Page 62 of Save You

“It’s ok, Mal; I know he was angry with me for going, for choosing Cillian.” She smiles softly as she rubs his leg affectionately. “I heard about your daughter, Mal,” she says, turning her smile into a look of sympathy that has now spread all over her face. She then glances my way and gives me that same look of pity that everyone else has given me today. I don’t blame her for it; what else are you supposed to do with someone who has lost his everything?

“Yeah,” he whispers sadly and swigs back his bottle of warm beer. “She was quite something, Sadie. Did you know? Did you know about Mayfield?” He looks at her accusingly, and she nods guiltily before staring down at the sand. “I wish I had been told, Sadie! Maybe I could have saved her, got her away from all of this!”

“They were always going to catch up with you one day, Mal,” she sighs, “they caught up with Tom.”

“What do you mean?” Mal grabs hold of her arm, forcing her to look back at him.

“I found him, Mal; I know where he is!” she says with tears in her eyes while his mouth gapes open in shock.

“Where?” he asks, sounding low and quiet. “Where is my father?”

“He’s here, with me,” she says with a smile. “Well, actually, he’s at my hotel with Cillian. I came to pay my respects and take you to him. He’s desperate to see you, Mal!”

“Where the hell has he been? He left Mum; she’s in a care home, for Christ’s sake!” Mal leaps from his seat and looks as though he’s ready to kill someone with his bare hands.

“Where do you think he’s been?” she says, standing to face him. “They’ve had him, Mal! It’s taken over ten years to find him and get him out. It’s not pleasant, Mal, but you need to come and see him. Between you and I, I don’t think he has much fight left in him. He wants to see you, and he wants to see Rosalie; that’s all that matters to him right now.”

Mal looks more broken and confused than before, and I feel even worse for him. I watch him battle demons in his head, trying to work out what to do for the best. In the end, I pat him on the shoulder and offer him my own opinion, such that it is.

“Go, Mal; Beth is already gone. It sounds like you need to go and see your dad before he goes too.”

At first, he opens his mouth, looking like he’s going to argue and tell Sadie to leave him be. However, after a moment or two of what looks like indecision, he reluctantly nods his head and gestures for Sadie to show him the way. She looks beyond relieved, but just before she turns to leave, she puts her arms around me and pats me gently on the back. She doesn’t say anything, but we both know what the hug was for.

Beth

Oliver has been looking at his watch for the past hour, waiting impatiently for us to get away from everyone so he can finally have what he wants from me. I’ve played the dutiful new wife, smiled, and thanked people when they complimented me on my dress, my new husband, and the general aesthetics of the entire wedding. I’ve answered their questions about my past as much as I am allowed to, and I have danced with creepy old men, including Carl and my new father-in-law with his wandering hands and heavy breathing down my neck. But now I am waiting too, waiting for the part of the day I’ve been dreading the most.

When a familiar hand reaches for mine, the one with a new, even heavier ring on its finger, I shut my eyes and breathe out slowly, knowing that time is up. I don’t have a moment to think before he rounds on me and smiles suggestively at my panic-stricken face, then lifts my ring-clad hand to his lips.

“Time to go,” he whispers into my ear and begins marching us toward the door before I even have a chance to respond.

The moment we step outside onto a busy street in New York, the car is already waiting with a wide-open door, where armed guards surround our exit. My breath hitches in my throat, I feel dizzy, and have to lean on Oliver just to keep myself upright. He mistakes this for affection and laughs softly to himself before I manage to regain my composure. This is when I am going to feel like I truly have cheated on Xander, my real love, the man I should have married.

Just before we get to the car, Oliver’s parents and my grandfather catch hold of his arm, making him stop still with an irritated sigh. Oliver is clearly impatient about the hold-up but puts on a gratuitous smile while shaking their hands, as well as giving his mother a customary kiss on the cheek.

“Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Lawrence!” my grandfather speaks first. “Enjoy your first night as man and wife.”

He then leans in to hug me with parental affection, leaving me feeling green with both nausea and anger. Not that he notices my abhorrence over his touch. He returns inside soon after, already with a self-congratulatory cigar poking out of his mouth.

“Enjoy her, son,” Oliver’s father says with a grim smirk on his face, “I know I would!”

He laughs like the smarmy creep that he is. Oliver replies with a sneer that he doesn’t even bother to try and cover up before his parents.

“Don’t be scared, my darling,” his mother whispers, “the first time is always nerve-wracking, but then you can enjoy yourself!”

The poor woman has no idea that I am most definitely not a virgin, nor does she realize how much I despise her son.

“Right, we’re going now. Mother, Father,” he says by means of goodbye before practically shoving me inside of the car.

The ride home is both silent and uncomfortable. I had expected him to be trying to rip my clothes and self-respect away the moment he had closed the door, but instead, he has kept his hand firmly on my thigh, obviously biding his time until we are home. When we do get home, guards line a walkway up toward the door, allowing him to pick me up and carry me over the threshold as he acts the romantic newlywed. However, once inside he doesn’t put me down, instead, he marches us straight for the bedroom where he kicks the door closed and places me in front of my dressing table.

At first, I don’t know what to do, so decide to run through the usual nightly routine of taking off jewelry and other such nonsense. However, before I can remove my earrings, I feel his warm hands running over the tops of my arms and his mouth leaving a trail of kisses against my neck.

Initially, it’s soft and almost gentlemanly, so much so, I’m a little taken aback by how restrained he’s being. Moments later, however, he steps up closer and thrusts his hardness against my back, and the sound of my zip being pulled down has me trembling.

“Don’t be afraid of me, Beth,” he whispers, even though I can feel the air hitting the wounds left behind after he struck me only a week ago. “I’ve thought about being rough with you, making you pay, but instead,” he pauses as I catch his dark smile in the reflection of the mirror, “I’m going to make this so good for you that you come all over me. Then you will be mine, really mine! And Fenton will be truly out of your head and out of your body.”

Before he can see the tears escaping down my cheeks, he spins me around and starts to kiss my mouth deeply, urgently, and primally, soon becoming more and more like an animal losing its self-control. He literally rips at my dress and my underwear so that I am naked before him. I am then swept up and thrown onto our bed, where he proceeds to consummate our marriage in every conceivable way.

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