“You feel so fucking good. I need your mouth,” he almost growls, his deep, gravely tone rolling over me as he reaches out and grips the back of my head, pulling me closer to him. Excitement curls deep in the pit of my stomach, but disappears the second I hear it.
“Dad?” The world around me stills as the darkness I had grown accustomed to disappears and is replaced with blinding light brighter than the fucking sun. Theo stiffens beneath my touch, and I whip my head around to face the door, squinting my eyes at the man standing in the doorway. I blink. I blink again and when my eyes finally catch up to the present, I see Theo standing there with a look of shock-horror on his face. My stomach sinks as my gaze flicks to the cock still hard in my clenched fist, and then slowly, up to the man attached to it. This is not Theo. It looks like Theo. But it is not Theo.I am going to be sick.
“What the fuck?!” Theo shouts and I jolt, trying to make myself as small as possible while my brain tries to make sense of what the fuck is happening, and what the hell I just did.
“Theo. Oh my god! This isn’t what it looks like. I–” I say, attempting to explain myself as I rise to my feet, but he cuts me off.
“Oh? So you weren’t just giving my dad a fucking handjob, and what the fuck are you wearing?!” My eyes start to water as my heart beats frantically in my tightening chest. I don’t think I have ever seen Theo this mad before. His wide blue eyes have rage swimming in them, his square jaw is clenched as his eyesdart from me to the man he is calling his dad, then back to me. I swallow. Hard. Biting back the bile rising in my throat as guilt and shock wash over me. I can’t believe this. I look down at the floor in front of my feet, knowing I won’t be able to get this out without crying if I look at him.
“I can explain, I thought it was yo?—”
“Theo, baby? Is everything okay?” A woman’s voice comes from behind Theo and I cross my arms over my body to hide myself but it’s no use. I can’t bring myself to look at the man—Theo’s father.Oh my god. How did this happen? How could I be so stupid? Wait. Did she sayBaby?My gaze flicks up, noticing the hands that snake around Theo’s broad shoulders before a woman steps out from behind him to stand closely at his side. Understanding hits me harder than a Mack truck as I finally turn to face Theo’s father. He's standing now, his black underwear is back in place, though it does very little to hide what we were just doing as he remains frozen, just as shocked as everyone else in this room. His bright blue eyes, eyes like his son’s, grow wider with each breath as he too, tries to make sense of the situation.
What have I done?
“Can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?” Theo’s dad says and panic continues to rise in my chest as Theo starts to shout.
“I’m so sorry. I thought you were Theo. I am so sorry,” I say, too quickly, my own voice choking as I fight back tears from the sheer embarrassment, and heartbreak as voices grow louder around me.
“How long have you been fucking her?” Theo shouts, and I look up to see that Theo is standing toe-to-toe with his dad. I would never do that to him. To anyone. Though I can’t say this situation adds anything positive to my case at all, so I stay silent.
“Fucking her? I didn’t fuck her. Son, listen. I don’t even know who this is. I thought she was someone the guys set me upwith.” Theo’s dad tries his best to explain, throwing his hands up to either side of his body, as if to show he’s innocent. Heisinnocent. I did this, not him. He thought I was a lady of the night and I suppose I can see how he came to that assumption. I did just wait for him in the dark and pounce on him like a wild animal wearing nothing but tight lingerie.
“Don’t fucking lie to me,” Theo snaps, his indignation and disgust clear.
“Son,” his dad says calmly. “Don’t you think you should maybe talk to Tamika?” He gestures subtly towardTamika, an attempt at deescalating the situation. I shoot a glance at her. She looks absolutely mortified as she watches Theo lose his shit over a woman I’m not so sure she even knows about. Judging by the look on Theo’s dad’s face, he thinks that maybe I am the other woman. Not Tamika.
“How long have you been dating?” I ask, my voice devoid of the emotion I feel inside as I start to accept that Theo and I won’t be getting back together. Not because I just well and truly fucked things up, but because I know deep in my heart that this woman isveryfamiliar to him. Familiar enough that his father knows her name. Before Tamika can answer, Theo whirls around to face me.
