Tainted Love (Book 1) (43 page)

Sunday morning comes around much quicker than I want it to. I am going to have to face Roman and his family. I have been able to keep it under wraps with all that happened this
past week, but will I be able to keep it together knowing this very big and potentially catastrophic secret?
Crap
.

It is going to be an interesting evening at the Hayes’ is all I know.

I am a nervous wreck as we near the sprawling brick mansion. The driveway to the house is nestled between large stone walls. Driving up to a large gate, we are buzzed in and we make our way around a fountain to the front doors where Diana, Roman and Matt await us.

Roman opens my door first, giving my hand a firm squeeze as he helps me out. I bet he’s wondering if I
’ve said anything to Ben.
Well, I didn’t, buddy
.

Diana hugs and kisses my cheek, welcoming
me to her home. I guess he hasn’t told her either.

Matt gives me a soft kiss on the cheek and a naughtily raised eyebrow and I just know he’s still seeing me bent over and pounded like tenderized meat. Can’t he get over that visual already?

Diana and Roman give me a grand tour of the six-bedroom house which is mostly filled with huge paintings and antique furniture. The house has a modern flair to it that off-sets the rest of the house beautifully; just like Ben’s house. Now I know where he got his design ideas from.

The backyard is vast. Not worthy to be called a yard. It has a putting green, a lagoon pool and a horse stable farther out.

“We have six horses. Ben’s horse is called Zeus,” Diana tells me.

“You ride?” I ask him.

“Didn’t you know?” he quips, shooting me a wry look, and I know he’s referring to sex.

“Oh, Ben!” his mother exclaims, slapping his arm. “You can’t speak like that in front of your mother.”

“What? I just thought I told her that I rode horses,” he lies.

Matt sniggers, knowing full well what he was referring to and I roll my eyes. He
really
needs to get over that image already.

“Like I was born yesterday,” Diana mutters. “I know you were talking about sex, Ben. How do you th
ink I got you and your brother?”

“Mom!”
Both Ben and Matt groan.

“
Too much information, Mother,” Ben says, trying not to smile.

“
Whatever, son. I just hope you’re being a gentleman to sweet Sullivan here.”

“Sweet,” Ben snorts mockingly.

I nudge him with my elbow and glare at him. He kisses me on the forehead and then pulls me closer to him as he whispers, “I’m going to bend you over in that stable later and ride you like a stallion.”

My core dips and tightens at his lustful promise and I can’t wait. Goosebumps flood my body and I become red all over as I anticipate what later will bring.

We sit down in the warm, spacious dining room eating and chattering. I bet there have been a lot of wonderful memories shared here. I can’t help when my thoughts race back to my own family.

I feel Ben
’s hand caress my cheek and I realize that I must’ve spaced out. He looks at me with concern and I produce for him a smile, kissing his palm. I mouth a
thank you
to him and he leans over, kissing my cheek in return.

His mother gasps quietly and when I look at her, she has tears in her eyes as she watches Ben and I. She swallows and shakes her head with a watery smile.

“Thank you,” she mouths to me. I smile at her, feeling the most amazing feeling settle over me.

Rightness.

It’s never been right like this with anyone. By the time it got to this with Jared, he was ripped from me. Can I love like that again, only to have Ben taken from me? Could I survive it?

Before I get lost in a world of sadness, I choose to enjoy the meal in front of me.

The food is delicious: veal Milanese, spaghetti with marinara sauce and grilled vegetables. Every taste makes me moan, which garners a raised eyebrow from Ben.

Naughty to the core, Ben slips his hand under the table, running his finger along my bare thigh. He made me wear a very short flared white dress with black flats and now I see why. With his parents and brother distracted by conversation, he trails his hand further up. I lose my train of thought as his touch ignites my libido and I blaze for him. I sit back in my chair, slouching a little so he can cup my already drenched sex. I hear him groan as he gropes it and I know he wants me.

Matt clears his throat and I look up to see him staring at me from across the table. His finger is tracing his bottom lip as he bores into me with his dark gaze. He wants me too. I shudder, closing my legs and trapping Ben’s hand. He tugs it from between my legs quickly, banging it under the table. Diana and Roman are startled and Matt does nothing but chuckle. My face reddens with embarrassment. Everyone knows what we’ve been up to now. I know it.
Ground, swallow me up now
!

I continue to eat in morbid silence while the rest of them converse.

The doorbell rings and the butler steps away to answer it. Yes, they have a fricking
butler
!

He returns moments later with a sealed envelope and hands it to Diana. Curiously, she takes it.

“Who’s it from?” she asks, inspecting the large item.

“A Kaylee Stone,” he answers.

Roman coughs and gets up hastily, rushing over to Diana. “Let me see that,” he insists.

“No, it’s mine. Sit down, jumpy,” she refuses, smiling at her husband.

I can see fear and dread in Roman’s eyes as Diana opens the envelope. Out she pulls a myriad of pictures and I see the blood drain from her face.

“What is this?” she asks Roman flatly as she flashes through the pictures.

“Darling, let me explain,” Roman begs.
Holy shit
.

Before she
even slams the pictures down on the table, I know what they are. The pictures contain his secret.

