Broken Obsession - Part Two (14 page)

One o’clock in the morning and Amber was still up.
How could she sleep when she knew her child was dead? The Vodka
wasn’t helping at all. One entire bottle tackled and she wasn’t
even drunk yet. Oh, she was numb to a degree, but in order for her
to pass out, she required at least two full bottles dissipated.

She got up from bed and headed downstairs to the
kitchen to fetch herself another decanter. She was just about to
turn the kitchen light on when the doorbell rang. One o’clock in
the morning and there was someone at the door?

Amber walked around the corner to the kitchen and
down the long hallway that led to the front entry. There were iron
gates surrounding the entire property, how in the hell did someone
get in?

Good Lord
, Amber thought, as she finished
looking through the peephole. She opened up the door to find her
husband tired and lost. “What are you doing here?” Amber asked,
speaking to him through a crack in the doorway.

“I’m here to talk. Can I come in?”

Amber gazed down at the ground and then slowly up to
survey his attire. Eduardo was still dressed in his best suit
apparel, long black camel coat and silk tie and looked as if he had
just come from work.

She opened up the door to let him in. “Our situation
hasn’t changed,” she said under her breath.

Eduardo removed his coat and then laid it on a chair
near the doorway. His demeanor appeared as if he were about to stay
awhile. He inspected his wife, she was wearing lavender silk
pajamas and the pink tone in her face hadn’t gone away yet,
therefore, she hadn’t drunk herself into forgetfulness. “Can we go
upstairs?”

Amber’s heart sunk. The innuendo in her husband’s
eyes said it all. He
desired
her. He deliberately came over
at one o’clock in the morning to make love to her? It had been
eight months since they last kissed, eight long meticulous months
since he was within.

Amber took hold of his hand and led him upstairs to
their bedroom. Once there, Eduardo closed the door and began to
unravel his tie. Amber closed the space between them and ran her
hands up his chest. Oh how she missed his hard physique! Her
breathing became more erratic as she gazed up into his eyes to grab
hold of his stare and his parted lips. She knew he wanted to devour
her but he held back.

“Come back to me,” he whispered softly to her,
kissing her lightly on the lips. Eduardo ran his fingers through
her raven tresses and captured the back of her head, pulling her
into his tongue and burning passion.

Amber forged them to bed and Eduardo brought down her
silk camisole and exposed her breasts to his outburst and
enthusiasm. Amber ran her hands down his bareback to his sinewy
buttocks and pressed him against her heat—if he wanted her this
badly she wasn’t going to disappoint him. She unbuckled his belt
and pulled his pants down at last. Amber tore his head away from
her nipples and tightly wrapped her arms around his neck and back
molding her wide-open mouth to his zeal.

Eduardo savored every sweet sensation he had with his
wife. God, how he loved to make love to her! Her skin so soft, her
body welcoming and perfect, and the way she made him feel when he
was in her depths, sucking him in deeper and deeper advancing him
to an unimaginable orgasm.

They lolled together unmoving in the slightest;
languidly allowing the euphoria to pass. Normally, Eduardo would
continue to kiss his wife with further ardor and she would welcome
another encounter, but on this night, Eduardo quickly got off her
body and lied down next to her staring up at the ceiling with his
hand over his forehead.

Nothing had changed. How could the best of lovers be
the best of friends? How do you muddle through the worst of agony
and find a slight bit of happiness? Peyton was
still
gone
and Amber
still
required being drunk half the day and
Eduardo hated weakness. Loving each other wasn’t enough for them.
Reality ripped through their fantasy world and neither one knew how
to make the first move.

Sex was a momentary diversion. Haunting memories came
flooding back in huge tidal waves full of pain and accusations.
Eduardo covered himself up with the blanket and decided rest was
better now than arguing. He would wait till morning to see if
things had changed between them. He rolled over on his side and
away from Amber and closed his eyes.

