Page 16 of Friends with Benefits (Club Risqué)

Five months later,the wedding had been and gone, but she’d never received an invitation.

Not that she would have attended, even if one had been forthcoming. She wasn't so much of a masochist that she wanted to put herself through the agony of watching the man she loved saying the vows she had craved to another woman.

The wedding had taken place quickly. Not even three clear months from when he’d broken the news of his intentions.

At first, there had been a few phone calls from Christian, but Trinity refused to answer them, still being too raw to talk to him in those first few weeks after his bombshell.

She deleted the voicemails without bothering to listen to them, unable to hear his voice without breaking down.

But the final text message…well, that had flickered up on her phone screen without her having to open it, a feature of her mobile phone that she'd never even considered until it inadvertently showed her the message which shattered whatever little pieces of her heart there were left.

'I'm sorry, Tara, but I need to cut off all contact with you and ask you to respect that wish by not keeping in touch.'

She hadn't thought it was possible to feel any more hurt than she already was. Turned out, hurt could go on and on, even when you thought the worst of it was over.

So much for her being his closest friend. She supposed that was Bianca's privilege these days. At least the woman had a name that would be acceptable in the circles Christian walked in. One that wouldn't need to be bastardised into something more sophisticated and elegant.

For the most part, Trinity tried hard not to be consumed by her negative feelings. She didn't want that pall to be hanging over her life. Not that she didn't have plenty to feel bitter about, but she tried her hardest not to let it get the better of her.

It was hard, of course. And some things were harder than others…like the day she had gone to visit Krista for what had also turned out to be the last time.

Five months…ithad been a difficult time and Taryn lost weight that she didn't have to lose. She knew she looked gaunt and skeletal, but she had no appetite to speak of.

Krista fussed over her and cooked special treats to try to tempt her with. It made Taryn happy to think that she could, at least, take Krista's mind off her worries that Christian was drifting away from her.

That day, though, there had been no tasty titbits to tempt her. Instead, Krista was even more anxious and skittish than usual.

Finally, she burst into tears and Taryn made her a cup of soothing herbal tea and sat her down so Krista could tell her what the problem was.

"I could hate them for doing this to me," Krista ranted. "But he's my son and he's all I have left in the world."

Trinity stopped short of pointing out to Krista that she actually wasn't making any sense. If it helped her to get whatever was worrying her off her chest, then Trinity was happy to be a sounding board.

"Bianca says she feels threatened by my friendship with you," Krista finally confided. "She thinks it undermines her relationship with Christian so she doesn't like him coming here because of it," the older woman sobbed.

"I'm so scared I'm going to lose him; he just doesn't see how manipulating Bianca is. Can you believe she actually asked me to stop seeing you, just to keep her happy!"

Krista wrung her hands together, taking a couple of short, sharp breaths, while trying her best to keep it together.

"Except it wasn't really a request," the older woman whispered. "It was more of a threat. She said she couldn't have Christian coming to visit me if she thought there was a chance he might run into you here…she didn't quite come out and say the words outright, but it was implied. She would stop him from visiting me if she didn't get her own way."

Tears streamed down Krista's face and her breath came in hiccupping sobs. "What am I going to do?" she implored. "He's all I have left; I just couldn't bear to lose him, too…"

Taryn's blood ran cold, and for a moment, she thought she might vomit where she sat. It was with no small amount of determination that she wrestled her feelings under control.

But then, she’d had plenty of practice at that over the past months..

While she might not have asked after Christian, here, in his mother's house, she felt close to him, and Krista had been the final link Trinity had to the man she still loved.

With a heavy heart, she knew what she had to do. Perhaps it was better this way. Coming here was it’s own special kind of torture, after all.

"Don't worry, Krista. I'll make it easy on you," she rasped out over a throat so constricted she was surprised she didn't choke. "I've been thinking about returning back home to the south coast anyway. I'm pretty sure that should put enough distance between us to keep Christian's wife happy."

She climbed wearily to her feet and gave Krista a hug before heading for the door. "I'll keep in touch," she promised as the tiny crumbs, all that were left of her shattered heart, blew away.

Unlike Christian, she kept that promise. For a while, at least, even if their brief and infrequent conversations were conspicuously frothy and avoided anything personal on either side. But eventually, that too became too hard for both of them, and they dried up altogether.

The final tie, severed.

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