PROLOGUE
ALYSSA
ONE WEEK AGO - FRIDAY
“What the hell?”
I stand in the doorway of Christopher’s office, one hand on the door handle, the other holding a now crumpled cardboard coffee cup tray. I came back from my lunch break early, expecting to surprise my boyfriend with his favorite flavored coffee from the shop down the block, only to get one hell of a surprise of my own. Finding my friend bent over my boyfriend’s desk, with his dick in her coochie, was not on my bingo card for this year . . . or any other year for that matter.
“Alyssa!” Felicia calls out with a gasp as she pushes Christopher back and wrestles her skirt down over her ass. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“It’s not?” I drop the useless tray on the floor, right where I stand, not caring about the carpet or the mess that will be left behind, ready to hear whatever pathetic excuse she’s about to throw my way. Folding my arms, I wait for the bullshit to start flowing. “Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.”
“We just—” she starts but can’t seem to form any more words as her lips move and nothing comes out.
“I didn’t—” Christopher finally speaks, breaking his silence. “It just happened.”
“Just this once?” I ask, already knowing this isn’t the first time. Do they really think I’m that stupid? Cheaters never get caught the first time.
“Yes.” and “No.” are said at the same time.
They look at each other, then back at me, then at each other again. I don’t know how long this has been going on, but they don’t seem to be on the same page about it. Heck, they couldn’t even remember to lock the door so they wouldn’t get caught. Maybe they wanted this to happen. Mission accomplished if they did. There is no going back now.
“I’m s-s-sorry, Alyssa.” Felicia finally seems to lose the last shred of composure she has and bursts into tears. “It’s only been the last six months. I swear! I didn’t mean for it to keep happening. I wanted to stop but couldn’t.”
“Six months?” I whisper, not planning to say the words out loud, but my mouth says them anyway. And once the words start, they don’t stop. “Six months! SIX MONTHS! Are you fucking kidding me right now? You have been bumping uglies with my boyfriend behind my back for six months and thought it was okay because youwanted to stop? Wanting doesn’t mean shit! I want a lot of things, Felicia. I want a new television. I want to buy some new shoes. I want a million dollars. I want my friend of ten fucking years to not fuck my fucking boyfriend. But guess fucking what? I didn’t get any those things today, especially that last one, because you two couldn’t seem to not be lying, cheating, assholes.”
“This is your fault anyway.” Christopher snaps as he zips up his pants and buckles his belt. The blank expression on his face stuns both Felicia and myself. Her mouth drops open and she stomps out of the office. I let her go. Good riddance. “Felicia! Wait!”
He tries to rush after her but I step to the left and block his way. “We’re not done here,” I bark. “If you think you can justchase after her and leave me here with no explanation, you’ve got another thing coming, asswipe.”
Folding his arms to mirror me, Christopher takes a step back. He must finally realize that the ‘don’t fuck with me face’ I’m sporting is not one to mess with.
“What do you want to know?” His eyes are squinted and his blank face shows boredom.
Is he serious? Has he not been in the same room as me for the last three minutes? And who is this man? He may have not been the most expressive or lovey-dovey boyfriend with his emotions, but this statue in front of me is not the man I thought I knew and I loved.
“I want to know why.” Shaking my head, I throw up my hands then let my arms fall to my sides. “Why would you do this? You and Felicia? Really? If you wanted to fuck around with someone, did it have to be her? She’s been my friend for ten years, Christopher. Ten! Fucking! Years!”
“She was convenient,” he replies with a shrug, his stone cold face still showing no emotion.
“CONVENIENT?” And she’s back. Felicia rushes back in, elbowing me out of her way, and pounces at Christopher. Pounding her fists on his chest, she keeps screaming. “I WAS CONVENIENT TO YOU? You told me you loved me you asshole!”
Christopher tries to grab hold of her but can’t get a grip on her flailing arms. “No. I do love you.”
Taking a step back, I attempt to flee this loony bin but freeze in my tracks at Felicia’s next words.
“I’m pregnant with your baby!”
My heart stops and jump starts in less than a millisecond.
“You’re pregnant?” I gasp.
Felicia nods as she puts her hands on her stomach, holding her not yet showing belly. “Two months.”
“Well no wonder you wouldn’t have a margarita when we went out to dinner last night.”
My words snap Christopher out of his frozen stance. He turns my way and points a finger at me like a scolding schoolteacher. “Your career was more important than me. I’ve been asking you to quit since the day we started dating, but every time I brought it up, you’d say no. I would have given you everything, but you wanted nothing from me. You wanted to be independent. Hell, you wouldn’t even move in with me. So really, this is all your fault. You drove Felicia and I into each other’s arms. She kept saying you were a horrible friend who never had time for . . .”
