Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Is it the holidays?
Is it his job and his worry that he’ll never impress his father?
Is it him losing interest in me?
A sigh is all I have to offer the woman. I’m not fishing for relationship advice from her. Maeve, my best friend since high school, has that role. I glance at my phone and find the text I sent her before I got on the subway still sitting on delivered, unread.
Having a decent conversation with Roman doesn’t appeal. He never seems to listen, and he’s too quick to dismiss my worries about my parents’ bakery as frivolous. Like an establishment that serves baked goods and pastries is too beneath him as a member of the wealthy Sokolov family.
The subway slows, and she pats my knee. “Whatever it is, trouble with men or otherwise, cheer up. The new year’s just starting, right?” Her smile is sweet, and I feel guilty that I can’t reply in kind.
It is a new year, but as I leave the station and walk the rest of the way to the apartment I share with Roman, I can’t convince myself that this means new beginnings. New growth. Life is stagnant as ever, it seems, stuck worrying about the bakery surviving.
As I approach the elevator, I check my phone again.
Huh.
Nothing from Maeve, which surprises me. She’s usually free on Monday afternoons, since it’s her day off. Going home to an empty apartment might be cathartic, though. Roman is probably out at a meeting, busy as a financial consultant. Without him there nitpicking me about this or that, I can think through the bakery’s pending foreclosure, even with the loan we’re trying to expedite.
I exhale deeply as I reach the door and key in the code to open it.
Maybe some peace and quiet will do me well. Maeve will probably reply soon, and by then, I’ll rehearse what I can say and vent and—
I step inside the apartment and freeze at the scene in front of me.
Blood boils in my veins as I blink once. Then once again.
I don’t need to wait to see my best friend.
Because she’s right there. Naked. On my boyfriend as she rides him on the couch.
I gasp as rage fills me. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
They stop instantly as I stand there, fuming, so hot with fury I feel like I’m melting. Under the layers of my coat and scarf and gloves, I’m overheated to the point of dizziness. Shock and anger gather into a storm in my mind, locking me into a fight-or-flight rush of adrenaline that keeps me rooted in place.
Maeve squeals in surprise, twisting to the side and scrambling to cover herself.
Roman slides a pillow over to hide his dick. He curses and scowls at me while my former best friend winces. Not in shame. But like I’ve inconvenienced her.
“What are you doing here?” Roman reaches for his pants on the floor, pinning me with a smirk.
“I live here,” I shout. One step brings me closer, but I straighten and let the fury speak for me. “I used to live here.” Catching him cheating is a dealbreaker I won’t ignore. I’m out of here. “What the hell are you doing?” I whip my head to glare at Maeve. “How could you?” I can’t help the screech in my tone, too overwhelmed with shock to care. “Maeve. How could you do this to me?”
She glances at Roman and smiles like she can’t help herself.
No shame.
No fear.
“It’s not like he wasn’t available.” She clears her throat.
I choke on my breath. “What?”
“If you ever put out and satisfied him, he wouldn’t have been so lonely.” She shrugs one shoulder, tipping her chin up as she owns her betrayal.
“Liliana.” Roman stands, done with tugging his pants on. “It’s not what it looks like.”
I suck in another strangled breath, incredulous. “It looks like you had your dick inside another woman. It looks to me that you’re cheating with my best friend!” All my gloomy thoughts burn away, replaced by a rage I can’t even try to control. “Don’t tell me what this looks like, Roman. I can see with my own eyes!”
He sighs, like I’m the problem here. Walking toward me, he rubs his chin and glances back at Maeve for a second. “It’s just this one time. All right? We just—”
“You betrayed me,” I shoot back, too fed up with him, with this day, with how lousy this supposedly new year was shaping up to be. “Both of you.” I aim my finger at them as if they need the emphasis.
“One time. It’s just this one time,” Roman starts again, following me as I hurry toward the bedroom. The bedroom where “our” bed is a mess.
“Oh, one time, huh?” I fling my hand at the bed.
He opens and closes his mouth, but it’s the absence of sincere remorse on his face that guts me.