Martha’s POV

“What’s your name?” I crossed my arms over my chests and stepped in front of them, the frown on the corner of my lips evident. And though, the question was directed to the lady, my eyes were trained on Alexander, disappointment and disbelief bubbling through my expression as he stared silently at me.

Really? He was not even going to say anything to his defense? He has a wife and a freaking fiancée!

“It’s Tracy Hopkins to you. Memorize it because you’ll be hearing it more often.” Tracy said with a smirk and ran her hands through Alexander’s hair, twirling the strands as though they were hers to own, then she giggled and brought her pink lips to his neck, planting her lips there briefly.

My eyes squinted in disbelief at her bold actions and I opened my mouth to give her a piece of my mind but quickly stopped when I saw the reaction of Alexander’s face. My heart sank in realization. He looked…okay with it? Why wasn’t he flinching away from her?

If anything, he looked like he was having a good time.

A wave of pain and anger surged through me but I threw my face to the side and sucked on my bottom lips as I reminded myself that I shouldn’t cross the line. I shouldn’t make a big deal out of it and give him the wrong idea. After all, this was solely based on a contract. I wasn’t his real wife—neither was our marriage. None of it ever was real.

But why was I feeling more trapped than ever? Have I perhaps grown too attached to his comfort and presence?

“Tracy,” Alexander cleared his throat, drawing our attention as he massaged a palm into his forehead before speaking any further, “Meet Martha James.”

“And Martha…” I swallowed hard and refused to meet his gaze, my hands clenching and unclenching behind me. How could I face him when I couldn’t even figure out what was going on?

“I’m his fiancée.” Forcing a sweet smile, Tracy stood up from the couch and walked up to me, her eyes flashed a quick irritated look as she outstretched her hands for a handshake. I cocked an eyebrow and stared at the outstretched hands with a frown. The sweet smiles and quirky mood…I knew she was faking it, but why?

Either way, I wasn’t going to accept it.

“Aw, I see you’re not a fan of handshakes. That’s okay…” She mumbled, her tone filled with sadness and hurt—faked one, to be precise. I turned to the side and locked eyes with Alexander. He didn’t say anything but his expressions did. His jaws were clenched, so were the muscles across his arms. He looked like he wanted to say something but he was trying so hard to hold back.

That only infuriated me more as I prepared myself to let my hands do the talking when suddenly, Tracy blocked my view and pulled me into a hug. The action was very surprising…quick, and I just stood there, wide eyed and frozen to the ground, unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, Alexander had his phone to his ears and turned to the side to answer the caller on the line, giving Tracy the perfect opportunity to show her true colors.

“Listen here, Mariam…” She started.

Of course, she wasn’t going to be as friendly as she poised to be. She just had to make everything more insufferable as it already was.

I gritted through my teeth, “It’s Martha.”

“Don’t care,” She chuckled and lowered her voice into a softer tone, making it look like we were actually having a nice conversation. Furious, I tried to pull away but she only tightened the hug and dug a finger into my wrist, the smile on her lips only widening as she made it clear that it was a warning.

A stinging pin shot through my skin, urging me to recoil as I hissed in pain and glared back at her, hard. Who did she think she was? Threatening me and trying to assault me in my own house! Well…not my house per say, but as long as I was Alexander’s, I had almost the same rights as he did!

“Alexander and I are going to get married soon.” She dropped a bombshell that made me freeze in my tracks. What did she just say?

I narrowed my eyes at her, searching for a joke in them, but found none. She was…serious. “So, I suggest you go back to wherever you came from before things get ugly. He will never look at you the way he looks at me, so don’ t even bother about trying to seduce him…. he’s mine. Always will be.” Her words sliced through my heart; each statement felt like a stab to the chest as it only brought back an oddly familiar memory into my senses. I was suddenly reminded of Caleb and Simone, and how she kicked me out from my very own relationship with an unremorseful Caleb besides her.

Was Alexander going to do the same to me?

It shouldn’t hurt, but it did. My breath slowly picked up its pace as it became heavy and ragged with brewing emotions while I glared into her smiling eyes. Satisfied with my reaction, she pulled away and clasped her hands with another fake smile.

“Alright! Looks like we’ve officially met each other here!” She chuckled and tucked some strands of hair behind her ears.

Why did Alexander have a fiancée? Why didn’t he ever bring her up? Why didn’t he even tell me she was just crazy?

Does he really have feelings for her?

Something stirred within the corner of my vision, pulling me out of the train of overwhelming thoughts. My breath hitched a bit as I turned back and watched Alexander slowly peel his eyes from his watch and move away from Tracy’s reach. His brows rose up just a little as he searched my face for something—a reaction that meant he was concerned.

