Arranged to Him

It's cold in New York

I expected a nice upscale apartment on the outskirts of the city since I had started to get to know his taste. What I was not expecting was an apartment in the center of the business district in the middle of New York City. He went into the massive apartment, casually throwing his black leather jacket on a white couch as if neither had any value.

On it sat a good-looking older man with greying hair, watching T.V. on a massive screen. On his arm was a very young and very slutty looking brunette who I was sure was drunk, even without noticing all the booze and trash on the table.

"Oh, wonderful, Joseph. I don't have to track you down then." James said with a dark smile, grabbing the older man off his couch without effort and punching him in the stomach.

"Wait, wait! James! Please.... calm down...you have your beautiful wife watching, you don't want her to think you're a monster, right?" He asked, panicking, trying to reason with James before he hit him again even harder.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Why did you think I would want to marry a young woman from a village that does not even know who I am? She is nothing like me. I wasn't looking for arm candy. I was looking for love, you fucking idiot. I trusted you knew what you were doing!" He spat, shaking the man for emphasis. Seph's eyes went to me, and I felt my breath catch hearing James's words.

On the plane, he had stopped whatever flirtation he had started. Is this why? He just saw me as a pretty face and too dumb to sleep with. I had expected a warm and sweet homecoming with maybe a kiss shared between James and me, not this.

"Anaya. How are you, darling?" Seph asked softly, his girlfriend popping her head over the couch to see me, immediately jealous. The way his blue eyes looked at me was so caring and sweet, a total opposite to the jerk he clearly acted like in real life...I knew exactly how I met him and why he set me up with James.

"I am fine, Seph," I said, wiping away my tears quickly as James turned around, shocked, looking between us, angry we weren't explaining. Seph shoved James off him and came over to me, his look loving, having missed me during our time apart. He placed his hand on my cheek as if to see if I was real, inhaling softly as he did so, his happiness palpable.

"What is all this? If James laid a finger on you..." He asked, angry, seeing the mark on my face and neck, but I shook my head quickly.

"Of course not. I didn't know I would see you again." I whispered, my heart beaming with happiness to see him alive and mostly well from the looks of it.

"You should know better than anyone how hard it is to destroy me." He said with a laugh, showing me his muscles, making me chuckle, my pain from James's words entirely gone. I had thought I would come here and be all by myself, not knowing a single person in this country, but instead, I would get to have my best friend at my side.

"What is this? Is it not enough that you have fucked every girl in New York? Did you really fuck some village girl in Turkey and then con me into marrying her?" James asked coldly, his anger boiling over, and he pushed Seph away from me.

"It's not like that..."

"Yes, I am just an idiot village girl who isn't good enough for you, right, James? How dare Seph be able to see me as anything above that." I said, then clicked my tongue at his idiocy disapprovingly.

"You should be ashamed to have considered yourself worthy of marrying me," I said with a condescending tone that could split ice. He opened his mouth to respond, but his words failed him. I was sure no one had ever talked down to him like that before, and his little brain seemed incapable of processing that he wasn't God.

I gave Seph a kiss on the cheek and a small smile before stomping my way to the bedroom to let them argue without me, having zero desire to be a part of their manly ego wars.