“Wow, Jovi.As if you’d even ask that question. You don’t get to ask fucking questions right now.” My gaze flicks back to Tamika. She’s beautiful. Her perfectly tweezed brows are furrowed at Theo as she tosses her dark hair over her shoulder before eventually turning to face me.
“We’ve been together for months. He told me that things were over between you two a long time ago. Though I’ve got to say, his reaction to you fucking his dad tells me that it might have been a lie. Good job by the way,” she says, now wearing a surprised grin as she nods in the direction of Theo’s dad.
Months.Theo has been with this woman for months.
“I’m not. I didn’t fuck his da—” I stop mid sentence and glare at a pissed off Theo. Does it even matter anymore? Will anything I say to him matter? My jagged breaths even out as I look around at the faces staring back at me and suddenly, everything clicks. No. I guess it doesn’t.
“Theo. Son, this is a big misunderstanding. I swear it. Let's just all calm down and maybe just tal?—”
“How can you call me son? You’re fucking my girlfriend?!” Theo snarls at the man who raised him, who noticeably flinches as Theo’s cruel words hit him like a punch to the gut.
“Ex-girlfriend. And no, Theo. That isn’t what happened here. That's not what this is.” I look away from Theo, my attention settling on the man whose life I probably just ruined.
That's his dad?
His jaw is sharp and tense, his body a map of defined muscles that flex under the warm glow of his bedroom light. Tattoos snake along his thick arms and chest, and my eyes widen at how undeniably hot he is. He doesn’t look a day over thirty-five. How does he have a twenty-six-year-old son? His dark, disheveled hair is almost black and it looks like he’s been running his hands through it, like he's just had sex—goddamn it.This is so fucking embarrassing.
What the hell is wrong with me? This is one camera away from becoming a Jerry Springer show, and I’m over here staring at Theo’s dad like I know what he looks like naked! Well, I sort of do, but that’s beside the point. Clearing my throat, I meet his gaze. He seems more at ease than the rest of us, despite the insults being hurled his way. He raises a brow and gives me a knowing look. As if he knows exactly what I was thinking. His eyes drag over my body, then back up to meet mine. I can feel his stare everywhere. It doesn't help that I am half naked. Theo is too busy staring daggers at me to notice the wordless conversation his dad seems to be having with me, and I schoolmy expression. This isn’t helping. I look away and clear my throat.
“You didn’t deserve this. I am sorry. I didn’t know it was you. Please forgive me.” I turn around and walk over to the coffee table and retrieve my phone. I hightail it out of there as Theo and his girlfriend get into it about his lying, cheating ass. I brush past them, no longer paying any attention to me and at the bedroom’s threshold, I pause, glancing back over my shoulder to find Theo’s dad staring at me. Before I can think too much of it, I storm out, leaving behind the shitshow of a situation I created and the life that, up until about an hour ago, I thought I wanted. Not anymore.
Theo was cheating on me for most of our relationship.
Tonight, I was supposed to show him that I was worth being with, and instead, he was never really with me in the first place. How could he be when he was seeing somebody else for most of it? He made me believe that our breakdown was my fault. That I was not good enough for him. That I was undesirable and needed fixing. That I needed to change, and fuck, I actually bought it. I put all the blame on myself and for what? Tonight, I was supposed to show him that I was more than willing to do just that. To try to be the woman he wanted. The woman he made me believe he deserved. I have never been so wrong about a person in my entire life. Surprisingly, I don't feel as devastated about our breakup as I did earlier. Aside from the cold, the only thing I feel is utter humiliation. Not just because he walked in on me and his dad doing…that, but because Theo has made more of a fool of me than I ever could.
I walk down the porch steps, putting as much distance between me and the mess inside the house behind me as possible. The cold, early February air stings like tiny pins and needles whipping against my skin, but I pretend like it doesn’t bother me as I walk down the dark street toward my car, chinheld high in my lacy underwear. I no longer give a shit if anyone sees me. Let them talk. I’m too emotionally exhausted to care. I just want to go home.
A slow, lazy smile curves at the corner of my lips because somehow, without even planning it, I guess in some way I got my revenge. I will always remember Theo as the guy who cheated on me and then I will move on. He will always remember me as the ex-girlfriend he caught giving his dad a handjob, and that kind of family lore never dies.
