Sudden Devotion (23 page)

They all filed out and ran into Sara in the front lobby. Peter noticed that she didn’t look good. It was clear that she hadn’t slept with the dark rings shadowed under her eyes. But most noticeable was her pale face and the faint appearance of a lower trembling lip.

“Sara, are you okay?” Peter asked her. “You’re early aren’t you?”

“Oh, hello every…Donna, are you okay?” she asked after seeing the tears staining her cheeks.

Donna nodded, clearly unable to speak without crying again.

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Sara turned to the three men. “I realize I’m early. I was worried about Mitch. He didn’t come home last night, and while I’m sure he fell asleep at his desk, I just needed to be sure to… Where is he going?” she asked Donna, Theo, and George as Peter raced off.

The three men looked at each other and the words were understood even though they were not spoken. Peter was sure Claudia had done something. While he didn’t know what, he was very aware that she was capable of destroying lives just for sport. He started to head toward the war room, the last place he knew Mitch and Sara had been.

“Donna, stay with Sara okay?” George told her as he and Theo followed Peter’s direction.

“What’s going on?” Sara said to Donna, who was now crying.

Sara started to run after them, but Donna grabbed her. “Don’t Sara.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “You should stay here.”

“Like hell I should. Let go of me!” She swung her arm loose and ran down the hall, following the three men.

Chapter Seventeen

“Damn it, wake up!” Peter shook Mitch’s arm as Claudia lay on top of him laughing.

Theo and George had just walked in to witness the scene.

“You bitch!” Theo cursed her, but his anger only caused her to laugh harder.

“You really do enjoy destroying people don’t you? You’re pathetic. The joke is on you. We all told last night. Your pictures don’t mean shit now!” George screamed at her.

Peter didn’t say anything. Would the pictures come out now? Would Daniella still find out? He tried not to worry about that now but the thought wasn’t far from his mind.

“Mitch, wake up. Mitch, come on, wake up. Sara’s here. Listen to me man.” Peter stopped talking at the sight of Mitch stirring. “Get off of him, you whore!”

Claudia didn’t move, but instead snuggled closer against him. Peter noticed that she had a determined glint in her eye at the news that Sara was at the office. Had her plan had been for them to be discovered in this very scandalous way, knowing that the office gossip mill would take care of the rest? Had things worked out that much sweeter to know that Sara was here to see it for herself? He wondered.

Peter had to turn away. This was it. This was what he had avoided the night before. This scene of aching torment that cuts into the depths of a man’s soul when he hurt the woman he loved. He looked at George and Theo and saw the same realization. They had lived the same nightmare just the night before.

Mitch was groggy. He opened his eyes, but everything seemed so bright. Why was it so bright in here? He opened his eyes to see Peter standing over him shouting something about Sara. Why was Peter in their bedroom? Mmm, Sara. He could feel her lying against his chest. She felt so good in his arms. Wait, something didn’t feel right. He looked down and saw Claudia looking up at him smiling. She was naked. He looked down at his body and saw that he was naked also.
What in the fuck
?

“No, let go of me. I want to see Mitch. Oh, my God.” Sara stood in the doorway of the large war room. Across the room, lying on the couch, was Mitch, holding Claudia to him, naked after their obvious night of sex.

Mitch looked at Sara standing there staring at him, tears streaming down her face. She must have thought, Oh, God, no. “Sara, honey.” He started to push Claudia off of him, but the bitch held on like a damn vice.

“Let her be, Mitch. She would have found out about us eventually, anyway,” Claudia said as she gave Sara a mocking look of victory.

“Mitch, no,” Sara cried. “Why?”

“Baby, please. Let me explain.” How in the hell was he going to do that? He didn’t even know what happened. With Peter’s help, he managed to get up from the couch. He reached his briefs on the floor and put them on hobbling toward her.

“No. Don’t. Stay where you are.” She put her hands over her face and screamed a guttural sound of agony before looking back up at him. “How could you? You promised me. I can’t believe I was so stupid.” She turned to leave.

