Chapter 40 — Trust Is a Fragile Thing
Jude’s POV:
I pushed her off me and she didn’t even stir! I got up and quickly dressed and barged into Wade’s room.
“Wade! Sean! Wake up”
“What’s wrong?” asked Wade sitting up and wincing.
“I think I cheated on Natasha last night”
“You think?” asked Sean clutching his head.
“Well I woke up in my boxers and a naked girl sleeping next to me”
“Well see, Jude, that is not possible. All the girls were warned personally by me to not give any special favors” said Sean clutching his head.
“Sean! I woke up next to Stephanie!”
Both the boys bolted out of bed and rushed to the room where I had been sleeping. I followed and saw that Stephanie was awake and she had a huge smile on her face that would make the Cheshire cat proud.
She was dressed now.
“Juuuuuude! Jude, Jude, Jude!” she sang, “told ya that you still loved me”
“Shut up! I was drunk!”
She laughed and said, “you think that matters? What will your precious Natasha think when she comes to know her Jude has been frolicking behind her back?”
I stood there and stared at her wishing that I was brutal enough to raise my hand on a woman. I just stood there clenching my knuckles.
“She will understand, she knows I would never touch you in my right mind”
“Right, whatever keeps you happy. All the best” she said and wiggled her fingers at me. I made a move to punch her but Wade stopped me.
“She’s not worth it dude”
We watched her leave and all of us collapsed on the sofa.
“Where is Gary?” I asked.
“Dunno man he left sometime in the morning”
“Call him”
“Ok” said Sean and went to call Gary.
Meanwhile I sat there on Wade’s couch, guilt racking my body. I clutched my head and sat there with my eyes shut. I could see Natasha’s crestfallen face when I would tell her. I could already sense her disappointment in me. Was I that weak? How could I have given into something like this so easily?
As one nasty thought chased another, I sat there in silence and didn't realize when tears flowed freely down my cheeks.
“Jude! Don’t cry man, we will figure this out”
“What if we can’t? what if Natasha won't understand?”
“She will Jude, trust me she will. She is a strong headed and sensible girl, she knows you wouldn’t cheat on her deliberately.”
“What if she won’t understand?” I went on persistently.
“She has to!” said Wade frustrated.
“Gary is on his way” said Sean and collapsed next to me patting my hand.
“We should have never gotten drunk!”
“Yeah” I said sadly.
“How did the skank sneak in?”
“I don’t know”
“Well” said Wade sheepishly, “I think I left the door open for quiet sometime after everyone had left. She must’ve sneaked in then”
“How did she know of the party?”
“Dunno maybe she was stalking us. She is crazy I tell you!”
I sat there in remorse framing and re framing sentences in my head.
What would I tell Natasha? Would she believe me? No way, she would kill me or worse castrate me!
The doorbell rang and Sean went to answer it.
“Hey what’s up man? I was getting ready to crash but Sean called me here saying it was an emergency”
Quickly I explained everything to Gary with a little input from Sean and Wade.
“But that’s not possible!”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” I asked.
“What time did you wake up?”
“About an hour ago?”
“Jude who put you to bed?”
“Damn if I know!”
“Oh you idiot! I did! I took your shoes off and collapsed right beside you, I left from here about 15 minutes before you woke up!”
“Did you close the door on your way out?”
“Er I think I may have left it open”
“Ok” said Wade, “Jude it wasn’t me man. So if Natasha asks it was Gary who left the door open for Stephanie!”
“Not cool man” said Gary.
“Oh you idiots!” said Sean, “don’t you realize that Jude didn’t sleep with Stephanie! That bitch did it just so all of us would think that way. She didn’t bank on all of us to sit and figure this out!” he said clapping his hands.
Relief flooded through me as I realized that I hadn’t cheated on Natasha.
“So do I tell Natasha what happened or not?”
“No”
“Yes” they chorused at the same time. Wade and Gary thought I shouldn’t while Sean thought that I should.
“I will tell her, I don’t want any secrets between us. This time I am going to build my relationship right. It's going to be based on truth, honesty, and trust.”
The boys watched me with open mouths and Sean whispered, “You go Jude!”
“Ok guys I think I need a huge mug of black coffee before I meet Natasha”
“On it” said Sean getting up.