Amber’s eyes swelled with tears. She wanted to go
down to the kitchen to grab another bottle, but then decided not
to. She too rolled over to her side of the bed and away from her
husband, closing her eyes and silently cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, Eduardo awoke to sunshine in his
face and uneasiness in his system. He sat up and noticed Amber was
no longer next to him. He was just about to get out of bed when she
appeared in the doorway with a champagne glass full of pink bubbly
in her hand. He stared at her for the longest time and then shut
his eyes. Good God, she was not willing to bend. “I see you’ve had
breakfast,” Eduardo callously stated, whipping the sheet off his
naked body and finding his boxer shorts and drawing them up.

“I woke up this morning and felt...” Amber stopped,
feeling her throat close up, “happy for a second. Then I remembered
what day it was and that my son wasn’t in his room...I needed a
drink to cope with reality.”

“What happened to us Amber?” He suddenly yelled at
her, “Where’s that unbreakable bond we were always talking
about?”

“It died,” she whimpered, “...it’s buried in the
ground with our son.”

Eduardo watched his wife as she poured the liquid
down her throat in one quick gulp like it was nothing. All his life
he had been a spoiled man, what he usually wanted, he usually got;
but what he
wanted now
was for Amber to stop drinking! She
refused to bend and even tomorrow was a day wasted and he couldn’t
wait for his wife to get out of her slump. He wanted comfort
now
and his wife was unable to supply it.

She physically changed right before his very eyes.
When Amber was intoxicated, she became this repulsive individual,
her skin tone turned ashy, her hazel eyes turned near black, she
slurred, she stumbled until she eventually passed out.

“Look at you, you’re disgusting,” he disclosed,
picking up his clothes off the floor.

Amber was sloshed and enraged and ran toward the
mirror. “For better—or for worse Eduardo, that’s what a marriage
is—for better or for worse. Right now I think we’ve officially
reached the deep shit of hell,” she exclaimed, grabbing scissors
from a nearby drawer. She then raised the scissors to her head and
began cutting away her hair and by the time she was done it was
totally uneven and straggly all around her face. She looked like
dreadful grunge, like some weird Tim Burton character in one of his
movies. “I know I don’t look so hot,” she complained, “And maybe I
never did,” she broke down, waiving the scissors at her face and
neck, “Oh I tried to be your Barbie Doll, I really did, but as much
as I tried, I will never be a blond, never be perfect like most of
the women you’ve dated—I’ll always be this tall geeky insecure
girl, who never felt as if she really fit in.”

Eduardo was just standing there frozen; his only
aspiration for her
now
was for her to pass out. “Is that
what you think I want?” He yelled back at her grabbing the scissors
away from her hand and tossing them into the trash. He then stomped
over to the closet and yanked his last suitcase out. “I don’t want
some perfect woman Amber; I just want my wife back! I want how she
used to make me feel, I want how she used to look—”

“She’s gone,” Amber slurred, beginning to feel
lethargic from the alcohol, “she’s gone with Peyton...with her ‘lil
boy...that woman is dead.
She’s
to blame...
she’s
at
fault...she can never forgive herself for not staying sober enough
to pay enough attention to him. I can’t stop drinking...I can’t...I
won’t because it helps me cope wif’ my pain.”

Eduardo began to pack his belongings. Suits, ties,
shoes, socks and boxers all get thrown into one huge suitcase all
over again—the rest of everything—until the closet was bare of any
and all male occupation. “I feel grief too Amber and you don’t see
me drowning in two bottles of Vodka a day!”

Amber clutched the empty bottle in her hand and
chucked it at her husband’s head. Eduardo’s reflexes act
immediately and duck from the sight of the bottle hurling at his
face.

“I want to stay numb,” she whined, “...I want some’ne
to
freeze me
...I no longer want to be strong, I want to
sur’ender, I want a divorce.”

Eduardo didn’t know why but he almost felt relieved.
The rope, the bond, the chain that kept them together was suddenly
liberated. He wanted to comfort her, coddle her, but she kept
pushing him away. “Fine, send the papers.”

