Once A Cheater

by Storm, Zee Shine

  Even if it made me the loneliest girl on earth. I'd rather have my freedom than become that needy and powerless again.

  ****

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Cole

  "So I got another job lined up which I'll be starting sometime next week." I sat down on the couch and picked up a book after handing Jasper his coffee the next morning. "I was thinking we should do something together while we're all free."

  Jasper gave me a candid stare before drinking from his mug slowly. "What's the job?" he asked.

  I shrugged. "Just something Armaan maneuvered for me. Did me a real solid."

  Jasper's brows came together in a frown. "Maneuvering seems to be something he's quite good at," my boyfriend murmured.

  I didn't know what he meant and wasn't interested in finding out either. It was no secret that Jasper wasn't a fan of Armaan.

  "Wells...about last night," I ventured carefully, looking at the open pages of my book without absorbing anything. "You know you can talk to me if something's bothering you, right? Whatever it is."

  There was no reply for a long moment. When I glanced over at Jasper, he was looking at his coffee mug like it was a piece of puzzle and he didn't know where to fit it.

  "I know," he said quietly.

  Silence fell between us. The awkward kind. The kind where you could feel the distance stretching out between two people even though they were but a few feet apart. A heaviness settled inside my chest, my throat growing tight as I continued to watch him.

  The most important question of all remained at the tip of my tongue. It was impossible to get it out. But if I could bring myself to speak, I'd ask him.

  Do you not want to be with us anymore?

  ****

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jasmine

  It was a rainy day in London. So much rain. With a gloomy expression, I stared out the Marks and Spencer's shop window at the wet streets outside. I hated it. It made my dark moods worse. I was supposed to be writing today, holed up in my hotel room. Instead, here I was, aimlessly wandering through stores.

  My phone beeped with a text message.

  Where are you? -Jasper.

  My lips twisted as I read it. I hadn't seen him for a week, hadn't tried to contact him either. It looked like he might be back in London now.

  Busy. - was my reply.

  My stomach growled at that moment, reminding me that I needed to eat. I turned and smacked right into a hard, solid mass. Hands gripped my arm to stop me from falling backwards on my ass and I looked up into Jasper's eyes, feeling stunned for a minute.

  He gave me a mocking look. "Hello, Jasmine."

  I pulled away from him, straightening my clothes and plugging my earphones back in.

  "Are you stalking me?" I asked him suspiciously.

  He put his hands inside the pocket of his jeans, looking attractive in a dark sweater and jacket, which contrasted with his blond hair.

  "Don't you wish," he drawled. "I was doing some shopping here. It's purely coincidence."

  I sighed. Well, stranger things happened. "I was...busy observing, you know," I told him with a wave of my hand towards the people outside. "Research for my story."

  He didn't believe me at all judging by the expression on his face but shrugged and said, "Want to grab a bite to eat?"

  I shrugged back, folding my arms. "Yeah, okay. Where do you wanna go?"

  ....

  He took me to his house.

  Oh my God. The guy took me to have lunch with him at his parent's house in London like it was no big deal. I suppose it wasn't because it was lunch time and he had been going there anyway and he introduced me to his family as a friend.

  There was a sister as well. Early twenties, as blond and beautiful as Jasper...but...she had rheumatoid arthritis which was gradually weakening her left knee. She could barely carry out her daily activities due to the pain she was in.

  I tried to engage in conversation with everyone and answered some questions about my career. His parents were middle-aged, quiet, simple people. But my gaze kept straying to his sister, Catherine, and how unhappy she was. Who wouldn't be, considering the fact that she could be seriously impaired if she didn't have knee replacement surgery soon?

  I knew it was rude but I cornered Jasper's mum in the kitchen later when Jasper went into the garage with his dad and Catherine retreated upstairs to go study for her exams at university.

  "Mrs. Wells? If you don't mind me asking, Catherine's getting treated for that knee, right? I mean, it looks really bad."

  She paused in the middle of loading up the dishwasher, giving me a startled look. She recovered quickly though, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel and smiling in what seemed to be a forced manner.

  "Er...yes. We're working on that. There's a long waiting list right now. Would you like some dessert, Jasmine?"

  I noted the way she avoided my gaze, the way her tone grew more subdued. As politely as I could, I declined her offer and went to tell Jasper I was leaving. I had so much writing to catch up on. Their house was average-sized and I found my way all right to the garage which connected to the laundry room.

  "I can't take your money, Jasper," I heard Simon Wells, his father, saying in a voice that was so like Jasper's. Gruff and assertive. Although it lacked the hint of arrogance and mockery that Jasper usually employed when he spoke.

  "Come on, Dad. I'm earning enough now to be able to help again," Jasper said roughly. "This isn't the time to be proud."

  "I can take care of my family, son. You take care of yours. Cole told me there's a baby on the way now." I leaned against the washing machine as I waited for Jasper to emerge while continuing to listen to their conversation.

  "I don't understand this threesome scenario you've got going on. We knew Cole meant more to you but what about this other girl and the baby? Your mother is worried."

