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“That’s why you married him.” Jack accuses me. “Isn’t it?”
My fists are balled as I say, “I married him because I love him.”
“Bullshit. You let me fuck you and then you get married the next day.” Jack’s words hit me with the force of a tornado. I feel as though I am pulled up into the funnel and swiftly discarded like a rag doll.
“What the fuck is he talking about?” The pain in Cash’s voice pulls my mind from this wreckage.
“Where was I during all of this?” Wade asks, drawing my attention to him.
“Not now, Wade,” Jack says angrily, his energy focused on me, and I can feel it like a vice around my neck.
Whether it is a blessing or not, before I can address Cash’s question Amber charges out of the bathroom and Jack looks shocked as if he forgot she was on the plane. “I can’t believe I bailed you out of jail in Chicago.” That was when Jack drunkenly came to my hotel room and I wouldn’t let him in. He caused a fight with our security and landed both Cash and Wade in jail with him.
Jack says nothing. I avoid Cash, turning away, knowing this is the beginning of the end. Amber finally notices me with a look of pure disgust. I feel it deep inside because I am not this person.
I am not the person she thinks I am.
I am not a homewrecker and yet here I am watching Jack’s marriage crumble in front of me, afraid to look at Cash because I know what I will see in his eyes.
Disappointment.
“Wow, this just keeps getting better and better.” Amber points at me and looks to Jack for answers. “When?”
I watch as Jack looks down at the drink and I want to slap it out of his hands.
“New Orleans.” Cowardly, he looks at his shoes as he says it, and I inwardly crumble. My life is in flames.
“I should have known.” I’ve never heard Amber sound weak before but there is a crack in her armor and it’s Jack. As destructive as their relationship is, I can see now how much Amber loves him, or maybe how much she wants him to love her.
“You not only broke your promise to me, Jack, but you also broke your promise to Hayley.” The crack gets bigger, and I want to throw myself into the chasm.
“It’s not like that.” Jack pleads, but I can see in his eyes, it’s futile, superficial. No one can come back from this, not even Jack. “We can work through this.” I don’t know what he was expecting from me. He’s married and I’m married. This was never going to end well. Jack is single-minded, wanting what he can’t have but that just makes him want it all the more.
“Don’t touch me.” Amber slaps his hand away as he tries to reach for her in desperation. “It’s not just the drugs, Jack.” Amber turns her gaze to me and she looks so sad. “I will never be her.”
Amber turns her attention to Cash who is standing beside me, an innocent spectator in this awful destructive scene. “I feel sorry for you.” She tells him “Of all people, you should know better.” Amber takes a shaky breath and wipes the tears from her cheek. She squares her shoulders as if to try and mask the pain. “Jack and Mia could give a shit about anyone but each other. Everyone else is just collateral damage.”
“Amber, please.” Jack pleads again as he follows her to the front of the plane and I am left feeling broken and alone. Pain radiates like waves washing over me, and they’re coming from Cash.
The plane shakes again and I physically feel ill. Thefasten your seat beltsign flashes furiously and all I can do is focus on the letters as they go in and out of focus.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist you sit in your seats and buckle up.” The stewardess firmly says to all of us. I shake my head to clear it so I can make my way to my seat and buckle. Cash does not sit next to me, instead, he takes the seat opposite and stares out the window. Even though he says nothing to me, not even looking at me, I can feel his anger like a weight pushing down on me. It is the worst possible feeling to know you have hurt the person you love.
“Isn’t this how Lynyrd Skynyrd died?” Wade’s voice cuts through the silence.
“Probably don’t want to mention that right now, babe,” Adam whispers to him.
I can’t stand the silence anymore. “Cash?” My voice comes out broken and raw.
He doesn’t look at me when he says, “Don’t talk to me right now.” His words sting like the knick of a knife. I can’t let it be, I can’t look at him from across the aisle and know that he is hurting because of me, because of what I did.
“Please talk to me.” My voice trying to reach for him desperately. He is no longer my safe place, my strength, but instead the very thing that drowns me.
He turns his head slowly to look at me. I see my betrayal, my lips on Jack’s, my fingernails on his back.
“I want a divorce.”
CHAPTER TWO
