Page 63 of The Breaking Point

Go. Or be a joke.

I follow her, ready to tell her I’m not interested, that I love someone. But I don’t get that far. The second I step through the curtain, she grabs my hand and pulls me in, guiding me to a low bench attached to the wall. I try to stand back up, but my legs feel like cement.

She starts dancing.

I tell myself I’ll just let her get through it. Sit here long enough to convince the guys I played along. I watch her swing on the pole, she’s bendy. I’m unable to look away as her pierced nipples run against the metal of the pole.

Seeing that she has my attention now, she leans her back against the pole, knees bent. One hand is gripping the pole at the top of her head, the other is running down her body. Over her tits, she moves it to her hips, undoing the string of her thong. I can feel myself getting aroused so I look away.

I hear her heels clicking closer to where I am as she begins to rub her body on mine. She shakes her hips in my face, practically sitting on my lap. She must feel me hard against her, because turning to look at me, her hands reach back and tug at my zipper.

I tell myself to tell her no, push her away but I don’t do either. I just watch, as she bends to retrieve something from her shoe, rips it open with her teeth and rolls it down my shaft.

Before I know it, she sinks down on me. She’s tight, wet but it feels wrong. The second she lets out a moan, I lose it. Pushing her off, I stand up ignoring her curses, ripping off the condom and fumbling with my pants. My heart is racing. My skin’s crawling. I can’t go back out there. I can’t look at them. I don’t even know where I’m going, I just stumble in the opposite direction and find a door marked ‘SECURITY.’

Pushing it open, I barely make it outside before I throw up. The door slams behind me.

“Asshole,” someone mutters.

I don’t care. I just slide down beside the dumpster and my vomit. I ruined everything.

Sometime later Eli finds me in filth. Quietly, he helps me up and calls a cab. I don’t ask where we’re going, I don’t care. It’s his hotel, I think.

He hands me my phone. “I texted Kate,” he says. “She was worried. I told her you’d stay here. That you’d see her tomorrow, at the wedding.”

I don’t sleep. At least, I don’t think I do. One moment it’s night, the next, it’s morning and Eli’s sitting in the armchair beside the sofa I’d spent the whole night on.

“You don’t have to tell her,” he says. “It was a moment of weakness. It’s only human. You’ve only ever been with one woman your whole life.”

I say nothing. Silently, I get up and head home. Hailing a cab, I take it back to the bar, to my car.

Kate and the boys are probably already at the venue. She’s probably in the bridal suite, I imagine her laughing while someone does her makeup, the boys running circles around her chair.

At home, I walk slowly. Each photo, each dent in the walls, every piece of our life brushes against me.

I have to tell her. Throw myself at her feet. Apologize. Beg her not to leave. I love her. She’s the love of my life. The mother of my children. But I have to tell her.

Upstairs, I get dressed. My tux is laid out on the bed, with a note:Love you.Our bags are packed in the corner. We leave for the honeymoon tomorrow.

What will she say?

I’m about to break her heart.

Chapter 24

AIDEN

I park the car and step out, my hands trembling just slightly. The venue stands tall before me, dressed in white silk and pale gold flowers, just like we’d planned. When we picked this place months ago, I had imagined this would be the happiest day of our lives. The day I claimed Kate forever, not just as the mother of our children, not just as the girl I loved since we were teens, but as my wife formally, fully, forever.

Now I’m walking in with a secret clenched in my gut, heavy and rotting.

I pass the fountain in the courtyard, the one Kate loved. She had wanted the boys to throw petals in it after the ceremony. I can almost hear them giggling, their voices echoing off the stone. Inside, the air smells like roses and champagne. Staff rush past, nodding, smiling. Everyone thinks this is a celebration. They have no idea.

I take the stairs slowly, my eyes catching on every little detail, the garland of flowers, the white satin bows on the banisters, the photos of Kate and me strung together in soft gold frames. I remember taking those. I remember every moment.

Outside the bridal suite, I run straight into Quinn.

She’s in uniform. Not military, but the dress suits her all the same with sharp lines, she looks composed, capable. I used to think she was just a college girl with tattoos and loud music. Then she joined the army, and stayed positive through deployments, through heartbreak, through Kate's tears. For that alone, she has my full respect.

---