Chapter 31
Lara
I debated a long time about getting out of bed versus hiding under the covers all day, but I finally did it anyway. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I had wallowed in misery for days after I’d caught Mitchel cheating. I vowed to never allow that to happen to me again. Obviously, I sucked at making vows, because once again, here I was dealing with another cheating louse.
“Fuck you, Fate. You are a whore.”
I wasn’t relying on fate to see me through this time. I was in control, and I would never allow myself to feel this shitty again. I would not let another man rip my heart out and stomp all over it. Mitchel had hurt, but in the back of my mind, I had suspected he was cheating. When I had found him in bed with that woman, it had been a little shocking, but I’d been still numb with pain over the loss of my pregnancy. The loss of my baby had dulled the pain of the cheating.
But I didn’t have that luxury now. Nope, I got to face it head on. Thankfully, Mason and I had no ties between us. I never had to see him again, and I would find another fertility clinic. If by some slim chance I was pregnant, Mason would have to find a way to prove paternity if he was interested.
“You look like you are chewing glass,” Kali said when I flung open the door to the shop.
“I would prefer to chew glass right now than deal with my train wreck of a life.”
“Um, Lara, I love you. You know that, right?” Kali asked.
“Yes. Why? What now? Is the sky falling?”
She smiled. It was a sympathy smile. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks. It’s fitting. I feel like shit.”
“Want to talk about it?”
I looked at her and fought back the tears that were threatening to fall, again. I hadn’t bothered with eye makeup today. I knew it would only end up smeared by the end of the day and would look worse than if I had attempted to improve my appearance. The foundation and super expensive concealer I was wearing to cover the dark circles under my eyes would likely be gone soon enough.
“I can’t. Physically, I just can’t,” I choked out. “If Mason shows up or calls, please tell him to go away.”
She nodded her head before wrapping her arms around me. “I’m so sorry, hon. Go work on inventory and I’ll act as your bouncer. He won’t get past me. When you’re ready to talk, let me know. I’m here. No judging, just a good shoulder to lean on.”
“Thank you. I’m going to head back,” I said, moving slowly away.
I felt as if I were carrying a five-hundred-pound burden on my shoulders. Physically, I felt weak, and I was mentally drained.
When I sat down to work and go through my morning routine, everything felt as if were blurred. My head was aching, and I knew it was probably all the crying. I was probably dehydrated from crying too much, if that were even possible.
I heard a commotion and looked at the security camera monitor to make sure everything was okay. My heart jumped into my throat when I saw Mason standing in my shop. It hurt to see him and not be with him. Half of me wanted him to wrap his arms around me and tell me everything was okay. The other half of me wanted to rip those same arms off his body and beat him with them.
I flipped on the sound to the cameras up front so I could eavesdrop.
“You need to go,” Kali said.
“Please, I need to talk to her,” Mason pleaded.
“She doesn’t want to talk to you. You obviously fucked up. I suggest you go home and think about what you did.”
I bit back a laugh. She sounded like a mother scolding a child.
“I didn’t actually do anything. It was all a misunderstanding. I want to explain.”
I could see by his ruffled hair and disheveled appearance that he had endured a rough night as well. Good. I wanted him to suffer.
Kali was pointing at the door, ordering him out like one would order a dog out of the house. “Go. If she decides she wants to hear your excuses, she’ll call you.”
Mason put his hands on his hips and stared down Kali. Again, I bit back a laugh. He may have been quite a bit bigger than my friend, but he had no idea who he was challenging. Kali was a bit of a barracuda when provoked. We had been kicked out of more than one club when someone had pissed her off.
I watched Kali transform before my eyes. My high-quality camera system caught the look on Mason’s face as well.
“Listen, Mason, you may be used to flashing those pretty green eyes and using that smooth charm to get your way, but you do nothing for me. Take your ass out of my store before I boot you out. If you don’t think I can do it, try me. Leave Lara alone. You hurt her, and you are damn lucky I don’t kick your ass for that alone.”
In an instant, Mason’s shoulders drooped and he ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up even more than it was. The same hand rubbed over his face before he looked up, directly at the camera, and spoke to me.
“Lara, I know you can hear me. I need to explain what you saw. It wasn’t what you think at all. Please, Lara, give me a chance.”
I wiped the tears off my cheeks but didn’t budge. I had nothing to say to him, and I certainly wasn’t going to let him lie to my face. I wasn’t going to forgive him and take him back just so he could do it all over again. We had never really established what kind of relationship we had. I couldn’t expect him to be faithful to me when we hadn’t declared we were exclusively dating. We were sleeping together. That was it, but that didn’t mean I was going to be second fiddle.
