Chasing His Rejected Wife
Chapter 76 -

Aiden

The glare of my headlights picked up the familiar electric blue Acura blocking my parking spot and my eyes narrowed as I pulled to a stop behind it, my mood souring further at the unwelcome and certainly unneeded visitor.

The driver's side opened and a pair of shapely legs encased in black heels swung out of the car and onto my driveway, closely followed by the rest of the owner, clad in a short black dress, hair loose around her shoulders. She straightened, her eyes fixed on me, a small smile playing on her lips as she began to walk towards me.

I drew in a deep breath, grimacing at the persistent thrumming at the back of my skull that felt like my head was about to split in two. Coupled with worrying about the radio silence from Jessica since my last message over two hours ago, I really wasn't in the mood for this right now.

Turning off the ignition, I reached for my phone and jacket, checking the former once again for any new messages from Jess. There were none. I sighed and got out of the car just as my visitor reached my car.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, unable to disguise the displeasure in my voice because I was too damn tired. The adrenaline from that terrible cup of coffee at the hospital had long since faded and I was running on fumes, exhaustion dogging my heels.

An eyebrow rose at the brusque question, but she didn't remark on it and simply replied. "I wanted to see you. It's been a while."

I turned away to shut the car door so she couldn't see my expression. "We saw each other at work today. And everyday for the past couple of days."

Pocketing my key fob, I began walking towards the front door, the sound of her heels striking the gravel drive let me know she was following me. I sighed again and rubbed the back of my head, thinking up and discarding a dozen ideas on the best way to make her leave as soon as possible.

I heard her sigh, the sound soft and saddened. "I know, but it's not the same. It hasn't been the same for a long time, Aiden and I think we should talk."

She had a point there, I had to admit. Our relationship had certainly changed and it was long past due for us to talk, something I had been putting off for a while.

Hiding a grimace, I sighed and stopped walking, turning around so I could look at her. Elisa stopped as well, her head tilted up a little because even in heels, I still had a couple of inches on her. She watched me with a doleful expression and I could glimpse the uncertainty and nervousness she tried to conceal behind a smile and it hit me then, how much damage we'd both done to our relationship.

I turned away and opened the front door, stepping aside so she could enter before me. I caught the flash of relief before she concealed it with another bright smile and walked past me into the house, leaving a trail of her perfume behind. "Make yourself comfortable." I told Elisa and gestured towards the living room, trying not to think too hard about how empty and depressing the house was ever since Jessica had moved out. "I'm going to freshen up first." Elisa nodded, hands clasped behind her back. "Yeah, okay."

Then she gestured over her shoulder towards the kitchen. "Mind if I get something to drink while I wait? I'm thirsty."

I shrugged in assent. She knew the place well enough, having been here numerous times in the past. "Help yourself."

With another enigmatic smile, she turned and headed into the kitchen while I stood in the hall for a moment, wondering what the fuck I had gotten myself into and how soon I could extricate myself from it because much as I knew it was time to have everything out in the open, I wasn't looking forward to it.

Mainly because I knew I was chiefly responsible for the shitshow that our friendship had devolved into with my wilful ignorance and selfishness. I had toyed with not only Jessica's feelings but Elisa as well with my twisted charade, hurting both women in different ways and that was a regret I would carry for the rest of my life.

With another sigh, I headed up the stairs to my room. As I was wont to do lately, I paused in front of Jessica's old room, silently debating for a moment whether to go in or not. I gave in to my impulses, opened the door before I could second guess myself and stepped into the room.

The blinds were drawn, casting the room in shadow, but I didn't bother with the lights, my route already familiar to me as I crossed to the bed. The room was pretty much the way Jess had left it the day she moved out, the bed neatly made, a small mountain of pillows of varying colors and sizes stacked at the head, a green wool blanket draped over one end.

The rest of the room was filled with little personal touches, enough to know that my wife had a preference for the color green, loves pillows of all shapes and sizes and little tidbits that gave me a clue as to her personality.

I had taken to coming in here over the past three weeks, something about the room went a long way to calming the inner storm that was my emotions. Knowing that Jess had made this little corner of the huge mansion her own, littered it with little bits and pieces of her favorite things drew me in. There was no other room or space in this house that carried her personal touch.

Everything, every piece of furniture, decor and whatnot in this house had been carefully selected by a skilled interior decorator and in the two years Jess lived here, she'd done little to change things, except for her room. It was a testament to how unwelcome and unwanted she'd felt in our matrimonial home and the knowledge constantly haunted me anytime I set foot in this house. But here, I felt grounded somehow.

I wanted to linger, to draw some measure of peace, but I remembered Elisa was downstairs so I reluctantly left the room and crossed to mine. Fifteen minutes later, showered, medicated and dressed, I braced myself mentally and headed downstairs.

I found Elisa lounging on the sofa, watching TV in the living room, glass of white wine in hand. There was an open bottle of white wine on the coffee table along with another empty glass. Catching sight of me in the doorway, she sat up, turned off the TV and gestured to the bottle.

"Would you like some? It's Perinon." She offered, already rising so she could pour me a glass. I held out a hand to stop her and shook my head.

"No, thanks. I just took some pain meds so that's not a good idea." I said, though I wouldn't even drink if I wasn't on meds anyway. I needed a clear head for the conversation we were about to have and alcohol would be no help. I crossed to sit on an armchair and checked my phone.

"Aren't you driving?" I asked, mildly, nodding towards her half empty glass.

"It's just a glass," she answered with a careless shrug, raising it to her lips for a sip then regarded me above the rim. "Besides, I can always crash in your guest room if I get too drunk."

I shot her a look and she met my gaze with a challenging look, a weird smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Or am I no longer welcome here?"

"Elisa..."

"You've been avoiding me ever since you came back from Texas," she cut me off abruptly, setting the glass down with an audible clink, all traces of a smile wiped from her face to be replaced with hurt. "Everytime I try to come close to you, you make some sort of excuse to brush me off. The way you look at me lately -"

She broke off and shook her head, mouth set in a tight line. "What's going on, Aiden? I've been worried about you, but you won't even let me near enough to talk to you. At first, I thought that it could be because you were under a lot of strain with the threat of divorce and the pregnancy stuff, so I decided to back off and give you space and time to deal with things but nothing's changed. What went wrong, Aiden? Did I do something to piss you off?"