A/N:
At last Bella and Edward meet. Let the fun begin.
As always I do now own Twilight.
I HIRED MY HUSBAND AN ESCORT
Chapter 7
Tanya's POV
It's Friday night, and I have no clue if Katarina is meeting with Edward, or not. I know I said I didn't want to know when she was seeing him, but I was beginning to second guess myself.
I've dialed Katarina's phone number multiple times, but I can't hit the send button. Instead, I call Jess and ask her over to talk.
Jessica arrives twenty minutes later, and we plan to have a few drinks. I know the moment that she arrives, that I would not have made it through the night without my best friend, and the bottle of wine that she's holding.
"Do you think it will happen tonight?" she asks. She pours more wine and sits back down on the couch.
"I don't know, Jess. That's what scares me. If he's already having an affair, will he go after another woman? Is she his type? I don't even know for sure that she will see him tonight. I told her that I did not want to know." As I look at my hands, I notice I'm absently running my thumb over the wetness that's gathering on the outside of the thin glass.
"When will you know anything?"
"She will call me after she meets him, then we will plan on having lunch to talk about what did or didn't happen. I don't know what I will do if I find out that he is cheating on me." I'm going to go stir crazy if I just sit here wondering if anything is happening.
"Ok, let's finish this wine, watch a movie, and try not to think of it. We will deal with whatever comes our way when it comes, OK?" Jessica always seems to know just what I need. She's a caring friend.
It's after eleven when my cell phone rings, and I rush to answer it. I look at the number, and don't recognize it. I hit the answer button and put the phone to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Cullen?"
"Yes, this is she."
"It's Katarina; I wanted to let you know that I have met with Edward tonight. He just left the bar saying that he was on his way home; you should be seeing him within a half hour. Would you like to meet for lunch tomorrow?"
"Yes. Katarina, I will meet you at one. Thank you." I start to shake, as I hit the end button, so much so that the phone drops from my hand, and bounces off the carpet.
There's no question as to where he was tonight. He was with another woman. If, nothing happened, he was still with another woman. I'm suddenly thinking I made the wrong choice. Did I want this? I shake my head trying to eliminate the thoughts that are starting to form. I need to calm down. Most likely nothing happened. There is no law about talking to people, and maybe that's all they did, talk. I hope he wasn't lying to me tonight.
Exactly thirty two minutes later, Edward arrives home. Can you guess what the first thing he did is? I thought so. He didn't even look at me on his way to the bathroom. I'm not expecting this to end well. He showers and goes right to bed. What does this mean? Is this just a normal night for him, or did something happen tonight? I want to ask, but I'm afraid of the answer. I decide that I'll wait until I speak with Katarina. I spend the next few hours in bed, staring at my husband, as he sleeps, before sleep finally takes me.
I meet with Katarina at a little Mexican restaurant downtown. She's right on time, and I still can't get over just how stunning she is.
"Good afternoon, Katarina, I hope you are well?" I say as greeting her with a small smile.
"I am, thank you. Where would you like me to start?"
"Can you just start from the beginning, please?"
Katarina/Bella's POV
"I arrived at the bar you said he frequents at nine last night. He was already there, alone at the bar, so I sat next to him, and tried to start a conversation."
I began to remember last night's meeting…
Flashback: Last night's bar meeting.
I walk into the bar, knowing I look sexy as hell. The dress I'm wearing is midnight blue; it has only one shoulder and is cut low on my chest. To complete the look, I put on my knee-high leather boots and put a slight curl to my hair. I do my makeup so that it's sexy and noticeable, but not overdone. As I walk in the door, all the guys turn their heads and notice me. The ones that don't are most likely gay, and even some of them look.
I scan the room for a moment looking for my target, and I see him within moments. He's sitting at the bar alone with a drink in his right hand. The chair on his left holds a man dressed in a suit. The seat to his right is empty. Perfect. I have nothing but hatred for this man, but even I can't deny that he was one sexy ass man. I'm a woman after all, and I do appreciate a fine-ass man, even if he is an ass, with a shitty history that not many know about.
I walk to the bar, ignoring the three men that try to pass me their numbers. I sit down next to him and order my drink, the Red Ruby. This drink costs almost a grand and is worth every penny. I can see Edward is watching me, through my peripheral vision, as I ordered. I turn to look at him, and immediately I can feel my panties get wet. What the hell? I smile at him.
"Hi. I'm Katarina," I say in my sultry voice.
"Edward," he says with a smile. "Are you having a rough night?" he asks, but not breaking eye contact.
"No, why do you ask?"
"Well, for someone to spend over nine hundred on a drink, you must have something significant to celebrate, or you've just had the worst night of their life. You seem to be alone, so I went with the second of the two." He smiles and winks at me.
"Maybe I just like the drink." I sip my drink; look up at him through my lashes, and then smile. "Do you come here often?" Time to turn up the charm. I think.
"It's an excellent drink, if I do say so myself. I come here after a hard day at work, you?" He begins to get a sly smile on his face.
"I come here every once in a while to blow off steam and relax. I just needed a break tonight. So, what do you do, Edward?"
"I'm a doctor."
"Impressive." I know that this is not all he does, but I can't let it slip.
"What is it that you do, Miss Katarina?" There is something about the way he says my name. Could it be that I'm getting wetter? Fuck what would it do if he used my real name?
"I'm a business woman; I work with people." I would keep it vague for now.
Edward and I talk for the next few hours, about nothing at all. We talk about the weather we have been having, and his work at the hospital. He's surprisingly easy to talk to. I don't even realize how much time has passed until he brings it up.
