An Arranged Affair

chapter 33 - an injured bird

Victoria's POV

There were so many channels.

In every language in the world.

I sat cross legged on the couch channel surfing.

Phillip had left soon after we got home, leaving Dr Brown, a delightful woman, to attend to me.

The cut on my neck wasn’t that deep, but it would heal leaving a small scar.

Martha had come in and fussed over me, sending me for a shower while she cooked a hot meal, I wasn’t in the mood to cook after everything that had happened, scolding and chasting me as to why I had to go to that vile place.

I had to remind her that the bazaar was wonderful, a haven for a foodie such as herself, it was that awful robber that had been vile.

Phillip came home after a couple of hours, disheveled, angry and tired, massaging his knuckles.

‘ Do I even want to know?” I asked, as I cleaned up the abrasions on his knuckles and applied an antiseptic ointment into them.

I took his silence as my answer and said nothing more, instead I got up and poured him a measure of his favorite whiskey and handed it to him. It had been a rough afternoon and we each had our own way to unwind.

But now as I channel surf I kinda felt cheated.

Phillip had promised me at TV in the study and when he got home he pressed a button on the side of the coffee table, a panel opened up and a TV raised out of the coffee table.

‘ Its been there this whole time!” I asked in amazement.

‘ yep, there is one in every room in this house. You just need to know where to find the buttons.”

Well I guess we were even, I didn’t cook like I promised, but the TV was already there in the first place.

I grabbed a box of the mangosteen and a large kitchen town, and made myself comfortable of the couch again, and clicked onto my favorite TV series, there was a lot to catch up on!

I was so engrossed in the program that I didn’t hear Phillip call out to me, he had been in the study on the computer while I watched TV.

‘ Are you going to eat that?” he asked

‘ huh?” I was confused. Then I looked down at my hand and the segment of mangosteen in it, I had had been so engrossed in the series that I had forgotten to put it into my mouth.

‘ Pass me some.’

‘Catch!” I called out as I tossed Phillip a whole fruit. He caught it and set it on the table.

‘ Not like that, like before at the bazaar. Peel it for me.” He said holding up his hands. ‘ I have a report to send in today about the effectiveness of the immobilization system, now that I’ve had the chance to actually test it, the car is back in the  garage and is fine, and I don’t want to get my hands dirty.”

I sighed and paused my show. Thank goodness for streaming. It sure did beat waiting for a new episode to air on TV once a week and the fight with whoever had the remote at the  time. I grabbed a few fruit and walked over to the desk and cracked them open for him and I had to laugh as he opened his mouth like a hungry baby bird.

So I scooped the clean white flesh of the fruit out and fed it to him, one segment at a time.

‘ hmmm, it defiantly tastes nicer this way.’ He said smiling with a twinkle in his eye.

The problem with mangosteen is that it’s a decent sized fruit, about the size of an apple, but the actual edible part inside was like a small mandarin and pretty soon I was down to my last segment.

As I reached to grab a tissue to wipe off the juices that  had run down my hand, Phillip reached up and grabbed me, seating me on the table, placing himself between my legs so that I straddled him, and then he grabbed my arm, and like at the bazaar, started to lick the juices from my hands, reaching my wrist, teasing me with his tongue.

Oh holy hell, there were those feelings again, the hot flushed burning , the tingling that ran to my feet, that feeling of mush where I know my brain once was.

And all the while he didn’t take his eyes away from mine.

Except when he reached up to run his fingers along my neck, and they rubbed against the dressing Dr Brown had placed.

“ Tori if something had happened to you today….”

‘ hey , nothing did, we are both ok, and who gave you permission to call me Tori? Only people who know me really well call me that.” I reached up and stroked his cheek.

‘ well then, let me get to know you better.” He said as he nuzzled his nose along the length of my neck, kissing me softly on the tip of my collarbone. The feeling was indescribable pleasure and I didn’t know when I had wrapped my legs around him, or when I tilted my head back fro more, I wasn’t in control of myself anymore.

I was being controlled by this heat, this consuming feeling of wanting.

His hands went up the back of my shirt, caressing the skin along my spine, teasing at my bra strap, pushing himself dangerously against me.

He rubbed his fingers along my lips and I felt myself smile a little, wishing him closer and praying that nothing stopped him this time, but I knew I had to. My body felt like it was on fire, like it was a tightly wound elastic band screaming for release.

But as much as I wanted this, I couldn’t do this.

‘ Phillip, this is a very bad idea…”

‘ who says? There’s no one to tell us that we can’t, and besides, since we are married there’s no stopping us. You have to do is say yes. I am a patient man Victoria, but I won’t stay patient forever.”

But as fate would have it my phone decided to start ringing at that moment.

‘ my hearts a stereo, it beats for you so listen close…” the ringtone abruptly interrupted my previously serene moment.

‘ I better get that, “ I said in a whisper with half closed eyes, he was so close I could feel his heartbeat,  pretty sure my own could be heard across the room. My mind was reeling from his closeness. ‘ It must be something important, no one ever calls me this late.”

‘ Fuck!” Phillip shouted as he pulled away from me and grabbed my phone and he scared me a bit. I had never seen him aggressive or angry before and the sudden mood change was unsettling.

‘ What do you want?” he yelled at whoever was on the end of the call.  Except he had answered the call on speaker mode.

‘ madarchod where is Tori?” Simmi screamed back at him.

Simmi, the missed calls, the messages.

I had forgotten all about them.

But something was wrong, I could hear it in her voice.

‘ give me the phone Phillip!” I demanded and practically grabbed it off him.

‘ Simmi what’s wrong?”

‘ what’s wrong? Bitch I call you how many times today and you don’t answer my calls!” then she wailed, like a cat that was being strangled. ‘ he’s cheating on me mere Jain! He’s got another woman!”

‘ shit Simmi, where are you?” her words where slurred and slow.

‘ on the rooftop. What do I do? I need you mere Jain! My whole heart is breaking!”

‘have you been drinking?”

‘yes…no…..just a little…..and maybe smoking too…..” then the line went dead.

‘ shit shit shit shit! I cried out as I hit redial. It went straight to voicemail.

‘ what’s happened? Phillip asked concerned, I guess he wasn’t used to me swearing so much.

‘ get your keys, we gotta go get Simmi.” I insisted.

‘ why? She’s a big girl, she can handle herself.’

‘ Now is not the time to be a jerk, she’s drunk and possibly high on the roof of her building. If her dad finds her that way and because of a white boy, he will kill her.’

Phillip scoffed not believing me.

‘ HE WILL KILL HER!” I screamed grabbing a coat and puling on some shoes , ‘ and I don’t mean practically, I don’t mean figuratively  and I don’t mean literally. If her father finds out he will kill her! And if you are not coming with me I will go by myself!” I hated that I sounded like a madwoman but panic was starting to set in.

“ how do you know?” he asked.

‘because its happened before!”