Chapter 23.

Chapter 23.

Broken. Utterly broken. There was no other way to describe what I was feeling.

Entering my apartment, still in haze about what had happened to me, I knelt on the floor finally losing any energy that was left in me.

“What the fuck?” I felt arms around me before I could register his voice. I lifted my face only to connect with deep brown eyes of my best friend. That was when I lost it. Wrapping myself in him I cried and I didn’t stop until nothing was left.

I could hear his heart pounding and his frantic voice as he tried to calm me down. “Babygirl what’s going on?”

I just shook my head and clung harder to him. “It hurts” I whispered and that was when everything blacked out and I got dragged into a darkness that would consume me whole and never let me out.

*****

~Elijah~

What have I done?

She wasn’t supposed to know yet. Not until I had fixed it. And it was just a matter of time that before I got rid of a nuisance that stood right in front of me.

“What the fuck did you do?” I bellowed to her face making her cringe. I saw a flash of fear in her eyes but she immediately covered it up, masking her face with a smug look.

“What did I do? I think it’s only fair, your girlfriend knows that I’m your wife.” She shrugged as if she didn’t just shatter my world and moved past me to go stand by the window. But she didn’t go far.

I grabbed a hold of her arm and spun her around, tightening my hold on her when she tried to back away. “You are not my wife. It was just some contract to prove my dad that we were married. We never got married.”

She snapped her arm from my grasp and moved right to my face. “Yeah, but who knows that? To the inside world. I’m your wife. Even if only on paper. And it doesn’t look like you would want anyone to know, would you? All I need to do is make a few statements and boom, there goes your career. How would the world like to know the notorious Elijah Frost has a wife as well as entertains his assistant?”

Fury boiled within every inch of my body as I stared at her. She was messing with the wrong person and she didn’t even know yet. I could ruin her with a snap of my finger. And I will. “What do you want?”

“I’ll let you know. Just remember that your wife still exists and you have some responsibility now.” With a smirk of a devil she walked out of the door.

My throat closed up and my heart stilled when I remembered the look on Maya’s face when she found out. I had to go after her. Tell her everything. I just hope I’m not too late and ruined the only chance of happiness that I had. I knew i had to tell her sooner but the idea of hurting her made me stop. And what did that lead to? If not, but more pain.

*****

~Maya~

My eyes snapped open and I realized I was in my room, on my bed. Still wearing Elijah’s button down that I was when I rushed out of his apartment, barefoot. As soon as I got a gist of my surroundings, reality came and slapped me on the face. Hard. Elijah was married.

How can he do this? I was snatched from my thoughts when I heard yelling outside my room, I realized that was why I gain consciousness. My headache accelerated and all I wanted to do was shut all the voices out.

“MAYA!” My head snapped up when I heard his voice. No no no. Why was he here now? After ruining my chance to have a perfect life, he snatched everything away. What did he think he would gain from coming here?

I got out of bed. My mind made up. He had to leave. And not just my apartment, but my life as well.

God knows from where, but my step held determination as I stepped out of my room and walked through my hallway. As I entered the living room, I took in the scene. Elijah pressed against the front door with Kyle’s arm around his throat. “I said leave. She doesn’t want to see you again.” Kyle said menacingly. He could be a scary dude when he wanted to be.

“I need to talk to her and you can’t stop me.” Elijah’s voice as much strength.

“Oh yeah? We’ll see about that.” With that Kyle reared his arm back and punched Elijah right in the jaw.

I was frozen as I watched the scene in front of me. This was Kyle. Always protecting me from my worst nightmare. But this wasn’t his fight. It was mine. And I was done being a victim.

“What are you doing here?” I was thankful that my voice portrayed how I wanted it to be. Filled with strength.

Two pair of eyes snapped to mine. Both filled with humongous amount of worry. But my focus remained of Elijah. I didn’t want to miss anything. No flicker of his emotion would get pass me.

He moved forward towards me but stopped when I shook my head. “What do you want Elijah?”

“Angel, please let me explain.” His eyes pleaded far more than his words did.

I moved my eyes towards Kyle and saw his fury that almost matched mine. “Kyle?” He stopped his murderous glare on Elijah and snapped his eyes to mine. “Do you mind giving us a few minutes?”

“I don’t think that a good idea babygirl.” His words were meant for me but his eyes lifted toward Elijah. It was clear he didn’t trust him anymore than I did.

Elijah Spun around so fast it was unreal. He spread his arms wide and roared. “What the fuck do you think I would do to her?” He pointed a finger towards me “That woman is my fucking life.”

“A life that you ruined.” Those were so true that the came straight from my heart. I saw Elijah body stiffen and as he turned his eye to mine. They held so much pain like my words were some physical blow to his heart. Well tough. His lies were a blow to my existence.

I saw Kyle leave silently from my peripheral vision. And I knew I had to put all my cards on the table. “What do you want Elijah?”

“Angel you need to know the truth. I just need a few minutes. That’s it.”

“Never call me that again.” Hearing him call me that made this far more difficult than it had to be. And by the look on his face. He knew how much he actually fucked up.

“I just have one question though.” I started. “Why did you do this to me? You knew everything about me. About my past. Despite all of that you knew how much I loved and trusted you. Just this morning, the way you woke me up without me having any sort of panic showed how much you meant to me. Did you never for a second think what this news would do to me? Didn’t it occur to you that I had the right to know for a fact that you’re married?”

“Baby, please.” He was in front of me in a flash his hands cupping my face.

I tried to back away but he held on tighter. Having his hands on my body was my doom. He could melt my heart with a single look. Imagine what those hands did to me.

“No Maya. You will listen to me now.” His voice went from pleading to stern in a second and I knew what he had to say would change everything all over again.

“I am not married to anyone.” He said and those words nearly brought me to my knees. His eyes were nothing but sincere but how could I trust him when the truth screamed in my face just hours ago.

“Don’t fucking lie to me Elijah.” I almost yelled, shoving his arms from my face and taking a step back. “She told me shes your wife right in front of you and you didn’t say shit. And now you come here telling me otherwise.”

I stood up straighter ready to spill the words that would be the end of us. “You had your chance. But you didn’t avail it. You and I are done Elijah Frost. I’ll make sure to send you my resignation as well. You may leave now.”

I turned my back to him and that itself showed I was done with this. With him.

“Angel please, let me explain.” His voice broke and my eyes filled with tears that I thought had dried up. But I knew those would never go away. Elijah was my soul. Now I just needed to learn how to live through this life without myself.

“Please leave.” As I said that a tear ran down my cheek.

I heard him sigh and his steps moving further from me. Although my heart screamed to stop him, my mind said something completely opposite. It was high time started to protect myself now.

“You may think this is the end of us angel but nothing in this world can take you away from me. Especially not a lie.”

With that he walk out that door but not before planting a seed of hope deep deep down in my heart.

The moment I was alone, I once again collapsed on the floor, sobbing my heartbreak away. Only it didn’t leave. And it never would.