Give Me Pleasure Chapter 5 Part 1
CHAPTER 5 · PART ONE
Give Me Pleasure
Addison
When I arrived, Martha was already standing at the far corner of the motel, her back leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. The dim yellow streetlights flickered, casting eerie shadows over the cracked pavement. A neon sign buzzed above us, its letters partially burnt out, making the word Motel look like Mo-el. The air smelled damp, mixed with cheap perfume and cigarette smoke, where people came to disappear to do things they didn’t want people to see.
I walked over to her, my heart hammering thump thump thump in my chest.
God, please let this be false. Let him just be here because he's sad about the promotion.
“How long have you been here?”
“For a while. Was here when his mistress walked in to meet him.”
Her voice was calm—too calm. But the weight of her words hit me like a slap.
I gaped at her, the next question I wanted to ask slipping from my mind.
“What if you're wrong, Martha? Have you thought about what this will do if we go in there and find out you’re wrong?”
She nodded. “That's why I've been hesitant to tell you. But you deserve to know the truth.”
“So you're sure?” A knot twisted in my stomach, coiling tighter with every passing second.
“I hired a private investigator.”
Right. Martha was filthy rich now. After her divorce, she had walked away with ten million dollars, so hiring a professional to tail my husband would have been easy.
“What evidence did the private investigator provide you with?” I asked, gripping my clutch tight, my nails digging into the leather. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I had to ask.
“He's here. Right now. With her. What more evidence do you need?”
She was right. If Ronald was in a motel room with another woman, no amount of excuses could explain that away. It is black and white. The kind of truth you couldn’t twist into something else.
Could Ronald do that to me? To us? To the mother of his children?
Yes, we’d been distant, but to cheat? To go behind my back and betray the life we built together?
“How long have you been tailing him?” My voice was barely above a whisper.
“For six months.”
“For six long months, Martha? Seriously? And you just decide to tell me?”
“I needed to get all my evidence first. I know how much you love that man. You wouldn't have believed me if I had come to you without enough proof.”
“Why today? You literally followed me to shop for a dress for our date.”
“It made you happy. The happiest I’ve seen you in a long time. So I played along to see you smile, even if it was just for a little while.”
“That’s so shitty of you.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. But first, we need to catch that bastard.”
She grabbed my hand. My legs felt weak, barely able to hold me up, but her grip was firm, steady—she had been here before, and now it was my turn to face it.
We climbed two flights of stairs, avoiding the elevator, as if delaying the inevitable would somehow change what was about to happen. With each step, reality chipped away at the life I thought I had—my perfect little life, my sweet daughter, and my loving husband. If Martha was right, if this was real, then it was all about to shatter into a million pieces.
“We’re here.”
Martha didn’t give me a second to brace myself before she knocked.
One.
Two.
Three.