Thoughtless Sacrifice (13 page)

I shook my head slowly. I had
never felt this afraid in my life. I saw his fist coming towards
me. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. Instead, I heard it
smash into the wall behind my head.

His grip loosened from my chin
and his hands rested on my hips. I slowly opened my eyes and
watched this powerful man sink to the floor.

His head rested against my
knees. “Just come home” he cried. My heart broke again. Maxwell was
crying, my wonderful Mr Golden Rule was broken and I had done
it.

I crouched down in front of him
and grabbed hold of his hand. Wow, the electric current rushed
through my body.

“
I can't,” I
said softly. “Don't you understand what you did?” The thought of
him cheating was always at the back of my mind. The bile was
creeping up my throat and eyes burning with tears. I wished there
was a way we could go back and delete everything.

“
I know” he
sniffed, wiping away tears with the back of his hand. His blue eyes
finally locked with mine---blue on blue. “I fucked some dirty whore
when I should have been with you. Please, stop punishing me, Miss
Dawson.”

All the wind was punched out of
me. Miss Dawson? He hadn't called me that for years. It felt like
we had gone back in time and all the love I had for this man rushed
back. His words circled my mind 'I fucked some dirty whore'.

I shook my head. “Maxwell,” I
began, trying to control my emotions. “You choose business over me
every time. You cheated on my birthday and lied about it.” His face
turned back into stone. “I can not trust you.”

“
Georgina?”
said a voice. We both looked up and Blake was standing in the
doorway. “Are you okay?” His voice filled with concern.

“
Fine” I
replied. “I'll be in soon.” Blake nodded and disappeared. My eyes
looked back at Maxwell, his hands reached out and he cupped my
face.

“I love you” his voice intense
and full of passion.

“
I love you
too” I sighed. “Love isn't enough anymore. We have no trust.” I
took his hands away from my face. My fingertip traced the wedding
band still in place on his index finger. I blinked the tears away
yet again. “We need to move on.”

I didn't want to discuss this
anymore, I stood up and Maxwell followed. He began to walk down the
stairs and I watched. When he got to the last step he looked up at
me. My beautiful caring wonderful Mr Golden rule. He now looked
broken, tired and defeated.

“
Maybe one
day,” he said softly. “Just maybe, I'll process you again. You will
always be the woman I desire and crave, Mrs Thomas.”

Was I doing the right thing? I
quickly looked away and when I looked back... He was gone. With the
last strength I had, I walked back into the apartment. I closed the
door and rested my forehead against it. The image of Maxwell in
pain filled my head. I had done that to him.

My heart was now truly broken,
I spun round and took in a deep breath. I couldn’t stay here with
Riley and I couldn’t be with Riley. On the other hand, I couldn’t
be with Maxwell either. My whole world had been smashed apart, all
because my husband couldn’t keep it in his pants.

I had to get away. I needed
space and a chance to think. I raced into the bedroom I was sharing
with Riley. Grabbed the suitcase from the wardrobe and throw it
down on the bed.

“
Going
somewhere?” said a voice making me jump. I looked over at Blake
leaning against the doorway. “It won’t help you know.”

“
And how would
you know?” I snapped. “Didn’t you do the exact same thing?” I stood
up straight and folded my arms. “Where’s your wife,
Blake?”

He closed his eyes and I
instantly felt guilty. He looked like I had just stabbed him in the
chest. He let out a little air from his mouth and opened his
eyes.

“
That was low,
George” he said softly.

“
I’m sorry.” I
sat down on the bed and placed my head in my hands. I was a
horrible person. I just went around hurting people. First Blake,
then Riley and Maxwell. Maybe I was like my mother and had never
realized.

I felt the bed move and I could
feel Blake sitting next to me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder
and pulled me into him. At first the thought of him touching me
felt strange. Then slowly I began to relax and it felt comforting.
The tears began to fall again and I cried into Blake’s chest.

“
It will be
okay” he sighed, running his fingers through my hair. It was
something he would do when I was upset.

