He’s Not Yours

Manipulating The Manipulators.

The rest of my morning and early afternoon are spent avoiding Simon in the gym. Whilst there I manage to open a business account under my new trading name and set up a redirection of my mail to a P.O. Box. Simon doesn’t usually check the mail but I’m not taking any chances on this.

Simon drives us to the restaurant to meet with his parents. He spends the whole journey bragging about his amazing golf performance yesterday. I fain interest, and compliment his skills when needed. I can’t quite believe I ever found this man so interesting, he is actually such a bore and thinks so highly of himself. For the first time ever, I’m relieved to see his parents. I can finally escape this boring conversation and start the next phase of operation ‘Free Derry’.

Once we have ordered our food Simon's mum, Margret, brings up the wedding plans as usual.

“Derry honey, have you given any more thought to making the wedding more public? I know you want to keep it intimate, but what about having a public reception? We have lots of business associates that would create lots of opportunities if we invited them, and made them feel important to us. It gives us a good image and builds trust,” Margret says. Here it is, the question I’ve been waiting for. The question she asks me every damn week, but this week is different. This week I was delighted she asked again. Here is my moment.

“I did consider it after you asked me last week Margret, and I agree with everything you say. You gave quite a compelling argument. My issue is, I’m just not sure it’s doable at this point. We have only 5 months to change all the plans and I know event planning is my job, but we are so busy at work and I’d really love to enjoy our wedding and not be stressing over plans and making sure the day runs smoothly. I just don’t see how it’s possible,” I tell her with a sigh.

“Oh I’m sure we can work it out can’t we?” She asks hopefully.

“I’m afraid without hiring an external wedding planner we just couldn’t manage it. The business has grown massively this year, our staff are already working overtime on our upcoming events,”

“Then hire a wedding planner,” she beams.

“Mother, I’m not paying someone else to do the same work we do. Why would I give money to our direct competitors?” Simon huffs.

“He’s right, it doesn’t feel right to hire someone else to do our job… unless,” I make a show of pretending to think of an idea. “We could maybe hire someone who hasn’t fully established themselves yet. Use it as a trail period per say, if they do a good job we can give them a job. We have already been discussing hiring another events planner. What better way to see if they can handle it?” I smile. Margret gives a small clap of excitement and looks hopefully at her son.

“I guess it could work. Make it clear to them that we are hiring them privately for ourselves, but that they should consider it a trail for employment with us. Anyone who is not interested in joining the company afterwards should be avoided,” Simon says with a nod. I have to fight the urge to celebrate, this is going exactly as I’d hoped.

“Perfect, I’ll start searching for potential candidates tomorrow. When will you be free to interview them?” I ask, already knowing his answer.

“You know I’m in back to back meetings all week, you’ll have to handle it. Just give me the reports and I’ll choose from your assessments,” Simon directs to me before turning to Margret. “Mother, get me that guest list together, make sure to invite all the town councillors. I want to get that planning permission for a new venue approved.”

“I will have it for you by the end of the week,” she agrees. The two of them start listing names and reasons to invite them. My work here is done so I zone out from the conversation and look over at John, Simons' father. He has remained quiet as usual, he’s looking at me with suspicion. He holds my gaze for a moment before giving me a knowing smile and a small nod of approval. Does he know what I’m up to? Why is he not speaking up if he knows? Maybe he’s a victim of his wife like I am with Simon. I mean it’s not totally impossible. Simon and his mother are so alike. I could have a potential ally here. Now I think about it, it makes sense. Margret is a woman in charge, her presence is demanding and John just follows her around silently like an obedient dog.

Once we are done with our meal and say our goodbyes, we head back home. Simon talks excitedly about the new opportunities our wedding could open up and I just smile and nod appropriately until we finally get into the house. I know what’s coming next and I feel sick at what I need to do, but if I don’t do this he will become suspicious. As soon as the front door closes he’s on me, pushing me against the wall and groping my body, kissing my neck and grinding himself against me. I have to fight every urge to push him away in disgust. The best I can hope for is that this will be over quickly. I grab his hand and lead him upstairs.

“Someone is very eager tonight,” he purrs. I hum in response, knowing I’ll not be able to keep the disgust from my tone if I try to speak. In the bedroom he works on undressing me, before pushing me back on the bed and removing his clothes. Then he’s on me, pushing himself between my legs, no attempt at foreplay, his only focus on his own pleasure. With the lights off he doesn’t notice the lone tear escape from my eye. I squeeze them shut and try to think of anything but Simon and what he’s doing. That’s when I see Hawks' glowing blue eyes glaring back at me and I swear I hear him growl “Mine.” In my head. I allow my imagination to take over and replace Simon with Hawk. Only becoming aware how deep into the fantasy I am when my moan of pleasure breaks the trance. Simon picks up his pace at the sound and finishes quickly. He rolls off of me and begins drifting off to sleep whilst I lay motionless, crying silently. I wait as long as I possibly can for his breathing to change into the telltale sign of deep sleep. My body is itching, as though I have germs crawling all over me, I feel dirty and disgusting. The moment I hear the first soft snore from Simon I creep out of bed and into the shower. I scrub my skin raw, determined to remove every spec of him from my body. Finally feeling cleaner, I head downstairs to sleep on the couch. Simon always wakes after me so he won’t suspect I didn’t fall asleep beside him. I settle in with a blanket and close my eyes. Hawks' blue orb’s already there as if he was waiting for me. “Mine.” I hear again as I find solace in a peaceful sleep.