I'd been lying on my back, tossing my phone above my face for the past ten minutes. I kept expecting to miss and have it barrel down and break my nose or something. That was part of what made this little game so fun.

Granted, this little game wouldn't have to be fun for me to keep doing it. All it had to be was distracting. Playing with my phone meant I couldn't use it, even though I knew it wouldn't be long before I had to.

Why did I ever think any of this was a good idea? Just over a week ago I'd been the happiest I'd ever been. I didn't know at the time it was the happiest I'd ever been, but hindsight was a bitch. Being with Brin had been like breathing pure oxygen, whereas Lori's presence was a thick smog that reached down my throat to choke me with its acrid fumes. I wanted to hate Brin for showing me how perfect life could be and then snatching that out of my grip, but I couldn't hate her for anything. She would always be perfect to me, even if thinking about her made my bones ache.

She'd given me a snapshot of a perfect life, a vignette of domestic bliss filled with acceptance and happiness. Lori came in belching noxious smoke and distorted the image.

I would say that I tried to make things work with Lori, but that would be a lie. My heart hadn't been in it from the beginning, and it never would be. I knew that now. I'd spent the first few days of us being back together lying to myself, and the next few days lying to her. It was time for me to end it. But fuck, that wasn't a conversation I looked forward to.

I threw my phone up again. It came sailing toward my face. I considered not catching it on purpose just to see if the falling object would knock some sense into me. My self-preservation instincts kicked in at the last second and I snatched it out of the air.

That was enough. I'd spent all morning in a similarly mopey mood, and I was getting tired of myself.

I dialed Lori's number and held the speaker to my ear. She picked on her customary last ring.

"Hey baby," Lori cooed. "I was hoping you'd call."

I cringed. Me being distant had pushed her to be extra affectionate over the past few days. It didn't look good on her.

"Can you come to the hotel?" I asked.

"Of course. Where do you want me to meet you?"

"My room."

"Absolutely, stud."

Lori was misinterpreting the reason for my call. I hadn't invited her to my room yet, so I supposed I couldn't blame her. In reality, I just didn't want there to be witnesses if she completely melted down. She could get downright screechy when she wanted to be.

"I'll see you soon."

I hung up the phone and tossed it over to the other side of the room. It landed on the carpet with a soft thud.

A second later, there was a knock on my door.

"That was quick," I muttered unhappily.

Had she been hanging outside my door all day, waiting for a summons?

I ran a hand over my face and rose from the bed, walking over to answer the door. A very tight-faced Russell stood on the other side, and I relaxed.

"You haven't seen Martin today, have you?" he asked.

I shook my head and frowned. "No. Why?"

Russell sighed. "I didn't think so. Can I come in?"

Russell's arrival was a welcome distraction from the scene of horror that was going to play out in my room within the next hour, so I gladly invited him inside. He strode over to the bed and perched on the edge of it. I didn't notice until then that there was a piece of paper clutched firmly in his right hand.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Where's Martin?"

Russell's kind brown eyes met mine, and he passed me the paper. "I think it'll be easier if you just read what he left."

Confused and curious, I grabbed the note and unfolded it. Martin's familiar loopy script occupied only the first few lines. Short but sweet.

Chad, I'm sorry. Lori and I sent Brin away. We've been sleeping together behind your back for months. You deserve better. Martin.

My eyes caught on the second line again and again, so much so that I barely even noticed the sentence that followed. Martin and Lori were responsible for Brin's abrupt departure? But how? What did they tell her? What must she have thought?

This couldn't be real. My best friend wouldn't do that to me. I looked over at Russell, expecting him to jump up and announce that the whole thing had been a joke, but the stoic set of his brow told me everything I needed to know.

My skin burned, heat flooding my face while my fingers somehow turned to ice. I crumpled the note in my hand and tossed it as far as I could. It fell somewhat pathetically to the carpet a few feet away.

"Did you know about this?" I tried to keep my voice steady, but it was hard when my whole world was imploding.

