Chapter 13 Anna
Chapter thirteen
Anna
“O
kay, there are options. We can look at an annulment, but those are only granted under certain situations. Neither of you are underage, right?” Jasmine asks.
“Gross! Of course not. In fact, Keaton’s older, in that sexy silver fox way.”
“Ooo, a daddy!” Skyla exclaims and I bark out a laugh, shaking my head.
“No, definitely not, a daddy.”
She pouts a little but moves on quickly. “Still, older men are so sexy. I bet he’s super experienced, too.”
“Speaking of,” Jasmine moves on, “the other option would be that you didn’t consummate the marriage. You didn’t sleep with him, did you?” I bite my bottom lip and she winces at my reaction. “Of course you fucking did.”
“If you saw him your legs would have fallen right open, too,” I protest.
“I definitely need more details about this man and the night the two of you had,” Skyla says with a wink, making me smile.
“It was honestly the most incredible night of my life, Sky.”
“Yeah, until he ended up being a complete asshole leaving you after a one night stand with nothing but a broken heart.” Penny gives me a knowing look.
She’s been the product of giving someone her heart, only for them to leave town and her behind without so much as a reason.
Her sweet face softens again. “Sorry, Anna. I didn’t mean… ”
“No, you’re right,” I admit, even though it pains me to do so. “We had an incredible night together and then he just left. He was an asshole. I’m sick of being disposable.” For what feels like the millionth time in less than twenty-four hours, tears begin to well in my eyes.
“Sweetie, you are not disposable,” Skyla rubs my back reassuringly. “You deserve the world and one day you will find the right man who is prepared to give it to you.”
The sad thing is, I thought I had found him.
Yes, the relationship between me and Keaton was rushed, but it was so real.
The tears begin to pour, and I can’t seem to get them under control.
Our server comes over and places a second slice of chocolate pie in front of me with a wink, letting me know this one is on the house.
I’m so pathetic that strangers are giving me pity pie.
Still gonna eat it though. It’s fucking great pie.
My tears begin to dry, and a slightly maniacal laugh escapes my lips.
The girls just stare at me in concern, but the laughter continues bubbling out of me.
“I’m sitting here with pity pie because of this man.
I’m so done. Obviously, he’s the world’s most impressive player because I was blindsided by him just leaving like that, but it’s over.
I’m over him. Now let’s go enjoy our weekend. ”
Maybe if I lie to myself that I’m over Keaton, I’ll finally believe it. But one thing for sure is that it feels a lot better to be angry with him than sad over him.
“That’s the spirit,” Penny insists, “Your first night may not have started off great, but that’s just because your girls weren’t here. The four of us are going to have a great time and put all this behind us. Fuck men. We don’t need them.”
The rest of my friends agree with her, and we pile out of the diner for our day in the city. Determined to have fun and savor these memories with my besties, I put a smile on my face and force out all thoughts of the man I married.
“Thanks so much,” I shout at my driver as I slam the door, running as fast as my chubby legs will allow towards the security line at the airport.
I cannot believe I overslept and almost missed my flight.
The line is long, so I hold my breath, cross my fingers and wish for the air traffic control gods to speed this process along so I don’t miss the only flight back home today.
Finally through security, I make a mad dash for my gate right as I see the airport employee about to close the doors. “No!” I shout at her. “I’m here.”
Bracing myself for another encounter like I had with Flight Attendant Dickhead, I’m shocked when she smiles at me and wishes me a good flight.
Shuffling down the aisle, which is not at all generously spaced, I make my way to my seat, noting there’s only two in a row instead of the three we had on the way here. At least I’ll only have to climb over one person this time.
“Excuse me, but I have the window seat,” I say with a smile to my seatmate. But when the handsome face with the neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard flashes a gorgeous grin and blue eyes so pale they look like they belong in the high sky, my smile quickly drops.
“Keaton,” I whisper, acknowledging the man who has haunted my dreams the past couple of nights.
“Hi, Anna.”
This can’t be happening.
Shaking my head in a panic I say probably much louder than I should, “No. No, I’m not doing this. Fuck no and fuck you.” I scan the aisle searching for anyone who can get me both home and the hell away from him. Landing on a graying woman with a kind face, I quickly flag her down.
