Page 6 of Great Pretender
Chad
Imake my way into the kitchen and grab Piper’s mug from the cupboard. It’s one she uses when she comes to visit.
It’s a two-handled ceramic mug she said was designed for hot chocolate lovers who wanted to add all the trimmings. I don’t have all the fancy stuff she likes tonight, but I do have hot chocolate.
I’m more of a coffee drinker, but I keep a tub of her favorite Belgian chocolate flakes here just in case she happens to stop over.
Piper’s visits usually tend to be on weekends and had become random since she started her medical training, definitely in the last few years that she’s been with Heath.
Heath… that motherfucker.
Piper told me what happened, and brought me up to speed with every fucking thing.
Right now, I don’t want to be seething in my kitchen making hot chocolate. What I want to do is find that self-righteous bastard, knock his teeth down his throat, and shoot off his dick.
I would do all of the above and I wouldn’t give a shit that the man could stick me in prison if he wanted to with his pompous lawyer ass. Some things are worth the risk and the punishment. Beating his ass to a bloody pulp is one of them.
The only reason I’m not out on the street hunting him is because Piper needs me.
I’m actually shocked Heath cheated, but maybe that’s because I can’t imagine anybody cheating on Piper. Her being my best friend isn’t the reason I can’t imagine it. It’s because of the fucking obvious fact that she’s beautiful.
Beautiful with the body of a goddess.
I haven’t been blind to that obvious fact for a long time and as bad as I am, I would never cheat on my girl.
Maybe that’s the one moral I can put down to having parents who were perpetually in love with each other.
I don’t know why Piper didn’t tell me what was going on weeks ago.
Okay, that’s a lie. Idoknow why. I’ve made it clear on several occasions that I hate Heath. So, the only reason Piper kept her silence would have been to stop me from kicking his ass.
She probably also didn’t want me to be right about him.
Unknown to her, I didn’t want to be right either and that brings me to the other thing—thatgrayarea between us.
It’s the same thing that explains my recklessness last night.
As I held Piper earlier, listening to her cry, I remembered what happened to me. The memory came back in full force.
Like Murray, I’ve known a lot of my friends since high school and college. Curtis is like that, so he knows my best friend is a girl. The guys always give me shit for it because they don’t understand.
Last night, I promised myself I was only going to have a couple of beers—nothing past my limit. Curtis, however, got wasted.Fucking lightweight.
There we were, drinking at the bar when he started talking about Piper. He’s always had a thing for her.
Curtis dropped the comment that Piper and Heath were the real deal.Unbreakable.
In his intoxicated state, he highlighted how in love they looked at the Christmas fundraiser, and he regretted not having his turn with her. He could only get away with saying shit like that to me because he was drunk.
The fool then asked me if I had any regrets when it came to my so-called best friend. And if I was fine casting off the perfect specimen of a woman to another man. That’s exactly how he said it.
My answer was a lie. I told him I was happy for her. Happy she’d found true love with a decent guy. And in that moment, as lies and shit fell from my lips, I remembered that kiss Piper and I shared years ago.
I always push the memory to the back of my mind, but from time to time, something inside me makes me remember. Last night was one of those times, amplified by the fact that I’d been fixating on how serious Piper and Heath had become since moving in together.
Little did I know, I was wrong.
I pour the milk and grab the steamer from the coffee machine to heat it up.
