Trapped (10 page)

“True,” I said.

That evening, while Serena and Luke
shared a bottle of wine, and I enjoyed some Perrier, we discussed what was going to happen in the morning. “I have an appointment with Marissa Herschel in the morning. And, from there, I’m going to file for divorce and see what shakes out.”

“Are you scared?” Serena asked me.

“Are you kidding me? I’m petrified. It’s bad enough that I have to ask for a divorce at all, but to admit that I’m pregnant…the knives are going to come out, I can guarantee you this.”

“Yeah, well, just have guts. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that I’ve come out of. I’ll have to tell you some of my exploits later on. But I always had faith that the universe knows what the fuck it’s doing.”

Luke was sitting next to me, drinking his wine, and playing absent-mindedly with my neck. “That’s what I’m counting on. We’re finally going to draw our inside straight, and we’re going to not only beat this down, fair and square, but we’re going to come out of it happy. I’d like to think that, in the battle of good verses evil, the good should win. Although I know that’s not always the case.”

“Oh, I wish that I could be so optimistic,” Serena said. “Not to mention naïve.” She shook her head. “But you have to know that I’ve not always been on the side of the angels. My old law firm handled cases where the people were as crooked and base as they come. Unfortunately, we were good at what we did, so these unbelievable bastards would just walk away. These greedy fucks would embezzle millions, or get caught doing all kinds of blatant acts of fraud, or cheated people out of millions of dollars, and they’d either walk or pay a small penalty for it. Thanks to us.”

She shook her head. “Never underestimate human nature, kid. There’s a part of every one of us that isn’t so nice. We might acknowledge it, or we might not. But it’s always there. And, sometimes, people who display their dark side for all the world to see, gets away with it. Just sayin.”

I was quiet. I knew that she was right. Having been in the world of the privileged and the high society, I knew, first-hand, how people could be when it came to money. To maintaining a certain image and lifestyle. Those were the people who Serena defended in her old job. That was Nottingham. Nottingham was a zero-sum guy, too. He had to be. Nobody could be as wealthy as he was, at such a young age, without stepping on more than one toe along the way. He knew how to play dirty.

And something told me that playing dirty was exactly what he was going to do with me.

Chapter

Luke

After dinner, Dalilah and I decided that we needed a shower. So, we headed up to our private bathroom, which was attached to the bedroom where we were staying, and climbed on in.

This was a time for us to relax and just enjoy each other. Tomorrow would be a stressful day for her, I knew, so I wanted to have this evening just to be with her. To let he know how much I loved her, and how much I would always be there for her. No matter what.

She took off her clothes to join me in the shower. She was so beautiful, always, but, at this point, she was even more than that. She was radiant. She might have been a little bit self-conscious about her tiny little pooch, which was growing by the day, and the way that her already-ample breasts were swelling, but, I had to admit, I was completely turned on by her new body. She was sensuous. She glowed from within. The combination of her milky white skin with her red hair, and pregnancy glow and pregnancy body – there were no words to describe how hungry I was for her.

And, lucky me, she had informed me that, because of her raging hormones, she wanted to attack me every second. Since I was feeling just the same way about her, I thought that we would be a match made in heaven.

So, when both of us got into the shower, and I started to soap up her naked body, I immediately got a hard-on.

She smiled. “What’s up with that?” she asked, gesturing to my boner. “I haven’t even touched you yet.”

“Oh, you don’t have to,” I said. “I only need to look at you, and I’ve got a hard-on. But being close to you naked like this…
mon dieu
.” At that, I kissed her, and she lost her breath.

She smiled after my kiss. “Really? I mean, I’m so fat these days. I just can’t stand it.”

“Fat? Hardly. Voluptuous. Sensuous. Radiant. Gorgeous. Those are all good words for you. Fat never even comes to my mind, not even for a millisecond.”

She sighed. “Oh, Luke. Just shut up and fuck me, would you please?”

At that, she got down on her hands and knees, and I turned off the shower. I teased her just a little by bringing down a loofah, and scrubbing her back with it. She lowered her head and moaned a little. “That feels awesome, Luke, but you know what I want. What I need. Give it to me, please.”

