Heath Read online

  She listens to whatever that bitch is saying, her face lighting up. “Yes, sweet girl, I will even make your favorite Shephard’s pie.” I roll my eyes. Her skinny ass needs to eat several dozen Shephard’s pies to put some meat on her bones. Ugh! I can’t believe Heath actually has sex with her. It’s probably the equivalent of fucking a skeleton.

  “Don’t worry, Isabel, sometimes conceiving a baby takes time. It doesn’t happen right away for everyone. Don’t let Heath upset you, please.” Conceiving a baby? So what Helen said earlier was true. Heath and Isabel are trying to have a baby?

  Why would they be trying?

  That would have to mean they want a baby together.

  Surely not.

  Absolutely fucking not. Not Heath. Helen is mistaken.

  My foot kicks out in front of me in anger and the tray of food crashes to the floor. Helen huffs and tells Isabel to call soon, that she has a mess to clean up.

  “Why must you be so difficult, Catrina?” Helen sighs, bending down to pick up the shattered pieces of ceramic.

  “It was an accident. Why must you still talk to Isabel?” I scoff. “You know Elliot doesn’t approve of you continuing to keep in touch with her.”

  “And is your concern about me speaking to Isabel or your jealousy that she and Mr. Heath are happily in love?”

  “It won’t work,” I snap. “Trying to make me jealous. I am a happily married woman. My only concern is over the fact you’re choosing to speak to her, knowing the man who pays your bills prohibits it.”

  “My job is the last thing you should be—”

  Hearing a muffled moan, I cut off Helen. “Shh, do you hear that?”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s what I’m talking about.” My eyes dart around at my surroundings.

  “Hear what?” she questions, standing with the tray in her hands.

  Am I hearing things? Then I hear it again. “Mmhmm, yes!”

  Throwing my book aside, I stand and make my way out of the library and into the hallway, Helen following right behind. Is somebody having sex in this house? I listen some more. “Oh God, yes!” What the hell is going on? The only other person left in this house is Elliot. Tiptoeing over to Elliot’s office, I see his door is closed. He wouldn’t dare! Putting my ear to the door, I hear another moan and then a grunt. That cheating bastard!

  “Catrina…” Helen begins, but my warning glare quickly shuts her up.

  Hoping to catch Elliot in the act, I swing the door open and find him sitting at his desk alone. His eyes widen in shock and he shuffles quickly to zip his pants. “What are you doing?” I step farther into the room, toward his desk, slamming his office door closed behind me. He quickly sits up and scurries to turn off what he’s watching on the television, but I’m quicker and I make it around his desk before he can get shut it off. And right there on the television are two people fucking like rabbits.

  “You sick bastard!” I let out a loud shriek, pushing him backward in his chair. He rolls back slightly and I’m able to get a good look at the muted screen. The woman is on her hands and knees with her legs spread open and her ass in the air, getting fucked from behind. Is this guy serious?

  “Your wife is pregnant and has pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening condition! And here you are, jerking off to some trashy bleached blond bimbo getting fucked in the ass!” My anger multiplies by the second and I can feel my blood pressure rising. How dare he get to find pleasure while I’m stuck being miserable! My fist comes out and pushes the heavy TV to the floor. It hits the ground and smashes into pieces. Then I swipe everything off his desk. Various papers fly all over the place.

  “I hate you!” I shout, and he stands up out of his chair, his hands turned up in a placating motion. I can still see his dick is hard in his pants and it makes me furious to know he was seeking pleasure from someone else. “I’m your wife! You haven’t fucked me in months, yet you’re fucking yourself to the sight of another woman. How dare you!” I snatch up a picture frame from the shelf and fling it at him. He ducks and it crashes to the floor.

  “Catrina, calm down please. You know it’s not good for you or the baby to get worked up.” Elliot approaches me slowly like I’m some feral animal. Well, fuck him! Fuck him and fuck Heath and Isabel! Fuck them all! I hope they all rot in hell!

  “Don’t you want me?” I let out a sob. “Is it because I’m fat and ugly now?” I swipe away my tears as I picture Heath fucking Isabel’s skinny ass. “I can please you, Elliot.” I move closer to him, my hand rubbing along his hard bulge. I bet Isabel doesn’t satisfy Heath the way I did. “Do you want me to please you?”

