Once A Cheater

by Storm, Zee Shine

  I managed to get close to the stage and looked around over the heads of the crowd, searching for my boyfriend. He said he was near here just a minute ago when I called him. An arm dropped around my shoulder and I almost punched the person before realising it was Jasper.

  "Took you long enough," he said in my ear while that same arm slid down my back and his hand grazed my backside. "You seem tense."

  I smiled a little, pressing more firmly into him and that feeling of coming home settled in me. We stood there on the grass for a few minutes watching the concert, enjoying the music and atmosphere and each other's closeness.

  "I was thinking," Jasper said to me loudly. "Maybe you should move in with me."

  The look I gave him was one of surprise and wariness. "What? Why?" I blurted out. "I already have a place."

  He looked down his nose at me, arrogant and sexy. "Wow, really," he said after a while. "I had no clue."

  I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm and went back to the concert, but my mind remained stuck on his words. He wanted us to live together. Just a year after we had started dating. It was too soon. I cared about him but wasn't about to uproot myself, for the dozenth time in my turbulent life, for anyone.

  Too many homes had been offered to me while growing up only to be snatched away or traded for another. When England's foster care system had finally spit me out at the age of eighteen, I had vowed never to place my fate at the hands of others.

  Nobody was going to tell me where I belonged or didn't. I had worked hard for my architecture degree after receiving a merit-based scholarship at Politecnico di Milano, in a country I had always wished to visit since I was a kid. And just a couple of months after graduating, I had been employed by a reputable firm and got paid enough to rent a decent place in the city.

  It wasn't much but it was mine. Jasper, being a few years older and more established had a bigger place, of course, in the suburbs but no way was I going to move in with him and give up my own home. He had grown quiet and I picked up on his dissatisfaction regarding my refusal. But he wouldn't push me. He never did, despite his intimidating exterior.

  "So maybe after the concert, we can go get dinner and celebrate," I said, breaking the tension. "It is our anniversary after all."

  Jasper gave me a puzzled look before his attention was taken up by the band changing its tempo into something faster. I felt stupid for saying it. So I remembered that exactly a year ago, we had met on this day and he had asked me out after being an asshole to me during a modelling shoot. So what? It probably didn't mean anything to him. Maybe it meant more to me because he had been my first when it came to men and it had been life-changing for me. A huge turning point.

  When the concert was over, we drove to the Navigli District and sat on one the docks near a canal to drink expensive scotch and talk about life. His job, my job, what our plans were for the next day or week. I wasn't a drinker but sometimes, I didn't mind getting drunk with Jasper. Somewhere in the middle of our conversation, he fished out a square package tied with a silver ribbon and handed it to me.

  "Thought you might like this," he said gruffly and took another swig from the bottle.

  I opened the parcel and looked at the new fantasy novel I had been talking about buying for a couple of days. Only I had forgotten about it in a flurry of work-related matters.

  Jasper had never given me a gift before. I wanted to ask him if it was because he also remembered today was special but I didn't want to feel stupid again so I only said, "Thank you, Wells."

  "No problem. It was in the shop window when I was on my way to a shoot this morning," he murmured.

  I nodded and stuffed the book inside my own jacket pocket. He looked at me a while as though he was waiting for something.

  "What?" I asked, puzzled.

  Jasper inclined his head slightly. "You didn't get me anything?"

  I opened my mouth to respond but no words came out. He only snorted and glanced away, drinking. "Some anniversary," he mumbled and I started to smile.

  He did remember.

  Grinning to myself, I leaned forward to give him a slow kiss because his attitude turned me on but there was a shriek and a giggle cutting through the air and we both jumped a little, our heads turning to look for the source.

  A couple stood a few feet away from us, eating each other's faces, groping hands and panting breaths as if they didn't care that this was a public place and they were being loud and obvious. The woman was gorgeous, dressed in a short red skirt and tank top, her long blonde hair swaying in the wind as she bent herself backwards slightly so that the man, a few feet shorter than her and appearing thin and reedy, could grope at her breasts. The man also seemed to be much older than her and I cringed at his lack of finesse.

  "Christ," Jasper said from beside me. "What a shame."

  "Yeah," I agreed before I realised what I had said and turned away from them to frown at Jasper, also having realised what he had said.

  He flicked me a glance and then went back to watching the couple, unashamedly. I followed his gaze, unable to resist as well. The way she was writhing against him, the way she moaned with need. I realised I was starting to feel horny.

  And part of me sort of missed being with a woman. The softness, the surrender. She seemed like the sort who loved to submit. I was a switch but Jasper was the dominant one and since we were dating exclusively, I hardly had the opportunity to exercise my power in the bedroom.

  I felt guilty for having such thoughts. I was happy with Jasper.

  There was a loud ringing and the man let out a curse before disengaging himself from the woman to answer his phone.

