Illicit

Fight

As Vain stepped forward I shut the door behind him and started pacing back and forth. His eyes were gauging my movements and body language but I pretended not to notice or care. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that he was back in my apartment, Nick being gone, or him asking me to choose him after I already made it clear that I was choosing my marriage. The fact that Vain was here in my apartment fighting while Nick was wherever he was, made his request much harder to ignore.

Before I started drawing conclusions and refuting my choices there was something I needed to know, "Why'd you make me think that you were in trouble? You're not drunk. You're not even at Royce's club. I bet you weren't at his club at all," I spoke with brutal detachment.

"I wasn't at his club, and neither was Royce. I lied. It was the only way I could get you on the phone without fearing that you'd hang up. You did ignore eight of my phone calls, Car."

I rolled my eyes. "We shouldn't be speaking. You shouldn't be here," I croaked.

My eyes were burning from the tears of frustration that were spilling down my face.

"I never met anyone more bullheaded in my fucking life!" Vain spat. "Why does you and I together equal something illicit. He knows about us. I love you. You love me. What's the fucking problem?"

He really didn't get it.

"My marriage and my loyalty to Nick is the problem. I know that I broke my vows and I've made a lot of mistakes with you but I'm still his wife. What kind of person would I be if I gave up on the one thing I believed in more than anything else?"

The hammering of his heart was visible through the thin fabric of his shirt. The blood surged to his fists. The veins were throbbing at his temples. He moved his legs back and forth between me and the door unable to meet my eyes. Vain stopped pacing suddenly and pressed his chest into mine.

"Carmella a day hasn't gone by since we met that I haven't dreamt of you. You're in my head before I wake up. What you don't seem to understand is that this begging pleading with a woman to choose me is completely out of character for me but here I am. If this was just about sex I would've bowed out a long time ago. I'm all in." Vain confessed gliding his finger along my mouth.

His thumping heartbeat matched mine.

The way he moved his cheek along the palm of my hand when I touched him like he was somehow drawn to me set my chest on fire. I meant to just kiss Vain once on the mouth but when his lips reacted and his arms wrapped around me I lost my fucking mind.

After fighting with Nick for hours and getting nothing but his cold words I needed Vain's warmth. I needed someone to make me feel like I wasn't a heartless, cold bitch. I held Vain's face and moved my mouth with his, taking in his heavy breaths, the sweet taste of his tongue. I felt the love and energy that sat between us stronger than before.

"Will you come home with me?" He asked hopeful. Before I could answer him my eyes caught on the figure standing behind Vain.

"Nick?" I called wiping Vain's kiss off of my mouth.

"I must be the most forgiving, naive, son of a bitch that ever lived," Nick spat coldly. "Not only did you fuck him behind my back but for the second and a half that I'm gone you let him into my house and you're ready to fuck him again."

"It's not what you think," I murmured.

"Of course it's not," Nick said. His voice was brutally sarcastic.

Vain pulled away from me and charged toward Nick. "Watch the way you talk to her!"

"Who are you to tell me how to talk to my wife?" Nick thundered eliminating the space between himself and Vain.