  Without waiting for his response, I undo his pants and pull his dick out. It’s not hard anymore, but I can get it there. Spitting on my hand, I stroke his shaft up and down. Elliot lets out a low moan. I feel his pre-cum dripping from his tip and I still my hand. His gaze darts down to me. “I was close,” he whines.

  “Why should you be the only one to get pleasure? If you want to come, you can do it after you’ve made me come first.” Backing up, I slowly lower my body onto the couch, my swollen baby bump protruding out. “Make me come, Elliot,” I demand. He follows me over to the couch and kneeling in front of me, he pulls my panties down then spreads my legs. His fingers find my clit and he massages my nub. I’m too dry and it does nothing for me.

  “You have to get me wet!” I snap. “Use your mouth.” Elliot gapes at me. He’s never eaten pussy before. Well, it’s time he starts. If he can jack off to porn, surely he can lick his wife’s pussy. “Now,” I demand.

  He dips his head and his tongue dances across my seam. “Slow down,” I instruct. “This isn’t a race. Slowly, lick my clit.” He does as I say and my fingers come up and pinch my nipples. My eyes close and I imagine Elliot is Heath as he laves at my juices.

  “Yes,” I moan out. “Right there. Harder.” Heath’s licks get rougher as my orgasm builds higher. “Oh God, yes! Stick your fingers in me.” He pushes a finger into my tight channel, but it’s not enough. “More!” Another one. “More!” Heath fucks me with three fingers while sucking on my clit and I fall over the edge, my orgasm ripping through my entire body. When I open my eyes, I see Elliot standing in front of me, wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand, and my heart drops that it’s not Heath.

  “I don’t feel well,” I mutter.

  “What about me?” His eyes drop down to his hard cock.

  “Fine, but hurry, please.”

  I’m lying across the chaise lounge in my bedroom, staring out the window at the torrential downpour. The news said several areas are prone to flooding and we could be looking at some power outages if the storm doesn’t weaken. But inside, it’s relaxing to watch. I could lie here for hours with my hand rubbing across my swollen belly, feeling my baby kick. I could’ve found out if it was a boy or a girl but chose not to. It will be a nice surprise once I give birth in a few weeks.

  “Looks like I might have to find the candles in case the storm gets any worse,” Helen says, changing the sheets on my bed.

  “I suppose.” I sigh then take a sip of my tea.

  “And what is wrong with Catrina today?”

  I watch her from the corner of my eye as she moves from making the bed to dusting the lamps. “Can’t you do that when I’m not in here?” I snip, my eyes going back to the falling rain. My mind goes back to the days when Heath and I would play in the rain. We would run through the puddles, splashing each other for hours, until our lips were blue and our teeth would chatter.

  “Then it wouldn’t get done,” Helen says. “You haven’t left your bedroom in months, dear, and with the baby due in a few weeks I’m trying to get everything ready.”

  “Where’s my husband?” I ask, turning my attention to her. She’s now placing my folded clothes into my drawer.

  “In his office.” Of course he is. He spends more time than not in there, using the excuse that he has double the work to do since his father handed over the reins to him. I call bullshit. We both kno
w he’s just hiding away like a little bitch because he can’t handle me pregnant. Like it’s my fault I’ve fallen ill with pre-eclampsia. It’s my fault my blood pressure rises too high at times. He wanted me pregnant and now he acts like I’m a damn burden. Whatever, it’s probably for the best anyway. I can’t stand to be around him most of the time.

  The chime of the doorbell rings out through the house, and Helen announces she’ll get it. It’s probably just another delivery for the nursery. I take another sip of my tea, my eyes going back to the rising lake. Then picking up my journal, I open it to a blank page and write the date.

  Dear Diary, I begin.

  “Catrina.” My head whips around and I see him standing in the doorway.

  “Heath,” I gasp, closing my journal and dropping it onto the ground. I knew he’d be back to see me. He could never stay away too long.

  Heath

  HELEN OPENS HER MOUTH AND I wave her off as I toss my umbrella onto the floor. “Leave us.”

