Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fucking Prince Charming but I never lead girls on. Never make promises I won’t keep. I don’t lie. Each one knows to expect nothing from me but a good time. There’s no need to play with a girl’s emotions. No need to tell them you love them when you don’t mean it, and if you are fucking someone else, you definitely don’t mean it. You can’t love someone else and screw around just because they make your dick hard. I’ve seen enough girls get screwed over by pricks in disguise and, unluckily for Michael, I was going to have a little fun.
I have to admit, dude had balls. I watched him for three nights and each night he’d pull some girl drunk off her ass into the storage room and come out like he just won a prize. Cheating is routine for most dudes, but doing it in the place your girlfriend works, takes a lot of fucking nerve.
Night four, I decided it was time to watch the show. It only cost me fifty bucks to get one of the waitresses at the club to point her in the right direction of the storage room. A cute little Asian chick was his meal of choice for the night. I have to hand it to him. He has good taste. Every girl I’ve seen him with was a fucking ten.
I signal the waitress I paid earlier and see her go over to see Lauren. I’m not sure what she said but it makes Lauren smile and I feel my palms start to sweat. Not a reaction I expected.
I’m nervous…and I don’t get nervous.
Screw it.
I’m ready to see the fireworks. I can’t wait until she catches this jerk-off. I glance at my watch. It can’t take more than five minutes until she finds them.
I’m wrong.
It only takes two.
A few minutes later, Lauren is flying out of the storage room, tears streaming down her face. I expected profanity, yelling, maybe a cat fight but none of that happens. I thought she’d just be pissed off instead of…this. I thought the aftermath would be funny, entertaining, that the joke would be on this Michael dude but this girl looks devastated. A few other waitresses chase after her, seeing how upset she is. The other girl in the storage room runs out adjusting her dress and disappears into the crowd. Michael looks confused as hell and frantic.
“Lauren!” he shouts, looking around for her. He goes in the other direction.
This is what I wanted.
Entertainment. But this doesn’t feel right.
I feel like a bigger asshole than her boyfriend. I think…I feel bad. It’s a foreign-ass feeling and I want to make up for it. This girl has no clue who I am or what I’ve done but, shit, I feel fucked up over it. This is the first time I’ve cared how someone feels when it doesn’t affect me. I want to make it up to her. I want to make her feel better. The only problem is, I don’t make things up to people. I sure as hell don’t make situations better. I fuck shit up and I have no fucking clue how to not do that.
chapter 2
Lauren
I can’t breathe. How do you stop your heart from beating a thousand miles a minute? How do you crawl out of feelings that are wrapped around you like a noose, feelings that have swallowed you up whole? One sentence was all it took for me to know it was him. My gift and my curse, my ending, my beginning, my best dream and my worst nightmare all wrapped in one. Cal Scott, in all of his glory. I knew it. From the moment I heard his voice on the phone, anxiety crawled up my spine. As I made my way up each floor level, I knew it was him. I imagined this moment so many times. I dreamed about it, prepared for it to happen but never ever expected for it to happen like this. Which is fitting since I never know what to expect from him.
He’s watching me, his eyes narrowed on mine, his gaze locked there. It’s like time has stopped, the atmosphere changed. It’s quiet, so quiet, just like the moment before thunder cracks from the sky and all hell breaks loose.
I’ve seen him almost every day for the past two months but not like this, not the intensity of his gaze, the overwhelmingness of his presence, causing fear, excitement and anxiety to course through me. The icy glare on his face sends chills down to my very core. I’m frozen in place as I look at him.
What the hell happened? All of this time Chris is here and then, just like that, he’s gone and this happens, right after I slept with him.
I’m confused, I’m nervous and, with the way Cal’s looking at me, a little scared, scared of what’s to come, of what’s about to be the backlash. Because the energy exuding from Cal lets me know it’s about to be bad.
Cal.
He’s the one I married. The one I’m in love with, the man who I spent years of my life with. But I’m trembling because my body can barely contain the emotions crashing against one another inside of me. The man I loved and loathed. There’s so much I want to say to him but my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth. I don’t know what to do and oh my God, what happened to Chris?