to gather myself and make myself look at least half decent. I took a breath and headed back out to the table. No one looked my way other than Tommy's who's eyes showed so much sympathy it was painful. No one else cared. "We'll go wedding dress shopping with Elenor and Shelia tomorrow before you go on your double date with Elenor and Richard." I nodded once. I couldn't talk about this anymore. I wanted to run away.

I said nothing. Tommy said nothing. Our parents however spoke about everything to do with the wedding. They planned to meet up with Richard's parents whilst we had our double date. "Thomas, drive for you and Annabeth please, she's drank too much to drive herself." My mum's voice rang in my ears once I finished my fifth glass of wine. I felt numb. I wanted to feel numb. I thought I had escaped all this, but I was wrong and I had brought Tommy into this, it was my fault. "Sure."

"I'm sorry I roped you into this." I muttered once we were finally alone in the car. "It's not your fault." Tommy sighed scratching his head. "We'll figure this out. You will be with Rick." I tilted my head to the side with a small smile. "Thank you but, I thought you wanted to try things with Ellie, what happened?" Tommy's hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. "It doesn't matter. You and Rick clearly have something that could be amazing, you deserve to be able to have that."

I opened my mouth to ask again but thought against it. He would tell me when he wanted to. Though I did want to question Ellie about it. "Sleep well, I'll see you tomorrow." I just nodded and Tommy and I parted ways, him going to his room and me sneaking into Richard's. His light was on when I came in. He gave me a bright smile and moved up so I could join him and snuggle into his arms.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered as he kissed my head. I was trying not to cry again but felt myself failing dramatically. "Angel, it's okay. The main thing is Tommy and Elenor don't want to be with us whilst we want to be together. We're not doing anything wrong. We'll figure it out."

I adjusted myself so I could kiss him gently. That gentle kiss continued and adjusted so Richard could lean over me. He lowered the straps of my dress and I shimmied it down and off. Richard lifted up just rid me of my underwear and his. We started to kiss again. Our kiss was slow as we moved under the cover and joined together with a loud gasp.

Our hands linked as our mouths began to mould together again. Each move together was so slow, intimate, overwhelming. I had never felt so connected with someone. I had to bite my lip to prevent my moans escaping when our eyes met. I had never had slow, emotion filled sex like this. Sex that was to share the intimacy and mutual fondness for each other rather than rushing for pleasure.

I could feel my heart racing as out breaths merged together, getting quicker as our climaxes neared. "Rick." I breathed cupping his cheek and kissing him tenderly as I came around him. He came only a couple of thrusts later.  Richard pulled out and once cleaned up we snuggled back up together in bed. I was scared of how much I was liking him already, especially considering our first one to one interaction. I could have laughed at that now. "I really care about you Angel." Richard told me, tightening his arms around me and kissing my neck. Good because I was already falling for him. It was petrifying.

"I feel the same Rick, it scares me how much."

"Goodnight Angel."

"Goodnight."