Page 4 of Earl

At first, he thought it must be the TV. Ignoring the warning bells going off inside his head, he pushed the door open, only to see the couple writhing on the bed.

The bastard had been behind her pumping away, with Diana moaning as if she was in pain. He stood there long enough for her to look up. He would have laughed at the comical expression on her face if he hadn’t felt like murdering them both.

The man had lifted his head at that time and after a few seconds of immobility, he sprang away and fell off the bed.

Earl had stood there for a few more seconds before leaving without saying a word. He was at the door when Diana, wearing a red silk robe intercepted him.

“Let me explain,” she had pleaded.

“Let me guess- Wakefield felt on top of you.” Earl knew that the man was her co-star in the action flick she was doing. And the man was ten years her junior.

“It’s not what it looks like. He came over and we were doing some lines and…, Oh Earl, I am so sorry!”

“I am not.” Shaking off her clingy hand, he had left the building and told his driver to take him home.

She had tried calling him several times, but he refused to take the call. She had also turned up in his loft, but he refused to see her. He had also changed the combination to the lock on his door, denying her access. He was through with her, and he made it plain.

Whenever he was at a function and she was there, he would look right through her as if she was not there. No one got a second chance with him. And what she had done was unforgiveable. She had fooled him into thinking she was in love with him. Told him all the right things, talking about having children and eventually giving up her acting career.

“It’s not fulfilling anymore,” she had told him softly. “I want a husband and as corny as it sounds, a home with a fence and a huge backyard. And children.”

He had stared at her skeptically.

“You don’t believe me.”

“It’s difficult to swallow that you would give up your career, one you have worked so hard to accomplish for changing diapers.”

She had laughed then. “You make it sound so unglamorous.”

“I have been told it is.”

“I want children, Earl.” Her tone had been so sincere, it had lulled him into thinking she was speaking from her heart. But all she had wanted was a wealthy husband who would secure her future.

She was thirty-five and the other actresses were getting younger every day. He suspected that was the main reason she had for sleeping with her co-star. The need to assure herself that she was still young.

His sister had told him that it must have been divine purpose that had him coming back early.

“Or else you would have made the mistake of marrying that selfish bitch and finding out afterwards that she was a slut.” Evelyn had been so angry; the words could not be contained. “She would have taken you for everything you worked so hard to achieve.”

Sitting behind his desk, he stared at the blinking cursor and wondered what the hell he was doing. It shouldn’t be so difficult, he thought bitterly. But his track record with the fairer sex had driven him to this and he hated it.

Pushing away from the desk, he strode over to the recessed cabinet and pressed a button. If he really was going to do this, he needed sustenance and a hell of a lot of it.

*****

“I won’t do it.” Pushing away the laptop, she rose gracefully and set about taking away the glasses and the half-finished bottle of wine.

“Why not?”

“It’s…, it’s barbaric.” She gestured the screen as she headed out of the living room with him following behind her. “And I am starving.”

“We could order pizza,” he suggested as he plopped down on a cushioned bar stool and watched her flitting around, taking out shrimp.

“Or we could have shrimp salad.”

“I am making curried shrimp and wild rice,” she glanced up at him as she took out peppers.

“Make yourself useful and hand me the curry from the cupboard behind you.”

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