  She grumbles but obeys, leaving us alone. I stalk over to where Catrina sits on the sofa and kneel on the floor beside her. Her lips are plump and parted in surprise. So beautiful.

  Our eyes lock and hers become glassy with tears. I reach up and brush a stray lock of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. Her cheeks are full and flushed, a light shade of pink.

  “You’re beautiful,” I murmur.

  She chokes on a teary laugh. “I’m fat.”

  Sure, I notice she’s thicker and her belly is big, but she’s still the same Catrina I’ve been in love with since the first day I laid eyes on her. “You’re not fat.” I grab one of her swollen hands and bring it to my lips. I kiss each knuckle until I reach the one with the giant diamond. It cuts into her flesh and seems uncomfortable. When I slide it from her finger, tugging to free it, it has nothing to do with fucking over Elliot and claiming what’s mine, but everything to do with giving her comfort. I drop the ring to the floor and it clinks.

  “You’re swollen,” I say with a frown, rubbing the indented flesh. “Are you feeling okay?”

  She beams at me, brighter than any sun or star in the sky. “I’m feeling wonderful now.”

  “Fuck how I’ve missed you,” I mutter before resting my head on her giant belly. “You smell like life and love and every single thing I’ve craved since the day I no longer had you in my arms.”

  “Oh, Heath,” she sobs, her fingers sliding into my hair. Her fingernails scratch along my scalp as she strokes me. “I missed you too.”

  I press kisses on her stomach through her gown and kiss my way up her chest to her throat. She sighs happily when I pepper more kisses along her flesh. When I reach her jaw, I open my mouth to kiss her skin. I suck her salty flesh between my lips to taste what I’ve been yearning so long for. My lips trail up until our mouths are a breath apart.

  “I’ve come to rescue you, my princess,” I breathe.

  Her lips press to mine and we kiss sweetly. Like our first kiss when we were teens. And just as we did back then, the kiss becomes ravenous and desperate. Our mouths mate like our bodies have so long been denied.

  She tugs on my hair and pulls me away. Her eyes are wild, darting all over my features as though she tries to memorize everything about me—as though I may disappear at any moment.

  I’m not going anywhere.

  I’m here to stay.

  “I’ll love you forever,” I tell her. A vow stronger than any silly wedding promise. The vows our hearts made when we were younger have always stayed true. Our flesh may have temporarily belonged to another, but our hearts—our motherfucking souls—only ever belonged to each other.

  “You’ve come to tease and torment me.” Her bottom lip quivers and tears stream down her red cheeks.

  I cradle her face with my palms and swipe away the wetness with my thumbs. “I’ve come to make everything better. Windy Hills is mine now, love.”

  “I don’t understand.” She blinks in confusion.

  “Your brother didn’t have the wits about him to keep it. It’s mine and soon we can finally be together.”

  “What about Elliot?” she asks and then her tone turns bitter. “What about Isabel?”

  A growl rumbles from me. “Fuck them. They are nothing. We are everything.”

  “I’m ready,” she tells me. “I can’t stay here any longer. I’m so tired of being unhappy. I miss you. I miss us. This was all a horrible mistake. How will you ever forgive me?”

  “Forgive you for tossing my heart into the floor and fucking stomping on it?” I taunt.

  “Yes,” she groans.

  “Forgive you for choosing that weak pussy over me?”

  “Yes.” A sniffle.

  “Forgive you for being blind to the suffocating love all around you?”

  “I’ve been destroyed since the moment I made that terrible decision.”

  “My heart was broken, I’ll admit,” I say with a frown. “I wanted to ruin every motherfucker who lured you away and kept you away from me.”

  “And me. You wanted to ruin me.”

  “No, my love.” I kiss her sweet lips. “My revenge was never with you. It was always for you. I never wanted to ruin you. Just wanted to ruin the world around you so we were the only two left standing. The only two who mattered.”

  “Oh, Heath. I’m so sorry. I’ll pack a bag. Straight away. We’ll leave. Drive to Canada. Anywhere but here,” she says sobbing. “I want to leave it all behind.”