Russell shook his head vehemently. "No. Swear to god. Martin never told me anything; I didn't even know he had a thing for Lori."

I shook my head. “No, not about Lori. About Brin.”

His eyebrows knit in confusion. "No. I had no idea why she left, same as you."

I believed him, which was good since I felt downright murderous at the moment and he was the closest person to me. While I felt betrayed about Martin and Lori's affair, that no longer affected me the way it would have when I still thought I loved Lori. The real betrayal was Martin and Lori's colluding together to send Brin away. It was a good thing Martin had disappeared, which was likely why he had. Even if he'd broken every ounce of trust I'd ever put in him, the bastard still knew me better than anyone.

I focused on pulling in my rage. It wouldn't serve me well today, especially since Lori was coming by soon. I wanted to let her have it, to make her rue the day she ever thought to mess with my life, but what would be the point? Lori was Lori. She wasn't going to change, and even if she did, I wanted her out of my life for good. Besides, I had something else to figure out.

There was a glimmer of hope now. Brin hadn't left of her own accord, or if she had, it was because of something false that Martin had told her. I had to get to her somehow, had to show her how I felt. I wouldn't survive if I didn't at least try.

I pushed those thoughts down for now.

I cleared my throat and addressed Russell. "Lori's going to be here soon. You might want to get out of here."

"You don't need to tell me twice."

Russell cleared out of the room, leaving me alone with my rage. While I waited, I retrieved my phone from the floor and tried Brin's number again. It would be a miracle if she'd somehow unblocked me, which was why I wasn't surprised to find that wasn't the case. I didn't have any other way to get a hold of her and I cursed myself for not getting an email address or even a mailing address. How was I supposed to get my words in front of her?

Lori knocked on the door, and I texted Russell quickly, asking him to stop by my room in ten minutes with his laptop. Then I swallowed my anger and answered the door.

"How did it go?" Russell stepped into the room, his laptop bag slung over his back.

I let out a bitter chuckle and closed the door behind him. I thought about how Lori had shown up in an outfit that was obviously meant to seduce, and the moment she realized we weren't on the same page how her face had crashed. I thought about the screaming, the crying, the begging—all from her, of course. I found the whole show to be a bit too theatrical, considering she'd heartlessly lopped me off like a piece of hair with gum in it only a few weeks before.

"It went. She denied everything, of course, but I kicked her to the curb anyway. We're done. For good now."

Russell dropped his bag onto one of the chairs and started unloading his laptop onto the table.

"What if she was telling the truth though? I mean, if Martin already lied to you, who's to say he wouldn't lie about Lori's involvement? Maybe she didn't know anything about Brin's disappearance?"

I hadn't considered that. The whole thing seemed so right up Lori's alley that the thought that I shouldn't doubt her never crossed my mind. With Brin, I'd spent a whole damn week in denial that she would leave without saying anything, even though all the evidence suggested that that was the way things had happened and my own logic told me I deserved it.

Nevertheless, the plot had Lori’s stench all over it.

"She was involved." I sank down into the chair opposite Russell and rubbed my forehead. "She's always been a horrible liar. It wouldn't have mattered though—I was going to end things with her already. The past week with her has been nothing but a lie. We were over a long time ago."

"Fair enough." He booted up his laptop. "So, what do you need?"

"Can you pull up the footage from the first day of shooting? The kiss on the beach?"

Russell tapped on his laptop for a couple of seconds and then turned the screen to me. "This?"

The video played out, both of us relaxing on the sand and then Brin pouncing on me with a look of glee and wonder in her eyes. I'd replayed this video dozens of times since she left, to the point where I'd memorized each sweeping lash that brushed her cheek when she closed her eyes and sank into the kiss. My heart gave a wet thump.

"That's the one," I said. "Do you have a camera with you?"

"Sure." Russell rooted around in his bag and produced a small video camera, placing it on the table next to his laptop. "I gotta ask, what exactly are you going to do?"

"Good question." I snorted. "All I know is that I've got to find some way to tell Brin that what we had was real."