Bound by Tension
79

"What's going on?" I asked Hames.

"Samantha and Dash have been arrested." Hames said, strolling into the room.

"Really? That's great."

"That isn't the end though. Court stuff, blah blah blah." He sighed, shoving his thumbs into his front pockets. "Are you going somewhere?" "No, I'm not." I replied, staring at my face in the mirror.

"I don't think I've told you that you look extremely beautiful today." He walked over to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I'm so glad. I could've lost you." I pivoted to him, brushing his hair with my fingers and rested the back of my palm on his forehead. "Feels really better. I thought something bad had happened to you. Your body temperature was so high." "I told you, you're the solution to my problems. How can I possibly be I'll when you're with me? I have to take care of you and our cute little princess." He led me to sit on the couch, crouching in front of me with my hands in his. "Little princess? I'm certain I want a baby boy. He should be hot, breathtaking, able to make all girls swoon over him at how dashing he is, he should establish his own business after taking over our business then be a multibillionaire, and he should make us proud."

"Hot and breathtaking like me? I understand that." He smirked, "but I want her to be very beautiful like her mother, and be just like you." "He-"

"Wait, sweetheart. Do you realize something?" He cut me off. "We can't choose the gender of the baby. We'll accept its gender and I don't have a problem with having a boy or a girl, as long as you are its mother."

I beamed. "Me too, as long as you're its father."

"I love you so much."

"I love you too."

He lifted my shirt a bit, caressing my bump while whispering words.

"What are you doing?" I laughed.

"I have to create an emotional connection between me and the baby before she comes out so she'll love me more than she ought to. I have to speak with her though she's still in your womb." He planted a kiss on my belly. "Hi," Faith knocked on the door that was already opened. "I'm sorry to interrupt but Mrs. Hendrix and Miss Hart are here." She smiled.

"Oh, Mom."

"And Amanda..." I rolled my eyes and he chuckled.

"She's still my best friend. It'd be unfair to cut her off after so many years of being friends. She was of good help to me when you were away, helping out with cooking and providing emotional support."

"I'm certain she just wants you." I rolled my eyes.

"Whether or not she wants me, you have me, and no one can take your place in my life. Stop being so jealous." He rose to his feet and helped me to my feet as well, pulling my shirt down.

"Thank you,and I'm not jealous." I stood on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. "By the way, you should re-employ other workers. Faith can't do everything alone, and the security needs to be strong again so the same mistake with Sam coming in won't happen again."

"Yes, I definitely will."

We left for the living room to Trisha and Amanda. For some reason, they both looked extremely shocked to see us.

"Whoa, look who's finally back. I can't believe Hamzy looks so right and well again." Trisha was the first to speak.

"Yeah, me neither. I had to add sleeping pills to his juice to make him sleep because he wasn't going to sleep without thinking of her." Ananda said, saying 'her' in a deeper tone.

"You added sleeping pills? I also did the same." Trisha said and they both widened their eyes.

"That explains why he slept for so long. I was worried." I added.

"And it explains why I almost died from the terrible headache. You're so cruel. Overdose? Pfft." "We only care about you." Amanda chimed.

"Yeah. Hames... I'd like to speak with you in private." Trisha glanced at me.

"Mom, you can say anything you want in front of my wife." He kept an arm around my waist.

"In private." She glared at him. "It's not such a big deal but just you."

"Okay, fine." He rolled his eyes. "I'll be with you in a jiffy." He kissed the side of my head and let go of me.

Amanda and I left for the terrace, I didn't understand why we had to go together.

"Uh..." she cleared her throat. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm more than happy to know you're back."

My eyebrows quirked. "You are?"

"Yes, I am. Hames looks happy again, he was in a terrible mess and was very sick. We were scared of him killing himself or dying of hunger, but you're back and now he seems fine again."

"Of course he'll be fine, I'm his wife, and I'm glad you realize that."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Just because I'm glad you're back doesn't mean I want you back. My 'true love' for Hames hasn't died and will never die. I didn't want you to leave when it was his fault, and he'll be feeling bad. You'll have to betray him or something like that. I want you to leave him when he has hatred for you so he'll pay attention to me and we'll live our lives happily, together forever. No Imogen, no children, just the two of us."

"You don't want children?" I asked and she shook her head.