“
No,” I
sniffed. “My marriage is over and I need to get away.”

“
Where will
you go?”

I shrugged my shoulders. There
was only really one place left for me to go. My father lived in
Spain with my stepmother Caitlyn. I would just have to deal with
his questions. My father didn’t exactly have a lot of faith in me.
He thought I was a screw up and it was right.

“
Spain” I
answered, sitting back up and wiping my eyes. I looked over at
Blake and into his Emerald eyes which were full of humour. His
shoulders were moving and he was biting down on his lip. “What’s
funny?”

“
You’re brave”
he smiled. He was right I was brave. My father was a scary man. He
and Blake had never gotten along. Just like I had never gotten on
with Blake’s mother. For the first time in a while I actually
smiled

Blake laid back on the bed and
rested on his elbows. “Why did he insist on calling me
Ritchie?”

A laugh escaped my lips and I
lay next to Blake. “After the movie Ritchie Rich.”

“
Ahh” he
laughed. His expression turned serious and he rested his head back
on the bed. “When did everything get so messed up?”

“
I have no
idea” I sighed.

“
I believed
you were the love of my life. Then when I met Amy, I felt something
I had never experienced. I couldn’t live without her. I craved her,
she was my drug.”

“
I know
exactly what you’re saying” I smiled, remembering the first time I
met Maxwell. I just knew in that interview I wanted him and I
wasn’t going anywhere until I got what I wanted.

I looked over at Blake. “I’m
sorry.”

“
For what?” he
looked confused.

“
For
everything I did to you.” I reached out and grabbed his hand. “I
never wanted to hurt you. You’re a nice man and I think there is
someone perfect out there for you.”

He squeezed my hand. “The past
is the past. I’m just glad we can be friends.” He brought my hand
up to his lips. “You’re a good girl. You just have a funny way of
dealing with things.” He gave my hand a little kiss and smiled.
“You better go and book a ticket.” He stood up and walked out of
the room.

I looked up at the ceiling, he
was right I should book my ticket. I had to sort myself out and I
had to end my marriage. Maxwell and I had to move on. Our romance
was over and there was no repairing it. Before I went, I had to
make sure Maxwell, Bailey and Olivia were taken care of.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

Blake

Sat on the sofa and waited for
Riley to come home from work. Georgina had left over an hour ago. I
was actually relieved she was gone. Riley didn’t deserve to be
stuck in the middle of her messy life.

I looked over at the note she
had asked me to hand over to Riley. A note? She couldn’t even speak
to him face to face. No, riley was better off without her. Georgina
just caused problems, even though she never meant to. She couldn’t
help herself, she never thought about anyone except herself.

The lock clicked and a few
seconds Riley walked in, a massive smile on his face. You could
tell he was a man in love, dumb ass! He could have his choice of
women, but no, he had to choose her. I remember when Georgina left
me. I was a mess; I didn’t eat, go out or sleep. It was thanks to
Riley and Amy that I got my life back.

He looked over at me and the
smile finally fell off his face. He began to walk towards me.
“Where is Georgina?”

“
She’s gone” I
replied. I picked up the note and handed it over to him. “She
wanted me to give you this.”

He snatched the note out of my
hand and sat down. He quickly read it and shook his head. “She
can’t” he mumbled. “She just can’t.”

I sat back on the sofa and just
watched him read the note a million times. His eyebrows almost
meeting in the middle and his mouth tight. It was as if he couldn’t
grasp the words and no matter how many times he read it nothing
made sense.

“
This isn’t
right” he hissed, anger now taking over him. He scrunched the note
into a ball and threw it across the room. He stood up, walked over
to a wall and started punching the shit out of it.

“
Fucking
bitch!” he yelled as he fist hit the wall, making an
imprint.

He bowed his head and started
to breath rapidly. I felt sorry for my friend. I also understood
why Georgina had to go. Sometimes if you remove yourself from a
situation, things look a lot different. Also, she needed to sort
herself out. Forget about men and focus on her child.

