Ricardo's obsession

Chapter-15

His phone had been vibrating for a very long time now and he being the owner of it decided to ignore it but the constant vibrating sound made her feel guiltier than she already was and she did not like the fact that she was stopping this low just take a revenge on him for what he did to her work life. It was never professional for one to run away from his/her duty and so with a defeated sigh she took hold hold of his phone which was in his blazer pocket kept on the sofa. It showed 37 missed calls in less than an hour. As the boss if he had this much missed call it could only mean one thing that whatever the missed calls were for it had to do with some very weighty matter. She herself was assisting Juan and she knew the bosses never took calls personally until and unless it could cause business crisis.
“Do something with this.” She said handing the device to him but he ignored the device and threw it back on the sofa. With a huff she grabbed the device. As much as she disliked the idea of any other person going through her device she wanted to do just that with his device. She pressed on the power button and the screen lit up but as expected it was secured.  Before he could reach out to take his device away from her there was ping on the elevator indicating the arrival of the uninvited Lambert who stomped in like a madman as if he was the owner and not the guest but it was bound given that he was the owner’s best friend.
“You not receiving your call just cost you almost a billion.” Lambert practically yelled out. Almost too loud to match his gentlemanly cool collected looks.
“It is lovely meeting you too Lambert.” She interfered in the conversation in an annoying tone making Lambert notice her presence and look guilty for not acknowledging her presence, which was very rude of him. He tried to look collected “I am very sorry. We are meeting under this strained environment.” He apologized quickly for being himself when around and alone with his best friend. Ricardo stood and wrapping his hand around her waist introduced them to the other. Lambert reached to kiss her on the cheeks Ricardo came in between before she could decline that gesture on her own she was well prepared to treat her husband’s colleagues just the way he did to hers. She was on a tit for tat mission.
“Lambert, we’ll discuss business tomorrow as my evening is hers.” he said kissing her on the head making Lambert clear his throat. He looked as if he was taken aback with what her husband just said. She pulled away from his wanting to get away from the men as she knew they had enough matters to rub their heads on and that she could use this time to get her works done too but Ricardo was not up for it as he pulled her back to him. He was about to tell Lambert to find his way out but she interrupted
“Too much for an evening off. Get your ass back to work.” she pulled away from him and walked away leaving the two men behind only to turn around saying. “Who else will earn for my extravagant escapades if not my husband. Darling! I’ll let you off the hook this time. You better earn enough to make up for It.” with a wink she shut the bedroom door. She heard her laughter, Ricardo’s and Lambert saying he was totally whipped. If not for the laughter the men shared in the dining she would still be thinking of how Lambert wanted to rip her head off for making them loose almost a billion dollars. She had her husband’s phone in her grasp but she was not going to do what she will not want to be done to herself.
Getting her work done in 2 hours she took a so deserving bath to calm her nerves. She was not herself anymore as she had changed since she met her husband and it only continued. She did not know if it was for the better or for the worst but she was changing. She liked what he did to her, the way he was with her and the way he made her feel like she was the only woman who deserved all the pampering of the word. He always had her needy of his care, his attention and mostly he himself. She was burning from the inside thinking about him and she was going crazy. She wanted to hit herself with a truck if only that could make her collect herself.
She sat on the bed after her bath and changing for bed. Her eyes were constantly diverting to where she left his device on and her hands itched to reach out and that is just exactly what she did but as expected it was locked her brain could not come up with anything. So she opted for expert advice Mr-GOOGLE. Had she Google him before she would have known much her own husband but better late than never. He was turning 33 this Nov meaning he was a decade apart from her but he did not look his age. He was in his prime but if a man’s bank balance was stable he did not have to worry about finding his better half was not a big deal. If anyone had told her that she will get annoyed but that was the fact people have become materialistic. She was not that pretty or had a heritage that was worthy of his attention then why did he choose her? Was it because she had nothing to lose or the fact that he could get away with anything as she had no family to look out for her. His gestures proofed her all wrong for he was anything but a perfect man every girl could dream of if she was to ignore the fact that he was the one who forced her into marriage. She tried a as many times as the device would let her only to get completely locked and the device had already sent an interruption alert to his backup devices.
She quickly put the device under the duvet when she heard him come into their room. Rummaging through the files on the cabinet he took out two of them and came to where she was. He kissed her head and took his device from under the duvet unlocking it with his finger on the sensor. Her whole body went still with shame and guilt when he handed it to her.