"It's sad to know that you're still so crazy. I'm not betraying Hames and you can never have him because he belongs to me, sweetheart." I patted her shoulder and left the terrace for my room, feeling the need to lie on my comfy bed. ***~ LILA ~

The sound of the doorbell reverberated throughout the house, making frustration grow in me.

I wasn't expecting anyone. "Why on Earth can't I have proper rest when I want to?"

I groaned, rose to my feet, left my bedroom and opened the door, about to snap at who it was when I realized it was Kade.

"Hi." I grinned.

Realizing I looked like a mess right now, I squeaked and slammed the door shut.

"No, no, that was very rude." I opened the door a bit and poked my head out. "Excuse me, just a sec and I'll be back. I'm so sorry."

"No problem." He chortled.

"Thank you." I slammed the door again, locked it and ran back to my room.

As quickly as I could, I got rid of the weird gown I was wearing and wore the proper underwear I wasn't wearing before, wearing a beautiful nice dress, fixed my hair in fast motion and applied slight make up.

I didn't want to look so ugly to Kade. Wait, why?

'So he won't lose interest in you and go back to Jovi.' Whatever that voice was, it spoke in my head but I tried to convince myself that it wasn't true though it was.

How could I look so stupid in front of Kade? It made no sense at all.

I rushed back to the living room, exhaling and inhaling multiple times before opening the door with a grin. "Hey," I waved at him.

He scanned me from head to toe. "Wow, that's such a quick time to change your look." My eyes widened. That meant he had seen me looking so ugly and paid attention. "Either way, you look very beautiful." He chuckled. "Uh... thank you?" I nervously tucked a few strands of my hair behind my ear.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure, you can." I stepped back for him to walk in, locked the door after he did so, then we both took a seat on the sofa. "Would you like me to bring anything for you to drink or eat?"

"Yes, you." The words seemed to have slipped from his mouth, judging from how lost in thoughts he looked.

"What?"

His eyes widened like he just realized what he had said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's okay." I laughed. "I'll just bring tea for us."

"That should be okay."

I left for the kitchen and made tea, serving it then returned with a tray. I dropped the tray on the center table, extending his cup of tea to him. "Here you go."

"Thank you." In an excuse to take the cup from my hand, he was stylishly caressing it and stroking it with his fingers. It made my breath seize and my lips pursed till he finally took the cup.

I sat beside him, also taking my cup of tea. We sipped the tea, talking about work-related stuff at short intervals til we were done and returned the cups to the tray.

"You haven't told me the reason you're here." I said and he gave me a weird look. "No, I don't have a problem with you being here, I'm not sending you away. I just thought it had something to do with Hames and Imogen or you have to pass on information."

"I have a lot of information to pass on to you, like how I've been having sleepless nights because I've been thinking of this extremely beautiful woman that makes me feel like I'm going crazy. The good type of crazy." He smirked, making it obvious that he was referring to me.

I could feel my face turning bright red from hearing his words.

"Hames and Imogen relationship has now been fixed, they are now back together, why don't we try to create and focus on our relationship?" He said, taking me by surprise.

"Uh?"

"Yes, I really like you and I think you like me too. We're both single now so we should give this relationship a trial, let's give it a chance. I can assure you that you won't regret it."

I wanted to maintain a blank expression but I didn't understand why a smile was plastered on my face and I could feel my cheeks burning from my blush.

"Wow, you seem very happy." He smirked. "I don't want to do anything that'll scare you away or make you think I'm terrible but I can't seem to get it out of my head; those angelic lips I've been dreaming of. I'd love to know how they taste." He slowly leaned his face closer to mine and my heart started throbbing at a quicker pace. "If you don't want it then just say 'no', I'll stop."

I wanted to say no but I couldn't bring myself to do that and there, it happened, I permitted him to kiss me.

The kiss was very gentle, smooth, like our lips weren't even touching at all, till... I wasn't certain if it was me or it was him or both of us but the kiss deepened, he was sucking every breath out of him. It was feeling like an adventure I had never experienced, my skin had worn a coat of goosebumps.

His hand slowly went to my waist with mine replaceing their way to his shoulders. The feeling of his smooth hand against my skin was making a tingling sensation run down my spine.

I swear, this wasn't something I would've ever accepted any man to do, not even my boyfriend, but with Kade, it was different. I was unable to tell him to stop, I didn't want him to stop, I wanted him to...

