Chris startled himself awake at his office desk, shaking off the biting headache ripping through his skull. It's not that he wanted to drown himself in whiskey, he just wanted to feel less what he was feeling. The loss, the anger and the confusion warred inside his soul. He was such a coward. He never should have let her walk out of his life, and now he might never get to see her half cocked smile as she chewed on her straw or pencil or whatever she had around her. She always had something in her mouth. He loved that about her. And the way she would look up at him over her lashes like they were sharing some sexy secret between the two of them. He didn't realize he loved her until she was gone. One day they were laughing and sharing notes in class and the next she just wasn't there anymore. And that emptiness made him realize what a loss he had.
"Hey! Chris!" Called Rachel as her tall heels clapped into the study.
"You didn't knock" Chris replied as he tidied up his mess from then night before and opened his emails to check on work... and Hannah.
"Whatever." She replied, rolling her eyes at what she felt was a little man. Her father had forced her into the marriage, considering what she really was, and coached her on how to handle her role from the moment she had gotten her original test. The fool needed a job, and her family needed a socially acceptable husband. What happened behind closed doors had nothing to do with marriage, and she had been clear about that.
Chris had thought Rachel was his dream come true when she told him he could sleep with as many dusties as he wanted without her caring. She even suggested some unwed birthas that he could target, in hopes of claiming a child. Rachel claimed to be terrified of childbirth and would make excuses to abstain from him for as long as possible. Chris often found himself waking up next to women who werent his wife without his knowledge or consent after being overserved alcohol by his wife.
At first, Chris thought that maybe this forced marriage would work out. He could sleep with who he wanted, have a great job, lots of money and a hot armpiece at home. He even fantasized that he could keep Hannah on the side one day and find some happiness.
But everything about his life was out of his control from the moment the wedding ended. Her parents, the rich botanist who employed most of his schoolmates parents, set them up with a house, a job, a chauffer, bodyguards and a butler. Cameras and microphones were all over his home and his in laws found enjoyment in mocking his two and a half minute orgasm (after his wife hadn't touched him in months), or the fact that their daughter was screwing at least three other men in the house while he was napping. They blamed him for not impregnating their daughter, and often flaunted her lovers in front of him to get him to try harder.
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If he had known the kind of perverse life he was stepping into at 17 years old, he would have taken Hannah and ran away. The money and the luxuries were beyond what he thought possible. The farmhouse he was raised in was such a drastic shift to the luxury condo he shared with his wife. He was actually surprised to see her around. She had left for 3 months this time with... Rolf? Randolf? Who knew.
"Whats up? Why are you back?" he asked, annoyed as he shut his computer down and looked up at the woman. Her red lips cringed in distaste. She hated skipping formalities. A childhood of forced etiquette turned her into such a snooty adult. Even after all these years she still had a beautiful body, and he didn't mind using it, but it was like fucking a sofa cushion. Angry sex only took him so far. He didnt even want her facing him when he took her, he would turn her on her stomach and find a hole. She had never responded to him. She claimed it was just a phobia and begged him not to tell her parents. Any efforts of finding a lover had been quickly ended by her parents with some kind of humiliating phone call or other. In order to find any pleasure he would have to argue for a week with his wife until she either brought him a drugged girl or drugged herself and left lube on his nightstand. If he only begged her for sex it would be some dusty. She wouldn't even offer herself unless he brought up their need for children, and even then she would often bring someone with her same body type hoping to fool him. These women would still be knocked out cold when he woke in the morning, and he felt sick after uncovering the ruse. This went on for years until she started leaving on her vacations.. And now she was back.
Rachel stalked around his office like it was hers, refusing to sit looking down her nose at him. "Let's divorce" she stated.
"Okay." Chis replied, raising his eyebrows, pushing himself back from his desk. Well, I guess this might not be his desk anymore. Divorce? What did that even mean for him? He never considered that she would let him go. Would their parents accept? "What about our parents?"
Rachel snorted, looking down at her soon to be ex husband. "My father has long since voiced his dissapointment in this union, and you may as well know that he hopes to bind our family with the Long family. Young Mr Long has expressed an extreme interest in a" she slowly trailed a finger down the top of her blouse towards her unbuttoned top buttons "union with me." She smiled up at her husband who hadn't t been able to touch a woman in months. She was finally free of this ruse, and was onto the next. When she was 14, she was captured and raped after her results of her fertility test were leaked to a group of human traffickers. Her fathers men had found her naked and bound to a dirty bed with one of the gang members panting over her. The gang was eliminated, the security breech was fixed and her records were altered. After that she was stuck with marriage to a man who only saw her as a birth giver; Something she could never be.
The lie kept the marriage from ever being stable. She had tried to find a way to give him the child he wanted by paying girls who hadn't been tested yet to lay with her husband but none of them produced what he wanted. Fortunately her father needed this deal so he could get the new tech for his crop production, and Jimmy Long already had four kids and lived up to his last name. She had spent the past three months with him, and it was turning into love. Now she just had to get rid of this man. He had been useful, but he never loved her. Maybe she never gave him a chance. Oh well.
Chris ran his shaking hands through his hair. He was full of a mixture of excitement and fear. "What about my job? And my money?" He looked up into her coal black eyes as she slid the paperwork in front of him that she had already prepared. It was basic divorce papers. They had an ironclad prenup. All he had to do was sign. He looked up at her, with the pen in his hand waiting for the answer.
She scoffed, "You can have your savings and your little management job. But just so you know, your new boss will be my new husband and he is a jealous man. You should probably start looking for new employment. It would be better for all of us." Chris was cradling his head with his right hand and looking down at the paperwork trying to decide if this was the right thing. Laughing at himself he signed the paper, realizing he was kidding himself for thinking he even had a choice in any of this. He looked up at the woman, "How long until I have to move out?"
"The sooner the better." she replied as she snatched the paperwork off of his desk and sauntered out of the room. She didn't hate him, she just hated that chapter of her life, and he happened to be in it. She just wanted it over.
Chris fished the bottle of whiskey from the bin and took a swig. If he was going to move on with his life, he needed closure and with Hannah missing there was no way he was going to move on. His heart still ached thinking about the way her toes curled when she got excited or her eyes crinkled when she was being playful. He loved her and he never told her. That night at the reunion showed him everything they could have been together. It was like a fantasy he woke up from and everyone forgot they were in it. But he remembered. And he felt responsible. Hell, he wanted to be responsible for her. He prayed that she just went off the grid away from the crazy husband. He just needed to find out where. Since he was soon to be out of a job, he decided to call up Hannah's mom and offer his help. He was going crazy knowing she was missing and all of thier old friends were as well.
"Hey Ms. B?" Chris said as the phone picked up but all he could hear was sobs on the other line. "Ms. B? Are you oK? It's Chris?" Chris heard more sobbing on the other end and his heart dropped into his stomach. "Ms. B? What's going on? Did they find something?" The sobbing on the other end calmed a bit and he heard her respond.
"Caleb... He's... Missing now... too"