  I grab her hands in mine and squeeze. “So we will. There are some affairs that need sorting back at Windy Hills and you need your rest. Call me if you need me. In the morning, I’ll come for you. Have Helen pack your things. Then we’ll go. We’ll run far away from our mistakes and into our future.”

  She throws her arms around my neck and hugs me. Her breath tickles my ear as she whispers the words I always felt deep into the marrow of my bones. “I love you, Heath. I always have. It was always you.”

  I kiss her hair and neck. “I love you too, Catrina. You are my existence.”

  The ride in my Bentley back to Windy Hills in the pouring rain is lonely. Leaving Catrina as she bawled like a baby was heart-wrenching. But it gave me new resolve. Reminded me what all this hard work was for.

  Her.

  It was always for her.

  Working tirelessly to start my own company. Reaching out to Crenshaw’s old clients and schmoozing potential investors. I used what Crenshaw taught me, conned some people to take a leap of faith, and I hit the ground running. I was able to take W. Heights Investments and evolve it into an international powerhouse. And Hunter, that stupid fuck, couldn’t keep his father’s gold mine from drowning. Slowly, little by little, not only did I poach on his clientele thanks to the contact list I’d procured from Crenshaw’s portfolio, but I also made that fuck reliant on me. He wasn’t educated or cunning enough to keep C-Trades from sinking. Hunter was robbing Peter to pay Paul. And whom did he run to when he needed help?

  The same motherfucker he threw out on his ass without a dime to his name.

  A brother would help out a brother.

  Loan after loan, I injected money into his dying legacy. I tied each loan up with balloon payments and astronomical interest rates. I made a knot of his debt and pretended as though his increasing debt didn’t worry me. It didn’t. I was biding my time. In fact, right before I left Isabel at Windy Hills to go see Catrina, I dropped all the notes on his desk and told him it was time to pay the fucking piper.

  I’m grinning like a loon as I drive through the heavy downpour. The roads are nearly impassable in parts as water touches the edges. I hope this shit blows over soon because as soon as I wrap up my affairs, I’m getting out of here with Catrina.

  I pull up near the front door at Windy Hills and climb out. I may be chilled as fuck from the rain soaking me to my bones, but my heart is on fire. I’m burning with exhilaration.

  “Heath!” Isabel cries out when I burst through the door. Her brows are furrowed tog
ether and she is frowning. “Where were you?”

  Earlier, I’d been in such a hurry to see Catrina after I dropped the bomb on Hunter, that I blew out of here without so much as a goodbye.

  “I went to see your brother’s wife,” I tell her, my voice turning hard. “I went to see Catrina.”

  Her throat bobs and fat crocodile tears well in her hazel eyes. “W-What? Why?”

  “You know why,” I sneer.

  She shakes her head. “No.”

  Walking past her, I shed my soaked coat and fumble with the coffee maker. I manage to get a pot brewing before turning to face her.

  “Yes, Isa.”

  “But we’re…you and I—”

  “Things have changed. My heart always belonged to Catrina. You knew this.”

  She lets out an enraged scream. “No! You fell in love with me! We fell in love! We were going to start a family!”

  I stare at her, emotionless. “It would have helped me further my agenda, yes, but things have changed. Catrina and I are leaving together. My attorney will handle our divorce, Isabel. You’ll be set up with a handsome alimony check each month. There is nothing to worry about.”

  “I don’t want your money!” she cries out. “It was never about your money!”

  “Well, you’ll get it anyway,” I snarl. “Stay here. Move in with your brother. I don’t give a fuck, Isa, but we’re done. You were there when I needed to get my dick wet until I came back for her.”

  She freezes and gapes at me. “You’re a cruel, miserable man.”

  “And you tried to paint me otherwise.”

  The tiny thing stomps over to me and I close my eyes, expecting the blow to my cheek. Instead, her lips press to my still-wet cheek and she whispers, “Cruel.”

  When I open my eyes, she’s already rushing from the room. I don’t go after her. Instead, I pour two cups of coffee and carry them into Hunter’s study. The moment I walk inside, I see that it’s been ransacked. He’s a disheveled mess and the room reeks of whiskey.