Mitch got to her in time and grabbed her arm to swing her back. “Sara, please. I love you. Let me explain. Please, baby, please let me explain!”

 
“I believed you. I trusted you.” Sara struggled to be released from his hold, but he only held her tighter.

“Baby, I swear to you, I don’t know what happened. I would never…I could never.” Mitch’s eyes filled. “Sara, I love you so much.”

Whap! The stinging slap hurt more in his heart than it did on his face.

“Don’t you say that to me. Love me? You don’t even know what love is. I do. I know what love is, Mitch. I loved you. And you ruined that.” She said it with disbelief etched across her face.

Mitch looked back at her. If he let her walk away, he would lose her forever. He framed her face in his hands. “Sara, honey. I would never cheat on you. You are everything to me. My whole life. You are my soul.” He took one of her hands and placed it on his heart. “You are my heart. I am nothing without you.” He leaned over to brush a gentle kiss to her lips. “I love you so much, honey.”

“No, stop.” She was bawling now. “Don’t do this. Please, don’t make this harder than it already is. I loved you so much.” She shook her arms, trying to break the hold he had on her.

“Don’t say that, honey. Please, don’t say you loved me. Tell me you still do. Tell me we can work this out.” Mitch’s control faltered and he began to truly cry. He cried for the woman he loved and hurt. He cried for what he had obviously done. And, he cried for himself, knowing that he might lose the only woman that he had ever loved.

 
“I can’t. God, I do love you. I love you so much. But we can’t work it out, Mitch. Ever.” She broke free of his hold and ran for the door.

Mitch finally caught up with her and grabbed onto her waist as he fell to his knees. She turned to face him. She dug her hands into his shoulders and did everything in her power to push him away.

“Mitch, stop,” she cried. “Please let me go. Just let me go.”

His arms wrapped around her tighter. His muffled voice reverberated off of her body. “No. Please, baby. I can’t, please don’t make me. I can’t ever let you go.”

Sara struggled for a moment, and then stilled. “Mitch, look at me.”

Sara’s calmer voice took him by surprise. He slowly turned his face and looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. Holding onto her so tight, he was probably bruising her beautiful skin. “Baby, please. I’m sorry. Please. I don’t know what happened. I love you.”

“Mitch. Oh, Mitch.” She couldn’t help herself as she took her hands to his face, gently rubbing the tears away. “I love you. Until the day that I die, I will love you. But, I can never forget what I just saw. If you love me, if you truly do, you’ll let me go. Please, Mitch. I can’t be with you anymore.” She tried to un-wrap his arms from her back, struggling to free herself. “Mitch, please. You’re hurting me.”

At Sara’s request, he gentled his hold on her but did not release her. “Baby, I can’t let you go. Let’s talk about this. I can make it up to you. I’ll do whatever it takes, please, just please, don’t leave me.”

George, Donna, Theo, and Peter looked on as two other secretaries walked in and were staring at the drama that was being played out. A tear trailed down one of their cheeks while listening to Mitch’s plea.

George went to Mitch. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he spoke softly, “Mitch, you have to let her go.”

“No!” He looked up at Sara. “Anything, honey, I’ll do anything.” Gut-wrenching sobs tore from his body. “I can’t live without you. How can I live without holding you, without seeing your smile? Your beautiful smile. How can I live without kissing you, without touching you? Baby, please, I’ll die without you. I’ll never be able to sleep again without you in my arms. Holding you against me. Baby, oh God. I need you so much. I can’t survive without you.”

Theo came up behind him and stood next to George. “Mitch, we understand. Believe me, we understand more than you know. But she’s right. If you love her, you have to let her go.”

Both men began pulling Mitch away from Sara. He struggled against them like a child who was being separated from his mother for the first time.

When they finally restrained Mitch, Sara ran. She headed toward the elevator and waited for mere seconds before one opened, and she ran in. She clicked the button over and over again until the doors finally closed. The last thing she heard was Mitch scream her name. Unable to stand any longer, she dropped to the floor and sobbed.