  "Shit. Shit. It's my wife," he said in Italian in an exasperated tone. "I'll have to head home. Can we make this quick?"

  The girl frowned at him and pushed him away when he made a grab for her. "You said we had the whole night," she retorted.

  They exchanged a few more words whereby the man pushed for a quickie but she angrily refused him, telling him to go back to his wife. I felt my muscles bunching, wondering if I would have to intervene if the man didn't take no for an answer. I also felt Jasper tense beside me. But the man finally left, grumbling to himself and adjusting his clothes while the girl huffed and stood alone staring at the canal with an angry expression.

  "You look like you could use a drink," Jasper called out to her to my surprise.

  The girl glanced over warily and Jasper lifted the bottle. She watched both of us for a moment, her sour expression fading because apparently, she liked what she was seeing. With a distinct sigh, she made her way over to us, perching beside us and taking a long swig from the bottle.

  I couldn't stop staring at her breasts. How long had it been when I had last held a pair of those in my hands or tasted them in my mouth? Fuck. I was drunk. It was the alcohol talking. Because sex was a huge deal for me and I didn't enter into it lightly. I felt her arm brushing mine as she relaxed around us and chatted with Jasper, falling for that charisma and sex appeal because let's face it, who wouldn't? He could be charming when he chose. I waited to feel some sort of jealousy but nothing happened.

  She was just a piece of ass he was talking to. He didn't care about her and I didn't either. And she certainly didn't care about us.

  "What about you, Cole?" The girl, Alice her name was, leaned into me, those breasts and thighs pressing against my already heated body. "What do you do?"

  "I'm an architect," I answered in a low voice, my senses spiraling out of control at her scent. Her proximity. Yeah. I really was drunk.

  She murmured something flattering and her hand grazed my knee. I had to get out of here before things got out of control.

  "You wanna come back to our place? Hang out maybe? Have a few more drinks?" Jasper asked her suddenly and I stared at him. What the fuck was he doing?

  The girl smiled. "Um...okaaay," she dragged out the last word as if she was thinking about it. "Let me just make a quick call."

  She turned away while I continued
to look at Jasper and he looked steadily back at me.

  "You're not okay with it?" he murmured, keeping his voice low. "I thought you wanted it too but if you don't, I will make some excuse."

  I didn't say anything, looking from him to the girl and back to him.

  Jasper's eyes gleamed a little. "You're turned on. She turned you on. And me too," he admitted. "It's just fucking. I want pussy."

  The last line, he whispered to me and my own brain echoed those words though I still didn't speak. Could I do this? Would it change anything?

  "All right, I'm ready to go," the girl decided and stood up, brushing her skirts.

  Jasper studied me thoughtfully before lifting his gaze to her. "I'm sorry. I just remembered-"

  "You...don't...have any alcohol at home...so we're going to have to make a stop at the liquor store," I cut in.

  His dark eyes lit up again. "Are you sure...I don't have any at home?"

  He wasn't talking about the alcohol. His emphasis had been on those first three words. I admired him for his honesty and his consideration. He wanted this, he wasn't going to hide it but only if I agreed to it.

  I gave him a small grin. "Yeah, I'm sure."

  ....

  I came out of the room while rubbing my eyes the next morning to find Jasper in the kitchen making breakfast. My head was a little sore and so was my body. What a wild night we had had. An undeniably hot threesome.

  Time to face the consequences.

  "Where'd she go?" I asked in a grumpy tone as Jasper bit into a piece of toast while standing on the other side of the counter.

  "She left," he said through a mouthful. "Said she had work or something. Tea?"

  He didn't wait for my reply and poured me some as I slid onto a stool at the counter and rested my head in my hands.

  "So what does this mean, Jasper? Us inviting someone else to our bed? I mean, I was drunk last night and-"

  "We had fun," he interrupted casually, making me look up. His expression was calm. "That's all. We had fun and it meant nothing. It doesn't take away from what we have. As long as we're both okay with it."

  I sighed. Well, it had been fun. I didn't even remember her name or the colour of her eyes. And Jasper obviously wasn't affected by it. He slid me a plate of breakfast while continuing to bite into his toast.

  "Move in with me, Cole," he said earnestly.

  I stared at him and picked up my mug carefully.

  He gave me a small smile. "It's been a year. We're basically inseparable. It's you I want to be with. I love you."

  I almost choked on my tea. "Jasper-"

  "I do," he insisted. "Is it that hard to believe? Come on. We make a good team. We can be together while enjoying the rest of the pleasures life has to offer. It'll be great."

  I breathed out a laugh. "I will take it into consideration," I said.

  He nodded and drank his coffee, his eyes bright and face so devilishly handsome. This man fucking loved me? Nobody ever had. He made me realise that opening my heart to someone and sharing so much of myself wasn't a bad thing. He laid all his cards on the table and that was something I knew I could trust him to always do. Deception wasn't part of his nature. Whatever he was, whoever he was, Jasper Wells didn't bother to hide anything.

