Chapter 460) More Than Words

Windenburg Mainland
Rhapsody Restaurant

Looking up, Stryker smiled, an automatic but genuine reaction when their eyes met. Sophie smiled too and that small gesture meant the world to Stryker, like medicine for his tortured soul.

“You’re beautiful. So beautiful.” he said, his voice filled with sincerity.

As usual, it made he uncomfortable, she looked down, blushed, which Stryker found indescribably attractive, making his smile bigger.

‘You are a lucky man!’, he had been told many times, by many different people. Stryker couldn’t agree more. He was lucky he wasn’t facing being divorced now, even though things were far from great, and they were still not out of the woods yet.

But yes, he was lucky, indeed. Very much so. And he knew it.

The Flashback
Del Sol Valley Hotel
Some weeks prior

The night of his fight with Sophie during his best friend Drake’s housewarming party, followed by Sophie running out, him stubbornly staying and drinking way too much, just like an addict would, which ultimately landed him in bed with his ex Alycia, only to wake the next morning without any recollection but filled with regrets and guilt nearly cost him everything he had spent the past 5+ years working so hard for. His sobriety, his reputation, his marriage and his kids.

But luck would have it that the uncomfortable moments in Alycia’s room were immediately topped by even more uncomfortable moments, when a knock on the door revealed Sophie and Fallon, the latter not hesitating to push her way into the room! Why Fallon, you wonder?

For some reasons unbeknownst even to them, Fallon and Sophie had run into each other on several occasions because of Stryker’s career and Sophie’s very distant relationship to Fallon’s father Blaine, and both women hit it off. They also had their dislike for Alycia in common, and Fallon had come to Sophie’s aid more than once, fiercely protecting her when Alycia was rude to the shy girl. When Stryker didn’t come to their hotel room that night, never answered his phone, and Drake suspected Stryker might have been drunk then left with Alycia, Sophie called Fallon. Fallon owned a personal security and investigation business with her husband Bear, tracking down cheating spouses was part of their bread and butter, and it didn’t take Fallon long to find Stryker.

Once she and Sophie entered Alycia’s room, Fallon immediately drank from Styker, just a small sip of his blood, and so quickly he couldn’t even react fast enough to fight her before it was over, could only watch on in horror as she stood there tasting it like a vampiric analysis machine, suddenly her eyes narrowed, next thing anyone knew was Fallon digging through Alycia’s purse, ignoring her protests, which were silenced when Fallon triumphantly produced a small bottle. The way Alycia reacted made clear what was going on before Fallon said the words

“You literally roofied your ex? Seriously Uglycia … that’s low, even by YOUR standards. And then to be stupid enough to carry the leftovers with you? Did the constant dieting dry up your tiny little braincell?” Fallon mocked.

Drugging someone without their consent was illegal at best, as was taking advantage of them while incapacitated, so with a big, satisfied smile Fallon took Alycia to the local police station, who didn’t even try to fight the vampire, knowing it would be futile, while Sophie sobbed heartbroken when realizing what had happened. Stryker felt his heart break for her, knowing there was nothing he could say, save beg for forgiveness. And begging he did, on his knees, he begged.

While she realized Stryker didn’t purposely cheat on her, the fact that it had been with his ex was hard on her.

They flew back home together, but she demanded separate bedrooms, and for the following weeks Stryker slept in the guest room. He was going to do anything to not lose Sophie, for a while he really wasn’t sure if he would or not, she wouldn’t let him touch her at all, even though he gave her time and space and had gone to get tested for STDs per her request, he attended sobriety classes again, literally did anything and everything she demanded, thinking ‘hope dies last’.
When his mother came over to ream him for his stupidity, they fought, a BAD fight, but much to everyone’s surprise, Sophie sided with her husband. Theresa Hayes stormed out, three days later they had the deed to her house and the keys in the mailbox and a note that she was moving ‘away from this godforsaken sleepy town’, meaning Sophie’s hometown of Windenburg.

Windenburg Mainland
Rhapsody Restaurant
Current Time

Here it was, their 6th anniversary, and they had gone out to eat, as couples do on such occasions. While it still felt awkward, it gave Stryker hope again. He had given her a necklace, flowers and her favorite chocolates, she accepted all of it, smiled and thanked him, but no kiss. Not even a hug.
Oh well. Baby steps.

She now looked up at him.

“Are you ready for your gift?” she said out of the blue.

“You didn’t need to get me anything. THIS, this right here, is everything.” Stryker smiled and meant it. She hadn’t turned her back on him, hadn’t taken his kids away. That was more than most wives would have done.

“I didn’t. You will have to wait for it until we get home though. On that note, are you ready?” she asked.

“We didn’t even order dessert yet …” Stryker remarked, wanting this night to be as perfect as possible and perfect anniversary dinners had decadent desserts. Especially if your wife was a Grade A foodie.

