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The man she’s running from.
The knot in my stomach tightens, on the verge of combusting. With the deepest of breaths, my body moves painfully slow until I’m met with his face.
Just like Rose believed, karma has a way of finding everyone.
It’s found me.
And standing beside it is my best friend Benny.
Chapter Two
I’ve never been fond of flying. Something about being crammed into a confined space along with two hundred impatient people, all in a hurry to reach their destination, seems unnatural. Add to that the cardboard food that’s barely edible, coffee which tastes like water, and worst of all, the extremely claustrophobic restroom.
I avoid flying anywhere unless, of course, it’s for leisure. Like Hawaii last year. Leisure and pleasure all rolled into one. A boys’ trip that turned into a weeklong fuck-fest with a newly divorced woman, seeking revenge on her ex-husband by spending his money.
Life was so sweet back then.
It’s a five-hour flight to Los Angeles. And five hours of flying economy next to a girl who bursts into tears every time she flips the page of her book. Cute girl, maybe early twenties, with a short brown bob tied back and reading glasses that make her look nerdy yet sexy at the same time. She’s curled up, legs beneath her chin, resting against the window. The way she sits, along with the way she bites her nails nervously, warns me that Miss Goody-Two-Shoes should best be left alone.
But I am bored. Not in the mood to watch the crappy television shows or unpopular movies they show on the plane.
Without trying to draw attention, I watch the way her lips tremble and her eyes glass over with every flick of a page. My stare immediately wanders to the title of the book—Moving on After a Broken Heart.
Too. Fucking. Easy.
Then my mind halts, remembering the promise I made when I left home.
I promise not to prey on vulnerable women.
I promise to keep my dick in my pants.
I promise not to engage in sexual activity that may be construed as any form of revenge.
I made this pact—or so-called promise—to better myself, because I’d fucked up royally and lost my best friends.
Life hasn’t been the same since that night with Rose. Benny knew straight away that I’d fucked her. Running toward me at the bar his fist connected with my jaw in a matter of seconds. I wanted so desperately to punch the fucker back, but I knew all too well that it was my fault. I messed with the wrong girl, the girl that my best friend was in love with.
How the fuck was I supposed to know that?
Only after it unraveled did it all make sense. How he’d been distant from Tom and me, constantly making up excuses as to why he couldn’t hang out with us. I just didn’t understand why he went to those lengths to hide his relationship from us. Had he been honest from the start, then maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t have happened.
But deep down inside I knew how much shit we both would have given him had he told us he was in love.
We don’t do love. Not us boys.
In college we made a pact—play hard, fuck hard. All around us friends were dropping like flies, marrying their high school sweethearts and having babies. We were the last three standing, and having the time of our lives. Backpacking through Europe and Asia after college, frequenting Cancun any weekend we had free. Next year, we were supposed to do Australia.
But now, neither one of them would talk to me.
Benny told me that fateful night he no longer considered me a brother, storming out of the bar without Rose by his side. He ignored my calls, and even Tom was quick to take his side. No matter what I tried, or the copious amounts of apologies I would offer, neither one of them wanted anything to do with me. They had blocked me on all social media and even convinced the basketball team we played on during the weekends to drop me.
The unintentional drama that followed only made the whole situation worse.
Amongst our circle of friends and in the community, news had spread like wildfire much like the game ‘telephone.’ By the time it reached my mom, I had apparently fucked Benny’s girlfriend, knocked her up, and was threatening to leave town if she didn’t get rid of it.
I had a lot to answer for, I don’t deny that fact.
We’ve always had a close relationship, me being her only child and with no dad around. So, I was quick to tell her my side of the story. Nothing worse than your mom getting all up in your business.
