Her Substitute Groom

“Ugh! You know you’re driving me nuts right now, babe… You need to talk to me, OK? Who was that man?” Connor asked, rubbing his fingers gently on his forehead while trying to be cool. He was burning inside, his blood felt as though it was set on fire, and he was finding it difficult to wrap his head around the shit that was happening, but still, he wanted to believe that Janice wasn’t cheating on him. That was the last thing he would believe, but how sure was he?

“Babe, talk to me,” he held her shoulders and shook slightly as if trying to force words out of her mouth, but his jaw dropped when she yanked his hands off and stepped away from him.

“Why are you following me? Why the heck are you here?” She snapped at him even though she knew she was wrong.

“What!” He exclaimed, his face laced with shock and confusion. Of course, that was not what he was expecting to hear from her.

“Yes! Why the fuck were you following me? The fact that we are together doesn’t give you the right to stalk me, Connor. What the heck has come over you?” She snapped at him, and he raised his eyebrows.

“Babe? Are you kidding me? You left home and said you wanted to go somewhere, were you expecting to stay back at home knowing that it’s late already?”

“I would’ve asked you to follow me if I needed you here. So next time, try to mind your business. Yes, you are my boyfriend, but you don’t have any right to stalk me,” and with that, she pushed him slightly out of her way and walked away, leaving Connor stunned as he froze on the spot.

“What the heck just happened?” He mumbled and scoffed unbelievably.

“Am I dreaming?” He mumbled again and when he finally turned, he was stunned Janice was nowhere around the vicinity.

“Where did she go?” He muttered and hurriedly went in the direction he assumed she would take, but there was no sign of her, so he walked back to his car and drove off…

*****

“Thank you,” Janice said to the cabby who had just dropped her in front of the hotel and proceeded toward the entrance door after she paid him off. Tears welled up in her eyes as she walked into the hotel, but she held them back.

“Hello,” she said to the receptionist when she got to the reception, and the young slim lady in her early thirties smiled at her.

“Hello, Ms. You are welcome to Harry’s five-star hotel. How may I be of help, please?” The receptionist asked her, and she sighed briefly.

“I want to lodge a room,” she replied to the young lady whose face dropped immediately.

“I’m sorry, Ms, but the hotel is filled up and there is no room available at the moment. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience,” Janice knew that she would eventually have to go back home at this point because it was already getting late.

“Thank you,” she said to the receptionist, then left the hotel and boarded a cab.

The tears she had been holding back for the past few minutes finally flooded her cheeks as she rested her head on the window of the cab she boarded while staring out through the window.

‘I give you three days to be back in LA, Janice. You wouldn’t want to see the demon in me, I promise’ she shrieked recalling his scary words, the expression on his face. He looked like a totally different person from the him she used to know. He looked like a demon earlier when she saw him and she was sure that he would kill someone if she didn’t do what he asked of her. How did her life end here? How did she get herself involved in this mess? She asked herself, more tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Are you ok, Miss?” The cabby asked her as he glanced at her through the rearview mirror, and she quickly wiped her tears.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” she forced a smile and the man stared at her for a few seconds before he nodded and took his attention back to driving.

The cabby finally pulled over in front of Connor’s mansion, and Janice stepped out of it.

“Don’t worry about it,” the elderly cab driver refused to collect money from her when she handed him some money.

“Thank you, Sir,” she forced a smile that disappeared almost immediately.

“You should try to deal with whatever problem you have. You don’t need to cry about it. Maybe talking to someone about it will be best,” he said to her and finally drove off, leaving Janice to sort herself out.

Her heart pounded hard against her chest as she walked into the compound, and finding Connor’s car in the parking lot made it even worse. She didn’t want to see him for some time but what could she do when the only available hotel she could lodge at was occupied? It wasn’t her lucky day, who knows?

Her hand trembled when she finally got to the entrance door and held the doorknob.

“Just pretend nothing happened,” her subconscious mind said to her, and she was foolish to have fallen for that because every ounce of braveness left in her crashed when she walked into the living room and found Connor pacing restlessly.

“Oh, goodness! You are finally here,” Connor breathed out in relief, and without holding back, he walked over to her and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly like his life depended on it, leaving Janice shocked. Here she was, thinking he was going to scold her when she got back, but she was mistaken.

“I was so worried about you. Why didn’t you answer your phone? I’ve been calling you,” Connor uttered as he hugged her tighter, his right hand at the back of her head while the other one was wrapped around her waist, pulling her close.

“Con… nor…”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“Don’t say anything, babe… Don’t say anything, please,” he whispered and a drop of fresh tears streamed down Janice’s cheek as she stared into space. Her heart bled and waves of guilt spurred through her.

“We need to go back to LA, Connor,” she said out of the blue moon after thinking about it for a while and saw that she didn’t have a choice at that point.

“We should go back to LA?” Connor asked surprisingly as he pulled away from her, his hands on her shoulders, and she nodded her head.

“Why?” He asked, and she shrugged.

“Nothing. I want to be back there,” she replied to him bluntly like it was not a big deal, and Connor scoffed.

“What do you mean nothing? You must have a reason, babe…”

“I want to go back there,” she cuts him off, and he sighed briefly.

“Alright, babe. We are going to talk about that tomorrow, OK? For now, let’s eat something and go to bed. Ashley already made dinner and the table is set,” he cupped her cheek in his palm, his eyes piercing into hers. He leaned forward to kiss her but she pulled back and stepped away from him.

“Babe? Is everything alright?” He asked and tried to touch her again, but she shook her head and stepped away from him again.

“You need to work on us returning to LA tomorrow so we can leave by the first flight the next day. I don’t want to spend more than forty-eight hours here,” she stated bluntly and walked away from him.

“Babe… Babe… You can’t ask us to leave just like that, OK? We need to sit and talk about it, OK?” He uttered but she was long gone so it turned out that he had just been blabbing to the air.

“What the fuck is going on?” He muttered as he slumped on the couch and rubbed his fingers on his forehead frustratingly…