If you liked Burn For You and want to see how Hunter and Alicia’s story began, read By My Side.

Chapter 1

I had just gotten my dream job, and it happened a year after I started with the firm. I was one of the lucky ones, getting a job the summer I left college. It was entry level, but it was the ‘foot in the door’ I needed to get me on the inside. I knew with hard work, my analytical skills, and attention to detail, I could make them take notice of me and they did.

Now I was on my way to tell my husband Brandon. Our one year anniversary was coming up and with the news of my job promotion I couldn’t wait to celebrate. I made my way across town to the college campus. Being Wednesday night I knew Brandon liked to stay behind in his office to talk with his students and then do some work after everyone left.

Briskly, I trotted down the hall, eager to tell him my good news. When I reached his office door with his name painted in gold ink - Professor Brandon Miller, I turned the handle. It was locked. That was nothing new. He often did that after the student visiting hour was over, so he could work uninterrupted by the staff and janitors. I pulled the key ring from my purse and unlocked the door.

Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. I walked inside his office to find a nude blonde woman, with fake boobs, sprawled across Brandon’s desk. My loving husband, naked from the waist down pounding her so hard, papers were flying from the desk, like leaves falling from a tree in a wind storm.

In shock, I dropped the keys I was holding and they hit the floor with a loud clank, forcing Brandon and the bimbo to look my way. Brandon’s mouth fell open in shock. The blonde bimbo simply smiled, looking thrilled to be caught in the act. I reached down, grabbed my keys, and ran from the room. I felt my stomach roll and prayed I didn’t throw up.

Slamming my palms against the silver bar on the double doors, I made my escape outside. The cool air felt good against my skin as I rushed to my car. Once inside, I started the engine and put down the window. Clutching the steering wheel so tight, my knuckles turned white, I tried to concentrate on my breathing. I shook my head back and forth; as if doing this would make the scene vanish from my brain.

I kept thinking—This. Can. Not. Be. Happening. How could the best day of my life suddenly become the worst in a matter of minutes? When I opened my eyes and looked out the windshield, I saw Brandon coming through the door. I put the car in reverse and sped out of the parking lot, leaving behind black tire marks on the macadam. I barely missed running him over as his palms slammed onto the trunk of the car. That son of a bitch wasn’t worth going to jail over, although I would have loved to see him badly injured at that moment. What was I going to do now? That phrase repeated in my mind as I drove home. Thankfully, it was only a few blocks away.

When I was inside the apartment, I went to the bedroom and walked into the closet. I stared at our clothing, neatly hung, and arranged by color. I grabbed his perfectly pressed khaki pants off their hangers and threw them on the ground, stomping on them, imagining I was stomping on his heart. Then I took a pair of scissors from the top of the of the dresser and viciously cut and slit his freaking blazers, especially the plaid one with the suede elbow patches he loved so much. Breathing heavily and looking at the destruction I’d left in my wake, I pulled the luggage from the closet and threw it on the bed. Now the only question was whose stuff was I going to pack? By rights, I should kick Brandon out on his ass. He cheated on me.

I looked around our bedroom at all the things that reminded me of him—us. Damn it! I couldn’t stay here. Decision made, I was moving out. Furiously I started grabbing my clothes from the closet, haphazardly throwing them in the suitcases.

When I filled the two suitcases, I ran to Brandon’s home office and looked for boxes. I found two that were filled with paperwork. I promptly turned them upside down and dumped the papers all over the floor. As I was carrying the empty boxes back to the bedroom, Brandon walked through the front door.

“Alicia, we need to talk.”

“No, we don’t.” I seethed walking into the bedroom. I pulled the top drawer out of the dresser and turned it upside down to dump the contents into the box.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“I walk in on you fucking that skanky bimbo and all you have to say for yourself is sorry! I fucking HATE you so much right now! Get out of my sight!”

“What are you doing?” he asked looking around the disaster zone that was the bedroom.

“I’m leaving you,” I explained, although it seemed perfectly obvious.

“You’re overreacting,” he said, taking my hand.

Yanking my hand away from his, I yelled, “Overreacting! How stupid do you think I am? You just threw away our marriage like it was a piece of trash!”

“You’re not stupid. You have a brilliant mind, it’s one of the reasons I fell in love with you,” Brandon explained.

I laughed, a cruel, harsh cackle. “Oh, yeah, you love me so much you couldn’t even stay faithful to me for one year after our marriage?”

He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and remained silent.

“Yes, I didn’t think you would have a logical explanation for that. I want a divorce. I’ll have my lawyer send the paperwork over to your office.”

“Alicia, can’t we work this out?”

“How? Why would I want to? You are a cheater and I can’t forgive that, Brandon. I may only be twenty-three, but I’m not naive!”

“I never said you were. You’re very emotional right now and I think if you just take a moment, you’ll see I’m right.” He reached out and placed his hands on my shoulders to try and calm me down.

I slammed my fists into his chest. “Ha! Never, in a million years, will I think what you did was right.” I grabbed the suitcases and started to wheel them to the front door. Once they were in the hallway, I went back to the bedroom for the boxes.

“Alicia, please,” Brandon pleaded.

I walked right past him, my head held high with all the dignity I could muster and walked out the front door. He didn’t even follow me and somehow, I felt relief.

In the sea of confusion, I drove to my mother’s house, as if on auto-pilot. She and husband number three were eating dinner when I walked in the front door.

“Alicia, what brings you for a visit?” she asked, surprised by my sudden appearance.

“I…I was hoping…I need a place to stay,” I stuttered.

“Where’s Brandon?” she asked.

“I left him. I caught him cheating on me.”

“Alicia, I warned you not to marry someone who was ten years older than you,” my mother chastised.

That comment just pissed me off. “Oh yeah, because you’re the expert in marriage,” I shot back.

“Don’t speak to your mother that way,” number three scolded me as if I were a five year old.

“You know what? Forget I was even here.” I turned on my heel and high-tailed it out of there. “Brilliant move,” I muttered to myself getting back into the car. Why would I ever think my mother would show me any sympathy? She never paid much attention to me as a child. Why should things be any different now?

On to plan B. There was an extended stay hotel near work, so that was going to be my new home, at least until I could figure out what the hell I was going to do next.

The room was nice. It had everything I would need: a small kitchen, a desk, sofa, and comfy bed. I turned on the TV to have some background noise while I went about unpacking my belongings. I had packed so quickly, my dresses and suits were a wrinkled mess. I set about ironing everything. It was a good way to get me mind off Brandon. Once my clothes and shoes were neatly put away in the closet, I sat down and made a list of things I had forgotten in my haste to flee the apartment. I would pick up those things while Brandon was teaching class. After that, I fired up the laptop and started searching Google for local divorce attorneys.

Three hours after I had arrived at my temporary home, I decided it was time to take a shower and go to bed. I was exhausted. Turning on the hot water, the shower sprayed out an invigorating massage over my naked body. Picking up the bar of soap, I accidentally dropped it. The weight of what had happened today; what Brandon did and how I reacted to it, hit me. The tears began to fall. I cried so hard, I slid into a sitting position in the tub and let the water wash my tears away. How could I be so stupid? How could I ever trust another man again? I sat in the tub until the water ran cold and my tears dissipated. Then I climbed into bed and fell asleep.