A misunderstanding

Anna.

I was happy, seated beside my husband on the couch. My head rested on his shoulder as we watched a video. Glancing at his handsome face, I felt a familiar warmth rush though my body. My fingers traveled to his thigh, tracing small circles and I could feel his muscles hardening.

“You’re not paying attention,” I murmured playfully. My fingers moved closer to the growing bulge in his trousers and he shifted.

“Mm, I am,” he said. His eyes turned to mine for a second before darting back to the screen but I saw the heavy desire in them.

I smirked, my fingers curling around the thick outline of his member through the jeans. He was already half-hard, slowly thickening under my touch. “You sure about that?” I whispered, making sure my breath reached his ear. I nipped at his earlobe. “Because it feels like you’re very distracted.”

He gripped my wrist with his right hand and pressed my palm harder against him.

“Fvck, Anna,” he said. “We’re in the living room. Someone could walk in.”

I laughed softly as I felt his cock throb. “So? What’s the worst that could happen? Your family catches us? They already know we have sex.”

He let out a sharp breath. “That’s not the point,” he growled.

I was usually the shy one but today I was feeling quite adventurous and wanted to show him that side of me. He sunk his hand in my hair and pulled me closer. His mouth crashed against mine in a hot, steamy kiss. I melted, my body arching against his. My hand trailed up his chest under the shirt and he groaned. “Anna.”

Suddenly, his phone buzzed. I rolled my eyes as more buzzing sounds came as if multiple messages were being sent at once. He froze so I pulled away.

“Should I check?” Reid asked, glancing at me.

I smiled and moved back, leaning against the couch. “It’s okay.”

He swiped to bring the message to the main screen. They were pictures. Pictures of me with Jerry the dance teacher my sister in law had introduced me to a few days ago. Jerry had said he didn’t like to hold his lessons in boring classroom settings so we had gone to the beach.

Reid’s body froze as he scrolled through the pictures taken in different angles.

“Who sent you these?” I asked, not feeling guilty because I didn’t think it was wrong to learn some dance moves.

Reid turned to me. His eyes were cold. It unnerved me because he’d never looked at me like that.

“That’s the question?” He asked, voice rising with every word.

“I only went there so that I could surprise you. You always complain that I don’t know how to dance. Mary recommended him to me. I’m sorry that someone took those weird photos.”

“That’s all you’re sorry for?” He said, getting on his feet. “You cheated on me”

My eyes widened. “How can you say that? I didn’t cheat on you. I love you more than anything in this world. I could never do that.”

“How long have you been seeing this guy?”

“What’s going on?” Mary asked as she walked into the room.

Her brother proffered the phone to her. She gasped. “Oh my goodness!” She said, glaring at me. “You cheated on my brother! How dare you do that after everything he has done for you? I’ve never seen an ungrateful woman like you. What do you want, Leah? All the men in the world?”

“I didn’t cheat. You introduced me to that dance instructor. You’re the one who persuaded me to learn dancing from him. I didn’t do anything else with him.”

“You’re such a liar. I never introduced that man to you and he’s not even a dance instructor. This is Harry Davidson. He is a football player and has had affairs with half the married women in this city.”

“How can you lie like this after being caught?” My husband asked. “I have loved you, cared for you and trusted you. I always let you know that you could ask for anything you wanted, even more time with me. I thought you were happy but you’ve betrayed me in the worst way possible.”

By now tears were rolling down my eyes, streaming down my cheeks. I went to Mary and grabbed her shoulders but she shook me off. “How can you do this to me? You’re lying. You set me up.”

“I didn’t do anything to you. You are the one passionately hugging Harry in the pictures. Don’t blame me for your actions.”

“He was training me to dance.”

I went to Reid who was now dialing a number on his phone. “Please Reid. Don’t believe this. I did not have an affair. He was teaching me.”

“If it was just dancing, why did you hide it from me?”

Another message arrived and he turned back his attention. “I can’t believe this,” he muttered, handing the phone.

I glanced at it to see the new photo. Harry/Jerry was kissing a woman who could be seen only from the back. The woman had the same hair as me, same body type and wore the same cloth I wore that day, but it wasn’t me.

Her arms wound around Harry’s neck and he was kissing her on the lips. I slumped onto the sofa, shocked by how far Mary was willing to go to paint me as a cheater.

“That’s not me,” I said.

I glanced at Reid. His jaw was clenched and his fingers had balled into fists. Standing up, I reached out for him but he pushed me away roughly. I stumbled over, falling on the glass table.

“You leave my house today,” he said. “I’m calling Ulysses.”

“Nooo,” I begged. I went on my knees and grabbed his legs. “Please believe me, Reid. Don’t do this to us.”

He took his other phone and dialed a number. “Organize divorce papers for me and Leah right now. She gets nothing because she cheated on me.”

He hung up before the lawyer could say anything. He pushed me off him.

“Help her pack,” he told Mary before walking towards his office.

“You set me up,” I told Mary.

She glanced at her brother’s retreating frame and smiled. She came closer to me.

“Yes, I did. Now my brother can finally marry a woman of his class, not a maid.”

“You’re a horrible person,” I said.

She smirked. “I know.”

I went after Reid and banged on the office door but he didn’t open. When he asked if he should call security, I knew it was impossible to convince him. So, I went to pack my things. Tears soaked my little belongings as I packed them while Mary watched me like a hawk, occasionally insulting me and bragging about how easy it was to take me down. She said she had never met anyone as gullible as I was.

The divorce papers arrived an hour later. I didn’t bother to go through them. What was the point? The only person that said goodbye to me was the elderly maid who had been working there before I arrived as a maid and later fell in love with my billionaire boss.

Getting into the car, I drove off, tears cascading down my cheeks. One moment, I was a happy wife, the next, I was a disgraced ex-wife returning to her hometown.

An hour later, I was driving on a rural highway. The road was empty, with fields stretching on the sides. Suddenly a cat darted into the road. I slammed the brake but something seemed wrong with the pedal. I pressed harder, desperate for the car to stop but the speed just increased as the poor cat leapt off the road.

The car was now going too fast. Fear gripped me when I realized it was losing control. I screamed out loud as it branched off the road and headed for a large tree.

The airbag didn’t work. The last thing I remember was my head snapping forward and hitting the steering wheel.