Taste

Chapter 2: Invitations

Having nice things was great, I mean really, sports cars, expensive designer clothes, delicious cuisine and a colossal house. Yes, that was every girl's dream, but some things made you wonder if it was truly worth it.
Trevor and I met a year and a half ago in University. He was a lecturer in microbiology, holding the record of the youngest lecturer ever on campus and the most affluent of course.
I was in my third year, studying chartered accounting. I know for sure that I wasn't reeled in by his expensive attire nor his expensive, charcoal-black Mercedes Benz e-class like the rest of his students on campus, no, I was lured in by his eyes that reminded me of a turbulent storm. I loved his silky hair of bronze, the way the confidently strode from place to place. The thick British accent drove me crazy beyond words could describe.
Having graduated high school early, I was only nineteen-years-old when we got married, six months after we supposedly "fell in love" and naturally, I dropped out of university. But mother wasn't happy with the situation at hand of course, but being nineteen meant that I was a rebellious teenager who head-over in love . I defied my mother, moved in with Trevor and married him.
This had been all lovely and wonderful with us glued in a permanent honeymoon phase, up until two months ago when Trevor started going out with his celebrity friends and coming home drunk.
Trevor would come back as a totally different man. He first hit me on the night of his twenty-fourth birthday when I refused to kiss him because he smelled like a brewery had vomited all over him. He started hitting me every weekend since.
This was my deepest, darkest secret. Besides it's not like I could tell those friends  that I had turned against or family which I had defied in bumptiousness. I couldn't even tell my new rich and snobbish circle of friends, I would die of embarrassment, it would be worse than being whipped naked in public on camera.
I was trapped, I had no job, no qualifications, NP family, no home, nothing! I just had to grin and bare it.
It was a Sunny Saturday morning, so sunny that last night would've seemed like a faint nightmare if I didn't have the scratches and bruises acting as the nightmare's signature.
I stood leaning against the counter watching Trevor.
"Babe, I'm going to get help." Trevor promised, kneeling before me in begging. "Please don't leave me."
His cold, gray eyes had melted into slush, acting contagiously and thawing my heart.
Trevor Nicholson was the most beautiful creature I'd ever laid upon, his vulnerability turned me on like a switch. He did not only have one romantic bone in his body, I bet on my diamond ring that his entire ribcage was constructed of romance. I just couldn't stay upset with him, no matter how hard I tried. Trevor was only human, right?
"But look at me, Trevor!" I yelled, pushing my boundaries further, "What am I going to fucking say to Didi?"
"Amanda, Babe," he pleaded, getting of the lavish ebony wood floor, "If I could take back all the shit I put you through, trust me, I would."
"But you can't, Trevor, that's the fucking problem!" I snapped sternly.
"I can make it better." He said, his facial expression quickly turning into a sly mischievous look.
Before I could ask him to elaborate, he grabbed me into a big bear hug, picked me up and placed me onto the  polished, granite counters.
He burrowed his warm lips into my neck and kissed me. His hands explored my  bruised body, it hurt so badly but felt so good. His wet, hot lips finally met mine and my body instantaneously because a conductor of the heat that radiated from his feverishly hot lips.
He seemed to kiss me for eons and ages, but in my mid time stood still. I felt my heart liquefy within a nanosecond.
As I felt myself yearn more for him, he dragged his lips away from mine, to my dismay; his phone was ringing.
"Ignore it." I said, pulling his body back between my legs.
"I have to take it, sorry." He said, picking up his latest Samsung and swiping the screen.
"Hello?" He was walking away. "Mike, how you doing, man?"
A hinge of irritation exploded within me. I understood that Trevor had a life and had to work hard to sustain our status of "the rich kids" as well as his social life, but his career took seventy percent of his life and his friends took twenty five percent. So what did I get? Five percent? Or maybe three percent wen yo his rich, snobbish family which we went down to Los Angeles to see every weekend.
Trevor had so many flaws but all the things he was good were so perfect that they covered up those flaws and made them seem like minor errors that could be overlooked and if you didn't know Trevor, you probably would be completely blind towards those minor errors.
I picked up my iPhone  and scrolled through my surprisingly long contact list (which had miraculously gone from forty-two to seven-hundred-and-sixty-nine) in attempt to find someone to hang out with for the day.
