One Night With Mr Braxton

Stupid. So stupid to have gone there!

Emma beat up herself for thinking something positive could come out of seeing Colton. Of course it was about him, now that she thought of it, he never did anything If it didn’t benefit him one way or the other.

Being a person who preferred to avoid adding to her already long list of regrets, she made it a point to try and fail rather than refusing to try.

An attitude that got her disappointed, time and time again. She ended up sitting through four minutes of hell with the devil himself.

Yes. She was counting.

They sped through the familiar route that led to the Mansion and her phone started ringing. A string of curse words left lips, ready to let out a piece of her mind, before actually realizing it was her husband calling.

” Hello?”

” Where are you?” Asher’s tone was hard and curt.

” On my way home? What’s got your panties in a twist.” She retorted with more sass than intended. Apparently, someone was in a bad mood too, no surprise there.

Asher looked over the city from his office, fighting the urge to lash out or do anything drastic.

” From?” He asked in a controlled tone,

She sighed, ” I had some work in the city. And yes, Benny took me.” Her eyes rolled at his controlling antics.

” Always a smart mouth. What is this business? Anything I should know about?” He pushed, waiting for her to say something, anything that’ll dull the pain in his chest.

” Nothing you don’t already know. Have a good day hubby, I’m home.” She announced and ended the call.

Emma admitted she wasn’t feeling all sunshine with how the day panned out. Forgive her but she didn’t feel relatively in the mood to banter with her moody husband.

Asher dropped the phone and returned to his job with a vengeance, his fury smiting everyone that encountered him. In no time, he was done and out of the office, speeding home with a resolution on how to handle the situation.

******

He gave her the silent treatment.

Dinner got served by Ms. Adams and the atmosphere felt cold. It didn’t have anything to do with the weather but had more to do with the hostility and iciness that seemed to exude the couple.

” Are you sure everything is alright? You guys seem…off.” Bianca asked again, wondering if she was delusional and seeing things.

” They already said nothing’s up, Bianca. Let it go.” Rebecca spoke up, Emma couldn’t help but notice the elation in her voice.

Of course Bianca wasn’t seeing things! Her husband decided he was on his period and ignored her since he returned from work. At first, she boiled it to having a bad day at work, and tried to give him a bit of space to recover.

She soon realized it was nothing related to work.

It was a deliberate decision to ignore her existence and go on about his day like every other day. She wondered if there was anything she did wrongly, or said wrongly but after asking and apologizing for the nth time between closed doors, she decided to call it quits.

As the famous saying goes- what a man can do, a woman can do it better. She girded up her nonchalance and reciprocated his energy in the best possible way.

That led them to this point- ignoring each other’s existence while they had dinner with the rest.

” Ash, I was wondering if I could catch a ride with you tomorrow. I need to resolve something from the bank just beside the office.” Rebecca, in her unrelenting stance requested.

” I’ll be leaving early. Very early.”

Emma nearly choked on her food when she heard him speak. Apparently, he had no problem engaging with Rebecca.

” I don’t mind, Ash. Just drop by my room and I’ll be ready.” She said with just the right amount of sweetness that caused diabetes.

” Good. Be ready.”

Bianca couldn’t hold her tongue for the life of her, ” You do realize he leaves at seven right? That’s like a solid two hours before the bank starts attending to customers.” She pointed out.

” I doubt that, but if that’s the case, I guess I could wait it out in his office.” Rebecca opined,

” There are lots of luxury cars and chauffeurs available for use, Rebecca. Might as well catch a ride with one,” Bianca spoke like it was general knowledge, ” At. The. Right. Time.” She added, slowly and annunciating every word.

” She isn’t complaining.”

Again, Emma felt stunned at his getting involved with the conversation.

” Neither am I.” Asher added and Rebecca wore an award winning grin. All eyes darted towards Emma, no doubt, pining for a reaction.

She couldn’t sit still. Not anymore. With one last spoon of her meal, she gulped down her glass of water and excused herself without a word. Emma took difficult steps till she was out of sight then broke into a sprint.

She ran out of the building, needing to end the constipated feeling of being inside the house. Somehow, her legs lead her to the garden, just by the side of the building.

Her feet slowed down while her heart and ears pounded. Her eyes stung but she refused to cry over him. Over them. She was past the stage of crying over men and refused to go down that trail.

The resolve weakened when she felt a strong arm wrap over her and his aura filled her senses. How did he get here so fast?

Emma let herself cry with her back to him, refusing to let him see her face. To see what he’d done to her, how he’d made her feel. Asher isn’t having it because he turned her with just enough force that they stood face to face in seconds.

” What?! Why are you here?! Get back to her and leave me the hell alone!” She yelled in his face, turning her pain to anger.

” Calm down.” Asher said, getting hold of her hands, ” I’m sorry.”

” You did not just tell me to calm down, Asher.” She seethed, ” I don’t need your apologies either. Matter-of-fact, I want to be alone.” She declared, struggling to get out of his hold.

” Let me go!” She yelled, pushing him just enough that he let her go with a frustrating look.

” What? You want him now? One day and you already want to be with him?!” Asher returned the energy, yelling so loud that she winced.

” Congratulations, Asher. You finally spoke and I still didn’t hear anything.” She taunted and made to walk away but he drew her back.

” Colton.” Saying his name aloud ticked him, ” why were you with him? Why did you lie about it? Why on earth was he- touching you?” Asher was mad. His eyes were hysterical and she could believe her ears.

Emma momentarily felt dumbfounded. Everything suddenly made sense. His very unusual call and odd questions, his return early and silent treatment. Asher thought she’d cheated.

She saw it in his eyes. The accusation, the anger, the pain. All three things she’d experienced and didn’t wish it on her worst enemy.

” Asher.” She reached out to him with a sober expression.

He avoided her like she had the flu, ” Tell me, did you betray me?” His question shot like an arrow into her heart; producing a pang of pain.

She should have told him. She should have told him. She’d been so upset that she didn’t remember to lay things out to him.

” No.” She spoke sternly, refusing to accept such a misconception, ” He told me he had information on my stolen designs and I knew it was stupid but decided to try my hand and ended up being asked to help him score a meeting with you. I spent exactly four minutes with him and set him straight with a slap before returning home.”

She took in a large breath, willing him to see her honesty. Asher remained calm, too calm for comfort.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

” I swear to you I wouldn’t do that. Not in a relationship, not to talk of a marriage.” She stated, then added, ” real or fake.”

” Why didn’t you tell me?”

” I’m sorry. I was in a bad mood and didn’t really feel like sharing how I’d been deceived by him once again.”

He drew closer to her, ” I want to hear it. I want you to tell me, Emma. I want to know everything, every single thing. I just have to be in the know.” He held up her face, ” Think you can do that for me?”

” Absolutely.” She breathed, and like magnets, their lips connected.