"Well Miss Katarina, it's getting late, and I must be heading home. It was a pleasure to meet you."
"Off to the missus?" I ask. We hadn't talked about possible others in our lives, and I wanted to gauge his reaction.
"Yes, something like that." His entire body language and tone changes as he speaks. He wasn't happy about going home, that's for sure.
"Will I see you again?" I ask as he takes my hand and kissed my knuckles.
"If you are here, I will most likely see you. Like I said, I'm here after a hard day's work, and lately my work has been nothing but stress." He almost seems sad.
He kisses my hand once more and walks out the door. The minute his lips touch my hand again, I feel it the sharp sting of electricity, flowing from his body to mine. What is happening?
End Flashback
I tell her about the meeting, excluding the point that he made me wet. I still have not figured that one out. The thought of the man made my skin crawl, but he made me wet by just speaking to me.
"From what I gathered, he does go to the bar, a lot. He also did not admit to being married, but he didn't deny it either. I'll go back to the bar in a few days, and see if I can meet him there again. I know it's not much, but it's a start. Do you have any questions for me?"
"No, thank you. I have a lot to think about and I need to be going. We can meet next week, if that's OK with you?"
"That's fine, Mrs. Cullen," I say, as she stands up from her chair, places her money on the table, and walks out of the restaurant in tears.
Tanya's POV
The drive home is hard. I hadn't learned much, but then again, it had only been one meeting. Maybe it wouldn't happen. All he did was talk to her. That's the polite thing to do when someone sits next to you at a bar. The right thing to do is to talk if they talk to you. He didn't come on to her. So far, he had not done anything wrong. Maybe it would stay at just talking. God, I hoped my thoughts were right.
I pull into the driveway, and to my surprise, Edward is home, It almost makes me nervous. He told me this morning that he was working all day. He didn't even care when I had told him that I had to meet a client I normally never work on a Saturday.
I enter the house and think about calling out to him, but at the last moment, I choose not to. I walk to the back of the house, and once again, he's on the phone with someone. I know that I should be polite, and walk away, but I can't help myself. Hell, I hired an escort, what's eavesdropping at this point? I lean against the wall and listen.
"I went to the bar after work last night. No, she wasn't there. I met someone. She was easy to talk to. Yeah she was smoking… ha, ha that's funny. No, all we did was talk. It was pleasant just to talk to someone without fighting. It was fun. Yeah, I'll probably talk to her again. Got to go Em, I need to get back to work, lunch is almost over, see you later."
He had to be talking about Katarina; with his brother. He told him that she was hot; I guess I now know that he finds her attractive, but he said she wasn't there. "Had he gone to meet someone else?" I thought, as I all but run to the kitchen. I make it there with a few seconds to spare. Edward walks in and is shocked to see me.
"What are you doing home? I thought you were at work?" he asks. He looks like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"I could ask you the same, Edward." Two could play this game.
"Are we going to fight about this again? I had some free time and came home for lunch. I didn't think I would get the third degree."
"I'm sorry, you're right. I had lunch with my client, but it was faster than I expected. Will you be staying?" I didn't want to fight, but I was hoping that he would be going back to work. I need time to think about the phone call I just overheard, and the talk that I had with Katarina.
"No, I can't, I need to get back to work. I'll see you later, OK?"
"Can I expect you for dinner?"
"No. I will be working late. I'll most likely see you in the morning." He grabs his phone and pager off the counter, and walks out the door.
He leaves me there, standing alone in the kitchen once again. What is my life coming to? I spend the rest of the day going through our prenuptial agreement. I never thought that I would ever need it, yet here I am, sitting in my office reading the facts.
I've always wondered why his family insisted on it. I understand he's a doctor, but I made quite a bit of money myself. The main stipulation is no affairs. If there is an affair, the offender would have to pay a settlement to the wronged party. If there is a mutual split, then we will both leave with what we came with, and split what we acquired together. Even if I find out he is cheating, I want nothing from him.
I try to call Edward, but I only get his voice mail. Why do I even bother anymore? I know that answer; I love him.
"Edward, I'm not sure what is going on, but I love you. Please come home, so we can talk." I press end, knowing that he will not come home tonight.
The rest of my evening is spent cleaning the house. It's just busy work, so that I don't sit here and think the worse. I call the hospital to see what time he is scheduled out. This will as the least tell me if he's still working.
"Cook County Hospital, This is Jamie, how may I direct your call?"
"Hi Jamie, its Tanya, is Edward available?"
"I'm sorry Mrs. Cullen, he left just before lunch. He took the rest of the day off."
"That's right. I'm sorry; I forgot that he was leaving early. Thank you Jamie, have a terrific day," I lied.
My face turns red with anger. He told me that he was going back to work, that he only came home for lunch, and when he left he said he was working until morning. He lied again. I decide to call him on his cell once more. I'm pissed, hurt, and about ready to snap. I'm expecting to get his voice mail, but I'm shocked when he picks up.
"Are you still working?" I ask, with no energy left to fight.
"Yeah I am. I have surgery in a few minutes. Did you need something?" I don't know why I'm so disappointed, I know he's not at home or work, yet it still breaks my heart. I don't have the energy to call him out on it.
"Can you try to make it home for dinner, please? I would like to talk to you."
'I told you that I can't. I'm sorry. I got to go. I'll see you later."
He blatantly lied to me. Was this what my marriage is resorting to? Is this what I have to look forward to? What else is he lying about? Should I even keep trying, or just file for divorce now? I'm so beyond pissed right now that grab my bag from the closet and begin to pack.
A/N: So, where will we all go from here. love to hear your thoughts.
