Page 1 of The Guy from that One Summer
CHAPTERONE
THE FALL OUT AND MY SEXUAL AWAKENING
That arrogant,glib, self-centered bastard. I gave it all up for him. My dream job, dream school, dream city…
And even my damn orgasms.
Yes, I spent three years with a man who could never get me to come. It was a chore for him, one he couldn’t manage to evenattemptto master. So, I mastered it myself—as inmasturbation.
But where did that get me?
Left at the altar, in a three-thousand-dollar dress, and a hundred sets of eyes looking at me—some with pity, others with shock, and one shithead teenager laughing.
Which reminds me, I need to tell my aunt, Martha, that my cousin needs a nice slap to his acne-filled face.
But back to the self-centered asshole.
Damon.
The man I gave it all up for, who got me to say yes, and when it was his turn to say “I do,” it looked like he’d seen a ghost—or even his grandmother naked and participating in nefarious activities. I shook him a bit, making sure he wasn’t falling ill and about to be sick.
Nope.
He’d just beenfallinginto some other woman’s vagina for a while.
He turned, looked at some brunette with green eyes and breasts the size of my head, and told her, “I can’t marry her. I wantyou.” Then he took her hand and ran off into the merry ole sunset, with all but a white horse, like some Julie Roberts movie. And I was left standing there like I was in an episode ofPunk’d.
“She’s just a friend from high school” my ass.
What an absolute prick. I hid my tears, my mother coming to wrap me up and walk me off the altar, and my father ran after Damon, screaming all sorts of obscenities. I just wanted a bottle of tequila—to drown my woes and embarrassment in… and the actual glass bottle, to take to Damon’s head.
How could he do this to me? I really thought we would have a life together. I wasted so much time with him. Do I love him? Yes, at one point. Sure, we didn’t have all the physical chemistry, but we did care for one another.
Didn’t we?
I did, but clearly, he lost all love and respect for me.
When damage control by my parents was in full gear, then the dust settled, I somehow lost the following twelve hours.
And by the time I really process what happened, I’m now in my car, on my way to the Hamptons to stay at my parents’ beach house. We were going to honeymoon here. Yeah, a honeymoon. One I should be on right now. But I’ll be knee-deep in alcohol, while Damon is balls-deep in another woman and a new life without me.
How could I have been so blind?
I could have prevented this. When I realized I loved him but wasn’t all head-over-heels, tripping blindly over all his charm—which, believe me, he once had—I lost beinginlove. But it doesn’t give him the right to cheat or leave me at the altar. He could have saved us the money, embarrassment, and earth-shattering devastation if he would have just told me before we were moments away from putting a law-binding contract to one another.
Now, in hindsight, I wonder,Did I see this coming?
Am I embarrassed, or heartbroken? Or both? I don’t know anymore
That afternoon at the church moved in slow motion. After the one-hundredth call and millionth text—I swear, I turned off my phone, packed my shit, and got in my car.
All I knew for sure was tequila, plus my parents’ house in the Hamptons, equaled the only thing I wanted to do. Period.
Avoiding all songs that are remotely close to romantic, I blare hate music. Rage songs. Songs that make you want to not only slap a man but take his balls and grind them up in a blender. The imagery somehow brings me peace.
How could he have been so cruel? At our goddamn, fucking wedding!
If I were speaking my thoughts out loud, I’d say excuse my language to the women who care so much about their appearance they steam their dresses free of every wrinkle and wouldn’t dare try anal.