“The password is 170319.” She pushed the device back to him without meeting his eyes abut he put it back on her lap over the duvet. “Sorry I didn’t think Lambert will stomp in like that. I will deal it with him ASAP. I promise it won’t take long.” He said diverting the topic but it only made her drown herself in shame. He pulled her face up to meet his eyes.
“Stop everything that’s running through your pretty. As my wife you have every right to go through my stuffs and I meant every word of what I am saying.” With that said he walked away and out of the room.
She exhaled and not having the heart to proceed with what she earlier planned to do she put the device on charge and went to bed.  She could hear their voices getting louder and louder as they in a heated argument. “She has every right to know it.”
“She will not. At least not when I don’t think the time is right.” Ricardo replied.
“You’re making a grave mistake. It will only make things worse.”
“If the future has to be that way so be it but she will not be tormented with all this. As long as it is in my power.”
What was going on between them? Who was the ‘she’ they are referring to? Was there another woman besides her? There were millions of things triggered on her mind but she could not know anything until and unless he tells her about it all. “I hope you will not regret what you are doing in the days to come.” Was Lamberts last words followed by a ding of the elevator.
Ricardo walked in looking like he had just been hit by a truck. He looked the complete opposite of how he usually looked like. She did not utter a word as she did not know what were the right words to say at this current moment. Lying next to her he pulled her in his arm inhaling her scent which calmed him a great deal like an addict when he got what he was used to. She was his personal drug. They did not share a word as she drifted off to sleep. Sometimes silence did great thing, it healed or perhaps lessened the pain.
Later that night Iris tossed only to meet with the old empty side of his bed. He was nowhere to be seen when she looked for him. She walked out of their room to look for him but he was neither in the kitchen nor in the other rooms. There was only his study left and she hoped he was in there as she remembered the way he looked after Lambert left.
There he was seated with his back to her looking out of the gigantic window, a trail of smoke rising from where he was. Was he smoking? There was a lot she needed to learn about him. His attention was caught when she cleared her throat. He swivelled around on his chair their eyes meeting. She came up to where he was and lifted her on his desk. There was an ashtray on his desk with several smoked cigarette butts, just how much have he smoked already?
“Are you trying to get rid of your lungs? Or on a puffing marathon?” she scolded him while he smiled at her.
“Nothing can really kill me but you.” He teased back inching closer towards her.
“I don’t to be associated with the label of a murderer so I’ll pass.” He laughed out at her witty remark.
“This is the reason why I say that you’ll be the death of me.”
“I’ve never seen you smoke?” she said diverting the topic as it was leading her to a dead end and she did not like being there.
“There are plenty of things that I don’t want you to learn about me.”
“If I am not mistaken I remember you say that there to be no secrets to be between us.”
“And there won’t be any but with time you’ll gradually come to learn about it all.”
“I just hope then won’t be too late!”
“We have all the time of the world and there will be no lack of time for us.”
“So, tell me who that ‘she’ was you men were screaming about?” she asked taking her chance not sure if he will answer to that or not yet she tried. He looked as if debating with himself if to tell her about it all or not but decided on the later.
“That ‘she’ would be you and also there are no other she in my life except you, my mother and Selena.” She was curious about who Selena was.
“Who is this Selena?” she asked masking all her unnameable emotions from showing.
“Selena is like a sister to me.”
“Oh…” was all she said as there was nothing else to discuss further.
“We are not blood related but she calls my mother her God mother vice versa.”
“Ohkay… that’s great.” He did not quite get what she was trying to say “I mean that I’m not the only…
He pulled her to her right making the ashtray meet the floor and he was furious. His grip on her arms tightened and so were his jaw. He stood up trapping her between himself and his desk towering over her.
“You are the only woman to me and for me. And the ‘I don’t care’ shit that you pull when it comes to us is for sure doing all the wrong to me.” He gritted the words out. “I did not mean that.” She said in a timid voice. There was no good in adding fuel to his fury and he was and did look just as furious as he was.
“Not that I will ever commit such a thing but you should care about all the shes that’s associated with me and anything that has to do with our marriage. DO.YOU. GET.ME?” he asked and words failed her so she only nodded at him. He pulled her in his embrace trying to soothe himself and her too.
“I don’t want you to fear me in anyway but you should know I am not a patient or a good man and don’t take anything lightly when it has anything to do with you. Not even you can protect youself from if it has anything to do with you.” He was making no sense to her at all. She stood on her feet her chest meeting his and she tugged at his hands holding it in hers.
“Let’s go back to bed. You need to rest.” She said pulling him behind her as she started to walk to the door. The smoke from the cigarettes must have somehow managed to travel up his brain clogging it from functioning properly. A good rest might bring him back to his normal self, she hoped.