As he put on a large pot of coffee I went and freshened up. I took a shower and changed my clothes. By the time I came out the rest of them were eating breakfast and drinking coffee.
“I need one of you to drop me home” I said draining my cup of coffee.
“I’ll drop you” said Gary.
“Let’s go”
“Alright”
Wade and Sean wished me luck and went off to sleep because I had disrupted their sleep.
“Well here’s your stop” said Gary patting on my shoulder.
“Thanks dude, I am so glad you crashed in with me last night or else all of us would have been fooled by Stephanie!”
“No problem”
I got out of the car and got inside my house. I saw Natasha’s shoes near the door. That’s odd, I thought normally Natasha would’ve kept them on the shoe stand. I went towards my room and heard Natasha sobbing. My heart started racing and I rushed inside, was it her mother?
“Nats what’s wrong?”
She didn’t say anything but only sobbed harder.
I went to hug her but she pushed me away.
“Natasha! What’s wrong?”
“You! You are wrong, you are so wrong for me!” she said and sobbed harder.
“What are you talking about?”
She flung her phone at me, my mouth went dry as I glanced at the screen. It was a picture of Stephanie and me from today morning…
“Why Jude? After all this time, it's still her you want. Why?”
“Natasha please hear me out, I was going to tell you about it”
“When? After we were married?”
“No! I was going to tell you right away!”
“What if I had done the same thing Jude? What if I had come and told you I cheated on you would you be ok?”
“No”
“Then how do you expect me to be ok?”
“Because I didn’t cheat on you!”
“Seriously?” she said waving her phone in front of my face.
She went on and on ranting about cheats and how I would’ve reacted if she had cheated on me. Well, I would’ve cut that bastard’s you-know-what if he would have touched my girl, but that’s beside the point. My point is Natasha went on ranting without letting me get a word in.
So I did what I thought was best I grabbed her and kissed her. She struggled against me and held clamped her lips but after my incessant kissing she finally gave in. after we parted we both were panting then she drew her hand and punched me square in the jaw.
“Ow what was that for!”
“For kissing me you pig!”
“But you kissed me back!”
“That’s just beside the point!”
“Natasha please listen to me, I swear on you I didn’t cheat on you”
“Then what is this?” she asked pointing to the phone and crying once more. I stepped forward and wiped her tears; I kissed her on her forehead and pulled her down on my lap. I put my arms around her as she relaxed.
I then sat and explained everything to her. I started with how Gary put me to bed and how I found myself in bed with Stephanie. I also told her what Gary had told me.
“You swear this is what happened?”
“I swear, you can ask the boys”
“I don’t need to, because if I don’t trust you this marriage will never work”
I looked at her and smiled, this is why I had fallen in love with this woman, she had a huge heart. I mean if I was in her place I doubt I would’ve believed me but I wasn’t about to tell her that.
“Jude?” she asked as we sat in silence.
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to say that if you ever did something like this I would die, I am not saying I would kill myself I—I guess what I am trying to say is a part of me would die”
“Natasha I would never ever do this to us! I value you too much”
She turned around and hugged me tight like she never wanted to let go. I hugged her back.
Later we sat there swapping our party stories, I laughed till my eyes watered when she told me about the dare Joanna had to do.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah! I know right?”
“That is the most hilarious thing I have ever heard!”
“I know! No one bothered choosing dare again, besides we slept pretty early”
“Wow, you really hate parties don’t you?”
“Yep”
“I hate them from now on I am never getting drunk again!”
“Glad you had some sense knocked into your head”
“Yep”
“SO Jude, do you know where Stephanie stays?”
“Yeah why?” I asked nervously.
“Nothing”
“Natasha?”
“Yes?”
“What’s going on in your head?”
“Nothing! Does Wade know where she stays?”
“Yeah I guess Sean does too”
“Hmmm”
I could see the wheels turning in her head and knew she was thinking something, I just wished I knew what it was.
“SO I guess we are getting married in three days huh?”
“Yeah” I replied smiling like an idiot, “can’t wait for these three days to pass!”
“Me too”
“So there’s nothing pending right? Everything has been marked off the to do list?”
