It was a lack of sleep. It had to be.
I read the headline again.
GIRLFRIEND OF THESE EXILES LEAD SINGER CAUGHT CHEATING
Was it an old article? I had stayed well away from the internet when Celine and I had come crashing down, but I had known we’d made it into all sorts of headlines – to my horror.
I had a quick look at the date in the byline. The article had gone live in the early morning.
What. The. Fuck
They had to be talking about Jessy – but that made no sense. She wouldn’t – she wouldn’t cheat. That wasn’t the sort of person she was. And when would she have found the time? We spent practically every moment together.
Half-wishing I could just close the tab and stop reading, I scrolled down.
For a second I thought my heart had stopped beating as the first image in the article loaded.
Jessy. Jessy, inside a fancy restaurant … with Dillon Carmichael, the famous actor who’d just won an Oscar.
What the actual fuck was going on?
I sat up slowly in bed, as though that would change the image I was staring at. The photo wasn’t super detailed, but it didn’t need to be. I would recognize her features anywhere.
And she was laughing.
Laughing.
Complete unknown Jessica Donovan hurtled to fame last month after being confirmed as These Exiles lead singer Patrick Tetlow’s girlfriend. Jessy, who up until recently was an employee at GSR Financials, has been seen with Patrick at numerousevents over the past few weeks. But apparently one famous boyfriend wasn’t enough to satisfy her.
I was going to be sick.
Knowing I should stop reading, I told myself I should close the tab. I kept scrolling.
Another photo, but this time with a different man. In this photo Jessy was sitting on a bench outside a pub, wearing the sundress I’d begun to think of as my favourite. Even now, my breath grew short seeing her in it. Or maybe that was the shock?
My gaze zeroed in on the caption.
Jessica Donovan seen with Tim Kellersly, famed artist who recently sold a piece for £20m
I tried to swallow, but my throat didn’t seem to be working.
‘We know the truth. We know that this is real. That we do care about each other.’
Was it all fake, the whole time?
My gaze raked over the article.Lunches … dinners … seen in public … what must her boyfriend, Patrick Tetlow, think of all this …
What did I think? I was thinking – how could I have been so stupid?
This was Celine all over again. It was like copy and fucking paste. God, I must have doormat tattooed on my –
My hand flew to my ear. It was still tender just behind it.
Shit. I’d got myself tattooed for a woman who hadn’t even bothered trying to hide the fact she was cheating on me.
Derek
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