Please say no.
Please say no.
Please say no.
“No. We weren’t happy before she cheated. I settled with Mae. I fell out of love with her shortly after she miscarried our daughter. I bought that house that I’m living in so we could raise our family. She always felt like I chose my career over her.”
His eyes are heavy with emotions that I can’t detect. Maybe he’s angry and bitter towards her. I sit cross-legged and he watches me carefully as if I’m a precious gem.
“In reality, you did choose your career over her. All artists do. I understand, though. When you love something, it tends to be the first thing in your life.” His face showcases surprise at my response, as if he wasn’t expecting me to say that. I continue, “But, I’m sorry you lost her. How far along was she?”
“Five months. ” His words are bare-wired with sorrow and the frown that is displayed on his face is sadder than Pierrot Clown. “I was kind of relieved that she cheated on me.”
“Why?”
“It was an excuse to leave her. I wasn’t going to dump her. I would have married her even if I fell out of love with her.” He pauses. “She stuck by my side when I found out my mom was sick, and she was there for me and supported my dreams.”
He’s loyal. Too loyal.
“That doesn’t mean she deserves your last name. Sounds like she was a selfish bitch and that you’re too loyal and she knew it, so she took advantage of it.”
We’re quiet for several beats, lost in our own thoughts.
“You should go to the wedding to prove that you don’t care about her. My mom used to tell me, the best revenge is showing someone you don’t care about them anymore. And if you want? I’ll go to the wedding with you as your friend. That way she’ll look stupid at her own wedding. Plus, you’re going to have to see her eventually.”
He reads my face like a newspaper, tucking a hair behind my ear. So foreign. So intimate. He nods slightly. “Sounds like a plan.”
I hear the front door slam and Jasper stomps through the living room. Frustration litters his face and he frowns. Nothing really gets under Jasper’s skin so the anger he’s sporting on his face tells me that someone pissed him off to the max.
“I can’t believe this sh-,” he pauses as he eyes Felix, crinkling up his nose. “I didn’t know you had company, normally I’m the one who brings my booty calls home.”
Felix glares at him like he killed his cat, and he doesn’t respond but tension builds in his shoulders. I understand the reason why Felix doesn’t feel comfortable with Jasper being my roommate and best friend.
“Why are you home so early? I thought you were leaving with Stacey and Anthony to the Bahamas?”
“I canceled the trip, they were bickering over dumb shit. I rebooked my flight for early in the morning, I’m going by myself.”
He goes to the fridge and grabs himself a bottle of beer and tears the cap off. I feel Felix’s arms wrap around my waist, yanking me on his lap and his erection digging into my lower back. Heat nibbles on my neck. He’s making it known to Jasper that I’m his, and I’m irritated and turned on at the same time. Jasper stares at him and shakes his head.
“I’ll see you two love birds later.”
Normally, Jasper would kiss me on the cheek and give me a hug before going to bed, but he refrains from it since I told him about how Felix responded last night.
Then it’s me and Felix. Alone.
Felix’s face turns red as blood, but he tries to keep a stoic expression. “How did you meet Jasper?”
I straighten my spine and play with the end of my robe. “We went to Harvard together and we met at party our junior year. He was being a stupid jerk and tried to fuck an old friend of mine. I never saw him in a sexual way.” I had to say the last part to ease the tension he’s radiating.
“Yeah, I know. I finished reading your diary this morning, you referred to him as the twin brother you never had.”
“Are you still worried?”
His expression grows dark. “I think I should leave, Sadie.”
“No, it’s raining really hard and you’ll get pneumonia getting caught in that.”
Before allowing him to respond, I grab his hard biceps and pull him into the bedroom. I get it. He’s hiding his feelings like a child who wants to hide from the boogie man. But I don’t blame him. If I had a fiancée who cheated on me and left me for my uncle, I wouldn’t have been nice about it. But I want to prove to him that not all of us are not bad.
Once he comes into my room, he glances around. My room is huge and spacious. Clean and everything in its place. I always keep my makeup on my dresser on the right and my lipstick collection is organized by color. Even my clothes in my drawer are arranged by color. I like to have everything neat and organized.
Then he picks up a digital picture of me and Jasper when we went ziplining over the river last year and he sets it back down. I take off my robe and his eyes are glued to my body as if they’re trying to melt my skin off. Then I grab my t-shirt with the Little Mermaid on it and put it on. He eyes a stack of old diaries, he randomly grabs one and swipes through the pages and reads out loud.
“I want to feel his love beneath me, like when you lie on a towel in the Sun on the beach. I want to burn with his passion and his desire. I want him to love me like I’m his precious object.”
He flips through some more pages and reads out loud again
“What’s the antidote to