Diana rises angrily from the dining table and slaps Roman so hard that the whole room echoes with it.

“Mom!” Matt shouts, rising from the table to restrain her.

“What is it?” Ben reaches for the pictures and I
see his face redden with untamable anger.

He pushes his seat back violently and lunges for his father, who Matt shields. Matt is yet to know what is going on.

“Diana, I’m sorry,” Roman cries.

“Fuck you, Roman!” she screams. And it is the first time I’ve ever seen anger from Diana or hear
d her curse. She is mad alright and I don’t blame her.

“Mom, calm down. What the fuck is going on?” Matt asks, but no one responds.

Ben is glowering at his father. Diana is in tears and Roman looks like a scared puppy.

“Dad?” Matt speaks up. “Mom?” But no one answers him still. “Would someone tell me what the fuck’s going on?”

Ben thrusts the pictures at him and Matt slowly deflates into the chair he had vacated.

Taking the opportunity, Ben reaches for his father again.

“Ben!” I scream, now in tears. “Don’t,” I beg.

He stops inches away from his father and relaxes his fist, resting it at his side. Roman had better count his lucky stars that that punch didn’t connect.

“Mother, get your things. You’re leaving with us,” Ben orders, not taking his eyes of his crouching father.

Roman no longer looks like the powerful real estate tycoon who exudes control and command. He is a coward who made a foolish mistake. A weakling, brought down to size by the enraged mammoth of a man that towers over him
that he calls son. Roman is no longer a titan. In this moment, he is a mere man.

Diana stalks away and Ben and Matt follow her. Roman falls to the floor in tears and I simply feel sorry for him.

I can’t look at the pictures Matt scattered on the table. I am too busy gathering my wits that had been scattered in the furor.

W
alking over to Roman, I help him up from the ground. I can’t resist saying something to him.

“You brought this on yourself, you know?” I express, lowering him to a chair.

“I know. You warned me,” he agrees.

“I thought you sorted everything out. I thought you would’ve stopped seeing her,” I say.

“I did. I did. I told her that we had to stop seeing each other, but she said she wasn’t going down without a fight. I thought she meant that she would still fight for me and I couldn’t see why she possibly would. She’s got a boyfriend where she lives.” Roman shakes his head, swiping the tears away from his face.

“
Never did I expect her to do this,” he explains in despair.

“Well, I…”

“You…knew about this?” Ben walks in on us and I nearly expire.

“Ben,” I say softly, too frightened to say anything else.

“You knew about the affair and you didn’t say anything?” he growls angrily at me and I quail with fear.

“Ben, let me explain,” I beg. I reach out to him and he steps back. “Ben,” I whisper, hurt.

“You deceitful…” Ben closes his eyes to choke back his anger. “How could you do this to my family, Sullivan?”

“Ben I wanted to tell you. I tried…”

“You didn’t try hard enough,” Ben refutes through gritted teeth.

Ben turns away from me and it’s like a door
closing on my heart.

I fall to the ground, clutching his ankles, crying, begging, “Please, Ben. Don’t leave me.”

I don’t look up at him, but I feel his glare. He shakes from my hold and strides into the next room.

“We’re leaving,” I hear him say in the foyer.

“Isn’t Sullivan coming with us?” Diana asks confused, tears evident in her voice.

“I’ll explain in the car,” Ben relays.

“No! You will explain right this instant!” Diana demands in a loud voice, her voice quavering with emotion.

“Sullivan knew about the affair,” Ben answers her grimly.

I hear Diana’s surprised gasp and my heart twists in my chest.

“Let’s go, Mother,” Ben i
nsists softer now. I hear Diana’s choked sobs and my own heart breaks. What have I done?

The door opens then shuts a moment later. I bury my face into the soft, white carpet and I weep uncontrollably, bitterly. So this is what it feels like to be broken up with? Now I know how my other exes must feel. I guess this is how Paul felt when I broke up with him.

Roman surrounds me, trying to soothe me, but to no avail. I’ve lost him. I messed up, and because of it, I’ve lost the one man that meant anything to me in a long while. I feel like I am in a nightmare and I pinch myself hard so I can wake up. The physical pain I feel from it only makes me cry more.

Roman helps me to his car as I am too weak to walk by myself. He insisted on taking me home after everything that had happened, saying that it was the least he could do.

Roman and I drive to my apartment in silence, with the exception of my almost silent cries. He pulls up to my building and stops me before I can get out.

“
I’m sorry, Sullivan. I never meant for things to go down the way they did. God, if I had known it would’ve broken you two up…” he says rubbing violently at his forehead.

He sighs then says, “
If I could turn back time I wouldn’t have let things get so far with that woman. Nothing pained me more than seeing the hurt I caused Diana and the pain in Ben’s eyes; to know I caused you, an innocent, hurt.”

His statement sheds a different light on how he feels about his son. He loves Ben. Might have a funny, even aloof, way of showing it, but he loves him. This warms my otherwise gloomy heart, t
hough sadness is still present.

I’ve lost Ben.

Tears rush down my face in the dark car and I swat at them violently.

“Please don’
t cry, angel,” Roman begs, squeezing my knee.

But I can’
t help it. The well breaks inside me and all my sadness pour out as he embraces me. I’ve lost Ben.