I realised that I didn't know the majority of the people on that list. I mean if you were Trevor Nicholson's wife, it meant that you were Mrs Nicholson and probably the riches twenty-year-old in California.
Suddenly I landed on the contact "mom" and a warm feeling filled my heart. I missed my mother, a year and a half without seeing her was torture. I just couldn't swallow my pride, imagine how embarrassing it would be to go bal crawling to the one person you turned away from.
I shook the thought away and decided to call Didi, my best friend.
"Amanda!" She literally screamed into the phone after a few rings, "Where have you been?"
"I was with you yesterday." I said confused.
"No, you ninny!" She said, "On social Media!"
"What are you on about?" I jumped off the counter top.
"Everyone knows about it!" Didi continued.
"What?!" I screamed.
"Masquerade beach party!" This was no longer Deandré's voice, there was a bunch of girls screaming into Didi's phone, I quickly realized that it was my group of friends.
I couldn't help but laugh,"Masquerade beach party?'
"Yes!" I could hear Faith's voice on the other end, "And we're going, Mandy!"
"Oh" I said nonchalantly, "Have fun girls"
"When she said we, she meant you included." Reedy spoke this time, I could hear her calm tone.
"Oh," I hesitated, "I can't, I have plans with Trevor."
"Bring him along" Andrea prompted and o could hear the other girls him in agreement.
"Oh, he's very tired, he works so hard and..." I tried to say.
"How about the kids?" Didi asked.
"Kids?" I asked perplexed.
"Yeah, you act like you've got ten kids already," Didi replied, "You don't even have a dog!"
I could hear that others giggle in the background an I sighed deeply."When does it start?"  I asked, lowering my voice so that Trevor couldn't hear.
"We'll pick you up at sunset," Andrea promised, "Wear your best bikini, a mask and heels."
"Why should I wear a bikini?" I asked.
"Because it's a masquerade beach party!!!" The girls all squealed at once.
"Okay." I said with a smirk, "See you then."
I hung up, smiling like and idiot. Going to the party was an excuse to miss dinner with the superior Nicholsons, I mean my social status was highly important, right?
"Whoa, babe," Trevor spoke from the top of the stairs, "Who are you seeing and when?"
"Huh?" I said with a little jump, "Oh Didi and them..."
"Oh, so you're going shopping?" He was coming down the stairs towards me, "I lobe of when you go shopping, you always get me lots of presents."
Trevor had his brow raised in an utterly mischievous way.
I snorted, "I only get you like, one thing when I go shopping," I commented, "like maybe a watch or a shirt!"
"Uh, that's what you think!" Trevor said, grabbing a grape from the fruit bowl and throwing it into his mouth. "Those itty-bitty things you always buy and wear in front of me."
It took me a while to realize that he was referring to my overly large collection of lingerie  and swimwear which I'd resorted to after I discovered that our house had two Jacuzzis, one indoor pool and two outdoor pools.
I laughed, rolling my eyes, "Well sadly, I'm not going to spend my money on itty-bitty  things today."
Trevor pretentiously frown, "So what your plans today?"
"You mean tonight?" I said, "I'm going to the Masquerade beach party thingie...."
Trevor's expression changed, "What about mother and our weekly dinner?"
"Oh," My stomach sank, "Can't we go next week? I mean one week won't stop the world from orbiting."
"Well, I thought you wanted mother to like you better." Trevor spoke in a solemn tone.
"I do but..." I tried to say.
"Your bruises are too visible," Trevor whispered. His voice trembled a bit and a pained look took over his flawless face.
My eyes met the ebony wood floor, I didn't dare look Trevor directly in the eye: it would break me to see him so broken.
"I know," I replied, "It's fine, I'll cancel with Didi and them so that we can go to your mother's house."
Trevor grabbed his keys from the counter, "I'll meet you there."
"But Trevor!" I tried to say, but he was already storming out thought the stain glass doors, grabbing his jacket.
He shut the door behind him with a heavy bang. Suddenly a pang of guilt bombarded my emotions.
Why did I feel so guilty? I didn't have to, right? It wasn't my fault. He hit me, not the other way around. Or was I not good enough?
Questions like these filled my brain as I heard the engine of his BMW rev outside. I felt that maybe I couldn't tame Trevor, I felt unworthy, like crap. Maybe that's why Trevor had to seek thrill elsewhere, to forget my existence....