Stepmum • a/p

Chapter 24

"Mark?" - Perrie calls out her husband's name as she walks inside her home, but she receives no answer.

She closes the door quietly and makes her way upstairs. Maybe he's asleep, and she'd rather not give him any explanations right now. She's exhausted. All she wants to do is lay down in her bed and cry herself to sleep.

She's literally never felt worse than this. Hurting a loved one hurts, but getting hurt by the people who promised that they'd never do it, is a whole different kind of hurt. She was lied to, she got cheated on and betrayed. And not only by one person, but two.. She was stabbed in the back from the two people in her life she was closest to.

She lost everyone she had in her life, the only ones who actually meant to her, apart from her mother of course. But she doesn't know her mother that much, so she can't really count her in. Her father too. She's not close to him at all. And Mark doesn't even count as a close one.

Perrie opens the bedroom door to find Mark in bed, probably sleeping. She closes it as she walks in and goes straight in the wardrobe. Then she changes into something more comfortable for sleeping and goes to the bed.

"Perrie?" - Mark mumbles as he opens his eyes and looks at his wife. "What are you doing here?"

"Going to sleep in my bed?" - she asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Didn't you go to Jesy's?"

"We kind of had a fight.. so I came back.." - she says as she lays down.

"Okay.." - he says and closes his eyes again. "Good night then"

Perrie sighs as she lays on her side, with her face towards Mark. She never sleeps on this side, but right now she can't turn her back to Mark.

"Mark.." - she whispers.

"What?"

"Can you hug me..?" - she asks.

He opens his eyes again and looks at her with a confused expression. She's never asked him to hug her, but the complete opposite. He can tell that something is up with her, but she doesn't look like she'll give him any explanation.

"Are you okay?" - he asks her.

"Yeah.. I just want a hug.."

He lays on his back and opens his arm for her without saying anything. She scoots closer to him and places her head on his chest. After that, he wraps his arms around her and kisses her head.

"Something's wrong, admit it.." - he mumbles.

"I'm not feeling the best.." - she sighs.

"And you don't want to tell me why"

"Exactly.."

Perrie closes her eyes as she relaxes in his arm a little bit more. The two of them haven't cuddled since the beginning of their marriage. They got used to sleeping in the same bed, but separately, without touching most of the nights. There have been times when Mark would initiate a hug, but most of them were the ones which Perrie didn't enjoy.

She hugged and cuddled Alex more in a few days than she did Mark in their whole marriage. Is she being unfair to her husband? He gave her everything she wanted and needed, and she couldn't even be loyal to him. Even though he was horrible towards her, he was there for her.  She cheated on him with his son. How else was he supposed to react?

He could have easily told her to just pack her things and leave the house and then divorce her, but he didn't. He had every right to treat her bad. She deserved it.

Now she's feeling it on her own skin. She got cheated on by a person she loved. She knows how he felt when he found out about her and Alex. The feeling is horrible..