Amber stood by the window now, almost at the brink of
her anesthetized slumber, “You’ll be ‘earing from my attorney.”

Eduardo gripped his suitcases and turned to look at
his wife one last time before he left. What happened to them? What
became of the great compromise? What took over the love he once
felt for her? He felt nothing but suffering; distress from Peyton’s
death and mental anguish from Amber’s withdrawal. “You’ll be
hearing from mine.”

Amber turned to look at her husband one last time and
could instantly feel Eduardo’s cold heart. The love she used to see
through his green eyes alone ... vanished.

As soon as Eduardo stepped out from Amber’s view, he
leaned back against the hallway wall and bent over in torment.
Tears swarmed his eyes instantly and he felt nothing but remorse
and regret.

Saving face...why was that so burdensome? Why do
sorry
and
I need you
and
I love you
always have to be the hardest words to ever express?

“Harry
Balls
-son,” Eduardo jokingly asserted,
walking over to the man and greeting him.

“Ed-
weirdo
,” Harry replied in his best Spanish
accent, shaking his friend’s hand.

“Don’t tell me you’re Amber’s attorney?” Eduardo
asked, shaking his head, “When did they let you out?”

“Fifteen minutes ago, I ran over here as fast as I
could.”

Eduardo started to laugh. He knew Harry from a long
time ago and was surprised Amber remembered who he was. A
high-powered Beverly Hills divorce attorney, Harry was known for
hitting below the belt when it came to alimony. Many a famous
actress was his clientele. He had been incarcerated for harboring a
fugitive for two years though; Eduardo was truly staggered to see
him free. “So she subbed out her pathetic counsel?”

“Got the call just yesterday, you don’t mind, do
you?”

“Why should I be? You’re the best, and I expected
nothing less from her. Have you met my counsel yet? Harry Billson,
this is Tim Sinclair, Tim—Harry.”

The two men shake hands and all three were about to
enter the courtroom when Eduardo pulled Harry back.

“Before we go in Harry, can I speak to
you...alone?”

“I highly oppose of this Eduardo,” Tim suddenly
said.

“I know—I know, it’ll be just a second,” Eduardo
stated, wrapping his arm around his old friend and leading him away
from his own counsel.

“What’s on your mind? It can’t possibly be about me
being unethical and stealing that get out of jail free card.”

Eduardo gave out a chuckle, “No, this is about my
soon to be ex-wife.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m not going to reject any offer that you place on
the table Harry,” Eduardo confessed, feeling his heart swell up
with emotion. “I may not like my wife right now...she’s done some
pretty unforgivable things, but I’ll always care for her and I want
to make sure she’s taken care of financially.”

Harry stared at him agape. “Do you realize what
you’re saying? She could walk away with most of your fortune.”

“I know—but you see, I’m in the position to make
more, and she isn’t. I vowed that I would always see to it that she
was well cared for and I can’t break that promise.”

Harry shook his head. “In all my years Eduardo, I
have never come across an ex-husband who
wanted
to take care
of his ex-wife. It’s kill or be killed where divorce is concerned.
I take it Amber doesn’t know about your sudden burst of
knighthood?”

Eduardo doesn’t laugh this time, “No—no she doesn’t,
and I’d rather keep it kind of discreet. So, whatever it is, come
at me with all your ammunition, would you?”

“Absolutely—consider this war.”

Harry hugged Eduardo and they both turned toward the
courtroom. Eduardo noted his counsels discerning look and shrugged
the guy off on his way in.

Amber was already seated at the table and didn’t look
at Eduardo as he sat down at the opposite end. It was a few months
later and Amber had cut her hair off completely and looked more
like a boy than some natural beauty.

The judge swore the session in and Harry went first.
“Petitioner will now be seeking...forty thousand dollars monthly
alimony, for five consecutive years, up and until she
remarries.”