I was called out of my thoughts and the heavenly feeling of his lips when the door was suddenly opened.

My eyes landed on Mom and I quickly flinched away from Kade.

She looked shocked at first but a smirk slowly appeared on her face. "Oh. My. Gosh!" She dropped the plastic bags on her hand to the floor and scurried to us.

"M-Mom, why are you here?"

"So you're sending me away now?"

"No, I thought you already left to meet a friend."

"I did but I had to run back to pick and drop something. I'm sorry to interrupt. Wow, he's such a fine young man."

"I'm Kade Ricardo, Lila's boss." He rose to his feet, extending his hand for a handshake.

"Wow, that's so nice." She accepted his hand for a shake. "I guess my daughters are destined to marry their bosses."

"Mom!" I snapped but Kade chuckled.

"What? Listen, Kade. If you like my daughter, I agree. She's very desperate for a husband. She isn't getting any younger, she'll be 27 soon and she doesn't have a committed relationship yet. Her ex-boyfriend cheated on her and I would love for her to get married soon. I think I like you, I've seen you multiple times before now at Hames and Imogen's."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Oh, you can call me 'Mom'." She waved a hand. Jeez, this woman...

Kade smirked. "That's really very sweet of you, 'Mom'." He emphasized on 'Mom'. "I like Lila a lot, she's very perfect for me."

"Wow," she gazed at me with widened eyes. "And you didn't tell me, Lila?"

"Mom," I groaned.

"I'll get going now, bye." He winked then took his leave.

"He's so handsome. So when do you want to get married to him? Tonight? Tomorrow? Next week? I can start sending invitations."

I glared at her.

"What? I saw how you were kissing him passionately and I know my daughter. You're probably related to Jesus, judging from how you're always acting so holy, you definitely wouldn't allow any man to touch you like that so this one is definitely the perfect piece of cake."

I rolled my eyes at her and stormed out of sight.

I wasn't really mad at her for what she said, I was mad that she made Kade leave so soon. It would've been nice to still spend some more time with him.

***

~ NIKITA ~

My phone was ringing but like I had been doing for half an hour now, I ignored it.

I heard Hames and Imogen were back together now and I was so happy for my favourite couple.

My phone started ringing again.

Out of frustration, I answered the call. "What the fuck is your problem? Why won't you stop calling me?!" I hollered.

"Uh?" Oh, that was Rob's voice.

"Oh, Rob, it's you. I'm sorry, I thought it was someone else." I apologized.

"It's okay. I've been waiting at our favorite club, expecting you today, but you didn't come. What's wrong?" He asked.

"Stop giving yourself so much importance. I've been at your service twice this week already, aren't you satisfied yet?" "No, I really miss you."

I frowned. "Or you miss fucking me like some sex machine?" I scoffed.

"No, I-"

"I didn't ask you to wait for me, I'm not coming, goodbye." I ended the call.

Immediately, my phone started ringing again. Oh yeah, it was the crazy bitch.

I answered the call. "What do you want, Jovi? Why won't you stop calling me?"

"You mad bitch. How dare you give me this terrible attitude? I just figured out that you made Kade break up with me instead. That wasn't the plan. You want revenge on Lila, right? You were supposed to make sure he stays with me. Are you mad?"

"That's seriously why you've been calling me? Learn not to trust me because I can easily switch sides and support the opposing team. Get the fuck off my phone." I ended the call again, throwing the phone to the bed.

I was supposed to be sleeping but I couldn't because my mind wasn't at rest, it was always travelling to Kade, how hot he looked. He was so different from when we had first met a couple of years ago.

I didn't know why but I was starting to have feelings for him. Plus, he was rich.

He was definitely going to be huger down there than how huge he was back then. I was more than curious to know how better he was now.

I picked my phone again. Reluctantly, I texted Kade: **Hi, it's Nikita. I was wondering if we could hang out at your place sometime.**

After sending the message, I shut my eyes and dropped the phone on the bed but immediately snapped them back open. He was going to think I was desperate or something.

**Or anywhere else. Of course, just as friends.** I added and sent it to him.

I dropped the phone, patiently waiting for his reply, staring at the screen at short intervals.

After a few minutes, the phone chirped. **Uh... okay, no problem.**

"Yes!" I jumped and did a happy dance for a while.

I had to stay cool and plan the best sexy dress to wear. Kade would have no other option than to feel attracted to me as well like in the past.