Chapter Six
Spencer
I don’t know what I was thinking. Kissing Liam like that.
You were thinking how gorgeous this man was and how he treated you sweeter than Alan had been the last few months.
The thought of my fiancé made me groan. I was not a cheater. How could I have done this to poor Alan?
“You should get that.” Liam gestured to my phone which had begun ringing again after the previous call went unanswered. “My brother probably will just keep calling until you pick up.”
“Shit, I know.” I grabbed my phone from the counter and hit accept. “Hey, Isaac. Sorry I was—washing my hands. What’s up?”
“Why don’t you go into your bedroom and talk? I’ll finish up here.” Liam ushered me out of the kitchen, and I went into the guest room he had shown me when we first arrived, sitting down on the bed.
“Everything all right, Isaac?” His silence had me beginning to worry. “What’s wrong? Were people mad at me? I know I didn’t hear from Alan. Should I try calling him again?”
“No.” Isaac nearly yelled the words, making me startle. “Sorry, that was loud. Listen, I have something important to tell you and I hate that it has to be over the phone, but I can’t let you go on without knowing the truth.”
“Okay. Just do it, then. Like ripping a Band-Aid off. Do it quickly. What’s wrong?”
“I found Alan screwing around with Benny in one of the closets at the venue. He is a cheating, lying, piece of shit. When I told him that you were stuck out there, he didn’t even act like he cared. He just wanted to try to stop me from calling you. He chased me into a bathroom and made threats.”
“Oh my goddess.” I stood up, worried for Isaac. “Are you okay?”
“What? Yeah. I called the police. They took him and that psycho Benny away.” Isaac let out a long breath. “But how are you? I just told you that your fiancé was a lying, cheating piece of dirt. Are you okay?”
I sat back down on the bed and closed my eyes, taking note of how I was truly feeling about the news I just heard. Although I felt a small ache in my chest, it was more like a pinch of having my ego bruised than the heartache I’d imagined I should have been confronted with. A lightness accompanied it, and I felt that I had been saved from something disastrous. “Actually, I am relieved. Huh. I guess this was the sign I was asking for to show me if I was making a mistake.”
“Really?” Isaac sounded less stressed out now. “I was hoping you would see it like that. Honestly I was having bad feelings about Alan lately but didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if I would have listened.” I sighed. “I would like to think I would have, but you always hear those stories where friends tell the other that they don’t like the boyfriend and who gets ditched. Not the boyfriend, usually.”
“That was my fear. Thats why I was hoping you would get a sign if it was right or not.”
“Well, I guess both our signs came in one huge blizzard and a closet hookup getting foiled.” My stomach rolled at the thought that I could have made the biggest mistake of my life today had it not been for the weather.
“I am sorry though.” I heard Isaac’s car start up in the background.
“I know.” An intrusive thought popped up in my mind of me smacking Alan across the face in front of the wedding guests. “I am sorry I wasn’t there to beat his lying—”
“Don’t worry, you know I had your back.” Isaac chuckled. “I’ll send you the pics of him being dragged out by the cops. But notice the pretty colors marking his eye. I hit his arm with the baseball bat when he busted open the door. The cops called it self-defense because they were there to witness how crazed he was acting.”
“That’s so scary.” I shivered. “He never acted out like that with me. What if that would have been my future if the storm hadn’t changed my plans?”
“Let’s just be thankful that you know the truth now. Are you going to call him?”
“Nah. I’ll send him an official ‘I’m done’ text. Cheats don’t deserve the decency of an actual phone call.”
“Agreed. I’m just upset I can’t be there with you right now.”
I blushed thinking of what he would have seen me doing to his brother if he was. “It’s okay. I’ll see you in a few days. We can go out and celebrate.”
“Count on it. Now, rest and let my brother cater to your needs. He’s really good at baking, so ask him for brownies if the power stays on.” Isaac giggled in his evil-plotting way. “Ooh, ask him to make you the s’mores ones. Those are my favorite, but he hates doing them.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” I shook my head at my friend. “I’m going to let you go. I need to lie down and process this all after the day I had.”
“I get that. I’m on my way to get dinner anyway. I haven’t had a chance to eat since this morning and I’m about to faint from hunger. Call me tomorrow. Love you, bestie.” Isaac had a tendency to get a bit dramatic when he hadn’t eaten in a few hours.
“Love you too.”
Disconnecting the call, I lay back on the bed and let the news digest. I was single.
Well, almost.
I picked my phone back up and sent Alan a text, before blocking his number.
Me: Heard about your thing with Benny. Just sending this to make it official. We’re over. Don’t call me again.
With that finished, I placed the phone on the nightstand and closed my eyes, letting myself relax and ground. Now that Alan and I were over, I no longer had to stress about the kiss that I shared with Liam. I could even explore this attraction I had for him. The question was, should I?
Come on, wanna send me another sign?
A sign hit me right in the gut. The universe must’ve heard me. The familiar pang in the lower abdomen that marked the start of something I wasn’t expecting for another two weeks. The slight increase in my body temperature signaled that I only had a short time left to think clearly for the next few days.
Here, in a house with a stranger. Here, on the day I found out my fiancé was a lying dirtbag cheat. Here, with the man who stimulated my desires in a way I haven’t been tempted to indulge in for years, I was beginning my heat.