Silent Exit Read online

  She switched her UK SIM card over in her phone and awaited the messages. There were a few from her best friend and one from Stefan.

  I hope you had a good flight. Come over when you can. Stay strong. S x

  After a week back home in London, Tess was ready to see Stefan. It wasn't a choice. She needed to see him. She dialed his number, her heart felt as though it were in her throat. She had a fluttery stomach. It had been a long time.

  'Hi.'

  'Tess? When are you coming to see me? Shall I come and get you?'

  'I'm free now. Come to my place.' She didn't want to meet his wife. It might just send her over the edge.

  'On my way.'

  She opened the door and his aroma surrounded her. The desire was still very much there. She felt emotional and she desperately wanted him. She wanted him to hold her. These past few years had been one big mess and now here she was, standing opposite the love of her life, who had married someone else.

  They stood staring at each other in silence.

  'Tess, I'm so sorry for what's happened to you. I should have fixed this years ago.'

  The muscles in his jaw were clenched. He moved towards her.

  'If you had cared more about me, this wouldn't have happened.' She said.

  Tears came so quickly, there was little she could do. She would never have released any emotion to Stefan before this. He moved further towards her, but she backed off. She turned away from him.

  'I always cared about you Tess. How can you say that I didn't?'

  'You let me go to Saudi. You encouraged me to go.' Her tone was loud and she had got herself into an emotional state.

  'And then you …. and then …. you married someone else.' She was now shouting.

  'How could you do that? Did you want to completely destroy me?'

  Stefan moved in and grabbed her. Her body was taught with emotion. He held her tight until she could not fight him any longer. His touch deflated her. He pulled her in closer still. She responded by clinging to him, tightening her grip. She breathed in his smell and held onto his body. They looked into each other’s eyes and moved in, touching lips. An electric feeling plunged through her body. She could think of nothing else. Just the two of them entwined. His tongue moved in. She responded and the urgency heightened as they slowly descended to the floor. He kissed her so tenderly, she longed for more. His hands were all over her, the desire was unstoppable. This is what it was all about. This is what chemistry felt like.

  Stefan looked into her eyes. He thumbed her dark hair away from her face.

  'Tess. I wanted you to be free. I thought that by encouraging you to go overseas, you would fulfill your dreams and then return to me.'

  'Tess ….'

  Silence.

  'Tess …. I didn't get married.'

  She stared at him in disbelief. She could not speak.

  'I couldn't go through with it. It wasn't fair on her. All the time I was with her, I constantly wished it was you.'

  'But …. You didn't tell me.'

  'I didn't tell you, because you were with David. You didn't want to talk to me Tess. I couldn't interfere with your new life, it wouldn't have been right.'

  They held on to each other, staring into each other’s eyes.

  'Let me be with you Tess, let us be close again.'

  'I love you Tess. I always have.'

  There it was. The words she had been waiting for. She took a second to take it in.

  'Are you sure about this?'

  'I've never been more sure about anything Tess. Let's do this.'

  He led her into the bedroom and began to kiss her again, this time more urgently. She kissed him back and began to lift his shirt from him, revealing his amazing torso. She kissed him there and continued to make her way down his body.

  That day, Tess found intimacy and love.

  'I love you Stefan, I really do. Let’s do this.'

  David placed his shirts carefully in the suitcase.

  'What the hell have I done?!' He shouted.

  The room was spinning around him. He had lost control over his life. His heart felt hard and it physically hurt. He did not know that she would go through with it. He did not realize that she would really go, really leave him. His heart was broken and it was his own fault.

  His phone rang, as the car pulled up to the airport.

  'Hi, yes I'm at the airport now. I'm going to do it. I really am. I'm going to get Tess back.'

  The End