Broken Obsession - Part Two (15 page)

Amber’s eyes go wide.
That’s not what was in the
agreement!
What the hell did he just do? She thought they
agreed on a much lesser amount. What the hell was going on? Did he
just add an additional thirty thousand to the ten she originally
asked for? She tugged at her attorney’s jacket, “Harry, what the
hell are you doing? Don’t get him angry, please, he already agreed
to the ten grand a month.”

Harry bent over and whispered back to her, “Trust me
love...I’m going to be your hero when this is over.”

“Your Honor,” Tim finally chimed in, “The decision of
alimony has already been agreed upon, why is Petitioner’s counsel
suddenly raising the sum?”

The judge turned and gave Harry a sharp look. “Mr.
Billson, you care to clarify?”

“Just realized something your Honor…Mrs. Sanchez
needs to continue her life of luxury. When Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez
were married, Mr. Sanchez demanded that Mrs. Sanchez quit her job
and stay home to raise their young son. He explained to her that
she would become a woman of leisure, his words, not mine—and she
never had to work again. I believe Mrs. Sanchez deserves the
increase to continue the life that’s she been accustomed.”

Eduardo leaned over and whispered something to his
attorney; Amber could see him in the corner of her eye doing so.
His counsel seemed upset and angrily whispered something back in
return.

Tim cleared his throat, “It seems Respondent has had
an epiphany of some sort and agrees to the forty thousand a month
alimony.”

Amber’s jaw dropped to the table. What the hell was
Eduardo doing? Amber sat there in awe as her attorney stated back
and forth her demands, while Eduardo’s attorney began to agree with
every single one of them: The house, their three cars, the dog and
all the furniture, winter vacation homes in Tahoe and Aspen, a
time-share in Kauai, fifty-five percent holding interest in all of
Eduardo’s business investments and that ridiculous amount of forty
thousand dollars a month?

Amber suddenly buried her head within her hands and
realized now what her ex-husband was trying to do. He didn’t want
Amber to leave without making sure she was at least a little bit
happy. Trying to concede and leave on happy terms; trying to ease
any future pain. But she didn’t want to be taken care of anymore;
she just wanted to run away. Die alongside Peyton.

She yanked at Harry’s lapel again and cut short his
further claims in midsentence. “I don’t want it,” she said feeling
her heart pound uncontrollably.

He looked at her as if she just lost her fuckin’
mind. “Mrs. Sanchez,” he hushed down, “Amber…what part don’t you
want?”

Amber stared at him serious, “Any of it.”

Harry’s eyes grew wide, “What?” He let go bewildered.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not?” Amber suddenly raised her voice, looking
at the judge now; making sure her choice was loud and clear. “I
don’t want it, I don’t want his money, and I don’t want his
property. I don’t want anything. I just want a divorce…and the dog,
I want to keep the dog.”

Eduardo gazed over at Harry and his soon to be
ex-wife. His heart was suddenly being pulled from all directions.
What the hell was she doing? Amber wanted
nothing?

Harry suddenly spoke up after shaking his head a
couple of times, “Your Honor...Petitioner is withdrawing all
appeals.”

The judge stared at him astounded. Eduardo just shut
his eyes. Damn her. She really did want to cut all ties.

Amber stood up and then stormed out of the courtroom,
Kleenex in hand, wiping away her tears that were gushing down her
face. Eduardo stood up and then darted out after her, but she was
too quick and seemed to disappear in the crowds of people exiting
out through the glass doors.

Later, Eduardo found Harry waltzing along the
corridor.

“Harry...”

Harry turned around and gazed in to his friends eyes.
He was just as disbelieving as he was, “I had no idea Eduardo. I
didn’t know she was going to request such ridiculous legal
recourse.”

“Would you do something for me?”

“Sure, anything.”

“Set up a trust account. Set it up in her mother’s
name, Sheila Thomas. Amber’s mother will be the Executor to her
estate, I trust her with my money. I’ll send her the forty grand
each month.”

Harry just stood there agape, “Eduardo, can I ask you
something?”

“Sure—anything.”

“Why are you getting a divorce?”

