Rebound

Chapter 2

They had arrived at a very high building in a rather rich quarter, when the Gorilla stopped the car and pointed his head at the entrance door.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes.

"How am I supposed, to find her in there?", he exclaimed.

The large man shrugged and got out of his seat to walk towards the entrance. There he held his finger in front of some sensor and the door opened.

The designer and his assistant watched him open mouthed.

"What the bloody hell...."

"Sir, please! Maybe there's a good reason for all of this!"

He inhaled deeply and blurted to his driver:

"Fine, lead the fucking way!"

Nathalie shook her head, then took a firm hold around his waist to keep him from tripping and swaying, and led him into the building.

They took the elevator to the highest floor of the skyscraper, where the bodyguard held the door open for them and pointed at the two winged white entrance door to an apartment.

Stumbling over his own feet, he rushed towards it and began to hammer against the door. To his surprise, it wasn't thoroughly shut and sprung open. He barged inside, then froze, as he saw his wife, being in a not to be misunderstood situation with two men, he had never seen before.

"G-Gabriel!", she exclaimed in shock, "let me explain. It's not, what you think it is! I am working!"

Nathalie gasped and quickly slapped a hand to her mouth.

The tall man only stared down at her for a moment, then shook his head and turned around.

"Come, Nath! There is nothing left for me here!"

"But Sir, didn't you listen?", she called, as she quickly ran after him, barely reaching his side, before the doors of the elevator closed.

All the way home, she could see the anger boiling inside of him and as soon as the car stopped, he pushed the door open and stomped into the house, then into the living room, where he immediately opened a new bottle of vodka and poured a quarter of it directly down his throat. The clear substance was his new favourite, as it didn't seem to make his hangover in the mornings as bad as the other things he drank.

"Sir, I don't think, you should...."

He interrupted her, yelling:

"Just shut the fuck up, Nathalie! We've known each other for so long, I don't need my assistant now, I need my best friend. Are you still my friend, Nathalie? Because sometimes I don't think, you are. Sometimes, you are so cold towards me, as if I was simply a stranger!"

The assistant scoffed.

"Yeah, right! Don't even think, it's easy for me, seeing you every day, drinking yourself a little closer to your own death. Can you imagine, how hard it is for me, to always stay professional, so your wife doesn't get jealous and start to hate me? Do you even have the slightest idea, how very much I miss you? Miss being with you, though I see you every day? I need the 'cold' or I just give in and...."

He stared at her, his mouth agape, then slowly walked towards her. Though she tried to get out of his way by walking backwards, she soon was stopped by the wall and he closed the distance, now standing right in front of her, one hand still holding the bottle, while he placed the other right next to her head.

"...and?", he wondered, "and what? What would you do, if you gave in, Nath? Try to come on to me? Start drinking too? Screw a random stranger? Finally do, what your daddy told you and marry some pathetic guy, who could never make you happy? Tell me, what would you do, NATHALIE?"

"Just leave me alone, Gabriel. I won't stand here and let you take out all your anger on me. I've done my best, to keep you happy and sane. But I can't do this. I will gladly spend the night with you, watch over you, so you don't drink yourself into the afterlife already. But I won't let you yell at me and get angry on 'me'!", she tried to say calmly, but her voice was trembling. She had never before seen him like this. In fact, she didn't even know, that he was able to get as furious as he was and it scared her.

"What is it, you would do, Nathalie?", he now whispered threateningly.

She gazed at her feet, as she muttered:

"End this pathetic excuse of a life!"

He had been about to take another gulp of the booze, but now he just let go of the bottle, hearing the loud bang, when it fell to the marble floor and shattered. It was the designer, who was trembling right now, as he reached out for her face and lifted her chin up to face him.

"Don't you ever even dare think about that! You're a young, beautiful woman, Nath. Why would you even..... Hey, stop turning your head away", he cupped her cheeks with two hands now, "look into my eyes, love. Why would you do that?"

"It doesn't matter, Gabriel, not anymore!", she said sadly.

"You were just there with me, Nathalie! You too saw my wife, fucking cheating on me with two 'boys', who were barely old enough, to be allowed to drink! My wife, who totally freaked out, when I suggested to simply watch some porn together, and didn't talk to me for days, because of that, was just now trying to tell me, she was 'doing' porn? For what? So we won't starve? I am not stupid, I know, she only does those things, because she thinks, she's getting old. But so am I, Nathalie, so am I! And I don't go out five nights a week, to shag some random teenagers! Do you even know, how hard it is for me, to look at you every day? Knowing what we did, when we were young, knowing how good you smell and how good you would taste? Remembering those little whimpers, you can't control, when I kiss you right there?", he brushed his fingertips along the side of her neck, feeling her whole body tense, as he did.

"Gabriel, you should go to bed and try to sober up!", she whispered hoarsely.

"Yeah, right!", he scoffed, "and what will be then, Nath? Do you think, I will feel any better in the morning?", he made a step forward, pinned her against the wall with his body. "At least I am very sure, that I won't feel worse, if I eventually give in to what I have been longing for all those last ten years, love. When was the last time, you got laid, Nath? And i am not talking about the 'nice and sweet, missionary position, please don't look at me, always the same kind of sex' Emily could go for, nothing else by the way! I am talking about all the things, we tried, the way your pussy tastes, when we've been at it for hours, when I had already cum inside you and our fluids were mixing up! The way you smell, when you're all worked up, the way you move, when you ride me!", he closed his eyes now and took heaving breaths, as he tried to restrain his urge to just grab her and....

"Gabe, I.... Please, you know, we would both regret.... I...."

"When was the last time, you screamed, when you came, Nath?"

"I...!"

"Come on, tell me the name of the last guy, you had sex with! No matter how lame he was, I know, you would remember his name!", he mocked her now.

Tears were brimming Nathalie's eyes, as she grabbed his wrists and tried to push him off of her.

"Just go and get yourself another bottle of vodka, Gabriel. Don't pull me into your mess!", she hissed.

"Do you want to know, when I had it real good for the last time? It was the very day, I left Paris to go to university! I didn't miss anything, because I thought, she wasn't into any experiments, but seeing her today and like 'that'! Answer me, Nath! Did you get screwed real good since that day?"

She didn't answer.

She just let go off his arms and wrapped her own around his neck, while their lips met in a desperate, devouring kiss.