AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I gasp at his question. “Dude, fuck you.”
“Again, not—”
“No, fuckyou! Fuck you! I have no idea what I ever saw in you. But I amsoglad I woke up and realized what a fucker you are!”
“Same. Thanks for doing me a favor.”
I open my mouth to yell a rebuttal, but wires are crossing, and sparks are causing my brain to short-circuit. “I—I—Get out of my cabin!”
“You’re in my fucking cabin. You get the fuck out!” Then he turns, his feet pounding on the floor until he opens the bedroom door and slams it behind him.
***
I stand there for a while, staring at the closed door. His words slowly sink in. And when they do, they hurt. Not a little pinch hurt but a ‘stinging, did someone just stab me in my heart’ hurt. He’s the one who tore the beautiful rug out from under me. He ruined us, not me.
Yeah, I didn’t let him explain. I refused to allow his excuses to change what I saw. My love was so deep that I knew I would be willing to pretend I didn’t catch him with another woman. That he didn’t tear my heart out and spit on the life we created. The future we were planning. I knew it was silly to invest my entire life in us. But I saw forever whenever I looked at him. He was the other part of my heart, and I hated it anytime we were apart. Because his air was my air. I know. It was pathetic. I was obviously so blinded by love that I didn’t realize he was fucking cheating on me.
He might as well have hit me with a truck. I was crushed. I didn’t know a human body could feel so broken without any physical damage. I cried enough tears to fill an ocean. And no matter how much I lie to myself and my friends, I’m not over what he did. Seeing him again brings all these emotions I’ve spent the last two years burying back to the surface. No matter how deeply I try to suppress them, they still have the power to hurt me.
I wipe my eyes and drag my feet into the living room. I notice a few frames on the fireplace mantel. Taking a closer look, I see one of him and Jake. A group photo with some old friends of his. One of. . .
“Don’t think too much into that one. I like it for the background view.” I cock my head at Easton, now dressed, walking into the kitchen.
The picture is of us on a bike ride up to the mountains. The sunset was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I step back, taking in more personal touches in the cabin. I didn’t notice last night, but this. . . “This is your cabin,” I say.
“Tell me something I don’t know.” I want to turn around and start round three with him, but I walk over to my laptop bag and dig through it until I grab the pamphlet. Then I slam it on the counter.
“What’s that?” he asks, pouring water into the coffee maker. He grabs the pamphlet, his eyes roaming over the images. “The fuck?”
“Yeah.”
“If this is some joke to get me to—”
“Oh, shut up with your egotistical ass. I didn’t do this on purpose to see you if that’s what you think. I was set up.” His brows furrow skeptically. “Look.” I stab at the pamphlet. “Tory and Ashley rented this cabin for me to get away for a few days.”
“This cabin isn’t up for rental.”
“Obviously! They set me up! They knew you would be here and sent me here as a trap.”
“Why?”
“Because they hate me, that’s why. I had no idea you lived here. I just thought I was being sent away to heal or—uhm, get work done.” He stares at me, looking for deceit, which he won’t find. “Look at me like that all you want. But trust me, I never would have come if I knew.”
He grabs the pamphlet and inspects it further. “They created this pamphlet, convinced you to go on a trip to the middle of nowhere, and you went?”
When he says it out loud, it sounds sketchy and very unlike me. “Listen. I don’t care what you think.” I snatch the pamphlet from his hands and turn my back on him, shoving it into my laptop bag. “I just want to get the hell out of here and pretend this never happened.” Swinging around, I ask, “Where are my clothes? I’d like to leave now.”
I wish he would stop staring at me. It makes me feel things, and I can’t go there with him. “My clothes?”
“In the closet hanging up.”
“Great.” I walk off, opening two doors until I find the closet. I grab my things and disappear into the bathroom. Once I’m behind the closed door, I sink to the floor and cover my face. Humiliation causes my eyes to burn, and I try to fight back tears but fail. How could they do this to me? I sound like a broken record, but I simply can’t wrap my head around why they would do something so evil. They saw firsthand the agony I went through. I was a pile of wreckage for so long until, piece by piece, I rebuilt myself. And even now, I’m still not whole. I also can’t believe I stormed in here, acting like I owned the place when it was his all along. He has to think I’m completely mental. “God, Iamcrazy.”
There’s a knock on the door.
“I’m in the shower,” I say.
“I know you’re not. Open the door.”
