The Marked One (The Marked Series Book 1) (17 page)

With Isabella calmed, having her second dinner and him heading upstairs, he heard Aaliyah hum the song they had danced to at the event. It was as if her giving him that small part of her past made him give in to whatever it was Valerie was scheming and just give up the fight, no matter the cost. Because his reason for being happy, for feeling something real and for experiencing freedom from the clutches of his past, was all thanks to Aaliyah being there with him.

He found Aaliyah in the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her, and he was surprised she had left the door open. It only made him surer that being with her was no mistake, because she was truly accepting and trusting him.

When he knocked on the open door, she said he could come in, and he entered. She seemed to be fighting the eye makeup off and a chuckle involuntarily left him. “That looks like torture.”

She peeled away a fake eyelash he thought wasn’t even necessary, as she already had beautiful lashes that brushed her cheeks—so he had noted the weekend before when he creepily watched her sleep. Facing him, she had a cotton wipe smoothing over her eye. “Torture is putting eyeliner on.”

He cringed, which made her laugh at him before she faced the mirror again.

Like a drug, a moth to a flame, and even to fire, his hands ached to touch her and so he stepped closer. He slipped his hands down her arms and laid a kiss on her shoulder, all the while keeping his eyes on hers. She took a deep breath, in anticipation he assumed, as he worked on removing the towel.

Her hesitation was only a momentary thing, and soon the towel fell to the floor and her beauty once more left him in complete and utter awe. When he first saw the other two marks, he thought his mind had been playing tricks on him, but it was once more another addition as to why Aaliyah was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen.

Her eyes stayed on his, and for some reason in his mind, he wanted to have her see herself the way he saw her. Letting a hand smooth from her left cheek and down over her breast, her chest rose and fell with anticipation. He left a reassuring kiss in the crook of her neck. Her eyes closed and he felt her pulse racing against his lips. He saw her eyes dreamily opening up and looking at herself, where his hand smoothed back up, while the other began at her hip and moved to the mark on her thigh.

“I love you, Aaliyah,” he whispered in her ear, feeling goosebumps form along her neck and thigh. She looked at him wildly, and a moment later, he saw her shy reaction as she accepted his words. Her body’s slight tension seemed to dissipate and she leaned into him, as if taking in the picture of them was helping her ease into the truth of what they had become.

He let his hand explore more of her body, his fingertips tracing and mapping every part he could reach, and the moment he made contact to the most delicate parts of her, she let out a moan he knew was his kryptonite. It took everything to keep himself together while she was losing herself to a moment which would forever be theirs.

The intensity of her eyes on his made him ache in the most wonderful of ways, and each breath she took came faster as his fingers pleased her. Sensations seemed to grow within them both, and they looked deeply into each other’s eyes, like they feared missing even just a second would mean they missed too much.

When the sensations within her body seemed to reach a pinnacle, her eyes left his as she let them explore her own body, seeing it in a light she likely hadn’t before. There was a confidence within her and while he was still too captured by the perfection in front of him, she turned around and those lips, which he’d craved all evening, met his with passion.

Only a few seconds later, his tuxedo lay in ruins on the floor. He lifted her onto the cabinet. Again, the anticipation he felt seemed to echo in her and it left him feeling like he simply existed to be with her.

Their kiss felt wondrous, and the faint taste of cherries still lingered on her lips, while their erratic breathing was a synchronised display of their emotions bursting from within and seeking a means of release. He stepped away for a moment to get himself sheathed, but when he stepped back into her orbit, he was done for. Her fingers dug into his flesh as their connection became physical. He needed to pause briefly to keep his focus on the meaning of it all.

He had to break the kiss to catch his breath. He felt overwhelmed by the depth of it all, peaceful, while the passion he had for Aaliyah seemed to endlessly grow into something far greater than either of them. As he opened his eyes again, he saw himself in the mirror behind Aaliyah, and he was smiling in joy. When he looked at Aaliyah again, the sentiment was reflected back at him.

This was all he would ever need, because she was beautiful and she seemed so careless and free in that moment. He hoped to see her be this way no matter where they were in their lives.

Aaliyah held his face in her hands as his hips moved. She whispered the sweetest endearment he had ever heard, “I love you too.”

He paused the movement of his body and focussed solely on kissing her, as a small sign of gratitude. Why he felt the need, he wasn’t sure, but when he began to move his body again, she grabbed hold of his shoulders and he picked her up.

