Page 6 of Last Second Chance

“I’m going to run this up to Faith’s room,” I told Ben.

He nodded as he walked out with two full trash bags in each hand. I hit the lights and went to the elevator. I knew which room belonged to Faith and Michael because it was right across the hall from my own. I was halfway down the hall when the door to their room opened and Michael came out holding an empty ice bucket.

“Oh, hey. I have Faith’s purse here,” I said, holding it up.

“Thanks for bringing it up,” he said with a smile. “I can only imagine the panic if she realized she lost it.”

“I wouldn’t want it to ruin her big day.”

He held open the door for me. “Faith’s in the shower. Would you mind just tossing it onto the bed while I go get some ice?”

“Sure.”

Their room was a mirror image of my own. There was a sitting area and kitchenette, but most of the space was taken up by a king-sized bed. The curtains were pulled back, but all I could see was inky darkness. They probably had a great view of the ocean during the day, just like I did.

I could hear the shower running in the bathroom as I crossed the room and placed the purse on the bedspread. I wanted to get out of there quickly because it would get awkward real fast if Faith came out in just a towel. Turning to leave, I paused as my eyes landed on a poster board propped up on the dresser.

It was a layout of the reception seating.

Curious, I stepped closer to find my name. I didn’t really care where I was sitting, but I assumed I’d be at a table with someone I knew. Maybe Michael’s sister.

To my horror, I saw that I was indeed seated right beside someone familiar.

Faith and Michael had placed a little tab with my name on it next to Scott. Of all the people that were going to be at this reception, why in the world did it have to be him?

I needed to do something about this. No way was I going to sit by that jerk.

But I hesitated. Faith was in the shower, and Michael was at the ice machine. Should I just wait here like a creep to complain about this to them in the middle of the night?

No.

It could wait. The wedding wasn’t until the end of the week, so there was time to deal with it. I’d bring it up tomorrow.

Leaving, I crossed the hall to my own room. I’d showered before the party, so I just changed into some pajamas and got into bed. Laying there in the dark, there was nothing to distract me, and my mind went straight to Scott.

I didn’t want to think about him. I’d tried really hard to forget he even existed over the past year, but seeing him again brought all my feelings for him back to the surface. Desire and affection washed over me. I thought those emotions were gone, destroyed when he wrecked my heart, but I was wrong.

It was such a mess as my head said to remember the betrayal while my heart made me feel things that I’d never felt with anyone but him. But I didn’t want to care about Scott anymore. It hurt way too much.

As I laid in bed, fidgeting around in my attempt to get comfortable, I had to wonder if we’d still be together if I never found out that he cheated on me. Would he ever have stopped or would he have just kept trying to get away with it, even after I’d graduated and come back to New York?

I was so foolish to believe that he’d be faithful while was gone. I’d believed that I had the perfect boyfriend. I thought we were in love, and you didn’t betray someone you loved. Hell, I’d even thought that he was eagerly awaiting my return to the city because we’d talked about living together.

But I found out the truth by accident one night. He let the woman he was cheating on me with answer his phone when I called. Her name was Veronica, and I already knew her well. She was an “old friend” of his. At least, that was what Scott had always told me.

But you don’t sleep with yourfriends.

I’d called Scott on a Friday evening. It had been a long, bad week for me. The school semester was quickly coming to an end, so there was a lot of pressure with the upcoming finals and heavy workload. That was on top of working part-time as a waitress to pay for my essentials, dealing with handsy jerks all the time.

So, I’d called mywonderfulboyfriend to vent and hopefully be comforted over the phone. He was good at that sort of thing. But he wasn’t the one to answer the phone. It was Veronica. She’d seen my name on the caller ID while he was in the bathroom and decided to answer. She felt guilty and wanted to come clean, so she confessed everything to me, telling me that they’d been sleeping together behind my back for months.

I didn’t want to believe it at first. I’d argued with her, claiming that she was a liar. There was no way that Scott would do such a thing to me.

Then, she proved it. She sent me a picture of her in his room. I’d been there myself enough times to easily recognize it. The dark blue walls and model car on the nightstand. I even saw a picture of me in a frame on his nightstand, which made me feel slightly nauseous since I was staring at a selfie of Veronica in my boyfriend’s bed. The sheet was covering her from the chest down, but she was obviously naked.

It was something that I never wanted to see, but it was necessary to open my eyes to the truth.

Flipping over onto my stomach, I fluffed up my pillow with a little more force than needed. I was so irritated with myself because I missed the jerk. Despite what he’d done, a small part of me wished that we could go back to what we were before I found out the truth. It was pathetic, but I couldn’t help it. I was so happy back then.

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