  Jasper laughed humourlessly. "She has bigger things to worry about than who I'm sleeping with, Dad. And don't change the subject. I'm going to help you whether you want my money or not. Think of Catherine. Let me be there for you guys."

  "We've taken too much from you already. It's not your responsibility."

  "Like hell it isn't," Jasper growled and then I heard his footsteps approaching.

  He was scowling as he pushed open the door and saw me standing there.

  "I have to get back to the hotel. Thanks for inviting me here," I said.

  He nodded at me gravely. "No problem."

  There was anger in his eyes, combined with something like…helplessness.

  "Join me later," I suggested with a small smile. Then I lowered my voice to a whisper. "No sex. We can just hang out."

  A ghost of a smile touched his lips as well and he gave another nod. "I'll think about it," was his cool reply but we both knew he would show up.

  ****

  Skye

  Cole was in the kitchen when I reached home after mid-day, in a happy mood. The baby had given me its first kick. I was excited to share the news with Jasper and Cole both and let them experience this for themselves. I couldn't wait for my child to be born and wanted to buy baby stuff and decorate the nursery. Guess I was officially shifting into nesting mode.

  "Hey, baby." I walked up to him and gave him a hug. "Guess what? I have some good news to share with you two. Where's Jasper? Is he sleeping again?"

  Cole smiled and kissed me before returning to the lunch he was cooking. It smelled delicious. My mouth watered, no sign of the usual nausea that threatened me and I felt even more cheerful.

  Today was a good day. So the week hadn't been that perfect. So Jasper had been weird and distant. And significantly not horny. But people went through stuff. Cole said he would tell us when he was ready and because Jasper was good to us and did everything else under the sun to keep us happy, we overlooked his lack of active participation during sex.

  We were going to go baby shopping today and it was going to be awesome. A great family-bonding experience.
/>
  I was so lost in my thoughts that it took me a while to realise Cole had spoken to me as the lunch simmered in the background.

  Eek. Baby brain.

  "Sorry, baby. What did you say?"

  He cleared his throat and took the bag from my hands, which I’d forgotten I had been holding, to place it on the counter.

  "Jasper had to go to London this morning. I thought he dropped by at your work or texted you. It was a work call. Pretty urgent."

  I stared at him, my jaw dropping open slightly. "What? He…just left? Again?"

  Cole folded his arms, giving me a small smile. "He'll be back on Saturday. It's just for two days."

  I felt my breaths coming in fast and unevenly. "He didn't even bother to tell me,” I whispered, staring out the kitchen window. "I was going to...I thought we could go shopping for baby stuff."

  "Oh, honey." Cole's arms came around me then and he nuzzled my neck. "He had a lot on his mind. We'll go when he gets back."

  I stepped away from him slowly, shifting to face him fully and feeling the flush of anger heating my skin. "Why does he have to go to London for work, Cole? He can get gigs in Milan. What is wrong with you? Why can't you just confront him for once?"

  Cole's features tightened as he looked at me. "I told you...he needs space. Just let him be."

  "For God's sake, how much space does he need?!" I cried out suddenly, feeling pissed off at them both. "Space for what? I get it. I get that you don't want to be mad at him after the stroke and all because you're afraid he'll have a relapse but this is too much! He can't just keep avoiding us behind the pretense of a job."

  Cole turned away and fiddled with the stove. "We need the money, Skye. The gigs are good. He's doing it for all of us."

  I shook my head at him. "It's because of the baby, isn't it? Because now there will be more responsibilities. And I'm not doing enough-"

  "You don't understand. Didn't we tell you not to think like that? It's going to get better."

  "I want to talk to him," I decided, taking out my phone from my purse, reason abandoning me all of a sudden.

  I didn't care. I didn't want to be patient anymore. One text. He couldn't even send me one fucking text message to say goodbye or let me know personally that his plans had changed. Cole didn't try to stop me as I dialled Jasper's number, deciding to FaceTime. He declined the call.

  I stared at the phone for a moment before looking up at Cole with tears blurring my vision and then angrily dialled Jasper again.

  "Skye, please-"

  I held up a finger to Cole, my mind singularly obsessed with getting Jasper to talk to me. He still did not answer and then after a few seconds, he called me back. Not a video call.

  I answered at once and said, "Hi. I need to talk to you. Video call."

  He hesitated for a second. "What is it, Skye? Are you okay?"

  "I want to fucking look at you Jasper," I said angrily.

  There was the shuffle of footsteps and a door sliding open before his face came on screen.

  "What?" he asked me curtly.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. "Would it have killed you to let me know you were leaving the country?" I demanded.

  Jasper let out a breath. "I'm sorry. I was in a rush."

  Shaking my head at him, I took deep breaths to calm myself down, my eyes taking in the glass doors behind him. "Where are you?"

  He frowned at me. "In London."

  I scoffed. "Yes but where? Are you doing a shoot? Because that certainly doesn't look like your place."

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Cole shifting uncomfortably. Well, tough! I was going to put our boyfriend on the spot unlike Cole who loved to pussyfoot around serious matters like these. I knew something was up no matter how dramatic these guys thought I was being.

  "I'm with a friend," Jasper finally answered.

  "Friend? Really? You don't have any friends, Jasper."

