Chapter 10. Excuses
1050 Words
Wiping her tears, Jessica squared her shoulders and walked out. She needed to be strong. She needed to be strong for her son. Her son was her life and he needed her. She could not provide the love and care he deserved if she was wallowing in self-pity.
Jessica, you brought this on yourself, now you must suck it up and live with it, she told herself.
As she walked out into the cool air, a loud booming voice greeted her.
"JESS!"
Immediately, a smile formed on her face despite the effort it took to move those muscles.
"Hey Jess, how's my girl!"
Aaron was a jolly barista who worked at the neighboring Starbucks. He always had a large smile on his face and gave Jessica a free coffee when she managed to walk over during her small breaks. He was like a child in an adult's body. And some adult body it was. He was over six feet tall and burly, his huge arms always bulging out of his tight shirts. He had curly brown hair and a handsome face and Jessica was often surprised when he told her he had no girlfriend. He treated Jessica like a little sister, always willing to listen to her plights of working at the hotel.
"I'm good, Aaron, how are you?" Jessica replied tiredly with a small smile.
He frowned and stared at her face, "What's going on, babe?"
"Nothing, just a long day at work…" Jessica sighed and looked away, again trying to control her emotions.
Aaron draped his arm around her, "Want to talk about it? I just got off my shift." Aaron replied, kindly squeezing her shoulders.
_______
It was quiet. Ruth was fast asleep and had finally stopped shouting at him and in the room in general about Jessica. Roger's head was pounding, so he fished a cigarette out of his pocket and walked to the balcony, trying to clear his thoughts and soothe the pain.
What had happened today was unexpected. He had not planned on all this; he definitely did not plan to f**k Jessica, of all people. He still did not know how it happened and what made him ask her to stay while the others left the room. When she was lying underneath him and seeing the look of lust in her eyes, he gave in. Because as much as he hated to admit it, f*****g Jessica was something else. She was…heaven. Roger had felt nothing like the feeling he felt when he was inside her.
He had forgotten about Ruth, to be honest. When she barged in and started attacking Jessica, he felt bad for her. She did not deserve that, but he could not give himself away in front of Ruth. That would destroy all his plans.
Roger pondered at the marks he had seen on Jessica's stomach. There were some heavy stretch marks on her stomach. And he remembered clearly that those marks were not there before. Three years prior, her skin had been smooth like a baby's butt. Those looked like she had been pregnant. Did that mean she was married? Did she have a child? He did not recall seeing a ring on her finger. And if she was married, where was her husband. Where was her child? These questions were floating inside his head and only made his head pound harder.
As if on cue, Roger looked down and noticed a lone figure walking out of the hotel. From that damn purse of hers, he could tell it was Jessica. She seemed to be dragging her feet as if she did not have the energy to walk. He frowned when he saw a man bound up to her and drape his arm over her shoulders. Unconsciously, Roger clenched his fists and glared at the man who was now hugging Jessica as they walked out of his view.
In the next few days, it was another staff member who cleaned Roger's room. He controlled his questions for a few days before he finally asked the question the fourth day when the same lady showed up again, "Where is Jessica?"
The lady stammered at Roger's rude voice. Rumors about Jessica had been abundant. Some said she did it for money while others said Roger had raped her. Regardless of who was at fault, the hotel supervisor had decided to remove her from the duty since there was a problem every time she cleaned Roger's room.
"Um…Sir…Je…Jessica, she asked for leave. She is sick, I think."
"Sick?" asked Roger in a cold tone while frowning.
She nodded and answered, "Yes."
Roger turned around, masking his worry.
"Go out and find Lves. Tell him if I cannot see Jessica in two hours, he will be fired immediately."
Though she did not understand Roger, she relayed every word to Lves, who paled and called Jessica right away.
"Jessica, please. My job is on the line here. Can you just come and see what he wants?" Lves begged.
"Lves, you know what happened the last few times I interacted with him. I do not want to talk to him."
"I know Jessica, but please…"
Jessica sighed. Was he ever going to leave her alone? She had decided she would never see him again, but that was not possible. He was going to make her life a living hell.
The next day when Jessica appeared in Roger's room, Roger pretended to ignore her. And Jessica did not say a word to him either. She did what she was supposed to do, while Roger sat in the study and did not even spare her a glance while she cleaned and tidied up the room.
About two hours later, Jessica knocked on the study door and said, "I made a cup of coffee and put it on the bar."
Without giving Roger a chance to reply, she hurried out, closing the door shut behind her.
Indeed, she had left a cup of steaming hot coffee along with a Lotus cookie, which was Roger's favorite. How had she known that? Feeling confused, he looked towards the closed door. Why was she being nice towards him after what he had done to her a few days ago?
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