Walking her to the room and laying her down on the bed, her hair flared out around her beautiful face and showed a picture no portrait would ever be able to capture. She looked like a perfect representation of some foreign Goddess, and he was confused with a great need. He lay down beside her, and as they kissed, she pushed him over, before getting on top of him. His breathing hitched, as their connection was once more the only thing of substance in the world.

Her body began to move in a method to allow them both to physically feel their love, while he was lost in the rhythm of her perfection. Their hands became entangled as she used the support to raise the sensations. He wasn’t going to be able to control himself for long. She had a wicked smile on her face, and he swore that the look was meant for only him, which infused his heart with sensations strong enough to break walls, potent enough to get him high, and ultimately rare enough to prove that the moment they were sharing was a promise of a lifetime to come.

The emotions grew so strong as they ran through his veins, they gave him energy and he became lost in the ecstasy he was able to share with the woman he hoped would never leave him in her past, for she’d become his reason to be. And with that thought, the pleasure of love and being loved caused the inevitable to happen and all together the release had hit.

As the aftershocks in the form of shivers ran through her body and resonated within his own, she fell forward and rested on his chest. Heaving in pace with her, he kissed the top of her head and allowed the bliss to drift them both into this new world of excellence. She returned his gesture by facing him with an expression of complete love, and in that moment, the world could turn to fire and he’d die right in the arms of the only person he would ever need to survive.

Chapter Twelve

Aaliyah

Aaliyah felt the warm lips on her cheek and woke up to find a fully dressed Tristan smiling down at her. Concern filled his eyes. “Good morning; where are you off to?”

“There is trouble at the office and I need to sort it all out, but I won’t be away for too long. So you can sleep some more. Isabella will love that, by the way.” They both looked at the large dog, lying on her back, fast asleep, on the bed next to Aaliyah.

“She looks like a puppy,” Aaliyah mused. She saw Tristan’s eyes sparkle with the exact emotion he expressed the previous evening, after he’d made her feel free enough to accept herself in a way she never thought she could.

“I’m off.” He adjusted his shirt, kissed her one last time, and sauntered out of the room.

She smiled and then turned to see Isabella looking at her. She threw her arm around the lovable dog and rubbed her ear, watching the big dog close her eyes again and drift off, only to help Aaliyah get back to sleep as well.

About an hour later, Aaliyah felt the bed shake as Isabella jumped off. A while later, she also made her way downstairs, turned on the stereo, and found Isabella sitting perfectly at her empty bowl, asking for food in her own way. Remembering the cabinet where she’d seen Tristan take the food from before, she filled the dog’s bowl and smiled at how much she was enjoying this time and moment in her life.

With a coffee mug in hand, Aaliyah walked to the sunroom. She found herself smiling as she saw
The Marked One
on the wall.
It feels like ages ago
, she thought, as the girl she was then, had slowly become more confident and accepting about who she was. Madeline was right about the butterfly effect when it came to her own metamorphosis.

Sitting down on one of the loungers, as the morning sunlight fell in through the lead glass in beautiful patterns, she heard Isabella growl and bark in the living room. “Isabella, what’s wrong?” Aaliyah found her feet and through the archway, she spotted the tiny woman looking at
The Marked One
. The woman turned around. “Who are you? What are you doing in this house?” Panic struck.

The woman had a smile that would even make the Ice Queen feel the shivers. “You know exactly who I am.”

Valerie
. Aaliyah felt her throat tighten. This was not a situation she had ever been in before. She was drowning in the uncertainty and fear of what this meant.

The woman came closer and looked up at her. Her eyes were slanted as she looked at Aaliyah’s birthmark. “Oh, so it is real.” Her eyes finally met Aaliyah’s. “I’m talking about that thing on your face.”

“Who are you?” Aaliyah asked, because she needed some form of reassurance. Why, she wasn’t sure.

“Valerie Gerardo, the lady of this house.” Somehow the words stung deeper than an
Acacia karroo
thorn ever would, but the woman wasn’t done, as she pulled the thorn out and made the flesh suck in the filth around the wound. “I never thought Tristan would actually be seen with a charity case. The shocking thing is he made everyone believe we were separated, while I was on holiday and then I returned to find I was to live in our second house, because he was sticking his dick into a monstrous woman who doesn’t even try to hide her grotesquery.”

