Resentment

The Cottage (ACT II)

Santa Monica, CA, September 8th, 1997
7:55pm

Michael had managed to calm Afia down considerably since he'd arrived at the cottage, and now, they were in the bedroom, sat side by side on the edge of the bed.

Just like they had the first night they ever spent together.

Their shoulders were bumping, and their thighs touching, as they sat quietly for awhile, staring out of the Palladian window.

The sun was setting, and the tears on their faces had dried up, making their skin feel tight.

Michael watched the birds skim past the window, back to wherever their nests were.
Their homes.

City lights started to blink on, as the night life of Santa Monica rolled around, and the reflection of the beautiful square pool in the front, made the windows glimmer in the street lights.

Afia was still sniffing, and she could feel how heavy her body felt.

Every bone, the weight of a tonne.

Michael could've hit her with a freight train and it would've hurt a lot less.

"Who has Chi and Ro?" Afia croaked, staring with dead eyes out into the distance.

Her voice was breaking, and croaking, because she'd strained every vocal chord God had given her.

Now her precious throat, and money maker, was sore.

Michael's Adam's apple rolled up inside of his neck as he swallowed, shrugging, making his puffer rustle a little bit in the otherwise quiet, "Mindy, I think.." He grumbled softly.

Michael straightened his mouth into a line, feeling stupid that he didn't know for sure.

Whether their friend and nanny, Mindy, had their children, or whether they were with another member of staff at the Ranch.

Afia scoffed to herself, blinking away the urge to roll her eyes.

"I don't like staff looking after my girls," She whispered tiredly, her voice dark and haunting, "They don't need anybody else but us.."

Michael let her words sit for a moment inside of his head.

He shook away her concerns.

"Well, if we didn't have staff where would they be now?" Michael asked softly, turning to look at the side of Afia's face.

The room was dark, and the shadows in the room casted most of her facial expressions into secrecy, except for the light coming through the windows, that lit up the front of her.

Her teeth glistened, as she turned to him with puffy eyes, "You right.." She chuckled with a small flicker of her brow, and they both snickered together briefly in the silence.

The flatness of the moment.
The calm after the storm.

Usually, they could fix it with kisses, and fucking.