She reached out her hand to hold his, looking into his eyes, and Stryker would have gone to the end of the world with her now. This touch … a touch. Finally a touch. A rock fell off his heart.

“No need to pay their overpriced prices for dessert. I am still a chef too, and I made apple streusel from scratch. Not very showy, but your favorite.” Sophie said, making Stryker smile about the gesture, but also salivate in anticipation of her delicious baking.

She was a chef all right, ever since they became a couple Stryker had to watch his weight, a completely new and unknown problem to him, when all his life he had always struggled for the next meal and been on the opposite end of that spectrum, trying hard not to starve. But he was a performer, someone in the public eye and his fans paid for more than just his music. They expected a rugged looking rocker hunk, splitting his leather pants during performances with his guts spilling over his belt after ripping his shirt off would probably not keep the crowds coming.

“I’d kill for your apple streusel. Where is that damn waiter, he needs to get his ass over here or we’re leaving without paying. Sue me, bruh.” Stryker said, looking around, waving impatiently at their server, making Sophie giggle.

Strolling the short distance from the restaurant to the ferry landing to set over to the Windenburg Isle where their home was located, Sophie’s hand found Stryker’s nearly giving him a heart attack for joy. Progress!

His hand closed around hers, as he pulled it up to his face and kissed it.

“I love you Soph. More than words can say.”

“I know that. It was hard to remind myself after what happened, but I know you do. It’s in your actions, the way you look at me, in everything. And I love you too, obviously.” Sophie said, sounding so incredibly powerful, while giving Stryker so much hope.

The ferry had arrived, but hadn’t opened for entry, so they sweetened the wait time by making out. It felt like the first time to Stryker. So good.

Stryker’s heart felt as if it was going to explode, feeling the woman he had been so afraid to lose, while his mind counted all his blessings over and over again. This has been way too close for comfort. Way too close to losing everything that gave his life meaning. So close.

Windenburg Isle
Hayes Estate

The kids were spending the night with their grandparents, so once back home, Stryker headed for the kitchen for the promised pastry treat, but Sophie grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs, leading him up and to their bedroom door.

“The apple streusel will keep.” she told him.

Stryker didn’t question her, nor argue. If this was what it looked like, fuck the apple streusel! This was gonna me MUCH sweeter!

In front of the door, she turned to him.

“Your anniversary gift. Welcome back.” with those words, she pushed open the door.

It took Stryker a moment to realize she was inviting him back into their marital bedroom permanently and he almost wanted to cry for joy as he followed her inside, his knees like pudding, as he shut the door behind them. This was happening. Oh God, let this not be a dream. Or a cruel joke.

“Just the room … or … more?” he asked carefully.

“Argh, typical. Give the little finger, you want the whole arm …” Sophie told him, but the way she did made him understand she was only teasing, the devilish little smile gave her away.

“I want the finger, the arm and the woman attached to it!” he told her.

They kissed, then she pulled away, slipped out of her cardigan, then pulled the dress over her head, kicking off her shoes, Stryker took of this sports coat, which she took from him, tossing in aside, very unlike herself, before unbuttoning Stryker’s shirt in a way that nearly sent him to ecstasy. When she started unzipping his pants, he quickly took over or it would have been messy right there.

When both stood there, not a single fiber left on their body, Stryker unable to hide how much he wanted her, with a strange sound he picked her up and launched both of them onto the bed, Sophie screaming and giggling as they began to play-wrestle which seamlessly turned into making out. At some point he halted, looking at her seriously.

“I am so very sorry Soph. I am so sorry I failed you, I know I fucked up bad. I’ll make it up to you, you won’t regret giving me a second .. well .. actually I lost count of how many chances you have given me, but I will do anything and everything to not make you regret it and if it’s the last thing I do.” Stryker said bluntly.

“You did mess up by drinking, that was so stupid of you. But it happened, we can’t undo it, so we’ll just have to fix it. You broke the streak, but I don’t think you undid the overall success, just tested your boundaries to see if you can be trusted with alcohol again, evidently you are not there yet, so we’ll call this a minor setback and just resume sobriety from here. But the other thing isn’t on you. She drugged you, that snake. Which girl roofies a guy? So desperate! Disgusting! To think once upon a time I was jealous of her, wishing I was more like her. I’d take back all my weight and then some before I ever wanted to be like that. Yuck!” Sophie said, equally as blunt.

“Had I not been an idiot thinking I know shit about shit, being Mr. Always Right, then pilfering Drake’s booze, she would have never had the chance to roofie me. As cool as Drake’s mancave is, you were right, I always work so much, before and after album releases I am barely home, and when I am, I need to be with my family, not dangling my balls off a chair like a big kahuna while staring at booze in some mancave with my bros, cos I’ve just proven I can drink any of it. What the fuck was I thinking? I own this. I am a dick and so stupid! So very stupid! You are too good for me. I don’t deserve you.” Stryker admitted.