Aaliyah made a move to go upstairs, get dressed, and leave, but Valerie’s long nails dug into her upper arm as she grabbed her.

“Is it true that he paid you, gave you a job, and everything to help the reporters be distracted by…” she gestured at Aaliyah’s face with an open palm gesture, “…this? It sure did work, because everybody thinks we’re getting a divorce, when, in fact, we’re—”

“You’re lying.” Aaliyah’s voice cracked, showing how doubt began to take hold.

“Ah, you poor naive little girl. I’ve been in the US since the first little birdie chirped about my husband being with someone else.” It seemed like it actually hurt her to say the words out loud.

Aaliyah felt her throat tighten, her tears threatening and her heart fracturing along the old fault lines. She trusted blindly, believed fully, and hoped far too much, because what this woman was saying didn’t seem like a lie. Every insecure emotion she had ever experienced, as a teen so many years ago when she was betrayed, came back with an onslaught so sudden she was sure she would break.

She spoke her last hope, “You and Tristan
were
separated. You can’t lie about that.”

Valerie gave her an onceover, likely surprised that Aaliyah was not as convinced as she’d likely bargained on. “Yes, but since I’ve been back, I lived in one of his houses.”

“Did he know?” Aaliyah saw some hope left.

The woman smiled. “Of course he did. To be honest, I think he wants to rekindle our love and maybe even fix our marriage.” Aaliyah remembered his distant manner the evening before, how the stiffness held up for most of the evening, until before they had returned and she…
Until no one could see
. Valerie smiled like a woman in love. “Well, he sure made his intent on me…at least physically.”

“What does that mean?” Aaliyah felt sick.

“We are both old enough to know what physical connections mean.” Aaliyah swallowed the fear, even as she felt too sure these were all lies. “I was here last night, thought we’d do it again, but then he tells me he is going somewhere with you.” This was the first time things shifted into place. He was fine when she had arrived, and then he was just a shell, but she didn’t want to believe any of it when she had, just moments before, felt like she was experiencing freedom.

Her first tear was instantly followed by several more, as the awful thoughts delved deeper, “What about the year—”

“I was living in his house. Our house, meaning I was here in the US and trying to fix our marriage, while he was fooling around and believe me, you weren’t the first.” Valerie looked appalled.

“Why are you doing this?” She sounded like a little girl, and on the inside, Aaliyah was crying out
Why me?

“Look around you. Money. That is all it is. I didn’t dig into his past once to be kicked out the moment someone new steps in.” A devil, for sure, was all this woman could’ve been.

“You still left. I’m sure—”

“Is that what he told you? Is that what he told everybody?” Aaliyah felt her lip tremble, making Valerie belt out a laugh, “Oh, the ignorance. He chased me away like a dog.”

“The articles? Even he said
you
left.”

“I was forced to pretend that I wanted it.” Aaliyah was confused. She wanted to hate the woman, but a small part sympathized with her, as it seemed both of them had been betrayed. “Now, I don’t want to sound rude, but I think it is time to leave my house. I would like to be able to get back into the main bedroom, after it has been properly cleaned. God knows I don’t want your filth on me and risk getting a face like yours.”

Aaliyah pulled in a deep breath as her shock at the woman’s harsh words pierced into her core, rotting all her hope and leaving nothing but hate behind. She straightened her back, walked to the room and grabbed her things, calmly called a taxi and waited, before sending the message to Tristan that it was over. Three words to give the fault lines of her heart the push it needed to physically ache.

She was broken on the inside, but with all her belongings collected and ready, she made her way down the staircase to find Valerie waiting at the bottom. “Please, don’t steal anything, and just excuse the mess at the front door. I had a bit of a fit.” She looked in that direction, and on the floor,
The Marked One
was laid to waste. The canvas flared out with gaping holes and slashes to expose the white backside. Her eyes met Valerie’s again. “Don’t worry, I’m used to him cheating on me.”

At this stage, Aaliyah wasn’t taking anything else in. She was just moving to the door, wanting to get out as soon as possible. Valerie mumbled something about manners and Aaliyah jogged to the taxi, still fighting tears. She got in the taxi and it pulled away. She looked back at the house and saw Tristan’s car pulling up. He got out and ran inside, but then she could see no more.

She prayed to see no more. She begged her eyes to fight looking back. Her hands even tightened into fists with the need to fight the tremble.