  He flinched. He actually flinched at the nastiness of my tone and I bit my lip, feeling contrite.

  "I'm sorry. That came out wrong," I said in an apologetic tone. "I'm really sorry."

  He looked at me soberly for a while before saying, "I'll call you tomorrow."

  He hung up before I could say anything else. I'll call you tomorrow. Did he even realise he said that all the time but never followed through anymore? Was this the same man who had told me he never wanted me to feel alone? That he'd sell his soul to take care of us?

  I faced Cole again, giving him a miserable look, my arms slack by my sides.

  "Why is he doing this?" I asked, my voice breaking. "I don't understand."

  Cole glanced away, looking just as miserable as I felt as he rubbed his hand over his face.

  "I do," he finally said, fixing his green eyes on me, his tone sharp and determined. I stared at him questioningly.

  "He's acting like this because he's cheating on us, Skye. He's sleeping with someone else."

  ****

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Cole

  I hadn't meant to tell her. I hadn't expected to look at her tearful, devastated expression and feel my heart aching to put her out of her uncertainty and confusion. But maybe I had been wrong for thinking that the 'not knowing' was doing more damage to her than learning the truth. Because now she had locked herself in her room and she didn't want to speak to me or look at my face.

  What the hell had I unleashed by opening this Pandora's box?

  I knew Jasper was with Jasmine. The day after our conversation in the living room when I had asked him to tell me what was bothering him, he'd left his phone lying around in the kitchen when he went out to repair something in his car.

  I knew what the password was. I deliberately unlocked his cellphone hoping I was wrong. But no. I could no longer deny the truth when the evidence was staring me in the face.

  Those texts exchanged with Armaan's wife. And the videos. The photos.

  After I'd seen it, I'd placed the phone on the counter and gone to work in the office. A numbness had settled upon me. The feeling that it wasn't real. That I was going to wake up the next day and realise it had all been a bad dream. Jasper wouldn't do that to me.

  When he had dined with us and we had watched a movie all snuggled up on the couch, it had been easy to slip into blissful oblivion again and pretending nothing was wrong.

  The next day, pain had threatened to overcome me but then again, I had checked his phone when he hadn't been watching and there were no new texts. I did it every day the whole week he was here and somehow convinced myself that it was over. He'd decided to stop. It had only been a phase. Just...sex.

  But those messages. They hinted at something more.

  I didn't let it show, pretended to be okay. Skye was already worried about Jasper being so distant, I couldn't start doing the same thing to her. Also, the voice in my head kept screaming karma. I had once made him feel like he wasn't enough. And life would never stop punishing me for it.

  But I hadn't cheated. Had never intended to. It had been love. All I had ever done was love Skye. Without ever giving up on Jasper.

  I lay back on our bed, burying my fingers in my hair and finally allowing the tears to slide out of my eyes.

  It was the most painful thing in the world to admit to myself.

  There was no coming back from this.

  Our love wasn't going to survive Jasper's betrayal. Not because I couldn't forgive him. But because he didn't care if I did or not. He didn't care about making this work anymore.

  If he did, he wouldn't have left his phone lying around like that knowing what was on it.

  ~~~

  Seven years ago

  …

  Cole

  The studio was brightly lit as I made my way inside, pocketing my phone and hoisting my bag over one shoulder. There were about a dozen people around, some yelling instructions, some rushing about looking busy and some on their phones.

  My friend from the architecture school, Giuolo, had set up this job
for me. Some quick, easy funds to pay for stuff as I completed my final semester of uni. Modelling wasn't really my thing but I figured what the heck. I needed the money and...I'd been told I looked great most of the time.

  I saw a petite, blonde girl holding a clipboard at the centre of the studio and approached her. She matched the description Giuolo had given me about whom to see once I got here.

  "Ciao," I said to her in Italian. I had only moved here three years ago but my Italian was already quite fluent.

  The girl glanced up with a frown but it quickly went away after she got a good look at me. "Hello," she said, blinking at me. "Can I help you?"

  I showed her my ID. "Cole Sawyer. Giuolo sent me for the cover shoot."

  Her eyes widened in clarification and she quickly checked her clipboard. "Si. The Milan Style spread." She pointed to a corner of the large studio with her pen. "You're wanted over there. Tall, blonde guy named Jasper."

  Nodding, I made my way over to the spot she had directed me to, my eyes already on the 'tall, blonde guy' she had mentioned. He was seated on a stool, in front of a makeshift stage which was the only dimly lit corner in the whole studio and he seemed to be fiddling with his camera.

  "Hi. Jasper? I'm here for the-"

  I stopped talking when he glanced up at me. Holy shit. I couldn't stop staring. Handsome was an understatement. That face. And that body. It did things to me.

  I shook my head a little, kind of shocked at the direction of my thoughts. Yeah, I was bi-curious. Had been since my teens but I had only ever been with women since losing my virginity five years ago.

  I tried again, keeping my tone cool. "I'm here for the shoot. My name's Cole Sawyer."

  He gave me an assessing look as I stood there.

  "They sent a pretty boy like you for me to photograph?" he asked mockingly. "What, they can't find real men anymore?"