“No, probably not, but you are kinda all I got, and you did give me a beautiful huge house with a beautiful garden and four beautiful kids … and maybe down the road, when the kids are older, you can have your mancave, cos I won’t be home much either, running that restaurant I will own one day.” she winked at him, clearly teasing to make light of a tough and painful topic.

“Well, in a divorce you’d probably get all of that anyway …” he joked back in kind.

“Oh, right! Well, in that case, let me call Nick …” she giggled, poking him in the stomach, which he answered with kisses. Nick was her cousin and an attorney.

“Buyer’s remorse about letting me back in here?” he wondered.

“Actually no. Had it been anyone but Alycia, I would have forgiven you right away. So many girls get roofied by creeps, we know it’s a total blackout making one do anything someone demands. I know she tricked you, but knowing that ugly witch had you – again – URGH.”

“Trust me, Soph, not enough disinfectant in the world that I would feel better about that. Sober me cannot find one good argument why she has ever been my girlfriend. I know I wasn’t a prize back before meeting you, but she was always like she is now. I don’t like this idea any more than you do. I can’t figure out what I ever saw in her, not even physically do I find her attractive. Without her drugging me, I’d have shit my wiener the moment that skeleton got undressed. No way I could have functioned the way she wanted. I like the female form, tits and ass, soft all over but firm in just the right places, like you are, skeletal anatomy models don’t get me going at all if I am not in some booze and drug haze. No wonder she did everything back then to keep me addicted.”

“I am glad you’re not into conniving skinny blondes anymore …”

“I am DEFINITELY not into skinny blondes of any kind. I like sexy brunettes. Or better put: one certain sexy brunette, who made me a daddy 7 years ago. Fuck the rest. Not literally though. Sadly, I have to put that disclaimer in now. God, I am such a work in progress still.”

“Yeah, but you are MY work in progress. Joking aside, I missed you, Stryker. I’ll admit, my first instinct was to end it. But I couldn’t. You and I have been through more in those few years than most people go through in a lifetime. I can’t throw that away, as much as this hurt. But I miss you. I miss your touch. I miss my husband. My partner. Everything about you. I miss feeling wanted. I missed THIS.”

“Even though I am still a fuck up? You could do so much better than me. You deserve better than me. I got nothing going for me, except that I am rich and famous now, and you are not a golddigger. And on top of all I ran off our kids’ grandmother, even though you specifically told me you wanted her in our kids’ lives and when I knew you wanted me to get along with her. Another failure. Ugh!” Stryker sighed.

“Don’t worry about that, yes, I really wanted you to get along, but she was being a bitch about something that didn’t concern her, this was not her fight. That is your and my fight, not anyone else’s. Yet, she wouldn’t stop sticking her nose in it, bringing it up when you and I both had asked her not to. Plus, she only ever saw the kids on her terms. She can be a fair weather grandma from wherever she ran off to. My family is still here, and they are all hands on, even Ezzy, and that is saying a LOT. So bye Felicia to your mother. She can come visit; we have an empty guest room again ….”

“I am definitely moving back in here?”

“Hmm – depends.”

“On what?”

“On if I am happy with your performance. Enough mood-killing talk, you better bring your A-game tonight.” Sophie giggled, slapping Stryker’s butt, making him burst out laughing.

“Who are you? You are not that shy girl I once met! All that’s missing here is a whip in your hand! I feel objectified.” Stryker played.

“That girl became the wife of a rock musician with scores of fans having seen you shirtless, girls screaming out naughty stuff when you go do performances and appearances, and we can barely go anywhere without people taking pictures. But my greatest role yet is being a mother to four kids. I have no room for shyness.”

“Well then … Strap in tight, Soph, for the ride of your lifetime.”

The initial giggling soon turned into softer sounds as these two lovers renewed their most intimate vows to each other, both knowing they weathered yet another storm that would have broken many others.

The next morning Stryker awoke in his own bed, everything about it felt safe and like coming home. His happiness was dulled for a moment when he realized Sophie wasn’t in bed next to him, when he heard running water in the shower his smile returned, he rose up to head for the door, halted for a moment, his hand raised to knock, but he reconsidered and just entered the room and knocked on the shower door instead.

Sophie’s face appeared through the steam, reddened from the hot water, before she pushed open the door, stepping aside to let him in.

“Good morning handsome …” she purred.

“Morning beautiful – the most beautiful sight imaginable. The only girl I want to see and be with for the rest of my natural life. My muse. My meaning for everything.”

“Get in already, you’re letting all the heat out.”

“Oh no baby, I am bringing the heat. You better be ready for round … oh I lost count. Just be ready!”

Giggling she pulled him closer.