Speechless

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

***Present Day***

I pull up to my sister's house and pull into the back like she told me to. I get out of the car and she walks up and hugs me. "Thanks for this Vic." I say. She smiles at me and says "I've been wanting you to move out here for years. I have you a room set up and you'll be helping with the books." she tells me and I nod. "Better than where I was." I tell her. Her and her girls help me get my things into the room I'll be staying in and the things that I brought that were mom's and we put them in the basement of the house where she has the rest of mom's things. After getting unpacked, with my sister's help, we sit downstairs with a cup of coffee with some of her girls, getting to know them.

It's been a couple of days since I moved in and I work in the office that Vickie has set up. I am in the office when I hear motorcycles pull up. Vickie comes to the door and says "Come meet my boys." I nod and head out to the living room with her and stop in my tracks when I see him. "Lydia, meet Bishop, Hank, Taza, Creeper, Angel, EZ, Gilly and you've met Riz. Guys this is my sister Lydia." she says and Riz and I just stare at each other in shock. "Are you two okay?" Hank asks. Neither of us say anything for a second but then Riz speaks. "Yeah. I'm good." he says. Hank looks at me and I nod my head yes. "It's nice to meet you guys. If you'll excuse me." I say and head back into the office and close the door. I sit at the desk and the tears start to fall.

Out in the living room, Bishop asks. "How do you know her?" He looks at Bishop and says "She's my wife." They all look at him shocked and Vickie says "Office." He kisses her cheek and heads towards the office. He knocks on the closed door. I wipe the tears away and say "Yeah." He opens the door and closes it behind him. "Hey." He says. "Hey." I say back. He just stands there a second and I say "Look, I'm not here to cause you problems. I just needed a place to stay and Vickie said I could come here. If you don't want me here, I'll figure something else out but don't let me being here stop you from having fun. I'll stay out of your way." I tell him, not looking up. "Why did you leave?" he asks. "Doesn't matter." I tell him. "Matters to me. I wake up and my wife is gone with no way to find her." he says. "Oh. Well, You know where I am now if you're wanting a divorce." I tell him. "What? No. Just...why did you leave?" he asks again. "Riz, everything in my life has always been meticulously planned out. I've never done anything spontaneous before and when I woke up with you in bed with me and saw the rings and the marriage license, I panicked and took off. I'm sorry." I say as I sit down in the chair at the desk, defeated. He stands there a minute and I say "I'll figure something else out about a place to stay." I tell him. He stays by the door and says "You don't have to do that." I nod. "You should head out there and have some fun." I tell him. He nods and walks out of the office and I sit in the chair and sob.

He walks out to the main room and Bishop sees him. "You good?" Riz looks at him and says "Yeah. I'm good." He takes a seat and takes the beer that one of the girls hands him but when she tries to rub up on him he tells her he's not in the mood. He spends the evening in his own little world. I slip up the back stairs and into my room. Changing for bed, I lay in bed and sob. I should have never come here.

Waking up the next morning, my head is pounding from all the crying the night before. I get dressed and head downstairs for a cup of coffee before heading into my office. On the way to the office, I see Riz come down the stairs, alone, and I just lower my head and walk into the office and close the door. I sit at the desk and fight off the tears. The door to the office opens and Vickie walks in. "You okay?" she asks. "Yeah. I think I might find somewhere else to stay." I tell her. "Why? Because he's here?" she asks and I nod my head yes. "You know he went to bed alone don't you?" she asks and I shake my head. "Not my business." I tell her. "That ring still on your finger says it is. You're still his wife." she says. "Only on paper." I tell her. "You think I don't know you go by his last name?" she asks. "Doesn't matter. I said I would stay out of his way. I need to get in touch with a lawyer to get the divorce papers going." I tell her. "Don't do that just yet." she tells me before the door opens up again and Riz steps inside. "I'll let you two talk." she says before slipping out the door.

I don't look up at him when he speaks. "You okay?" he asks. "Yeah. I'm good. Um, I told Vickie I would find another place to stay and I'll get the divorce papers going if you want me to." I tell him. He moves to sit on the couch in the office that's to the side of the desk. "Come here." he says and pats the seat next to him. I don't move. "Please?" he asks softly. I get up and move to the couch but leave some space between us. He moves closer and says "Look, I get why you took off. But that doesn't mean I want a divorce and seeing that ring still on your finger tells me you don't either." he tells me. "Doesn't matter. Riz I meant it when I said I'm not here to make your life more difficult. I just needed a place to stay." I tell him. "What happened?" he asks. "Nothing for you to worry about." I say and go to stand but he grabs my hand, stopping me. "You're my wife. That means I get to worry. Now, what happened?" he asks again. Sighing, I start explaining what happened. "You remember me telling you about my boss telling me that I had to work more overtime because I took off for mom's funeral?" I ask and he nods. "Well, when I got back, things got worse. She transferred to another office and they hired a new manager. He had me still working sixteen hour days and there were a lot of nights working just us. He kept making advances towards me and I even told him I was married and he said he didn't believe me because I was always at work. That he didn't believe I had time for a husband. He kept trying to touch me and told me either I sleep with him or I didn't have a job and when I refused, he fired me. Said I wasn't a team player. I tried to live off my savings while I found another job but no one was hiring so I called Vic to see about moving here. I honestly didn't know you would be here Riz." I tell him. "Why didn't you have Vickie find me?" he asks. "It wasn't your responsibility. Still isn't Riz." I tell him. I look away from him and say "I need to get back to work." He nods before kissing my temple and walking out of the office, leaving me on the couch sobbing.

A little while later, Vickie walks into the office and sees me looking online at rental properties. "What are you doing?" she asks. "Looking for a place to live." I tell her. "Why? I told you that you could stay here as long as you needed." she tells me. "Vic, I can't stay here knowing he comes here. I promised him I wasn't here to make his life more complicated. I have to find a job and a place as soon as possible and get out of here. Then I have to get the divorce papers filed so he can have his life back." I tell her. "What about you?" she asks. "What about me?" I ask. "What about your life? Before you moved here, you had no life. You were alone and I know you were miserable. Just those few days you were with Riz, the night you married him? Was the first time in years that you had a true smile on your face." she tells me. "Doesn't matter. I walked out on him. Can we please just drop it?" I ask. "Yeah. Okay." she says before walking off.

That night, I am in my room when I hear motorcycles pull up. I can hear them laughing and having fun downstairs and just the thought of him having one of the girls on his lap causes me to start sobbing again. I just start to doze off when I feel the bed dip down. I go to move and I hear him in my ear. "It's just me Lydia." he whispers. "Riz? What are you doing in here?" I ask as I try to pull away from him. He pulls me closer and says "I'm going to bed with my wife." I turn to face him and he kisses me softly. He deepens the kiss but doesn't push me farther. When we separate he says "Don't sneak out on me again." I nod and snuggle into him as the tears start to fall again. I hear him whisper "I got you baby. I'm not going anywhere." before he tilts my head up and kisses me again. I snuggle back into him and we both drift off to sleep wrapped up in each other.