It wasn’t difficult for me to do just that. I thrust into her, and she was completely wet inside, so I was able to slip into her easily. She felt incredible, as always. She moaned loudly, as I thrust in and out of her easily yet slowly. I grabbed her beautiful breasts, and squeezed them. She moaned louder, and I thrust into her harder and harder. Then she laid down on her back, and put her legs up in the air, and I thrust into her some more.

“Give it to me, Luke. Give it to me hard. Fuck me, Luke. Goddamn, you feel so amazing.”

She felt even more amazing. I tried to stop it, but I could feel my river of cum sliding inside of her. “Oh, god, I’m so sorry that was quick,” I said. “You just don’t know what you do to me. What you’ve always done to me. Being with you…I can’t even describe it. It’s so fucking amazing, I just can’t even put it into words.”

For her part, she was breathing heavily. She was still lying on the tile floor, her legs up in the air. She was shaking all over. She shook her head. “Oh, please. I know exactly what I do to you. Because you do the same to me. You know just what to do to make me go absolutely crazy with lust and desire.”

At that, she flipped me over and got on top of me. She had the loofah in her hand. She scrubbed my stomach with it, and then got some oil, and rubbed it all over my chest. I groaned as she bit my neck, and then went down to my cock and started to suck it. I grabbed her hair, and brought her up to me so that I could kiss her. She met my lips with her own greedy ones, and the two of us devoured each other while she continued to massage my cock.

She smiled as she felt me getting hard again. “Hmmmm, well, maybe I can take control this time.” At that, she lowered herself down on me, and the sensation was so intense, I thought that I was going to cum right then and there. But I held off, and she raised herself up so that she was at the tip of my dick, and then slammed herself down, forcefully, back on me.

I shook my head, feeling that this was sensation was more powerful than anything I had ever had before. I shuddered, trying hard to think of something, anything, that would delay the inevitable. I kissed her, as she rode me, again and again. She kept up the cadence – she almost would pull completely out, not quite, then she would slam herself down on me. Before long, though, she was more rhythmic, and she was able to squat on me rapidly. I sighed, no longer able to hold it back, and I cum inside her again.

She smiled. “Oh, see, I can get you going twice in a row.”

“Do you feel powerful, Dalilah? Because you know that I’m just putty in your hands.”

“Powerful isn’t really the word. I would like to say that I feel sated, but I just can’t, right now. I’m kind of a raging beast, I’m ashamed to say. I’ve never quite felt like this.”

“Well, I’m more than happy to oblige,” I said.

“Are you?” she said. She looked serious this time. “God, Luke, I’m just so happy, you can’t imagine. I mean, everything is fucked up, of course. Everything is up in the air. But I love you so much I can’t stand it.” There were tears in her eyes. “I mean, everything that has happened…well, everything I did was because of my warped view of what I thought that you needed. It was all so stupid, though. But I now know that, really, you just need me. And I just need you. We’ll be able to help each other through anything at all, if we just say strong together.”

I interlaced her fingers with mine. She smelled like the shampoo that she had just used to wash her hair, along with the minty body wash that I used to soap her up. I kissed her forehead and held her tight. “You’re right, Dalilah. We’re going to get through this. There’s nothing that we can’t do together. Just wait and see.”

“I will, Luke. I have faith.”

Chapter

Dalilah

I slept well the previous evening. I was completely satisfied, sexually, by my romp with Luke in the shower. Serena’s bed was totally comfortable, and the bedroom where we were staying was totally cute. She had excellent taste, really, with her choice of furniture, wall colors and drapes. Everything was color coordinated, without being too matchy-matchy. I felt comfortable being there.

So, I felt, all in all, that I was prepared as I ever could be to see my new lawyer. I had money for her retainer¸ courtesy of Luke, and it seemed that she was eager to see me and talk about my options.

There was only one problem, though – I knew that, once I saw her, and she filed what she had to file to get the ball rolling, there was no turning back. Nottingham would know about the baby. And I had no idea what to expect at that point.

Maybe he had moved on, and he would just let me have the divorce without incident?

Ha, fat chance on that.

Maybe he would go ballistic, knowing that I was having Luke’s baby. He had proven, in the past, that he could be completely stalky. Would he resort to stalking me again? Would he come over here, and confront me, and maybe lose his temper with Luke and me? That seemed a more likely scenario.

