Frustrated, I toss my phone onto the bed and flick off the light. Two months of holding strong, and all it takes is one miserable day ruined by his mistress for me to shatter my own no-contact rule. Maybe the only silver lining is that I finally said yes to Alek.
It scares the hell out of me, but I’m set on having a damn good time. I refuse to think any further than that.
My day would have ended so perfectly if Keaton had responded and fed on this ugly, burning need inside of me for his pain.
And when I get up in the morning to head to work and find the note taped to my door, I get a reprieve from the gnawing hunger inside of me.
I Made My Bed
Keaton | The Past
Irollmyshoulders,stretching my aching back, trying to shake off the stiffness that comes from hours in the same spot. After sending my last client off with their aftercare spiel, I scrub down my station, eager to escape and finally drag myself home.
Therapy in the morning, work all day, so by the end, there’s nothing left in me. That’s been my routine since everything fell apart two months ago. I stay busy, afraid of the quiet times when my mind replays the same old story: everything I had, everything I lost. Charlie and I are the leads in a love story that crashed and burned all because I couldn’t stay faithful.
I’m working as a tattoo artist, using my Fine Arts degree, but that’s not what I pictured myself doing. I always planned to run my own shop with Charlie and Amelia.
Now, that dream lies shattered, buried beneath the mess I made with my own betrayal.
As I clean up the shop, my mind wanders, drifting through the wreckage of my choices.
Graduation was a shit show, just as I expected. Another neon sign flashing my fuck up for everyone to see.
My parents sat isolated, separated from their old friends, their eyes flicking toward Charlie and her family with a sadness that said everything. They love me, so they stayed, but I could see the wish for a different ending written all over their faces.
Hell, I did too.
When the dean called Charlie’s name, my parents cheered for her as if she were their own. When my name echoed, her parents' voices faded into silence. What gutted me most was catching sight of Charlie’s tears in the crowd as I crossed the stage. My feet almost carried me to her, but Alek’s arms around her were a clear sign I didn’t belong there anymore.
The daggers in people’s eyes when Rianna shouted my name sent me scurrying off the stage, head down. I wanted to run until I left my mistakes behind, but I know better. That stain is permanent.
Too bad I wasn't fucking smart enough to walk the hell away when Charlie warned me the first time about Rianna.
I haven’t spoken a word to Rianna since the day I replied to her at Grinders, but she won’t leave me alone. She sends messages from different numbers and follows me around the city. She even came to the shop until Bear, another owner, put a stop to that bullshit. When she kept showing up at the apartment Charlie and I shared, I eventually had to move back in with my parents.
One fucking stupid choice has caused so much havoc in the lives of those around me.
How the hell did I not see any instability in the year I was friends with her?
I can almost hear Charlie’s sarcastic snort at the word ‘friends.’ Everyone says it was more, that I was deep in an emotionalaffair, and I’m finally starting to see it. It makes me sick to realize I handed over a place that always belonged to Charlie.
Thankfully, it shouldn't be much longer before Rianna's out of our lives. I've been working with some other men and their partners to press criminal charges against her. It seems I'm not the first dude she's pulled this stalking, manipulative bullshit with and knowingly infected them with Chlamydia. Some didn't want to come forward, pride and humiliation stopping them, but their wives and girlfriends weren't having that shit.
So much about Rianna has come to light, and it makes me sick that I fell for it. I'm not lying it at her feet—not all of it, anyway. I own my part in the destruction of my life, but I've been finding out the last two months that she's not as innocent as she likes to play off. Not as innocent as I stupidly assumed she was. Not only did she fuck around with all these men in relationships and give them an STD, but in her previous town, she did the same thing and ended up knocked up twice because of it. Her parents had to move because of the embarrassment. They kept her youngest daughter, who is only four, but her oldest daughter, who she had at sixteen, was in the custody of the kid's biological father.
I used to think I was smarter than this, immune to temptation. Turns out, I’m more fallible than I ever believed. Facing the truth that I betrayed the one person I thought I’d love forever is brutal.
Swallowing this truth feels like choking on glass.
Shit.
Even admitting I cheated on the love of my life is a jagged pill I can barely swallow.
How do I make peace with the man I was before Rianna and the one I became after? It’s tempting to pretend I was two different people, but that’s just a lie. I’m still me. I just let the worst parts take over.
Luckily, my therapist is helping me work through all this.
The detective uncovered more than fifty affairs Rianna had with men all over Granite Bay—young, old, it didn’t matter. Normally, I’d say it’s her business, but there’s something twisted about targeting men in relationships, trying to steal them, infect them, and keep them tethered to her.
