It had only been a few weeks since the last time I had been with someone, but I was so wound up from the day’s events, so in need of a release, that I was going to bust before we even got started if I let her keep going.
“Where’s the bedroom?” I demanded as I yanked her off by her hair. She took a deep breath and pointed to the hallway.
“On the left side.” She rose to her feet and turned to lead me. Her ass bounced just a little with every step she took, and her hips started to swing a little harder as she threw a saucy look over her shoulder at me. I smacked her cheek hard, and she squealed.
“Ouch! Sorry, Sir.” She rubbed her ass but picked up the pace.
Definitely not new to this.
37-Melanie
Leaving my husband, the man I had loved for all of my adult life, on the floor in pain should’ve felt good… he’d put his lips on me without my consent—after having put those same lips on countless women— but all I felt was numb.
I let Griffin guide me back to the garage, where the car was waiting, and felt myself responding with nods and one-word replies to Penelope’s enthusiastic instructions. I found myself watching their lips move as they went over the next steps and could hear the rumble of Griffin's deeper voice even through the buzzing inside my head.
“Melanie,” Penelope snapped her fingers in front of my face. Concern battled frustration in her eyes as she tried to control her expression. “I need you to come back to the conversation.” She softened her tone, and I tried to blink away the haze that had settled over me.
“What?” I rasped and winced at the sound of my own voice. It had only been a few minutes, yet it sounded like I had been screaming for hours.
“She needs a minute,” Griffin reprimanded Penelope with a firm head shake. “We will meet you at the station.”
“Fine.” Penelope gave me another assessing look, “she’s definitely in a state of shock, but that might work in her favor for a no contact order.”
“Dial back into your humanity, Yang.” Griffin said coldly. She scowled at him and then sighed.
“You’re right. I’m in lawyer mode. My client was just assaulted in front of me, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it then, but I can do something about it now.” Her eyes had a terrifying glint in them. “We should head right there.”
“Okay,” I replied before Griffin could say anything else. I knew that Penelope cared, even if her delivery was harsh in that moment. She nodded briskly and turned away from us without another word.
“Do you need a minute?” He opened the door and placed a hand on my lower back to steer me inside.
“No, Penelope means well.” I murmured and ducked into the backseat of the car we had hired. Ben’s actions had left us all on edge.
Griffin slid in beside me and instructed the driver to take us to the precinct. Neither of us spoke, and Griffin filled the silence with the sound of his fingers tapping on his screen while he caught up on work emails.
· · - ·?· - · ·
Reporting the incident and filing for an emergency no-contact order had taken longer than I anticipated. Penelope seemed pleased with the outcome, because it was still early in the day, she had been able to get us an ex parte hearing, and the judge had issued a temporary no-contact order with a real court date set for next week. She also filed the petition for divorce and requested a freeze on assets order.
Meanwhile, Griffin called in some favors and got a forensic accountant to start digging deeper. The forensic accountant was given explicit orders to include a report of any and all illegal findings for the authorities.
I had been resistant, at first, to the idea of getting Ben into legal trouble, but my mother had reminded me that this was no longer just about me.
“Isn’t it wrong to help put the father of my child in jail?” I asked my mother.
We were all gathered on the back porch of the Airbnb my parents rented in Playa Del Rey, as the last rays from the sun turned the sky brilliant shades of pink and orange.
“Are you putting him in jail?” She tilted her head, “or are his own actions going to put him in jail?”
I groaned.
“A distinction that, in this moment, doesn’t matter.” I grumbled.
“It absolutely does matter.” My mother scowled, “it’s not just you that needs protection from Ben right now… it’s your child. I don’t know what happened to that boy, but the man that assaulted you in the bathroom today, endangered your health for casual flings, and has been financially controlling you does not sound like a safe man to be coparenting with.”
“I know…” I felt my eyes fill with tears, again, as I remembered the panic in his eyes when he realized I was done. “I saw him, briefly, today… the boy he used to be. He looked so afraid when he realized that his world was falling apart.”
“That’s not your burden to carry,” my father interrupted me, his tone stern and his face grim. “When we make mistakes, we have to face the consequences of them. Benjamin is responsible for everything that is happening to him right now— none of this was done TO him.”
