Chapter 59: You Want To Divorce Me, Don’t You

Nathan glared at Crystal. His hands clenched and unclenched at his side, “So,” he said, “you went to the bar last night to take pictures and gather hard evidence so that the court would grant you a divorce?”

“I-I--I…” Crystal stammered. She didn’t know what to say and or how to defend herself. Suddenly she could not even look at him. She lacked the courage to look up.

Nathan grabbed Crystal by the arm and yanked her out of bed. Then he pinched her chin, forcing her to look at him, and shouted into her face: “You want a divorce, don’t you?”

Without waiting for an answer, Nathan began to tear Crystal’s nightgown to pieces, and by the time she was naked, he was so angry that he was unable to appreciate the sight of her fully undressed. Nathan leaned forward, and as he gripped her buttocks with his left hand, he bit her lip. Then, he began to attack her right breast with his right hand, pressing and pulling, and twisting.

“No,” Crystal cried. “Stop it, Nathan.” She hoped that Nathan would realize that he was hurting her and stop, but her pain seemed to fuel his passion. Furthermore, because Nathan was used to being in control, he could not permit Crystal to live if he could not dominate her.

Nathan gripped Crystal’s neck with his large hand. He pressed her against the wall, and he began to kiss her; first her lips, then her neck -

Next, her collarbone, and then her nipples, his right hand was still on her left breast, but now he ran his fingers down her stomach to her pubic mound. He brushed his fingers through the faint fresh growth of tangled hair that was there.

Crystal squirmed, and she tried to cry out, but she was not able, not with his hand wrapped around her throat.

“Stay still,” Nathan hissed. “You want to divorce me, don’t you?”

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Nathan turned and glared at it.

Susie called out pleasantly from the hallway: “Crystal, lunch is ready.”

Nathan gripped Crystal’s pubic hair, and Crystal silently squealed. He leaned into her, and as he released her neck, he whispered, “Be good. Or else! Nod your head if you understand.”

Crystal nodded. Her skin was as red as cherry blossoms where he had kissed it, and it was damningly hot.

Susie: “Crystal? Are you up yet? I’m coming in.”

Crystal: “No, please don’t come in! I’m not decent. I’ll be down as soon as I’m dressed.”

Nathan was still angry, but he had regained control of his body. Once Susie was back downstairs, he pushed Crystal on the bed and turned away. He knew that if he didn’t leave now, he would lose control of himself again - so he left her without saying another word.

Once Crystal was alone, she pulled a sheet over her naked body, and she remained motionless for a long time. It didn’t bother her that Nathan knew about the divorce papers. After all, he would have found out sooner or later. Behind his anger, though, she’d seen pain, and that gave her cause to pause. It had never been her intention to hurt Nathan. After all that he had done to her, she knew that she had no reason to feel guilty, but she did, and she hated that feeling.

Crystal’s phone rang, and she ignored it, but as soon as it stopped, it started up again. She sighed, rolled over to reach her phone, brought it to her face, and said, “This had better be important!”

There was a long moment of silence, and then Serenity said, “Crystal? Are you okay? You sound upset. Did you get into a fight with Professor Davis?”

Crystal: “You must have been a fortune teller in your last life. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to guess so accurately all the time.”

Serenity laughed and said, “I wasn’t a fortune teller. You are predictable. That’s all.”

“Shut up,” Crystal groaned unhappily.

Serenity: “Sorry. That was unkind of me. Why don’t we go shopping? That will cheer you up.” “That’s a great idea!” Crystal exclaimed as she jumped out of bed. She got dressed, grabbed her backpack, and left her room.

***

By the time Crystal arrived at the mall, Serenity was waiting for her with a package under her arm. Crystal greeted her friend with a hug and pointed to the package. “What’s that?” she wondered.

Serenity passed the package to Crystal and said, “Here you are. This is your birthday present.”

Crystal began to open the package, but Serenity told her to wait until she got home. So, Crystal shrugged, thanked her friend and put the package in her backpack. In Serenity’s free hand, she had a tray with two coffees on it, and she said, “The large one is yours.”

Crystal took the coffee and suggested they find a place to sit where they could talk. The food court was nearby, so they went there, and once they were seated, Serenity got right down to business. “What happened between you and Professor Davis?” she asked. “Do you really want to divorce him?”

Crystal said that she didn’t want to talk about it, so they moved on to lighter subjects, and once their coffees were made, they went into a luxury bag store.

Inside the store, they saw several beautifully dressed women shopping. They looked like they were wealthy, and the attendants were enthusiastically following them around. Meanwhile, Serenity and Crystal hadn’t even been greeted by a single sales clerk. Crystal looked at a few of the price tags and saw that the cheapest thing in the store cost over ten thousand dollars, and she assumed that because they were modestly dressed, the staff concluded that they couldn’t afford to buy anything. Thus, they were being ignored.

Suddenly, one of the beautifully dressed women touched Crystal’s shoulder from behind and said, “Crystal? What a surprise it is to meet you here.”

Crystal nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned around right quickly and recognized the woman almost immediately. Her name was Gigi. There had been a time when they’d been friends, but when Crystal’s financial situation had changed, she’d been ostracized by the social group that they both belonged to.