Me: What kind of wine should I grab?
Once I slipped my phone into my pocket, I headed toward the sweet white wine and scanned the aisle for my favorite kind. Who enjoyed that disgusting bitter red wine anyway? Not me. I needed something sugary.
Where is it? Come on. It has to be here somewhere.
On the second-to-top shelf, I spotted my favorite kind and stood on my toes in these heels to reach it without dropping the thing—because my clumsy ass totally would. Once I secured the goods, my phone buzzed.
I tucked my bottle of wine underneath my arm and yanked out the device. It had to be Charlie responding to my message, probably telling me that they didn’t deserve any kind of wine because they were dickheads.
But when I looked at my notifications, it was an unknown number with an attachment.
Unknown: Athena, I think you’ll want to see this.
I narrowed my eyes at the message and hesitantly clicked on it—because who the hell was it, and what did they want me to see? No way was I clicking on any links, but it wouldn’t hurt to look at the attachment. Besides, I needed to click on it to block the number.
The video started playing on the screen, and I quickly realized that it was Charlie tugging off his shirt … in his bedroom … with none other than Nadia on his bed, naked and playing with herself in front of the camera.
CHAPTER
FORTY-TWO
ATHENA
No. No, this has to be … this can’t be real. It’s not real.
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, and I shook my head. Charlie wouldn’t do this to me. Charlie loved me. Charlie only wanted me. He wouldn’t betray me like this. He’d promised to love me forever.
But … it looked just like him.
Him and Nadia? Really?
I needed to get out of here. Now.
My legs moved toward the front, and I placed the wine on the counter, biting back a sob. My chest moved up and down quickly, heart racing faster than it ever had. My throat felt like it was closing up … like …
“Ma’am? Your license?” the cashier asked.
I snapped my gaze up to him, barely able to see him through my teary eyes, and fished my wallet out of my purse. With shaky hands, I grabbed my license and handed it to him.
When did this happen? Maybe before we got together?
Yeah, that has to be it, right? Maybe they made a film before we got together.
The cashier handed me back my license. “That’ll be twenty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents.”
After fumbling with the license, I gave the man my card and kept my head down. He swiped it and handed it back to me, bagging up my wine. My eyes burned with salty tears, and I quickly pushed a stray one off my cheek.
“Here you go.”
Once I grabbed my wine, I hurried out of the liquor store and toward my car down the street. The harsh wind did nothing to help me right now. I kept my gaze focused on the ground and then closed my eyes.
“Fuck,” I whispered. “Fuck!”
When I reopened my eyes, I had no time to stop myself before I slammed right into someone. He wrapped his hands around my elbows to stop me from falling backward, then steadied me.
“Athena,” he murmured. “What are you doing out here? Alone? Crying?”
I looked up and locked eyes with the one and only Derek Easton.
