Page 1 of A Mutually Beneficial Proposal

Ella

If anyoneever says burning an ex’s belongings in the backyard while a storm rages through town isn’t cathartic, they’re lying. Or maybe they’ve never been cheated on. Either way, this is my way of getting over Gavin Michaels, and I’m owning it.

With texts to my two best friends already sent, I stand under my covered patio, using the tiny firepit to burn every item Gavin left in my house before I kicked his ass out earlier.

The hurt I’d been feeling is still there, but the scorned woman in me is taking over while I do my best to scrub the images from my mind of him screwing someone else on my couch. Remembering what I walked in on after work makes me want to burn the sofa next, but I also don’t want the neighbors to call the fire department.

Instead, I settle on making a mental note to ask Kenzie and Piper to help me carry the tarnished piece of furniture out to the front yard before they go home later. I’ll tape a free sign to one of the cushions and pray it’s gone by morning. Yep, that will have to work.

“Ella?” I hear Kenzie’s voice inside my house above the crackling of embers from the shoes I just tossed in the flames.

“Back here,” I call, hoping Piper is with her. I don’t want to tell the story twice. Hell, I don’t even want to say it once. Honestly, at this point in my life, my track record for keeping men is downright embarrassing.

Kenzie’s fiery red hair appears first in my peripherals. She’s wearing black yoga pants and a loose green top, meaning I interrupted her zen time. I momentarily feel bad but shake the feeling away. Moments like these are what friends are for.

Piper walks in right behind her and sits next to me. I take note of her adorable square-framed glasses and perfect messy bun of brunette hair. Tonight only serves to remind me how envious I am of her ability to only be in love with her career at a local publishing company. Though, she’ll be leaving us sometime this year to go work at their new Los Angeles office, thanks to a promotion she received. As much as I’m going to miss her, I can’t deny the happiness I feel for her, either.

“We got the SOS. What happened? Do you need an alibi? I can have one written out in ten minutes tops,” she says, pulling out her phone to do just that. I let out a strangled chuckle.

“I kicked Gavin out, and I’m helping him get rid of the things he wasn’t able to grab on his way out,” I say, then toss a shirt next to the melting shoes.

Should I be worried about the smell of burnt plastic or the oddly colored flames? Probably. Am I? Not in the slightest.

“What did that fucker do?” Kenzie asks, taking the seat across from us.

I grunt. “Not what. Who.”

“That cheese-dick bastard. I’m going to kill him.” Kenzie is already red in the face on my behalf, and I love her for it, but there will be no murders taking place. He isn’t worthy of our time. Once his things are gone, I’ll force him out of my mind, too.

Just like the two relationships before him that ended in similar disaster. I’m beginning to think it’s definitely me, and not them.

Piper reaches for me, offering a sweet smile. “I brought wine and chocolate.”

I attempt to smile, because I’m more than thankful that she thought of reinforcements, but the action is near painful.

Kenzie stands and grabs some items from the pile I have in front of me. She tosses a pair of khaki shorts into the fire and lifts her upper lip. “He even dressed like a douche canoe.”

I want to agree with her, but I can’t. Gavin is hot. Worse? He is all too aware of his prowess. His confidence is what drew me to him in the first place. I should have known better. Cocky isn’t always best when it’s coming from the mouth instead of between the legs.

“What about the vacation you already paid for?” Piper cringes even asking the question.

I had thought about that as soon as the initial shock wore off. I bought tickets for Gavin and me to go to an all-inclusive adults-only resort in Saint Lucia—ones that weren’t cheap—and I’m having a hard time thinking about letting them go to waste.

“You two want to split the cost of a third ticket and come with me?” I ask, hoping to turn my romantic vacation into a girls’ trip.

Piper considers my invite, but Kenzie immediately declines. “We have a blackout period at work these next two weeks. System upgrades, and they need all hands on deck, or so they say. I wish I could, if that helps.”

It does, but I’m still bummed.

I turn to Piper, but the way she’s counting on her fingertips doesn’t bode well for me. “You’re coming back when?”

“The seventeenth,” I answer.

Piper kicks a pile of Gavin’s shirts. “I can’t. I need to be here on the fifteenth for my first editor’s meeting. Unless you can change the return date? Though, that would cut your trip down from five full days to only three.”

Hope springs inside me until I remember that Gavin convinced me to be a cheap-ass and choose non-refundable or changeable tickets. Stupid cheating bastard. I never should have listened to him.

“We’d have to buy two new tickets home for the fifteenth.” At this point, last-minute flights would probably cost my left tit.

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