What Separates Me and You novel Chapter 1

Josephine Vance stared at the clock on the wall. By the time it struck 12, the food on the table had gone cold again. 

She took the dishes into the kitchen and reheated them once more. 

At 12.50 am, the doorknob turned, and she turned to see that Lewis Alvarez had returned. 

His face showed subtle signs of drunkenness as he walked toward her, his suit jacket slung on his arm. 

Josephine stood up and poured him a glass of water to help him sober up, but he knocked it over the minute she reached out. Then, he grabbed her chin and kissed her on the lips. 

The smell of alcohol mixed with the scent of a woman’s perfume hit her as he approached. She tried to push him away, but he ended up carrying her straight into the bedroom. 

The man carelessly threw her onto the bed and leaned over without saying a word. 

Josephine bit her lip and silently endured the act, turning her head to stare at the potted plant in the corner of the room. 

There was no emotion, only lust and take. 

The man grabbed her face and gazed deeply into her eyes, lightly stroking her face with his fingers. “Why aren’t you saying anything?” he asked. 

Josephine stared straight at him with watery eyes. He knew she wouldn’t speak. She was mute. 

But he would still ask her every time. 

Josephine sometimes struggled to tell if he was humiliating her or expressing his lament. 

She grabbed the hand on her face and tilted her head to nuzzle it against his palm like a kitten trying to please its owner. 

This was the only way she could comply with him in these situations. 

The man’s pupils darkened as if a surging undercurrent was about to wash them over. He grabbed her hand and pinned it above her head before kissing her lips. 

… 

When Josephine opened her eyes, it was already bright outside. The space next to her in bed was empty, but there was the sound of water coming from the bathroom. 

She picked up her clothes from the floor and put them on. Just as she was putting on the last garment, the phone on the bedside table made a sound. It was Lewis’ phone. 

She looked at the blurry figure through the bathroom door and then at the phone screen. 

There was a text from Sierra Woods. “You left?” 

Then came another. “You do this every time, looking for that mute girl just to annoy me.” 

Josephine froze. 

The bathroom door opened, and Lewis walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist. 

There were still droplets of water on his body. His wet hair was hanging down, dripping. Drops of water gathered on his chest and trickled along the lines of his abdominal muscles.