I groaned thinking about the unprotected sex.
Shit.
Now I would have to get tested. The woman who had been draped on him looked like she had been ridden hard many times. I did not want to share bodily fluids with her. Gross.
I watched as Kali escorted Mason to the door. She said something to him that I couldn’t hear. He nodded his head and left without saying anything more. I wiped my tears, blew my nose, and quickly composed myself before Kali came into the office.
“You okay?” she asked, her voice soft and filled with concern.
I smiled and nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Oh, hon. Are you sure this isn’t something you can work through? The man looked crushed. And actually, he looked like shit, too. You guys make a matching pair.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“Lara, I think he really is sorry.”
“He should be,” I shot back. The grief and hurt I was feeling was instantly replaced with anger. I liked the anger. It was much easier to deal with. “I caught him with some woman hanging on him, making out like teenagers in the hallway outside his door! He couldn’t even wait until they got inside!”
Kali looked properly pissed. “Oh. He didn’t mention that,” she said through gritted teeth. “I should have kicked his ass after all.”
I nodded. “Yes! Exactly. You should have seen this woman. I think she may work as a call girl, one of those high-priced ones. A ton of makeup and a dress so small we could have sold it here!”
Kali was shaking her head. “Damn him. What the hell? I’m going to tell Brian. Brian will beat the hell out of him.”
“No! You can’t tell Brian!”
“Lara, the guy cheated on you.”
I shrugged. “Not really. I mean, we weren’t actually dating in a technical sense. We had dinner a couple times and sex. Nowadays, that is the norm. You used to have casual relationships.”
“I did, but this was different. He had to have known that. If he didn’t, why is he over here begging for forgiveness? He knows he fucked up.”
Suddenly, I felt like I needed to defend Mason. “He did and he apologized, many times, but I am not ready to accept his apology. I’ve decided to swear off men altogether. I can’t keep doing this.”
Kali reached over and hugged me tightly. “I’m so sorry. Damn him.”
We both ended up laughing. “I’m good. I feel better. Thank you for having my back. You are a scrappy little thing. One day that mouth is going to get you in trouble, though.”
She giggled. “It already has, more than once. I don’t mind, though. I will always have your back. You know that, right?”
Thankfully, the rest of the day was boring. There weren’t any more visits from Mason, and he only called a few times. It was easy to dodge phone calls. Kali and I closed the store together even though I told her to go home. She refused to leave my side.
“Good night, Kali, and please, don’t tell Brian. Not yet. I’ll tell him once the dust has settled a bit.”
“I won’t, but don’t let it fester too long. We’re going to find you a good man who deserves you.”
“Nope. I’m done with men.”
She gave me a knowing look but didn’t argue. I started my walk home, stopping at a store to pick up a couple different pints of ice cream. I was going to eat my feelings since I couldn’t drink them in good conscience.
I chatted with the doorman for a few minutes before I made the excuse that my ice cream was melting. Walking into my condo felt different. I was alone. That wasn’t going to change anytime soon. I wished I had never seen Mason. I had managed to come to terms with my new single status and had even embraced it, and then bam, he came along. He lifted me up and then dropped me off the side of a cliff in a matter of weeks.
After popping the ice cream in the freezer, I changed into my sweats and a T-shirt. An elastic waistband was needed for the night I had planned.
Sitting on the couch, I dug into my ice cream with only one candle burning. I put on Pandora and drowned my sorrows. Or at least that had been my plan. Things changed in a hurry when suddenly I raced for the bathroom and lost the small amount of ice cream I had managed to get down.
Perfect. To add insult to injury, I couldn’t enjoy my cookie dough ice cream. My phone rang, but I ignored it. I wanted to stay on the bathroom floor, the cool tile pressed against my cheek. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, the phone was ringing again. I got up and switched my cell to silent and headed for bed.
Within seconds, the house phone rang. The noise was foreign. No one ever called my house phone except for telemarketers or professional calls. I checked the caller ID. It was Mason. He must have gotten the number off my medical chart.
I unplugged the phone, in no mood to hear his excuses. I shut off the lights, blew out the candle, and headed for bed. I just wanted to sleep and forget all about Mason. My stomach lurched and I made a run for it, barely making it to the toilet in time.
A few minutes later, I managed to get into bed, curled into a ball, and prayed for sleep. It didn’t come. Instead, I suffered from horrible nausea and cramps. I was absolutely miserable. Chills racked my body, and I knew I had a fever, but I was too weak to chase down any medicine. I would sleep it off. Tomorrow would be better.