“Yes” I replied, “pretty much everything is taken care of”
“Good”
My phone rang and I saw it was Wade.
“Dude! You’re still alive? Does that mean she believes you?”
“Yeah”
“All your body parts intact?”
“Shut up”
“What? I am asking a serious question here!”
“Seriously shut up”
“Ok, ok, give Natasha the phone, Sean here wants to talk to her.”
I handed over the phone to Natasha.
“Nats darling”
“Hey Sean”
“Sweetheart you forgot you and I have an appointment with the beautician and the hair stylist”
“Ohhhhh Sean, do we have to!?”
“Yup, be ready in an hour”
Natasha turned to me and said, “Sean is coming to take me”
“I heard”
“I wish I dint have to go” she said clinging to me like a chimp. I smiled and kissed the top of her head.
“Me too but you have to look your gorgeous best, besides Sean would kill us both”
“You’re right” she sighed and got off my lap.
I let go of her reluctantly, and went to lay down on the bed, I was tired and I wanted to sleep the day off.
Natasha’s POV:
I smiled at Jude’s sleeping form. He was snoring gently and looked peaceful. I quickly dried my hair because I knew Sean had this habit of turning up early when I was late and right on cue the doorbell rang. I went and opened the door and Sean waltzed in.
“Ready to go darling?”
“Yes” I said and picked my bag. I went back to where Jude was sleeping and kissed him on his cheek.
“So you heard about Stephanie right?”
“Yeah” I replied, “this is the last time she messes with me”
“what do you mean?”
Sean jumped up and down in excitement as I told him about my plan.
First, however, we went to the beautician, who checked my skin type and went about specifying various treatments for me.
I just sat there and left myself at their mercy. I lay in bliss as my back was gently massaged with fragrant oils. My hair was oiled and treated to hair spa. I just sat there reveling in different aromas that were soothing.
I had no idea where Sean had disappeared off to but I didn’t mind.
Later I was immersed in warm water with rose petals in it. My hair was washed and conditioned. At last I was given a facial massage and a facial. When it was done I felt refreshed.
I saw my image in the mirror and gasped, I was positively glowing.
“Hey girlfriend”
I turned to see Sean, he was also glowing.
“Sean! You look wonderful”
“I know right? You don’t look too bad yourself!”
“Why thank you!”
“Ok come on lets go, next stop is the hair stylist and makeup artist. I got them both under one roof”
“Hold on let me pay”
“Already taken care of!”
“Sean!”
“Let's go”
I rolled my eyes and followed him.
A few minutes later we were at the hair stylist’s. we went there and Sean and she immediately began to fuss over me.
“Hi, I am Gwen,” said the stylist.
“Natasha”
Soon she had a brush in her hand and handful of pins in her apron pocket and she set to work.
When she was done Sean and I could only marvel at her handiwork. To say that my hair looked beautiful was an understatement, she had blow dried my flicks to the side. She had then back brushed the hair on my crown are so that it did not fall flat. She then took multiple braids from both side of my head and had intertwined them. All of it had ended up in an elegant twist but she left the ends open as she pinned each strand of my hair.
“Thank you! It's gorgeous,” I squealed.
“Well I am glad you liked it” said Gwen smiling, “on the wedding day there will be a few adornments in your hair of course”
“Thank you, it's beautiful!”
“I love it!” said Sean.
“So we finalized on this hairstyle?”
“Absolutely,” chorused Sean and I.
The make-up artist stepped up next. I felt like a doll being dressed up. Sean and I described my dress and jewelry for him.
He started with a foundation to make my skin look even and then applied pressed powder to it so that my skin didn’t look oily. He then worked on my eyes. He applied a thick line of kohl and a thin barely there line of eye liner. He then applied two coats of mascara to my eyes and applied a nude pink eye shadow. He then proceeded to add color to my cheeks and lips. When I saw in the mirror I barely recognized myself.
In a few minutes I had got high cheekbones and color to my cheeks.
‘I like it” I said.
“Me too” said Sean.
Thus we finalized the makeup. I then asked them to undo my hair and wipe my make up because I wanted my look to be a surprise for Jude.
I then moisturized my face and let the kohl remain.
After fixing an appointment for my wedding Sean and I left.
