Business No More

Chapter 7

All good things come to an end. That's how it feels with my life. Every good moment has ended before it even started. This is one moment where I won't let it come to an end. This is one moment where I'm going to change a bad thing into a good thing.

I quietly sneak into the emergency room where Rick is, making sure Sam doesn't see me.

"You okay?" Rick asks.

"How can I be?" I say. "I'm about to break Sam's heart not once but twice."

Rick points at the chair and I sit down. "I need to know if there's a way to fix this."

Rick looks down. "There is but it's dangerous."

"I'm willing to do anything."

Rick grabs my hand. "You need to talk to Sam first. Don't make this decision behind his back."

Rick hands me medication. Amongst them a red one. I grab the water from him and down the medication.

Suddenly the door swings open and Sam's standing there. "Woah, Vi. What are you doing here?"

I push myself up. "Had a headache and wanted
to know if Rick had anything stronger than a panadol."

"Oh okay," Sam says.

"Anyways I'll leave you to it," I say as I quickly walk out.

I hope Sam didn't suspect anything, although I have to tell him soon. It's not right to drag Rick into this.

How many months can I hide this? Three, four...maybe six max.

I go upstairs back to our bedroom and open the  cupboard, maybe I can write it to him. As I pull a notepad out, an album falls on the floor, open to the page of Sam's photos with Max. My eyes get watery.

If Sam can watch Max die. If he dealt with that, then maybe he can deal with this. I throw the notepad back in and pick the album up from the floor.

I can't believe it. Max also turned out to be someone we thought he wasn't, just like Jess. Just like the people around Sam. Everyone he loves hurts him. I close my eyes. I'm always the one who thinks I'm getting hurt but in reality, Sam is hurting more.

I cough. I close the album and stash it under the other albums. When I cough again, I see blood. I blink. It's still there.

The third time I cough, a splatter of blood lands over my dress, staining the front red.

I rush to our ensuite bathroom and cough in the sink. The blood washing down the sink as the water drags it. That's a lot of blood and this is happening a lot quicker than I thought. I grab my stomach as I shiver. Please stop.

"Hey babe, where are you?" Sam calls out.

Shit!

"In the bathroom!" I scream back.

I lock the door and quickly wash my face. I splash some water on my dress to get rid of the blood but it creates a bigger mess.

I wipe my hands against the towel in a rush but forget that they had blood on them. I cringe. Sam's outside. I pull the towel and throw it in the corner.

"Babe, you okay?" He asks. "You've been in there for a while. Should I come in?"

I run my hands over my dress. My hands stained red. Dread sets in.

I panic. "All good, give me a sec."

I look around. There's nothing to wear. I strip my dress down and throw it in the corner.

I look in the mirror. Oh god no! There's blood in my hair. I walk back, my back slamming against the wall. I rinse the the ends of my hair where blood is and pull it in a ponytail to hide it.

I quickly scan myself and then open the door.

Sam just stares at me. "Any reason why your semi naked?"

"The dress was irritating me," I lie.

"Ahh, I see," he says as he wraps his arms around me. "I'm so glad your okay."

I smile. "Me too Sam, me too."

He places a kiss on my neck as I ease away from him towards my walk in wardrobe. When he touches me now, it reminds that I'm lying that there's a chance that that could be the last.

I pull a floral dress with ruffles off the coat hanger and pull it over my body.

"Is this good?" I ask.

"It's better than good. It's amazing."

He touches my hip but I turn and pull away.

"Is everything okay?" He asks.

I fake smile. "Yea, why wouldn't it be?"

"Well I've tried touching you twice and you've moved away both times. Your my wife so I thought it was okay but if you don't like it then I won't do it."

I frown as I grab his hand. "Sorry, I'm just on edge with everything that's happened," I say pulling his hand around my back. "Touch me as much as you want."

He kisses me lightly on the lips. "You sure you're okay?"

I nod. My cream coloured dress sitting in the corner of the bathroom begs to differ.

He grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door. "Come on, I have something planned," he says. "Something to get your mind off things."

He pulls me downstairs and then down the hallway near the front entrance to gallery room. He moves aside the bookshelf and the door tilts.

I grab his hand as we walk through. It takes a few seconds before red lights turn on. I cringe. Red doesn't look romantic suddenly.

My stomach churns. I grab Sam's hand tighter. I feel like I'm going to projectile vomit everywhere but this time it'll be blood. I breathe in and out slowly, enough that Sam doesn't notice.

There's a table with a red cloth and two chairs with white seat covers and red ribbons tied around it. In the middle there's two candlelights and the red light dimmers.

I smile when Sam looks at me. It's not a genuine smile because the red is overwhelming. I swallow, the taste of blood still fresh in my mouth. Almost metallic.

"You like it?"

"I love it," I say because I do but it doesn't feel right today.

I grab my stomach, pain increases. I cringe.

Sam pulls me forward as he moves the chair for me. I take a seat as he tucks me in.

Our butler pulls the cover off the tray and places the food in front of us.

"Sam," I say breathing slightly harder. "There's something I have to tell you."

Sam lifts an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"It's just that..." My breathing gets harder. I grasp my neck. "Sam," I croak.

Sam's by my side when I look up. "Oh my god!"

I cough and blood covers the chair, table cloth and even Sam's shirt.