Free Denouement by M. O. Kenyan Page B

his chest. His hands itched to touch her body.
He wanted to hook his arm around her waist and press her curvaceous body
against his own. But he couldn’t. He had to be satisfied with just looking. Her
laughter cut through him and at the same time, warmed his blood. He wondered
why she hadn’t been in the room pining after him, instead of being down here
turning each and every red blooded male’s head.
    “What would wife number seven say?” Marietta teased.
    “If you give me a kiss, you could be number seven,”
The old man piped in.
    “Hi,” he said to her.
    Marietta leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Her body rubbing ever so lightly against his. “How are you?”
    He was just about to answer, not sure if his answer
was going to be lustful and miserable without you, or just fine. But Jessie
came to pull her away before he could answer.
    ‘The elevator guy is here,’ he had heard Jessie say to
Marietta. He wondered who that was and a possessive call from within wanted to
order her to stay at his side, especially when he saw the excited expression on
Marietta’s face. Since then he had been watching her move around the hall on
the arm of another man. When they got out of sight he would wander around the
room until he found them. Now he leaned against a wall as he watched Marietta
and the mystery man dancing.
    He growled in sexual frustration as he watched her
body sway side to side. Her hips and breasts seemingly taking on a life of their own . He watched as the other man put his hands
around her, as he rubbed against her with the clear intention to conquer.
Tobias didn’t know how much more he could take. He turned away and just as he
did he locked on Jessie’s condemning gaze.
    “You broke her,” she accused.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Marietta never drinks. She hates alcohol,” she
whispered into his ear. “Her father was an abusive drunk. Her mother offed herself
with a combination of pills and alcohol, although they don’t know what killed
her first. The loss of blood when she slit her wrist or all the poison she had
just dumped in her body. Marietta is a warrior and there is no challenge she
won’t face head on. Nothing she can’t overcome, that is until you came along.
So yes, you broke her.” Jessie shoved him out of the way and headed towards
Marietta.
    Tobias had been known to wield the power to ruin
women, but never the strong ones. He took pride as his ego fed off their pleas
and opportunities to be with him ‘for the last time.’But he didn’t like the fact that Jessie just
accused him of ruining the one person he cared about. Her past wasn’t unknown
to everyone who had the internet but it pained him to know he was another
source of her pain. Tobias turned towards Marietta in time to see her kiss the
other guy.
    Rage he had never felt before built up inside him.
With a couple of long strides he was at her side. Tobias grabbed Marietta’s
elbow and dragged her along with him. He could hear the other man’s footsteps
as he pursued them, but he wasn’t going to stop.

 
    *
* * *

 
    Marietta winced in pain as her hand slowly grew numb.
She looked up at Tobias in confusion as he dragged her along with him like a
rag doll. “What’s wrong with you? What’s going on?”
    She wasn’t sure who had seen the mad man drag her out
of the hall but she was aware that her dance partner was in hot pursuit. With
one strong tug, Marietta pulled her elbow free only to lose her footing and
land in the other man’s arms. Glad to be on her feet and not on a floor in an
indecent heap she stood beside her hero.
    Marietta glared at Tobias but her expression soon
turned soft when she was finally able to see his face. Sure the anger was
there, his fingers balled into fists at his side were a clear give away. But
what she didn’t expect to see was the look of regret and remorse. She felt the
other man hold her arm and without looking at him she pushed him aside. She
quickly realized she wasn’t good