Why? Why was he divorcing her? Why was he walking
away from the only woman he ever truly loved? Did their
relationship die when their son did? “Harry, if I knew the answer
to that we wouldn’t be here now, would we?”

*****

Eduardo actually waited until the divorce papers were
legally stamped “recorded” when he finally approached Stacey’s
door.

“Can I come in?”

Stacey was in the middle of reading a book, but
Eduardo Sanchez suddenly crowding her doorway was a way better
option for the evening, “Absolutely.”

Eduardo walked in, but remained hesitant. Stacey
studied his eyes for a moment and decided a drink was in order.

“Would you like a glass of brandy?”

Eduardo’s throat closed up, his heartbeat
escalated…Good God, he was nervous? He hadn’t been on the prowl for
a very long time and it felt awkward to be alone with another woman
knowing his only intention was to bed her. To be honest, he
wondered what Amber was doing at that moment and pined away for her
and her presence. What was she doing now? The house had been sold
three months earlier and he had to let go of Mrs. Lopez, there
really was no need for a nanny any longer, and the last he heard,
Amber had moved to the valley and into an apartment somewhere near
the foothills. Eduardo continued to stay by the beach and bought a
townhome in Malibu. All their past acquaintances had been severed
too, he not only divorced his wife, but he divorced their friends
as well.

He gazed over at Stacey and felt guilt running
through his veins. He would be using her, plain and simple. Would
she mind? Would she even care? Or would she simply relent from the
sheer joy of getting exactly what
she’s
longed for?

He downed the remaining brandy in his glass then gave
Stacey a sweltering look. He watched her place down hers as well
and that was all the confirmation he needed. He stepped into her
and closed the space between them. Circling his green eyes around
her milky white skin first, he thought “I love my wife” and grabbed
Stacey into his arms and kissed her passionately.

Eduardo started to undress her and Stacey did the
same; two bodies in a heated impatient choreography. He unraveled
his tie, unbuttoned his shirt, she unzipped her dress, unhooked her
bra. Eduardo darted in towards her neck; she kissed his chest
sensuously until they found their way to the bed.

Stacey couldn’t believe it, it was what she had
dreamt about for the past twenty years. He was finally filling her,
ramming her and oh God he was so big and wonderful, everything she
always fantasized he would be like and he didn’t disappoint. Stacey
closed her eyes as Eduardo continued to make love to her and Stacey
relished every luscious second.

Later, Eduardo woke up in a cold sweat. Sitting up in
bed, he threw his legs over to the side and sat on the edge of the
bed. Feeling sweat dripping off the center of his back and neck, he
turned to look over at Stacey; she was sleeping soundly with a
smile pasted to her face.

“At least someone’s happy,” he muttered to himself,
drawing up his boxer shorts and roaming over by the windowsill.

It was winter in California and the rain pounded hard
onto the glass, tapping at the window like someone wanting to get
in. He stood still and gazed out at the storm and instantly brought
to mind what rainy days always reminded him of; his ex-wife.

He went to drop off Adrian’s Disney video in the
middle of the night and was suddenly caught off guard by Amber
still being awake. God, her arrival was nothing short of
spectacular! She had flung the door open to his prurient universe,
enticing not only his body, but his very mind and soul. Good God,
he loved her then…Good God, he loved her still! Good God, what the
hell did he just do? He just had sex with a gorgeous blond and he
was feeling nothing but remorse? Only one emotion could contribute
to the feeling that he was having. Guilt. Never in his wildest
imagination did he believe he’d be making love to another woman
other than Amber for the rest of his life. Amber was his soul mate,
the woman he felt finalized with. Why did he just have sex with
Stacey? He felt sick all of a sudden, nauseated.

He walked over to the bathroom and turned on the
faucet to splash cold water in his face, but then leaned over the
wash-basin to throw up. He was sick, he was tormented, or was he
really ill? He felt like death warmed over and looked at himself in
the vanity mirror. He
looked
like death warmed over.

He unexpectedly stiffened up when he felt Stacey’s
hands running up and down his back; caressing his shoulders, his
waist down to his groin. He turned around and looked sharply in her
eyes. He felt sick again, he’s never been this afflicted
before!