Don’t, Martha. Don’t let him think you’ve already fallen for him...

Oblivious to what just happened, he walked up to me with a small smile and held my hands, then he leaned over to my hearing and whispered. “I’ll explain everything when we get back…right now, let’s focus on the dinner tonight. Our dinner.”

I threw him a brief glare and cocked my head to the side to look at Tracy. She seemed distracted, hugging Alexander’s suit and inhaling the strong masculine cologne emanating from it.

With a scoff, I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. That was a whole level of creepiness, but who was I to judge again? Looked like I was suddenly interrupting something I shouldn’t have in the first place.

“Is she coming?” I nodded towards her direction. “Your fiancée.” I emphasized on the title, making my anger known. I needed to talk to him privately, without any fiancées shoving their nails down my skin.

My eyes moved to the tension building up at his throat, almost like his words got caught there. He averted his eyes when he noticed I was watching him and looked towards Tracy’s briefly. Why was he finding it so hard to tell me the truth? To tell me what’s going on…?

Blowing his cheeks, he released a hand and ran his fingers through his hair. The same one she’d put her manicured fingers through moments ago.

“Martha…”

“It’s fine,” I feigned a sweet smile and shook my head while withdrawing my hands from his. “I won’t interfere…I’ll just wait for you two in the car.” I pressed my lips into a thin line and held my hand up at him when he opened his mouth to press further. Nothing he was going to say at the moment was going to make the situation any less embarrassing.

“Ugh, she’s coming? I thought this was our dinner, Alex! You were actually serious about her? We’re engaged! You’ve a lot of explaining to do!” Tracy whined, making sure that it was loud enough for me to hear.

The pain in my chest only throbbed more as I walked away from him, half-expecting him to stop me, pull me to the side and explain himself. At least that was the least he could do right now. But he didn’t. I was sure he didn’t even spare a look at my direction the moment I turned my back at them.

Tracy had her arms wrapped around him, engulfing him into a warm embrace. An embrace that shouldn’t be too intimate as she had her chest visibly pressing into his.

With a sharp intake of air, my hands reached out to touch something familiarly hot trickling down my cheeks. I let out a bitter laugh when I realized what it was and quickly wiped off the trail, hoping it didn’t leave any smudged evidence on my makeup.

If he could have a plus one, I was going to have one as well!

ALEXANDER’S POV

I watched as Martha fidgeted at the end of the table, her eyes moving from Tracy to me from time to time. The expressions in her eyes swirled with anger and regret as she locked eyes with me momentarily, and something about that made my stomach churn. I knew I owed her an explanation for everything, I just needed to find the right time and space to do that.

I just had a feeling she was definitely going to hate me after tonight.

“….so, what do you think, darling?” Tracy asked, making me blink twice as I tried to recall the last thing we were talking about, but nothing came into mind. Heck, I couldn’t even remember the entire thing she’d been saying for the past thirty minutes because my attention was fixated on the woman sulking opposite us.

To cover up, I cleared my throat and gave Tracy a quick smile, “I think it was perfect.”

“You think I’m perfect?” She puckered her lips and batted her lashes at me as her fingers played with the rim of her wine. I knew what she was trying to do, and unfortunately, it was working. My adam apple bobbed up and down as I swallowed hard and averted my gaze to the menu on her laps, suddenly gaining interest on whatever my eyes could find in there.

Anything to save me for the night would be just fine.

But even that doesn’t help as Tracy continued her chatting and clanged to me like I was some freaking pole for some stripper. As much as I entertained her touches, I didn’t appreciate the invasion of my personal space.

Suddenly, there was a quiet sound of bottles clanking across the table. My eyes moved upwards and fell on the source. It was Martha. She had grabbed like four bottles to her side and cocked each of them open with an opener.

My eyes widened in horror. Was she going to down everything at once?

“Ma—”

A hand settled on the side of my face, turning it slowly towards the opposite direction. Tracy wore a sulking expression as our eyes met, “Alex, I feel like you’re avoiding me…what did I ever do wrong to you?”

“Avoiding you? I wouldn’t dream of it. You did nothing wrong, Tracy.” I quickly blurted out and ran a finger through her hair, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips when she started to wear a smile once again. For a moment, I let my eyes hover around her lips before locking with hers.

I think she noticed it because she was now wearing a smug and playfully kicked my legs with a giggle. I smiled and leaned back into the chair, biting on my lips when another bottle was dragged across the table—and this time, it was louder than before.