“Miss!” I hiss and wave to the flight attendant standing a couple of rows back. “Miss, I am so sorry to be a bother, but is there another seat I could take?”
She walks my way and looks at the empty seat before turning back to me. “Ma’am, I am so sorry, but the flight is completely full. Is there something prohibiting you from sitting there?”
Just my husband who is looking way too good for me to sit here and act like I’m not bothered by him the whole way home.
Not wanting to get into that huge debacle with the patient woman waiting for my response, I try again. “Are you sure there aren’t any other seats available?” I try to show her the desperation in my eyes, but sadly it doesn’t seem to help my case.
“There’s really nothing we can do. Everyone has already taken their seats and, as I said, it’s a full flight.”
Defeated, my shoulders slump as I realize I will be sitting directly beside my husband for the next few hours. “I understand. Thank you.”
“Is there anything else I can help you with? Perhaps a drink?” She takes a quick glance at Keaton then turns back to me with a lifted eyebrow.
A drink is the last thing I need since it landed me in my current predicament, but I do appreciate the solidarity.
I turn my back fully to Keaton when I whisper, “ No thank you, but could I have an extender, please?” She gives me a kind smile and discreetly places one in my hand.
“Just let me know if you need anything else, Sweetie.” As she turns and walks towards the back of the plane, I face my husband and huff.
“Move,” I demand, crossing my arms and positioning myself so Keaton won’t touch me as he steps into the aisle so I can take my place next to him.
Once seated and buckled, I turn away from him and look out the window, pointedly ignoring the hulking hunk beside me. But he refuses to provide me my peace.
“Anna Baby,” I roll my eyes but refuse to look at him, so he presses on. “Please don’t shut me out. Just let me explain why I wasn’t there the other morning.”
I can’t help but scoff and even though I really don’t want to speak to this man, there is no way I am going to sit here and listen to him drone on about his feelings when he doesn’t give two shits about mine. “Don’t shut you out? What? Like you did to me?”
“Baby, I never,” I throw my hands up, cutting him off.
“Stop,” I hiss at him. “Stop it with the whole ‘Baby’ shit, it just gives me the creeps.”
It definitely doesn’t, but I’m not about to tell him that.
“I don’t want to hear a word you have to say. I went from having one of the best nights of my life and experiencing so many things I had only dreamed of and on top of that, you had made it seem as though you cared about me, too. Like you really liked me. I mean, hell, you fucking married me.”
“Anna, I do care. I do really like you. And I want to stay,” I cut him off again before he can finish that statement.
“You want to stay? Because you sure didn’t stay.
Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to wake up the next morning stranded in the hotel room without so much as a clue of where you took off?
The longer I sat there waiting for you to return, the more humiliated and heartbroken I became.
Until finally it dawned on me that you were never coming back for me. ”
“I was coming back, Anna. I promise.”
“Well excuse me for not believing you. Actions speak louder than words, Keaton. There is nothing you can say to take away the way I felt when I woke up and you weren’t there.
I don’t want to speak to you. I don’t want you to speak to me.
We are going to fly home and go our separate ways. Do you understand?”
He looks at me with sad eyes, his mouth opening like he’s prepared for rebuttal, but eventually he nods and leans back against his seat and I do the same.
The flight attendants go through their safety procedures and we head to the runway.
Noticing the man beside me is white knuckling his armrests as we go to take off, against my better judgment, I reach out to hold his hand through it, providing him with a comfort he doesn’t deserve.
His body instantly relaxes at my touch and my heart pulls in his direction.
It’s really hard to hate this man, but the pain I felt the morning after we said those vows is coursing through my veins and powering my fury.
It takes everything in me to fight the desire to keep my hand on his even when we’re in the air and above the clouds.
But the memories of me sitting in that incredible hotel suite alone remind me why I have to do it.
I remove my hand and place it on my lap, then turn to look back out the window.
Letting go of his hand allowed me to release so many things that were keeping a firm grip on my heart. I let go of the desire that filled me with his touch. I let go of the sweet memories we created with one another. I let go of the hope and dreams of a future with this man. I let go of my husband.