Or, perhaps he would just quietly let his slimy lawyer speak for him. That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, because I thought that Marissa could probably take him, knowing what I knew about Marissa and about Nottingham’s lawyer.

Then it would just be up to the judge to decide. I hoped and prayed that we could get a sympathetic judge who would look at the evidence and decide that the best interest of the child would clearly not be with a man who was married to me for only like a month, even if he did have all kinds of money.

Then there would also be the idea that we might have to get down into the mud with this guy. I might have to bring out the beating that he gave me, the one that caused me to flee his house. Not to mention how he tried to frame Luke. And there might be any number of things that we would need to bring out in order to win this case. To show the judge that nobody’s interest would be served by letting Nottingham anywhere near this baby in the future.

As much as I wanted this all to be a slam-dunk, I knew, in my heart, that it probably wouldn’t be.

Luke wanted to go with me to see Marissa, but I encouraged him to go and see about his new co-op instead. I knew that the co-op was important to him, too, because it was his best chance to start making a good income and get some excellent contacts. With the boost that he already got through his premiere, he would have a good footing with those other artists, even if Nottingham had poisoned the well. He might not have the same chance to make it huge in the art world that he would have had Nottingham not pulled the rug out from under him, but he did have a chance to slowly make a name for himself with other unknowns.

To say that he was excited about this prospect underestimated the issue.

“Oh, Dalilah, come on,” he had said, when I told him to go and see about the co-op. “I need to be there with you when you talk to your lawyer.”

“I love you, Luke, but, really, I can handle this. Besides, if you go with me, there would be no confidentiality in anything that she and I say to one another. That might be a factor in the coming months. So, you would just have to wait out in the waiting room, and that’s no fun for you.”

So, Luke reluctantly went to the co-op instead of going with me.

And, as I sat on the bus that would take me to Marissa’s office in Midtown, I wondered to myself why I didn’t want Luke to come with me. Truth be told, despite the fact that I craved his protection, love and the sense of security he brought me, there was also just a little part of me that also craved independence still.

I was such a dichotomy, even to myself. Being in a relationship had changed me, for sure, because I definitely felt like a part of a unit. But this new me always fought with the old me. The old me, who really didn’t need anybody, nor wanted to depend on anyone at all. The old me was buried, as much as I could bury her, but still, she came out at some inopportune times.

Like right then, going to Marissa’s law office.

I got to her office,
and went to see her. She summoned me almost as soon as I got there, and I followed her into her office and sat down across from her, feeling very nervous.

“Here,” she said, giving me a glass of water. “You look like you might need this.”

“I do,” I said. “Well, okay, then. I’m going to file for divorce, and I’m going to admit on the divorce petition that I’m currently pregnant.” I took a deep breath. “Why am I so terrified of this?”

“Well, don’t be terrified just yet. Number one, we don’t know what judge we’re going to draw. Number two, I really don’t know whom Nottingham is going to use for his attorney. I mean, he has always used Steve Singleton, but it’s entirely possible that he’ll use someone else who specializes in family law.” She shook her head. “I’d rather have Steve Singleton, to tell you the truth. Steve might be an aggressive jerk, but I think that I could run circles around him as far as knowing the law in this area. But, if Nottingham gets somebody who specializes in family law, then all bets are off, even more than before.”

I drew a breath. “I’m sorry. I was hoping that you might make me feel better about my prospects, not worse.”

“Well, I just wanted you to be prepared, that’s all. Now, let’s get down to business.” She turned to her computer and started typing. “You and Blake Nottingham were married on what day?”

I took a deep breath. “December 10 of last year.”

She went on, asking me the basic questions for the petition. She asked when we were separated, how much property or assets were accumulated during the time that we were living under the same roof, when I conceived, and other questions that would help her compose the basic petition for divorce in New York State.

After about an hour of the housekeeping business that she needed to do to get the ball rolling, she printed out the petition for divorce and had me look it over. I approved it, and she signed it as my attorney and summoned her courier. She gave the courier the petition, along with my filing fee.

“So,” she said, looking at my face after she gave the courier my petition to file at the courthouse. “What are you thinking?”

“To be honest? I’m trying very hard to stop myself from tackling that courier and snatching my petition away from him.”

