Page 9 of Punt

I matched his grimace. "Hell no," I said firmly. "I'm all about loyalty and faithfulness."

The amount of times I could have cheated while away for work would fill a book of sticky notes. Not a whole heck of a lot, but a number higher than zero. Those were only the chances I was aware of. I was relatively clueless to guys’ interest in me, unless they declared it.

"Yeah, me too," he said distractedly.

I felt bad for him. I was still processing all of this and I'd had hours already. And I was able to cry in the privacy of my own apartment, while I stripped the bed down to the mattress and hauled the sheets down to the laundry. That reminded me, I'd forgotten to take them out of the washer and put them in one of the driers. Hopefully someone from my building would do it for me. They were a nice bunch of people. Or impatient to use a machine themselves. Whatever motivated them, it would help me out.

Chase surprised me by asking, "Are you okay?"

I expected him to be all about himself and his hurt and disappointment. The fact he even took a moment to think about me was gratifying and made me look at him again. He was a good looking guy, no doubt about that. I'd never given it much thought before. He was Kris' friend, that was all.

Now I really looked. Chase's brown eyes were expressive, his skin tanned. His thick, dark hair curled slightly at his neck. Longer on the top than the sides, his hair was the kind girls liked to fantasise about running their hands through. A dark green t-shirt was fitted over defined biceps and what I'd bet was a chiselled chest and abs.

I dropped my gaze toward the table. I shouldn't be ogling anyone after the day I'd had. On top of that, I felt like I might cry again. I wasn't going to do that here, in front of Chase and everyone else.

"Yeah, kind of," I said to my breasts. "It wasn't the homecoming I expected." It certainly wasn't thecomingI'd anticipated.

"Yeah, I bet it wasn't," Chase said. "You got friends you can talk to? A sister or two?"

"My sisters live on the other side of the country," I said. They were busy with their own lives: fiancees, husbands, children, mortgages, soccer games. All the suburban stuff I thought Kris and I would have some day.

I swallowed down a sob. "I have friends from work I can talk to." Sort of.

That awkward moment when you've been so busy with work and a live-in boyfriend and you realise your friends were all his, because you stopped calling your own.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Same," Chase replied. "Friends from work." He looked like he was going to say more about them, but didn't. "I'll be okay."

"Right," I said. "Me too." Who were we trying to kid here? We were betrayed by people we cared about. Healing would take time. Lots of time.

Chase— He still had to talk to Brandi. I didn't envy him. Ialmostwouldn't mind being a fly on the wall for that conversation. I wanted to hate her like I hated lateness. Whatkind of woman sleeps with another woman's boyfriend, in her bed? Not the kind of woman I had any sympathy for. Not one I wanted as a friend.

That led to another thought. "Will you talk to Kris?"

Chase's eyebrows twitched. He clearly hadn't thought about that yet.

"After I talk to Brandi," he said finally. "And get past the urge to punch him in the face." He frowned with genuine confusion. "I really thought he was a nice guy. He didn't care about…" He shook his head.

Before I could ask what Kris didn't care about, apart from my feelings, Chase went on.

"I've known him so long, I never would have thought he'd pull this kind of shit, y'know?"

"I totally know," I replied. "He's such a nerd. I thought it was more the jocks that, I don't know, drew in the women."

"Yeah." Chase sighed.

I remembered he was the jock kind. How could I forget with his toned body a metre or two away? Okay, I was still wallowing in the pity party.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't assume there's a group of guys more likely to cheat," I said.

"There is though," Chase said. "They're called assholes."

I managed a smile at that. "That's very true. I guess he hid his asshole persona behind a good guy mask." That sounded like something geeky Kris would say. I made a face at myself for saying it.

"I just wish, if he wasn't happy, he would have said so," I said sadly. "Why sneak around behind my back?"

Chase shrugged. "I have no idea. If I was him, I would have appreciated you more."

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