Page 3 of Stuck On Them

Midtown Manhattan on a Friday night was nuts, and I’d never been so simultaneously giddy and anxious. There was something about all the different people and the noise that made me feel alive.

My driver skillfully navigated us through the streets, past hordes of pedestrians and vehicles. We turned into the entrance of the hotel and a man in a suit opened my door for me and got my bag out of the back.

I didn’t know what Nora was thinking booking one of the most opulent hotels in the city for me.

When I made it into the lobby through the biggest glass and gold doors I’d ever seen, I stepped into a different world. There were so many twinkling chandeliers and golden columns that I almost needed my sunglasses.

It felt like everyone was staring at me as I walked to the check-in desk in my jeans and an oversized t-shirt. People were dressed in business attire, and I looked like something the cat dragged in.

After checking in, I found my room and immediately went to stare out the window at the city below. It was so much different from the view of a brick wall out of my apartment’s tiny window that was just big enough to escape out of.

My phone buzzed for what felt like the hundredth time, and I sighed as I sat in an armchair and opened my messages. Daniel had called me at least ten times since last week and texted me ten times as much.

“Don’t do it, Paige. Don’t you dare,” I muttered with my thumb poised over Daniel’s name.

I’d packed my bags and left while he was at work. Most of the furniture in our shared house he had already, but I left a few things behind like my wall of books and things I never used. A few boxes went to the storage unit I had gotten before I’d moved in with him, and that was that.

He hadn’t bothered to check on me when I no-showed to work and only cared when he got home to find me and my stuff gone.

The asshole should have cared the second I found out he was cheating, but instead, he’d taken my silence as acceptance.

What did he think would happen?

My willpower evaporated, and I pressed his name, pulling up the string of one-sided messages over the past week. I skimmed through them, most just repeating the same thing.

Daniel:Where are you? Call me.

Daniel:You can’t just leave and not tell me when you’ll be back.

Daniel:Are you moving out?

Daniel:You quit? What the fuck, Paige? You’re blowing this way out of proportion.

Me:I’ve moved. I didn’t have time to pack my books. I will send Nora to get them at your earliest convenience.

I didn’t expect him to answer back immediately since he was most likely still working at the law firm he worked at with his father—the same law firm where I’d met him and fallen for his charms. There was no way I could show my face there again after breaking up with him.

Especially if the woman he cheated with was still working there.

My phone buzzed several times, and I was almost too scared to look. Daniel had always had a quiet calmness about him, but with all the texts and messages, I’d say his calmness was long gone.

Daniel:We’re getting married in two months.

Me:Definitely knot. Ha. Get it? We won’t be tying the knot.

Daniel:Don’t make jokes. Come home so we can deal with this like adults. People make mistakes.

Me:Should have thought about the consequences before you fucked someone else. Besides, what did you say? Oh, that’s right, I’m too “vanilla.” I’ll show you vanilla.

I stood, going to my bag and flinging it open. Things had been weird between us for the past few months, but I just thought it was a combination of wedding and work stress. It hurt to know it was because of his perceived boredom in the bedroom.

There had been no sign he was bored with our sex life. Granted, we had a total of three basic sex positions we rotated through, but he was the one that initiated them, and maybe if he’d been better with foreplay, it would have naturally progressed to more adventurous sex. Or he could have justtalkedto me.

Daniel:What do you mean you’ll show me vanilla? I shouldn’t have said that… I was upset. We can fix it.

Me:It’s over. I’m getting ready to go out. Have a lovely evening.

He tried calling me, but I rejected the call. I didn’t know how I could make it any clearer to him we were over. We had been the second he started sleeping with someone else. Who knew how many other women there’d been?

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