“Uhm, driver, sorry, I rather want to go somewhere else.” She told him Madeline’s address instead, knowing Tristan was likely going to try and find her at her place.

Her logic was telling her to hear him out, but Madeline was closer and she wanted to cry, as soon as possible.

***

Madeline

Madeline was leaning into the free sketch portrait, her nose nearly brushing the still wet paint. It was a nasty habit, she knew it was, but,
That line is just…just an inch…
The door swung open and she was startled, which caused the supposed-to-be one-inch line to become a three inch one with a little tail.

“You should lock your damn door! Anyone can come in here and fuck up everything!” Aaliyah said in a furious voice, while Madeline was shocked to hear Aaliyah curse for the first time ever. But it all seemed to be an attempt to hide tears. The moment Madeline made her way to Aaliyah, her friend could no longer hold back her tears.

Aaliyah began to explain what had happened and somehow Madeline wasn’t buying it, as she suspected it all to be a lie. Aaliyah, who was so scared to trust others, immediately took it as the truth.

“Liyah, it might not be true. You need to hear Tristan out.” She tried to sound as kind as possible.

“I’m sorry. I know you have your own things to work out now.” The tears made thick trails down her cheeks. She shook her head. “That letter you wanted? Do you still wanna…” she sniffed, her eyes closed for a second and when they opened again, Aaliyah was gone; a broken woman instead stood in front of Madeline, “…have me write something?”

The artist in Madeline knew that it was likely going to be the best time for her to write it, but the person, the friend, in her wasn’t feeling right about it. “Aaliyah, I don’t think—”

“Madeline, I have your letter for the portrait so vividly in my mind right
now
. If you want it, now is the moment you would want me to write it.”

Madeline shook her head took a pen and sketch pad off the coffee table and shoved it into Aaliyah’s hands. “Fine, but think of what you should be doing,” Madeline felt like a mother, as she felt the need to preach to Aaliyah. But as Aaliyah sat down at the couch and began writing all her pain and all her betrayal, fat teardrops rolled from her eyes, stained the paper, so much so that the ink ran. She knew Aaliyah needed the outlet.

“Liyah.” She took her friend’s hand when she saw all the anger was turning into pain that would leave a scar. “What happened exactly?”

“His wife is a monster. She said things that made it really seem that Tristan was cheating on her with me. With others as well. And last night…Maddy, she was there at the house before we left and he hadn’t said anything, but for most of the time at the fundraiser, it felt like he didn’t want me there.”

“But they are separated and she is known to be a bitch. Everybody knows that.” Aaliyah gave Madeline a murderous look.

“What if Valerie is telling the truth and he lied? That everyone was fooled by him?”

“Liyah, the way you looked…God damn it, fuck it. I’ll show you.” Madeline walked to the canvas close to the window, where she had a nice view of the city while she painted. When she lifted away the cover, Aaliyah gasped. “This was you a few days ago when you spoke of how happy you felt. I didn’t even need a reference photo, Liyah. Because this image, you being happy, really happy, for the first time since we’ve met, will forever be in my mind. I made
Lover’s Hope
be your eyes, because this right here is something I forever want to keep near you, so you can remember how it felt.”

Aaliyah couldn’t take her eyes off it. She rose from the couch and walked closer. Madeline had gone with the same colour palette as
The Marked One
, but the major difference was that Aaliyah had her face turned forward and she looked in love. She was smiling. She looked free.

Aaliyah whispered bitterly, “It is based on a lie.”

“Look at it and understand why you shouldn’t give up so easily. You love him and—”

“I don’t love him and I barely knew him well enough to know one hell of an important thing about him.”

“Aaliyah, did you even give him a chance?” She saw her friend hadn’t. “There’s the answer. You were starting to realise that this man might be the real thing and you got afraid. Now you are using this bitch as an excuse for why you shouldn’t be with him, why you shouldn’t fight for your own happiness. Sure, he might’ve lied, but I’m sure that Valerie is the one telling the lie. Let’s face it, whatever it is—”

“Was,” she said harshly.

“
Is
. Whatever it
is
between you two, it is fucking amazing and I think you know very well that it isn’t over. You just need to give him a damn chance!” Aaliyah listened, but didn’t seem to take it in and care that Madeline was only saying these things to get her smiling friend back. “Liyah, please. Don’t do it to please me, do it because you know you need it.”