All the air whooshes out of my lungs, and I’m frozen in place. No. Nooo. Please, no.
The sound of a zipper sliding down rips through the quiet of the room.
“Mm, Micah, you’re so hard. I love your dick. I fucking missed it. Missed this. Missed us.”
Micah groans.
I blink, shake my head. Can’t believe what I’m seeing. What I’m hearing. My head pounds and an anguished cry meets my ears.
It’s mine.
Alora’s head lifts, and she looks directly at me, her lips tipping into a haughty grin before she resumes talking to him.“Micah, let me remind you what a real woman has to offer. You won’t look at that little girl anymore.”
And I run. I turn away, blood thudding in my head and my stomach turning over, and take the stairs as quickly as I can. Tears streak down my cheeks. At the front door, I cry out as I fumble with the latch, desperate to make my escape.
“Daph? What’s wrong?”
Before Scarlett can get to me, I’m out the front door and racing across the beautifully manicured front lawn. I can’t stop. I can’t think. I need to get out of here.
Xander bellows from the front steps. “Daphne! Stop!”
Shoving my key into the ignition, I fire up the engine, throw it into drive, and hit the gas, narrowly missing the back end of his SUV as I pull sharply away from the curb.
I don’t care that I’m being reckless. Don’t care about anything but getting as far away as possible. With no real plan, I drive, hardly able to see through my rapidly filling eyes. The sobs coming from me are being torn from my very soul.
Images of Alora on her knees in front of him flash through my mind. And the words she’d said… Bile rises in the back of my throat. Had he invited her? When I refused to come, did he ask her to join him instead?
I don’t want to believe it. But I know what I saw, what I heard. And I don’t know if I’ll ever get over this betrayal.
I drive mindlessly in circles for well over an hour, not knowing where to go or what to do. I don’t want to see or speak to anyone, so I ignore the constant buzz of incoming phone calls and text messages. The first few had been from Scarlett, but after a while, they started coming in from Micah, one after another. And they. Just. Don’t. Stop.
It doesn’t surprise me when the night sky opens up and pours rain. It’s a perfect match for my mood.
Finally acknowledging to myself that I can’t stay out all night no matter how embarrassed I am, I decide to head home. With a shaking hand, I wipe my fingers under my eyes and keep a death grip on the wheel with my other hand. My face is puffy and swollen and my nose won’t quit running. I squint at the sign on the side of the road as I try to figure out where I am. I haven’t been paying attention, haven’t cared where I was headed once I was outside of River Rock.
I want nothing more than to go home and climb into my bed, but I can hardly see out the windshield to get where I need to go.
Text messages and incoming calls continue to light up my phone. I press my lips together, pick the phone up, and glance down to find the off button. I need it to stop. I need everything to stop.