Chapter 5

Madison spent almost the entire night on the balcony, staring into thin air as she awaited Nathan’s return. She must have been thinking the altercation they had earlier during the day triggered this behavior. Madison was to remember that she wasn’t in any way in the same social echelon as Nathan.

‘Tick-tock,’ the watch around her wrist ticked to her hearing. This was to indicate how silent the night had grown and how late it already was. Madison gazed down at her wrist; it was almost midnight.

Should she even be waiting for him? These were among a few of the questions that streamed through her mind. Maybe he wasn’t even going to return; maybe he must have been clubbing with his friends and lost track of time.

Madison didn’t have to linger on those thoughts much longer. Just then, Nathan drove his SUV frantically into the mansion. His confusion in maneuvering the car got Madison a bit concerned. She had sworn to herself never to go down to him. That was a promise she had to break. Nathan tossed himself from left to right as soon as he alighted from his vehicle. His staggering legs got intertwined, and he knocked himself to the ground. Madison hurried downstairs to help him into the house.

“Let me help you, sir,” Madison said as she reached out to him.

“C-Call me N-Nathan,” he said in a tipsy voice. “My name’s not sir,” he added.

“Okay, give me your hands, Nathan,” Madison rephrased.

His weight was just too heavy on Madison, and they stumbled.

“Bad girl!” Nathan said as he tapped Madison on the butt. Madison would blame it on the influence of alcohol.

After some trials, she managed to get him into the house. His eyes were all red and he kept muttering words that Madison couldn’t comprehend at the moment. There was a stale smell coming from his shirt.

“Did you throw up on yourself?” Madison asked, but what could a drunk Nathan say? Nothing.

They were in the bedroom, Nathan’s bedroom. Madison took off his shirt and laid him on the bed.

“Maya, Maya,” he whispered into Madison’s ears as she tried to adjust him into the best lying position. Now, she finally got to hear what he had been muttering all along: someone’s name.

“Maya, was that her name?” Madison asked while smiling down at Nathan. Nathan pulled her hands, and she fell on the bed. He gripped her arms firmly and ran his fingers tip by tip through her hands. The sleeveless nightgown she had on made it easier for Nathan to get a feel for her. Madison felt cold after that.

“What are you doing, sir?” she said with utmost chill and nervousness.

Nathan said nothing, he instead placed her hands on his bare chest.

“Do you feel that, Maddie?” he asked with an arousing voice. Madison looked upon his broad chest and his very obvious abs; she was awe-struck by his physique. The calmness after that question was so great that you could hear Madison’s heart palpitate.

“Si…”

“Shh!” Nathan placed a finger on her lips and hushed her to quietness. The chill on Madison’s spine got more intense when he rolled her gown up slightly with his fingers.

“You are not scared, are you?” he asked with the jerky movement of his neck.

Madison wasn’t stopping him. She just sat there and didn’t know why. She felt his fingers move a bit up her thighs and into her gown. He squeezed her thighs with his hands.

“Ouch!” she said after she got pierced accidentally by his long fingernails. Nathan’s fingers kept advancing, and Madison felt her legs tremble. She has goosebumps out of nowhere, again, she didn’t know why she wasn’t stopping him.

“Your legs are shaky, Maddie,” Nathan said in a seductive, tipsy voice. My, oh my, Madison had never seen eyes as appealing as Nathan’s.

“Tell me, Maddie, have you been with a man since your husband’s passing?” On a normal day, the question would have been gross to Madison. Now, she didn’t even know if it was a trigger.

“N-no,” she stammered in her response to him. His finger on her lips slipped into her mouth.

“Maddie, Maddie,” Nathan said with a naughty smile as he thrust his finger back and forth in her mouth.

Madison pulled his finger out immediately: “You are drunk, sir, I mean Nathan. I think you should get some rest,” she said.

“You shouldn’t be telling me what to do, Maddie,” he said while grabbing her shoulder in an attempt to sit up.

“Not like you have a choice to do otherwise tonight,” Madison said as she took Nathan’s hands entirely off her body.

“You are gonna get it from me, Maya,” Nathan said.

“I’m not Maya.”

“Maddie, Maya, it all sounds the same to me,” he laughed.

“Whatever, just go to sleep already.”

“Aye, captain.”

Madison covered Nathan with his bedsheet and placed his head gently on the pillow.

“Maddie!” he called out to her as she was about to walk out of the room.

“Do you want to know a secret?” he asked her.

“Go on, tell me.”

“I didn’t choose you for this because you are studious or whatever it is you call it. Maybe my grandfather likes you for that, but not primarily that for me.”

Madison was curious to know why he chose her then. She hoped he wouldn’t crash before she could get an answer.

“Why, then, did you choose me?”

“Because you look like her. Her eyes, her nose, her smile. It’s like you’re a clone or something,” Nathan was still sounding tipsy but Madison knew this wasn’t caused by the alcohol, it was truly the reason why he chose her for the contract marriage.

“You mean Maya?” Madison asked, just to be sure.

“Yes, Maya. She was just as lovely as you are. A bit crunchy at times, though.”

“How about you get some rest now,” Madison still wanted him to sleep through it.

“On one condition only will I go to bed,” Nathan said.

“What’s that?”

“Only if you’d join me.”

“Okay, I can sleep on the sofa. It’s not a big deal,” Madison said as she advanced to the sofa.

“Not there, Maddie, here,” Nathan said, tapping his bed.

“I can’t Nathan, you are drunk.”

“C’mon, Maddie, I won’t bite. I promise.”

“Fine,” Madison said as she agreed to spend the night together with Nathan on his bed. Madison lay beside Nathan on the bed. He pulled her closer to himself and held on to her like he’d never let go. Madison tried to pull herself back, but it was to no avail. She could only lay her head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat until he fell asleep, she too.

Madison couldn’t even come to fathom how Nathan would react to seeing her beside him in the morning. She’ll just have to find out the next day.