She gulped down cocktail after another, her eyes glazing over as she sneered and mumbled to herself. My brows knitted in concern at her actions. For the few weeks she’d stayed with me, I didn’t know her for a heavy drinker. If anything, she was very light. I was surprised that she hasn’t passed out already yet—which was a good thing.

“Martha..” I tried to call out but it was barely a whisper. Her slowed movements made me believe she might have heard me though but she barely made a move to look back at me. If she heard me at all, she simply chose not to answer me and continue like she didn’t hear me in the first place.

Tracy, oblivious to what was happening, trailed her hands from my chest down to my laps, her lips tucked between her teeth as she flashed me a seductive grin.

“When was the last time we made out?” She said, tilting her head to the side.

I held my breath and clenched my jaws as I felt my heart race against its own will. I couldn’t understand it, but the feeling always found its way when she brought out the wild side to her—it’s something that’d attracted me in the first place.

Suddenly, Martha slammed her hands on the table, the glasses clanking harshly from the impact, making Tracy and I to jolt back in surprise. What the heck was that? I’d never seen her act this way before.

“Excuse me,” Her voice was slurred and small, but it was clear enough to drink any man out of their comfort zone to meet her. She didn’t sound like herself at all. “My date is waiting for me over there.”

Date? What date? My brows furrowed together in confusion as I watched her stumble out of her seat and walk towards another table, just some distance away from ours. I didn’t like where this was going, and painfully watched as she sank besides the man, smiling almost immediately as she noticed them.

My chest twisted with anger and irritation when I noticed the look on the man’s face.

He was ogling at her, shamelessly, and she was just too intoxicated to notice.

I spent the remaining minutes of my time silently watching as she laughed and flirted with the man who looked like he kept inching closer with each comment she pointed out. If he dared laid a hand on her, he was going to be a sorry man tonight.

She was my wife.

Martha laughed one more time, the bliss in her laughter caught on the strings of my heart, fondling with the before leaving them cold and deserted. The way she laughed; she looked like she didn’t have a care in the world.

When was the last time I laughed like that with someone? Heck, when was the last time I ever laughed and it was genuine?

I bit my lips in anger as I felt helpless, trying to decipher the emotions surging through me. I felt something…it was warm and peaceful, clinging to the surface of the other emotions. I didn’t know what it was, and that made me more angry and edgy, my eyes refusing to move away from their table.

“Darling, focus on me. I’m the one besides you.” Tracy mumbled.

But I couldn’t focus anymore. How could I when my wife was out there flirting with some random man? And the worst part, I couldn’t even stop her because of her guilty I was.

The dinner was supposed to end in the next hour, but was there any need to wait any longer? I might as well just end it all here now.

I stood up to my feet, the chair scraping behind me as I moved away from a confused Tracy and storm towards Martha’s direction. I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Come on, that’s enough,” I gritted through my teeth. “Let’s go home now.”

Martha turned to me, her eyes narrowed slightly with anger and hatred as she shook her head vigorously. “No! I don’t want to go home with you! Go with your fiancée!”

A pang of hurt pinched at my skin, making me sigh and massage my forehead.

“Hey! Let me go!” She groaned, slamming her hands on my back and kicking the air as I groaned from the impact and exited the restaurant, not caring about the number of eyes that were on us.

As I struggled to reach for the door of the car, Tracy caught up with us and stomped her feet angrily, bringing my attention to her fuming figure.

I turned to her with an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you some other time but right now, I need to have a word with my wife. I’ve already booked a cab for you; he should be here in about five minutes.”

Tracy frowned and reached out for my face, her fingers hovering above my skin as she flashed me a saddened look. I bit my lips and sighed as I felt torn and unsure on how to handle the situation. However, I snapped out of the trance when Martha loudly scoffed and tried to kick herself free from my grasp.

Immediately, I pressed the remote to the car, unlocking it, and placed her into the front seat, buckling her seatbelt before dashing to the other side and settling besides her. Exhausted, I took a deep breath before finally starting the car.

But just as I was about to move the gear, Martha raised her hand up, as though she was signaling for me to be quiet and attentive. This quickly caught my attention and I leaned closer to her, wondering what she could be on her mind despite her current condition.

But nothing prepared me for what came next.

Instead of words spilling out from her lips, she leaned over and threw up all over my laps, her breath shaky and ragged as she placed a hand on my shoulder for support. I groaned and recoiled backwards as a wave of disgust washed over me.

You’ve got to be kidding me!

“You caused…. caused this….” She spat, jabbing a finger into my face, “If…if you don’t explain yourself tonight, I’ll divorce you right away!”

My eyes widened. There’s no way….she couldn’t be serious about the divorce…right?