Sara was still. Numb with a heart that had shattered into a million pieces. She wanted to fall into his kiss as he begged for forgiveness. She wanted to grab onto his embrace. She wanted to believe every word he told her. But she’d already done that once. While she had been pushing him away, pleading with him to let her go, she was unable to control the incomprehensible pain that tore though her soul.

Minutes later, she felt herself being carried. Mitch, she thought. It had been a horrible dream. He was taking her to bed. They were going to make love. But wait, she could hear cars, and these didn’t feel like Mitch’s arms holding her. She opened her eyes to look up but her vision was blocked as she was placed in the passenger side of a car.

She remembered something now. She had been in the elevator crying. She heard the bell chime. Someone had entered. They knew her. They kept saying her name and smoothing her hair over her head. She turned her head at the sound of the driver’s side door opening. Patrick.

“Shh. Do you need to see a doctor?” He asked her.

She must have shaken her head no.

“Okay. Let me take you to my place where you can rest.” He put a finger to her lips when she started to talk. “You don’t have to say anything. Just let me take care of you.”

* * * *

Mitch finally broke free of George and Theo. He ran back to the war room. A wave of nausea hit him as he saw his clothes strewn all over the room. What had he done? He started dressing rapidly.

“Mitch, what are you doing?” Peter asked.

Mitch looked for his shirt. “I have to find her. I have to make her understand. I have to tell her how sorry I am.”

“Mitch.” Peter shook him. “Will it change what you did? No, it won’t. You will suffer the loss of the only woman you’ve ever loved just like us,” Peter was shouting. “You don’t understand. Take the consequence now. If you don’t, that viper will take every part of your soul.”

Mitch wasn’t so sure what he was talking about, but he responded anyway. “Sara
is
my soul.”

“We know,” George said from the doorway. “She has ruined all of our lives.” He shook his head. “Sex is a game to her, and she doesn’t care who gets wiped out in the process.” George stopped when he heard someone come in the room.

Claudia stood there. “Why does everyone look so glum, boys?”

Mitch wanted to kill her. “What happened?” He screamed at her.

“What happened? We had mind-blowing sex. That’s what happened. You told me how good it was, how it was so much better with me than with her. You told me how boring she was. You…” Her dramatic storytelling was interrupted by Mitch throwing his coffee cup across the room, causing it to smash against the wall.

“You are a lying bitch! There is no way in hell I ever would have told you such bullshit.” Mitch ran a shaking hand through his hair. “Why? How did it happen? I don’t remember any…”

“You don’t remember any of it?” Donna asked curiously from the doorway.

“No, I…Jesus, Donna, are you okay?” He asked when he saw her face, her puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

She nodded. “What is the last thing you remember?” she asked him while watching Claudia who suddenly seemed very nervous.

“I had eaten a sandwich that Sara had gotten me. I remember drinking coffee, and the next thing I knew, I had gotten so tired. Which I thought was weird because…Donna what are you doing?”

Donna stormed across the room to Claudia and punched her so hard that her body flew backward into the couch. “You drugged him, didn’t you? You bitch!”

Claudia laid there looking up at Donna’s finger shaking in her face. She felt her mouth and the sticky, warm fluid pouring from it. There was a metallic taste forming in her mouth. “Donna, I didn’t drug him. I swear! He wanted me.”

Donna’s laugh sounded evil and surprised everyone in the room. “Wanted you? Ha! None of us wanted you. We hate you. We despise everything about you. But there’s a difference between us and him, isn’t there?”

Mitch listened to the exchange, confused and not entirely sure that he should even be hearing some of it. It was like he was thrown into the middle of a nightmare.

“Answer me! He didn’t sleep with you, did he?” Donna asked her, a wicked tone of pleasure in her voice. She had lost Colby to this bitch. No one else should suffer just because she liked to toy with people’s lives.