Riley dropped to the floor and
placed his head in his hands. “I knew it” he laughed. “I just knew
it was too good to be true.” He ran his hands through his hair and
gave a little sigh. “Seriously, how can anyone compete with Maxwell
Thomas?”

I stood up, walked over and sat
down next to my friend. “Look on the bright side” I said, trying to
cheerful. “You’re now available to come out with me.” I nudged him.
“Think about all the women.”

He looked up and narrowed his
eyes. “Blake, women are off limits for me. Why didn’t she tell me
this face to face?”

“
I don’t know,
she never said. What did she say in the note?”

Riley tilted his head to the
side and rolled his eyes. “Same old shit. Its not you, it’s me. She
needs to think and she’s sorry if she has hurt me.” He sighed again
and sat up straight. “I should have known better. After all she
does have a colourful history with men.”

“
At least it
ended now before it started.” I looked around the apartment. I
didn’t want to spend the rest of my holiday stunk in these four
walls. I jumped to my feet, “Come” I ordered. “We’re going
out.”

“
I don’t think
I can” he groaned. “I hate her” he snarled. “She has destroyed my
life.” His fist clenched again and he looked up at me. “Why didn’t
you warn me?”

What, now it was my fault? My
jaw dropped open and I just stared at him. Seriously, why did I
always get the blame? I told him a million times and he refused to
listen. I told him this would happen. He couldn’t be this
thick.

“
I did” I
snapped. “Right from the start…”

“
I know” he
sighed. He took in a deep breath and finally got to his feet.
“Let’s go out.”

I threw my hands in the air.
“About time” I laughed. “Forget her, Riley.” He just nodded. I
rolled my eyes. He looked like a love sick puppy. Well, tonight I
was going to make sure he forgot all about Georgina. In fact maybe
it would help if I forgot she existed as well. After all this were
my new start and my chance of happiness.

***

Maxwell

There was a knock on the door,
yelled for whoever to come and a grey haired man in glass holding a
briefcase entered.

“
Mr Thomas?”
he greeted, his voice sounded very professional. Instantly, he
caught my attention and I stopped looking at the
paperwork.

“
Yes” I
smiled. “How can I help you?”

He walked a little further into
my office and placed his briefcase down on my desk. “I'm Mr Clarke,
from Clarke's Legal Team.” He opened up the briefcase and pulled
out some papers. “I am representing Mrs Georgina Thomas.”

My jaw hit the desk as I
hesitated as he passed the papers to me. I leaned back as I started
to read what was in front of me. I hadn't seen her since the
incident in the hallway at Riley's apartment building. I had gone
too far that day and I knew so. For fuck sake, I almost hit
her!

I didn’t like feeling like
this. I didn’t do out of control.

“
Divorce…
She’s filed for divorce?”

He didn't answer my question,
just shut his briefcase and picked it up. “I suggest you read them
and get yourself a lawyer, Mr Thomas.”

“
She told you
to do this?” I was in a state of shock, divorce? She wanted rid of
me? Us? I started reading through them as quick as I could. The
reason she wanted a divorce was unreasonable behaviour... She
hadn't mentioned me being unfaithful. Why?

I looked at Mr Clarke.
“When?”

“
Mrs Thomas
came into the office a few days ago, sir.” He looked like he was
taking pity for me. “This isn't exactly my favourite part of my
job. I just do what I am paid to do.”

“
Of course, I
understand” I was still stunned.

“
I’m sorry
again, Mr Thomas” he made his way to the door. “As soon as you get
a lawyer, sign and it will be over. If we can keep this clean, it
shouldn't drag out.”

Then he was gone and I was left
alone with divorce papers. In black and white was my fate. My wife
no longer wanted me. I took in a deep breath. I no longer wanted to
be here. I wanted to lock myself away with whiskey and as many
cigarettes my lungs could take.

***

Georgina

I felt the soft fresh breeze on
my face. I looked out at the beach and finally I could breathe. I
was away from Maxwell, Riley and all the hassle that came with my
life. Also, I knew today he was being served divorce papers.