The Bonded Beauty

2. Broken Heart Revival

I woke up the next morning with a sore shoulder and a light hangover, perks of working in a bar, higher alcohol tolerance... sometimes... not this time. I look around and see John laying next to me snoring loudly, I better go make breakfast before he wakes up.

I walk into the messy kitchen and sigh, John must've trashed it last night in a fit of rage. I start the coffee pot letting the pleasant aroma fill the room. Going to the fridge I grab everythingI need for his breakfast, eggs, butter, bacon, cream for his coffee. I reach up and grab the bread for his toast and sigh seeing very few slices left, knew I forgot to do something yesterday. As I cook John comes into the kitchen and grunts for me to move, I obey and step back letting him get by me in the cramped little room. He gets his favorite mug, some ceramic novelty mug he got from a holiday party years ago. He poured his coffee and walked out of the kitchen sitting at the table tapping on it impatiently "Where's the damn food!?" He demanded. I flinch at his tone and look to the stove in front of me as the toast pops. I quickly set all the food onto a plate for him and bring it to the table. He glares at me as I back away "Don't think you're off the hook about last night. I'll deal with it later when I get home." He growled as he began eating

I look to the clock seeing it read 6:57 "John, you're gonna be-" just as I said that he looked at his watch "Why didn't you wake up earlier to do all this?! You made me late again!" He yelled pushing the table away sending the plate and what food remained on it crashing to the ground. "Clean that up before I get home." He said coldly before walking out.

I look at the shattered plate and sigh "Fourth one this week..." I mumble as I look around for the broom. I find it and sweep up the plate before picking up the bacon and toast, the eggs had splattered all over the floor spreading yolk everywhere "Didn't even eat any..." I mumble again finding a rag to use.

As I clean my phone goes off, I look at it curiously to see Zander's name. I open it up and read his text "Hey, I'm bored hoping you could help with that." I giggle a bit at the message and reply "My day's not so exciting, cleaning up after a messy breakfast." I finish wiping up the yolk and look at the rest of the food. If I had cleaned earlier... might've been still edible. I sigh as I toss the remnants of my hard work before my phone goes off again "Oooo breakfast sounds good, probably should eat this morning." I shake my head reading the message "You don't eat breakfast?" A minute goes by before the next text "I try, I just forget sometimes." I smile and sigh.

That's how most of my day went, I go about my normal routine while texting Zander. We bond a bit more as we chat before I tell him I need to run to the store.

"Alright, I guess I'll talk to you soon." He replied as I got into my car and drove off to the grocery store. As I walked around the aisles I spot a familiar face "Zander?" I call seeing him turn and smile. He walked over to me "Hey, didn't know you shopped here." He said granting him with a chuckle from me "Where else would I shop?" He shrugged and tagged along as I went around the store, he even helped load my car "Such a gentleman." I joke with him "Just showing you how a man treats a woman." He said with a bow, we both laugh and say our goodbyes.

My blood runs cold as I pull up to the house. There in the driveway is John's car. I look at the clock on the radio and silently curse to myself. I had lost track of time at the store. I park and grab the groceries going in through the garage only to be met with the all too familiar sound of a shoe hitting the door next to my head. "I told you I would deal with you after I got home from work. You weren't here." He said grabbing my arm making me drop the bags in my hand. He threw me against the wall making me yelp in pain and fear. My arm was bruised from where he grabbed me and my nose was bleeding "Get up and finish what you started." He said pointing to the bags I had dropped. I obeyed and quickly brought in and put away all the items. Without hesitation I began his dinner.

After an hour and a half of cooking dinner was done. I brought him his plate hoping this one would survive longer than the one from this morning. "This tastes like shit." John said without looking at me but continued eating. I walk into the kitchen starting the dishes when my phone goes off in my pocket. I look at it to see a selfie of Zander and a deer somewhere in the woods. I chuckle quietly enough that John doesn't hear as I finish up the dishes and walk to the bathroom. I lock the door and silently cry before getting another text from Zander "It was nice seeing you earlier, how about we meet up tomorrow for some lunch? My treat!" I stare at the screen of my phone as my tears fall "Sure".

After agreeing to meet up tomorrow the rest of my night goes as normal, John being an asshole to me and I go to bed early. The next morning went about as well as yesterday, except this time he was able to leave to be on time.

Zander and I text most of the day until I head out to meet him for lunch at a local cafe. I see him sitting at a table outside, smoking and looking through his phone. When he sees me he smiles and puts his phone away "I haven't ordered yet, I wanted to wait until... you..." his sentence drifted off when he saw my face up close. My eyes were red and puffy from crying myself to sleep and my nose had a bit of dried blood underneath. "What happened to you?" He asked obviously concerned. "I... n-nothing, I'm fine." I lie "It was your husband wasn't it?" He asked quietly. I look down and nod slightly "Nita... you need to stand up to him." Zander sighed "I tried before... it didn't end well for me..." I say "So you're going to just go back?" I sigh and nod answering his question. We order and have our lunch with Zander trying to think of ways to help me but I shoot them all down "The only thing I haven't tried is murder..." I sigh before getting up "It was nice spending time with you like this, I enjoy your company" I smile and kiss his cheek before walking to my car and driving home to face the gates of hell once again..

I walked inside to see John asleep on the recliner with a bottle of Gin on the floor, which it clearly fell from his hand. I sighed and shook my head, walking to the bathroom and taking a shower, getting out and looking at my phone which has a text message from Zander, saying, "let's do this again tomorrow, I really like you. You brighten my day ;)"

It's like I could feel Zander's happiness radiating off of him when I walked away earlier.. from that one kiss.. And I know I'm married.. but I think I'm slowly falling for Zander...