Page 151 of Cheaters: A Dark Romance Anthology

He doesn’t care. He left. He left you.

My voice is a small whisper when I answer him.

“No need to worry. I’m not your problem anymore, am I? I made sure of that.”

His gasp rips into me as I spin away from him and walk towards Vikki with my hands shaking. Landon doesn’t get to speak to me again since we have to board and then we sit apart. I can’t stop myself from watching him as he lowers his seat back.

He’s chewing on his lip which is one of his tells that he’s upset, and his hands are clenching into and out of fists. A tear slips down his cheek and I have to look away. I can’t bear the thought of him hurting me and it’s seeing that that makes me decide what I’m going to do.

We have a layover in a hotel, and I’ll be alone. No one will need to hurt anymore because of me. I can stop this.

I bring up my journal and softly tear a page out before looking over to Landon again. His lashes are softly brushing his cheeks. Small set of freckles on his nose showing and his lips are slightly open. My eyes scan the gorgeous cheekbones that could cut glass and he has a light dusting of stubble on his jaw. All in all, he’s fucking beautiful and I’m nothing but a burden to him.

He’d be better off alone than with me.

My vision blurs as I think about never seeing him again, never telling him just how much I loved him. How much he means to me, still. He’s the one. My one. My person and I know I messed up. Cheating on him was the biggest mistake of my life and I’ve regretted it every moment since.

I let the few tears run down my cheeks and suck in a deep breath before putting pen to paper.

I pour everything I have into the letter I’m writing. I need him to know that this isn’t on him. My choices are mine and he shouldn’t care about me after what I did to him.

I don’t talk to my mom, dad or sister and my bandmates will be better without me.

Once the letter is done, I take out the ring and press a soft kiss to it, before folding the note up and sliding the ring into it. I don’t know if he’ll want it, but it feels like leaving a piece of me with him, if he wants it.

I put the note and ring into the front of my songwriting journal after his name is on it and slip it into the large side pocket of my bag. My body relaxes into the seat and I let myself drift off to sleep, waking up when we get to the airport. We’re split into buses and it’s after ten pm when we finally arrive at the hotel.

Check in is quick, but I don’t pay too much attention. My focus is getting to my room and taking the pills in my bag. I watch Landon smile and chat to Greg and wish I could have one more sleep soft hug from him, but I’ll settle for seeing him like this.

Our eyes meet and I can see the love there for a moment before he frowns and glances down at his feet.

“Not much longer, darlin’. I’ll let you go soon.”

My voice is soft, barely a whisper that no one hears, and I just follow everyone else into the elevator after getting my key card.

Our rooms are on the fourth floor, and we all splinter off. Greg is in the room opposite Landon. Room 423 is Landon and I’m in 425.

The room is bare, nondescript and I swallow as I glance around. This seems like an okay place to die, an okay place to let go and float away.

I go for a long shower, washing and shaving and take the pills one by one. My body feels heavy as I pull on my baseball shorts and a loose sleep shirt.

I have one more thing to do, before I take the last few pills and I kick my shoe into the door, walk along to Landon’s room and knock softly dropping my journal down gently on the ground, before padding back to my room. The last of the pills slip down my throat and I feel my as though I’m watching from above as I stumble to the bed, falling down onto it before letting my eyes slip closed.

Finally, I’ll be free of the pain and the guilt and Landon will be free of me. Free of the agony that’s all I’ve ever caused him. I hope he finds someone else, someone who’ll love him better than I could and give him everything because he deserves it.

I can feel the pull of unconsciousness and I breathe out softly, muttering into the emptiness around me.

“Landon, I love you so much.”

My words come out slurred and I finally fall under to the sound of banging, but I’m too far gone to move or to wonder what it is.

Chapter Five

LANDON

I’ve been standing under the warm spray of the shower, waiting on the muscles in my back relaxing, but something is wrong and my muscles won’t behave. Hudson seems closed off, quiet and has been really argumentative and dismissive since we had sex.

The thought of him under me as we had sex has my cock thickening up. Memories of his muscled back flexing as I thrust into him and the look on his face as he came the first time has my hand instinctively stroking my cock and thumbing at my head.

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