Cheryl & Liam: Devotion

Part Twelve

         

"Happy birthday beautiful."

Cheryl groaned as she rolled over in the large, king size bed, a slight look of confusion washing over her as she took a moment to gather her bearings to make sense of where she was. Her eyes followed the muscular arms which were curved with hands holding a large gift bag and teddy bear, travelling up to see the face of her husband whom was there with a smile on his face – and yet another hint of remorse in his eyes.

The normal now – fight, he would degrade her to no end, then make up for it later while she was still remembering everything he said.

Last night was perhaps the worst. He had whisked her off to Italy as a surprise, but Cheryl had later found out that he had known about her friends and their plan to throw her a massive surprise party at her favorite restaurant. She had found out after Lily had text her about the failed plan, and a guilty look came across JB's face which led to Cheryl pressing him for answers. When he admitted that he had known but had told them to not do it because he wanted to take her somewhere, she was livid which in turn fired him up, leading him to basically use every insult under the sun whilst telling her 'she deserved to be on her own' and storming out of the room in the end.

Now, here he was, with an apologetic look on his face and a gift bag – just like every time before.

Her gaze flickered down to herself; thinner than she'd been, all because of the stress he had caused her.

And now he had the audacity to be in her face as if he hadn't done anything?

"Cheryl – please, just take it." his words came out in a whisper, almost as if he was too afraid to speak any louder. Cheryl gave him a blank look before taking the bag, looking inside, rolling her eyes slightly when she saw that it was a slew of perfumes and lotions, and expensive jewelry boxes.

"JB-" she began before stopping as he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into him.

She could never resist his strong arms; she melted into him straight away.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, lips brushing against her forehead.

"I know." She whispered in response.

He began leaning in for a kiss when her phone buzzed, leading her to reach over and grab it. A small smile came across her face when she saw that it was a text from Liam, and the small smile didn't go unnoticed by JB as he watched.

<<Liam: 12:34pm – I have no idea what time it is where you are and frankly I'm confused about the time here too, but Happy Birthday you mad woman! I hope wherever you are, you're happy. Sending all my love – here's to 32, oldie 😉 xxxx>>

"Where are you going?" she tore her eyes away from her phone as JB abruptly stood up, a look of thunder on his face.

"To shower." He replied, storming off towards the en suite while Cheryl stared after him.

She swallowed as she replied to Liam's message; while it should've been her husband who cared about her on her birthday, it was a young man who was halfway across the world on tour.

<<12:35pm – Thank you young one 😉 speak soon xxxx>>

 

She sighed, tossing her phone aside and curling up on the bed, little tears slipping down her cheeks, feeling as though she had sunk as far as she could go...

*******

 

"Say 'Happy Birthday' to Mummy – go on."