“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right?”
“Damn straight.”
Ash glances at the time on her cell. “We have a couple of hours before the makeup artist and hairdresser get here. We’re low on food, so I was thinking we could run out and stock up now. Trust me when I say you’ll be incapable of doing much of anything over the next two days. The Trinity Ball is hardcore.”
Snagging our jackets and purses, we head out into the city to the nearest grocery store. We grab enough food for the next few days so we don’t have to step foot out of the apartment if we’re as hungover as Ash predicts we’ll be. We’ve just paid for our purchases, when the headline onOK!grabs my attention from a nearby newsstand. My feet move of their own volition, and my heart is pounding erratically behind my chest as I walk toward the magazine stand.
Bile swims up my throat as I stare at the cover of the magazine in horror. The headline reads “Reeveron cozy up with PDA on Mexican beach!” Splashed across the front is a picture of Saffron and Reeve on a sun lounger by the sea. She’s straddling his waist, wearing only a thong, leaning into him with her face angled to the side so her features are clearly visible. Reeve has his hands on her bare ass, and his face is buried in her naked chest. It’s not as easy to discern it’s Reeve from the pic as most of his face and torso are hidden, but I know it’s him. I know his body, and he’s wearing the board shorts I bought him when I was in Europe last summer.
“Fuck.” Ash comes up behind me, sliding her arm around my waist. “What a fucking shithead.”
I pick the magazine up, but Ash snatches it from my hand. “Do you really want to look at that?”
My chest tightens, and tears cling to my lashes.
This is just like Christmas all over again.
Reeve is trying to hide his betrayal behind a grand gesture. Sending me that birthday gift is another attempt at manipulation. But just like Christmas, it won’t work.
“Don’t do it, Viv,” Ash pleads. “All it will do is hurt you even more. That bastard has claimed enough of your tears.”
She is right. I don’t need to see inside to read what’s written or stare at more damning pictures. Swallowing thickly, I nod, placing it back on the stand, letting her drag me out of there before I change my mind.
I stumble out of the store and along the sidewalk with Ash’s arm looped through mine. I clutch the grocery bags for dear life, and I’m in a dazed kind of fugue state as we head back to our apartment, but it doesn’t last long. Initial hurt gives way to red-hot anger, and by the time we reach our place, I’m seething and hell-bent on destruction.
“Give me a second,” I tell Ash, leaving her by the elevator as I seek out the manager on duty. Thankfully, it’s Ciara. She’s the nicer of the three property managers. I tell her what I need, and she promises to send people up to our apartment ASAP.
“What’s going on?” Ash asks, when I stomp back to her.
“I’m getting rid of the flowers and the gift.”
“We could go up to the roof, destroy the flowers, and take a pic to send to him,” she suggests, as we step foot in the elevator.
“The thought had crossed my mind, but the flowers haven’t done anything. I can’t justify wrecking something so beautiful. Let someone else get enjoyment from them because I sure as fuck can’t.”
After the flowers and the gift are gone, I open the champagne chilling in the refrigerator and hand a glass to Ash. We weren’t planning on drinking until much later, as we need to pace ourselves, but this is an emergency, and I fucking need alcohol. “Let’s toast,” I say, grinding my teeth to the molars. “I’m finally free. Fuck Reeve Lancaster. And fuck Saffron Roberts. I hope she makes him miserable as sin.” We clink glasses.
“I hope she gives him the clap and his dick falls off,” Ash says, and I almost choke on my champagne.
“Amen to that!”