Maneater: Recovery & Redemption

Chapter 1

I rolled over to look at the clock. It didn't matter much what time it was, I was in no particular rush. I didn't want to go home; I knew my loathsome disappointment of a husband would be home, in front of the TV, doing absolutely nothing like he always does. He's such a waste of a perfectly good human life.

I nestled under the covers of the hotel room I inhabited. My boyfriend and I always rented hotel rooms when we needed to get away from it all. He was the only good thing I had in my life. Him, and the fact that I had an amazing figure. It was the only thing my husband had ever done for me. He made me stay fit because he swore he couldn't get aroused by a woman with flab. A part of me wanted to intentionally gain weight so I could keep that rat bastard off me, but I knew then I wouldn't hear the end of how much I'd let myself go. Fucking hypocrite.

"Babe," Will said to me as I rolled over. "We gotta get going. It will be check out time soon." He brushed my tousled hair from my face.

Ugh. Check out time. What a way to ruin a perfectly good night out. I sulked my way to the bathroom, annoyed that I had to go back to my bullshit reality. Nothing worse than being stuck in a situation that has no way out.

"You know you can always leave him," Will said to me as I peed. "No one is making you stay."

"You say that every time, and every time I tell you that if I leave, I will be homeless. Where will I go? To your house with you and your wife and kids? Not the ideal roommate situation, now is it?"

"Is that why you're so pissed all the time? Because you feel there's no way out?" he asked as I reemerged and began to change. "We've had this talk several times and I told you, I'll leave if you leave."

I stripped myself of the sexy black negligee I'd worn for him the night before and threw on the sweats and tank top I packed to create the illusion of an early morning at the gym. "Well, you first, jackass."

He grabbed me by my waist, his bare chest in my face. It was a sight for my sore eyes as I mentally prepared myself for another night of man-teets until I got to be back with my Adonis with alabaster skin and a perfectly blond crew cut. His brown eyes twinkled in the sheaths of sunlight that began to cascade through the curtains.

His hold felt so right--strong and firm, yet not aggressively so. I felt comfort and security opposed to animosity.

"You're always talking slick, you know that?" he asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, I know, and you love it," I teased. He kissed my neck, a move that always made me feel a little more vulnerable. I giggled like a schoolgirl, indicating that he'd gotten to me. He was the only one that ever could get to me.

After a few minutes, we broke our embrace and I packed my belongings. I brushed my black hair into a ponytail after deciding not to wash it. I hated the feeling of unwashed hair, but I needed to ensure my alibi was always air-tight. Gym clothes, greasy, sweaty hair, and a musky smell was the perfect cover for an affair. There was no way for my husband to know that I'd been with someone else looking like this.

"I hate to see you go," Will said as we made our way to the door. As always, he'd drive me to the gym and I'd walk home from there.

"Yeah, I know. We have to get together again soon," I said, only partially serious. I thought about Will often, but there was nothing about him that made me want to stick around. He was a great lay, but was that really enough? I mean, he was a mechanic who worked for someone else. He didn't have his own shop. Not a doctor, not a lawyer, not even a Navy Seal. My lame-ass husband at least owned a dry-cleaner's.