The Forbidden One

Bonus |E|

EDITED

Athena

I take my time to survey his face, he's young and handsome but that doesn't change the fact that he's depressed. It has been quite a while since I had last seen Nicolas Jourdan, an even longer time since I've fucked him.

I know the divorce he went through with my babygirl, Ruby, destroyed him within. He just never wanted to admit it to my face. I told him to fight for her, to get her back. Even if it meant he'd have to stop fooling around with me. I'm old, he shouldn't be having intercourse with me at all. I should have never seduced him that day, when I needed to feel a man's warmth. Nicolas was my target but I never confessed that to him.

How could I tell him that he was my little sex toy?

I wouldn't be capable of hurting him that way.

The most messed up part of this is that I fell in love with Nicolas, my daughter's man candy. I could never forget the look of disappointment she gave me when she told me she never wanted to see me or hear of me. I could never forget the pain she resembled when she caught Nicolas and I in action. That's when everything dawned on me. I betrayed my daughter.

"Athena," Nicolas snapped his fingers in my wrinkled face in order to grasp my attention. "Est-ce que tu vas bien? You've been staring at me since I got here."

I blink a few times before I open my mouth to speak. "Oh, je vais bien! Ne vous inquiétez pas pour moi! I was just doing a bit of reminiscing." I put on a smile to make it believable but I'm not sure it worked since he furrowed his eyebrows together and narrowed his eyes at me.

"You're not, Athena." His gaze softens, as he takes in my face. "What's with you?"

I take a deep breath, I didn't want to get to the subject this quickly but if not now, then when? I open my mouth to talk but his phone chimes just in time to interrupt me.

He gives me a sorrowful look and answers the call, talking rapid french to whoever is on the other side of the phone. When he finishes he looks at me and apologizes, "Pardonnez-moi, it was my wife."

Wife? He remarried? Could it be to Ruby? "You're married?" I try to not sound so surprised, I wanted him to fight for Ruby but I guess that won't be possible anymore unless the woman that had called him was my baby girl! "Is it Ruby?" I dared myself to ask. Nicolas shakes his head sadly.

"I remarried but it wasn't to your daughter, Athena. She never forgave me for what we've done to her." Nicolas sighed, "I remarried to another woman to which gave me a son."

I didn't even know he was married! I already ruined his life with Ruby, I can't ruin it again with whoever the woman is. Especially with a baby in between.

"That's good, how'd you two meet?" I try not to sound like I care much that he didn't manage to win Ruby.

Nicolas hangs his head and frowns, "She was a new stripper in a club I went to one night, I was drunk off my ass after the wedding of your daughter and when I saw her again she confessed to me she was pregnant with my child so I took responsibility seeing as my chances with Ruby were never going to happen."

I arched an eyebrow, I asked him why he didn't fight for her like I asked him to the last time I saw him. "She was married, remember?"

I shook my head, tears forming in my eyes. "I must've forgotten.. But I don't talk to her anymore." Since she caught me and Nicolas, Ruby made it very clear that she never wanted to speak to me again.

I begged for her to not do it, to remember I'm her mom, but she didn't care. She held back her tears and said I wasn't close to being a mom to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Athena." Nicolas said, trying to hold my hand. I shake my head and he changes the subject, "What was the reason you wanted to see me?"

Right, the reason. "I wanted to know if you returned with Ruby but you've already answered that." I began, "but I also wanted to ask you for a favor."

He immediately shook his head, "Of course, what is it?"

"If you ever see my daughter again, no matter what point in your life," I sighed. "Don't tell her anything about me until I'm gone. When I'm gone, tell her what you wish. I don't want her to see me before, it'd be torture to see the disappointment in her eyes, again."

He furrowed his eyebrows, "What do you mean, where are you heading?"

"The sky, hopefully," I offer a half-hearted smile. "I'm dying, Nicolas."