On The Rocks

“You slept with Sasha last night,” she throws at me, and it’s a blind side I didn’t see coming, hitting me so powerfully I physically jerk backward.

“Are you fucking nuts?” I bellow, outraged that she would even make such an accusation.

“No,” she says quietly. “Sasha told me. She was waiting for me outside by my truck when I left you this morning.”

My mind starts spinning, frantically searching for clues as to what the hell is going on, and how in the world I landed in this mess. It hits me hard… the way Sasha was acting today. Refusing to meet my eyes, mumbling responses. She acted as if she couldn’t get out of here fast enough today when she and John were leaving.

“Son of a fucking bitch,” I yell, clasping my hands on top of my head and looking in vain up to my ceiling in a silent plea for some type of help from God above.

Dropping my hands, I spin to Gabby and pin her with a hard stare. “And you believed it?”

“Yes,” she says, her hands now clasped and wringing together.

“You fucking believed it?” I shout, taking a step toward her.

She takes a step back but tilts her chin up at me. “Yes.”

Fury such as I have never felt flows like lava through my veins. Some of that rage is for Sasha, for being spiteful enough to outright lie to Gabby and jeopardize my relationship. But most of that anger is reserved for Gabby, because she should have never believed it of me. She should have trusted me and, moreover, she should have come to me the minute Sasha filled her head with those lies.

Turning away from Gabby, because looking at her right now is not causing my rage to subside, I start to pace back and forth, racking my brain for a solution to this madness.

Stopping suddenly, I turn to her. “It’s a lie.”

“Maybe,” she says, her hands wringing hard against one another. “But it’s given me enough doubt that I can’t continue on with you.”

I stare at her in disbelief. “I don’t believe this. I really can’t fucking believe this. You’ve known me your entire life. You gave your body to me… you gave your fucking heart to me. And you believe Sasha over me?”

“She sounded convincing,” she says lamely.

“And I don’t sound fucking convincing?” I roar, thumping a fist against my chest. “Do I not sound like I’m telling you the truth?”

She flinches and I instantly regret yelling at her, but I’m spinning so fast out of control that I can’t rein it in. Then she practically drives me to my knees when she says, “It’s my experience that the man who protests the loudest is usually hiding the most.”

My jaw hangs open as I look at her. The woman that I thought that loved me… she’s gone. Vanished.

In her place is someone I don’t recognize. Because the Gabby Ward that I love, the one I’ve known most of my life, would never believe a practical stranger over someone she loved. It’s not possible.

I take a step back and fall onto the couch, hopelessness coursing through me. I’m beaten down, no way to defend myself, no way to reach through her thick skull.

“You’re wrong about this, Gabs,” I whisper, looking up at her with pleading in my eyes.

She stares at me a moment, sorrow filling her gaze. “I’m not.”

Leaning my head back against the couch, I close my eyes and rub the bridge of my nose. I open my mind up and beg for something to come to me… for an idea on what to do next.

I’m empty. Completely, fucking empty.

“I talked to Keith this morning,” she says, and the statement is so out of place in the context of our conversation, I know I must have heard wrong.

Lifting my head up, I narrow my eyes at her. “You talked to Keith?”

“Yes. I’m sure you know, but there’s a pro event in Fiji at the end of next week. He’s booked you a ticket. You’re flying out of Raleigh in two days.”

I stare at her, my eyes searching her face hard to try to figure out what the hell she’s talking about. “Why the fuck would I go to Fiji?” is the only thing I can think to say.