Page 5 of Meet Me at the Altar

I glanced up at June. “Spare me, June. We both know that you haven’t liked me from day one. In the last three years since you’ve been here, you’ve had a beef with me, and I have no idea why. Jim, I hope you don’t regret this decision.” I pulled the packet open, scanned the important details because I was familiar with the paperwork, so I knew where to find everything, and then I signed the paper.

“We’ll need you to pack your things immediately,” June declared.

I pushed my chair back and headed to my office with her following me. I had nothing to say to her, but I hated that she was the one who escorted me to my office. If Jim cared anything about my seven years of service, he would have spared my dignity and walked me out himself.

It took no time for me to pack my things up in a box that had been placed on my desk while I met with June and Jim. When I finished, June walked me to the front door.

“I’m sorry it worked out this way, Kalliope. Best wishes.” She pasted a fake smile on her face and batted her eyelashes.

“Bitch, spare me the fake sympathy. Karma is a bitch, just like you.”

“Immaturity and bitterness will get you nowhere in this field, Kalliope. You’d better remember that the HR community is a tight-knit circle before you burn your bridges,” June threatened.

I stormed away and hopped in my car as fast as I could. By the time that I sped out of the parking lot, June still stood at the front door of NI Briggs watching me, as if she didn’t trust me to leave the premises.

It only took twenty minutes for me to arrive home, since I was driving in the opposite direction of traffic. Not feeling like carrying the box inside, I decided I would get it later. I climbed the steps to the porch of the three-bedroom cottage that I shared with my boyfriend, Remy.

My heart dropped the minute that I stepped inside and heard the noises. I knew that he worked from home today, as he did most days. He was in cybersecurity and had the flexibility to work anywhere.

But those sounds could not be mistaken. The grunts and groans and the slapping of bodies were clearly someone having sex. I rushed into the bedroom and halted in my tracks when I saw Remy fucking our neighbor’s daughter, Ellis.

My heart froze midbeat, and my stomach contorted, creating agony within. My brain struggled to accept what my eyes saw. How could the man I trusted with my heart and my life break me this way? How could the young lady who I treated like my sister betray me this way? I adored Ellis, yet she was no better than a bitch in the streets.

She had often been the babysitter for Remy’s nieces and nephews whenever they spent a few weeks during the summer with us, and we needed a little break. She had even spent the night at our house on multiple occasions when she wanted to just “get away” from her parents. I hadn’t minded because Ellis was an only child of older parents. At the age of eighteen, she would be leaving for college soon, and I hoped that we had made a lasting impact on her. If we hadn’t before, Remy was making sure of it now.

“What the fuck?” I shrieked.

They stopped and turned to look over their shoulders. Ellis stood up and smirked at me. Remy’s face dropped in horror, and he immediately looked apologetic and shameful.

“Baby, I’m sorry. It’s not what?—”

“Don’t you dare open your mouth and tell me this isn’t what it looks like.”

“It’s not, baby.”

“Don’t fucking ‘baby’ me!” I shouted, holding my hands up as he walked in my direction. “It looks like you were fucking our neighbor’s daughter in the ass!”

The tears that flew down my face and the vomit that rose in my throat could no longer be contained. The moment that Remy stepped close to me, I spewed my lunch all over him.

“Damnit, Kalli.” He grunted in disgust.

I backed up toward the door when I finished, and Remy rushed to the bathroom.

“I’ve tried to get him to tell you, Kalli.”

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up!” I shouted at Ellis, slowly stalking toward her.

She shrugged unapologetically. “I’m sorry.”

“Bitch, you’re not sorry. You have come into my home, taken my kindness for weakness, and all the while, you’ve been fucking my man behind my back, you little whore!”

“Technically, it’s his home, and he allowed you to live here.”

I closed the remaining distance between us and smacked the shit out of her. “I hope you catch herpes and gonorrhea and your fucking uterus fall out, trifling bitch.”

She grabbed her face and scowled at me. “Jealousy and wrinkles don’t keep a man, Kalliope. You’d better think of that.”

For some odd reason, that reminded me of June’s taunt, and I knew I needed to get away from this child before I hurt her. Because at the end of the day, she was still a child, and she nor he were worth it. Remy was just a placeholder in my life, and now, my life was empty.