“You OK?” She asked, watching him dart toward the
toilet to throw up the rest of the brandy.

Eduardo hugged the toilet bowl, “No, just go back to
bed Stacey, I think I just ate something bad.”

Stacey started to exit within hearing Eduardo vomit
once more.

She closed the door behind her and guessed having sex
over and again was out of the question?

A few months later, the routine began to get a little
bit easier. No more sobbing on the way there, only some stifled
emotion as he drove through the wrought-iron gates.

Eduardo arrived at the cemetery midday. He got out of
car and slowly emerged the area where his little boy had been. As
soon as he reached the gravesite, he stared down at the
headstone.

Peyton Enrique Sanchez

Our Miraculous Son

Mommy and Daddy Will
Always

Love You

He started to choke back tears again and knelt down
to admire the various flowers that surrounded his son’s gravesite.
It was Peyton’s birthday—he would have been five.

There were flowers from his own mother, his former
mother-in-law, Peyton’s Aunt Molly, and...Good God, could it be—a
wrapped present hidden behind the bouquets with a card that read,
“Love Mommy.”

Tears ran down his face at once as he picked up the
present and gazed up and around him. Amber was nowhere in sight but
she had obviously been there and a strange pang was felt deep
within his heart because he had missed her so. No, that wasn’t the
complete truth, he missed her a lot; being around her, hearing her
voice and being able to touch her daily. He looked down at the
present again and felt compelled to open it. He wanted to see what
she got him. What an awful horrible feeling! What the hell happened
to them? Was it really Peyton’s death that had broken them apart?
Or was it something else entirely? They never really did get a
chance to heal. He just accused her—she just blamed him—and no one
was sane enough to bend, or were they doomed from the very
beginning, marrying his brother’s wife; some kind of divine
retribution, punishing them for their retched sins?

Eduardo knelt back down and placed the present back
on top of his son’s grave. He suddenly felt compelled to see Kyra,
his daughter from his first wife Leticia. Eduardo then placed the
present he brought for his son next to Amber’s just before he
left.

He arrived shortly after at Leticia residence, at the
home he had bought with her when they were married. He really
didn’t want to take care of
her
, but felt it was necessary
for his daughter to continue living in comfort; a four-bedroom,
three bath home right smack in the middle of a posh part of Encino,
California.

He knocked on their front door then waited a few
seconds until Leticia suddenly appeared with her blond highlights
and upgraded bosom.

Leticia Sanchez was still tall and still beautiful
with stunning green eyes similar to Eduardo’s. She was still single
and still resentful and judged her ex-husband up and down as if he
were some riff-raff off the street. After their divorce, Leticia
joined a “Why Men Cheat” women’s healing group and tried to get
over her ex-husband, but could not. The depression was madness and
full of loneliness and Leticia then signed up for Match.com. It
didn’t work; everyone that she dated was then hopelessly compared
to her ex-husband so Leticia sent Kyra off to stay with her parents
and flew off to Cabo San Lucas for some rest and relaxation (i.e.,
some mindless sex). Having only slept with one man (her ex-husband)
her entire life, she bedded the first man she came across and woke
up the next morning with the waiter she met at the hotel
restaurant. He was fifteen years younger than she and Leticia felt
more like a tramp than some cougar when she learned of his age and
sent him on his way. Two days later, she hooked up with another
man, some television actor on vacation and he sent her on her way.
One night stands simply weren’t for her and decided when she
returned to the states, she was going to go back to church and find
a good Catholic mate. There wasn’t one; they were too old, married
and too young or had a fear of commitment. She just couldn’t get
over that ex-husband! She felt blind-sided, she had no clue and
Eduardo had always acted the same when he was around the family. He
always gave her the attention that she had craved and made love to
her when she needed the intimacy; she just missed being with him.
Oh, she hated being single and hated feeling this way constantly
and decided to redo her self-image and started with her
self-esteem. Large breasts; she always wanted them and what better
way to spend her ex’s money than to get breast implants? She always
hated having small breasts and opted towards the Pam Anderson’s.
But when the plastic surgeon explained to her that Leticia’s back
wouldn’t be able to sustain that much weight, she chose the Carmen
Electra’s instead.