“That’s a common feeling,” she said. “Most of my clients are so happy to be doing this, yet absolutely dreading it at the same time.”

“Well, that would certainly describe me,” I said. “Especially the dreading part. I don’t really know what to expect to happen when Nottingham gets that petition. I only know that it probably won’t be good. Especially when he finds out about the baby.”

“Well, you might actually find yourself relieved when Nottingham gets it. No matter his reaction. Because what’s done is done.”

“That’s very true. At least the unknown will be known by then.”

Marissa nodded. “If you don’t mind my asking, why did you and Mr. Nottingham get married? I’m always curious about that when I get a client who wants to end a short-term marriage.”

“I married him to help the man that I really love,” I said. Then, seeing her confused expression, I went into the whole story of why Nottingham and I got together.

“I see,” Marissa said, after I told her the sorry tale. “That’s very noble of you, really, to do that. I’m very sorry that it came to this, though.”

“I know,” I said.

“Well,” she said. “I need to know more about Nottingham and Luke. One of the factors in judging the best interest of the child in this situation, of course, is the relative merit of both of the potential fathers. What would you say that would be negative about Luke?”

I put my hand on my chin, thinking about that. “Not much, to be honest. He’s really an awesome guy. Just a stand-up person. He has integrity, he’s very even-tempered and patient, and he’s very supportive and loving.” I also could  have told her that he’s the sexiest man alive, but that wouldn’t exactly be relevant here.

“Sounds good,” she said. “I’m also going to have to know more about his financials. The judge is going to want to see if he has the finances to support a baby.”

I briefly started to panic when she said that. Because Luke’s financials, so far, were far from steady. I really hoped that he could blossom in his new co-op, assuming that these artists would allow him in, but it would be a hard slog. Unless, of course, Luke could parlay at least one of the wealthy benefactors who attended his premiere, and loved him, into a steady gig. But, since most of those wealthy benefactors were tight with Nottingham, that didn’t seem likely.

“Well, right now, he has about $60,000 in the bank. He’s an artist, of course, but he’s also a song-writer. He just sold four of his songs to a group that just signed on to Gallagher Records, so the royalties from that could be substantial.” I looked down at my hands, and tried to stop them from nervously fluttering.

Marissa nodded her head. “Well, that could be our Achilles Heel. It sounds like his future financial prospects are far from certain right now. I hope that I don’t cause offense by saying this, but artists often aren’t looked upon kindly by judges who are trying to ascertain the ability to support a child long-term.”

I opened my mouth, about to protest that Luke was different, because he had enormous talent, then shut it again. I knew that she was right.

“So, what do you think we should do?” I asked.

“Drag out the proceedings as long as possible, which would give Luke a chance to find his footing, career-wise. You say that he just started with his co-op, correct?”

“Yes,” I said, weakly. “I hope to do the same. It’s just been so difficult concentrating and trying to get motivated with all these messes hanging over my head. I’m sure you understand.”

“Of course,” she said. “The problem, of course, is that Nottingham has substantial resources. I hate to say it in such a crass way, but judges do look at that type of thing in considering a case like this.”

“I figured that.” I rolled my eyes. “I think that’s crass, of course. That type of thing shouldn’t matter as much as the fact that Luke and I will love this baby very much, and Nottingham, well, I don’t see him in quite the same light.”

“There are other things that the judge will take into account, of course. Such as the fact that you and Luke appear to be in a solid relationship, while Nottingham isn’t, from what I can tell. And I can certainly bring up the issue of Nottingham beating you. That would weigh in your favor as well.”

I twiddled my thumbs and took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about that. And I’m still too scared to use that. I don’t know what Nottingham is capable of. If I make that public, then he might do something really rash.”

“It’s up to you, of course. But, as your counselor, I would strongly suggest that the beating become a part of you defense. It could very well be something that could change the course of proceedings.”

There was a lot, really, that I could bring into the custody case, if I wanted to get down and dirty. Nottingham’s sexual proclivities, for instance, and I was quite sure that there was much more to be known about him. But I still wasn’t entirely sure that I was going to be up for such a fight.

Which was why, really, I ran in the first place. I didn’t have the energy for a fight. I was still scared of that man, and I still couldn’t quite fathom the depths of what he was capable of to get exactly what he wanted from me.

And I still had no desire to find out.