Page 3 of Fate Forever and Always

I tried to protest, but her grin made me stop talking. “You think so?”

“Yes. Now eat and put some meat on that scrawny body so I can be right.”

I put my arm on top of her head and scoffed. "Hey, don't call me scrawny. I'm working on it, plus I am taller than you, so I can't be too scrawny."

We both laughed. "Nicky, you are only taller because I shrank," she joked. "And you know what I meant."

"Gram, I am over six feet tall. I have been taller than you for a long time."

She patted my arm. "Sure Nicky, whatever you want to tell yourself to feel better."

After dinner, I went to text Aubrey and Callie in our group chat but saw Callie had removed herself, so I texted her separately.

I am really sorry, Callie.

Sweets

Don’t worry about it. Let's just keep our distance for a bit.

I really like this guy and don’t want you to be negative and ruin things.

I deserve to be happy.

Distance from Callie is the last fucking thing I want. She didn’t answer the next text I sent, and I’m pretty sure all my messages were about to go unanswered for a while. I should have told her the truth.

What the fuck did I do?

Chapter one

Callie

7 Years Later- August

Inever in my life would have imagined this would happen two weeks before my wedding. Although I guess no one really thinks they would catch their fiancé cheating on them with someone they work with, but I digress. As I lay here on my best friend’s couch thinking about last night, I can’t help but wonder why I didn’t see all the signs earlier. Everyone else did, especially Aubrey and Nick. They better not say I told you so.

My best friend, Aubrey, lived with my fiancé and me earlier this year. She started talking about moving out when she caught a random woman leaving our house. When she confronted him, Jake straight up lied to her about it. His explanation made sense, but it raised some red flags—red flags that I just ignored, of course.I should have taken the red flags and Aubrey’s concerns more seriously. Looking back, I realize I was being a complete idiot.

She officially moved out of the house in June when her boyfriend, Lincoln, surprised her by moving to Connecticut from Tennessee. It was an adorable, completely swoon-worthyromantic comedy moment with a song on stage at a concert, a heart-wrenching speech, and everything else she could have wanted.

They found a place together rather quickly. Soon after moving here, Lincoln accepted a job offer a few towns over. They are living together, acting all lovey-dovey, and are completely in their honeymoon phase. They are perfect for each other, and I love it. Although, I don’t want to hear about anyone being happy. To be honest, I am a complete mess and absolutely miserable. My eyes are stinging with tears again just thinking about how lonely I will be for the foreseeable future.

Last night, the plan was to stay at Aubrey’s because she was helping me with the wedding bouquets, but when Jake said he wasn’t coming home and was staying in Massachusetts to finish up a job, I went home for some quiet time. I wanted to set up a little surprise homecoming for him. He had been acting off lately. I was sure it was just a case of the wedding jitters. Boy, was I wrong.

When I pulled up to the house, all the lights were on. I knew immediately something was off. My body felt like it was going into fight mode. No one should be here. I thought I shut the lights off, and Jake said he was working late on a project and would stay at a hotel near the work site since it was over an hour away in Massachusetts.

After walking in, I stood silent momentarily to see if I could hear anything, but it was quiet. When I realized the only thing that seemed off was the lights being on, I chalked it up to being forgetful and leaving them on. I entered the kitchen to grab a water bottle before heading upstairs to the music room. I heard a loud thump from upstairs just before turning the lights off. I froze again, like not moving could make me hear better or something. It was silent for a few seconds, but then I heard it again, and again, and again. I heard what sounded like a lowmoan right after the thump.No fucking way.As I ran up the stairs, the moaning grew louder and more frequent.

“Yes. Jake, Yes…right there,” the woman’s voice desperately moaned.

I flung the door open, hitting the wall behind it.

There he was, underneath a skinny brunette, driving his dick into her. I couldn’t see her face, but when she heard the door hit the wall, she jumped off him and flung herself to the side with her face in a pillow.

“Ca—Fuck—Callie. What are you doing at home?” My fiancé, I guess now EX-fiancé, said as he fumbled out of the bed, tripping over himself and trying to cover up with our sheets. Why do people do that when they get caught cheating? Like, I’ve seen you naked hundreds of times, you fucking asshole. What the fuck are you hiding?

I looked at him in disbelief. “Me? What amIdoing here? You’re seriously fucking asking me what I am doing in my home.” I took a breath. “What the fuck areYOUdoing here, Jake?”

He started toward me, so I stepped back, putting my arm out between us. “Don’t you dare fucking touch me.”

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