“Sean now is the time to put our plan in action”
“Can’t wait to see it”
A few minutes later Sean and I were standing in front of a small white house. I rang the doorbell and waited. A few minutes later the door was opened.
“Hi Stephanie” I said stepping in.
“Natasha what are you doing here?”
“Oh I came to thank you” I said stepping in.
“What for?” she asked looking at me as if I had lost my bearings.
“Well for sending me the picture and showing me Jude’s true colors”
“Oh,” she said smirking, “ I told you he wasn’t into yo—”
She couldn’t complete her sentence because I slapped her hard across her face.
“What the!” she said holding her cheek.
“Get it into that stupid thick skull of yours. Jude doesn’t love you! He knows who you are, you are nothing but a nasty, dishonest, disloyal gold digging bitch! Stay away from my man, I mean it!”
“You’re delusional!”
“HAahhahahahahhahahaha really now? Stephanie I feel sorry for you. You lost a gem of a guy and now you want him back not for him but his money. How sad can your life get?”
With that, I turned to see Sean had been videotaping the whole scene.
“Sean!”
“Sorry couldn’t help it” I rolled my eyes and moved forward when suddenly Stephanie jumped me from behind and pulled my hair.
“Ouch! Let go off me you bitch!”
“He is mine!”
“He hates you!”
“I will have him”
“Well try but you will never succeed” I said managing to pry her hands from my hair. I twisted her arm and she screeched. I then pushed her on the floor and slapped her once more, “Stay away from my guy if you know what’s good for you bitch!” with that I got up as she sat up nursing her hand.
“I mean it”
With that Sean and I walked outside.
“Wow! I can't believe that just happened!” he yelled.
“I know right? I can't either!”
“Awwww Jude is going to be so proud of you!”
“Shut up!”
Jude’s POV:
Natasha and Sean came back from their therapy session a few hours later. By then I was refreshed and rejuvenated. Sean was all excited about some stunt Natasha had pulled while she kept asking him to shut the hell up.
“Ok what Have you been going on about Sean?”
“All in good time” he replied while Natasha rolled her eyes.
Soon Wade came and Natasha went up to him and asked, “did you do what I asked?”
“Yes sir!” he mock saluted her.
“What is happening?” I asked bewildered.
Suddenly I heard voices from behind me.
‘Stay away from guy!’
Wade and I turned to see a sniggering Sean. We turned just in time to see a video playing on my laptop. My eyes widened as I saw Natasha slap Stephanie.
“What the…?”
“…hell,” completed Wade.
We watched in stunned silence as Natasha sat on top of Stephanie and asked her to stay away from me, I turned to Natasha who shrugged and said, “What? Somebody had to knock some sense in that bitch!”
“Is it weird that right now I am all turned on watching your ninja avatar?” I whispered in her ear.
She blushed and replied, “Perv”
“Woohoo” said Wade after the video was over. He gave Natasha a high five. Just then, the doorbell rang and Wade answered it.
“Nats he is here”
I looked at Natasha in confusion who smiled and took a photograph from her purse.
“Who is this?”
“This is Jason, the head of security for your wedding” said Wade.
“Er hi Jason”
“Hello sir”
“Jason you were called here because I wanted you to look at this picture” said Natasha. I gasped as I realized it was Stephanie’s.
Nats wouldn’t give a contract for Stephanie to be killed would she?
No way!
“This is Stephanie, I want you to make sure that on our wedding day she doesn’t get close within 10 miles of the wedding venue. She is a troublemaker, do you get me?”
“Yes ma’am rest assured she will not get anywhere near you”
“Good you can leave Jason”
Natasha turned around and flung her arms around me. “No more disruptions from her!” she yelled excitedly. Wade and Sean went to watch the video again.
I stared at Natasha in awe. “When you go all ninja you’re scary.
Scary but hot at the same time!”
“Perv!” she said and kissed me.
“I love you Natasha”
She looked at me and gulped, “I love you too Jude”
“I am so glad you chose to trust me”
“A marriage is empty without trust”
“Well I am almost glad Stephanie did what she did. At least I found out how much you love me.”
“Likewise” she smiled and we joined Wade and Sean who were cheering like idiots once more.