  He saw the way I was looking at him and grinned. "If you decide to move in, I'm going to build you a nice little bookshelf and put it right over there. On that wall." He pointed behind me.

  I shook my head in amusement. "Are you trying to bribe me?

  Jasper winked at me. "Is it working?"

  I only laughed at him and by the end of that morning, my mind was already made up.

  ....

  Present day

  …

  "Cole?"

  I snapped out of my trance to find Skye leaning over me, looking more than a little concerned.

  "I'm so sorry," she said to me in a weak voice. "I've been so busy dwelling on my own pain, I keep forgetting how hard this must be for you as well." Her hands came up to wipe the tears I suddenly realised were running down my cheeks.

  I sucked in a startled breath, sort of horrified that I had been sitting there crying while thinking about the past.

  "It's fine," I said, scrambling off the couch and stepping away from her. "I'll be fine. I just need a moment."

  I went inside the home office and shut the door, willing myself to not think about any of it. Not worry about what any of this meant. It was all fine. We were fine.

  This was my coping mechanism. This is what I did. It had always been enough before.

  So why wasn't it helping now?

  ****

  Chapter Thirty

  Jasper

  I frowned at the screen of my phone, watching all the notifications pop up while feeling the pain in my head. Fuck. Had I been drinking last night? Yes. Probably. Wait. I had also been smoking weed and fucking Jasmine like my life depended on it. God, that had been good. I think. I didn't exactly remember but it must have been. She was...insatiable.

  And then she'd woken up and made a fuss over something as insignificant as me sleeping in the same bed with her. I wasn't sure why she was so upset since she'd clearly not had any problems the entire night.

  There was another text from Catherine asking me where I was and when I would drop by at the house and a work email reminder of the fashion photo shoot I had to do for this afternoon plus evening.

  I'd already spoken to Cole and while he had assured me that everything was fine, I had a feeling it wasn't. But he wasn't telling me the problem and Skye was probably still mad at me so I was going to deal with it when I went back to Milan tomorrow. They tell me I don't call enough but when I do call like I promised, they act like they don't want to talk to me.

  My phone buzzed again and I gave it a sour look. Then I froze when I saw the number. Shit. What the fuck was wrong with this guy? Jasmine could have been right beside me. I hadn't saved his name but I was quite sure she still remembered her husband's number.

  Instead of answering, I grabbed the water bottle off the nightstand and drank from it deeply. He kept calling while I took my time to sate my thirst. Then I stood up slowly, turned to face the bathroom, made sure I could hear the shower running and pressed ‘accept’.

  "What do you want?" I asked with a bite to my tone.

  "Where the fuck are you?" he retorted angrily.

  "You sound like my girlfriend," I drawled, my gaze fixed on the closed bathroom door.

  "You motherfucking piece of-"

  "Okay, seriously, save the compliments. You'll give me a God complex. I'm gonna ask you again, Qureshi, and if you don't answer politely, I'm going to hang up."

  "I want to know where Jasmine is," he snapped at me.

  I smirked. "Why, right next to me, of course," I answered as smoothly as I could. "Damn, she's a sight to behold in the mornings. My dick's getting hard just looking at her, imagining all the things I'm going to do to her when she wakes-"

  "You son of a bitch!" Armaan yelled in my ear and I winced slightly.

  "There's no need for all that, Qureshi. She wants it too, loves my dick pumping inside her so much. You can go ahead and ask her if you don't believe me. But she's probably too tired to talk from all the hard-core fucking we've been doing."

  "Bastard! You're supposed to get her back to me-"

  "That's not to say I can't have a little fun with your insanely gorgeous wife in the process. The deal was for a year, after all."

  "I'm going to kill you," he rasped out. "I thought you were better than this." He sounded like he was choking on his last words.

  "Are you gonna cry now?" was my lazy response.

  There was a loud thud on the other end of the line which rang in my ear before the connection was cut off. I raised my eyebrows before tossing my phone on the bed. Hmm. It seemed as though Qureshi had quite a temper. I was pretty sure he had just smashed his phone by throwing it hard against something. Chuckling to myself, I picked up the room phone and ordered som
e coffee and pastries.

  Served him right. What kind of fucktard paid a complete stranger millions of dollars to screw his own wife without her knowledge or consent? That man was fifty shades of fucked up as far as I was concerned. He deserved some agony. And Jasmine trusted me as a friend. Sending her to him felt wrong to me now. She could do way better than that asshole.

  ****

  Armaan

  She wants it too...

  ...loves my dick pumping inside her...

  ...she's a sight to behold in the mornings.

  ... all the hard-core fucking...

  Those words cut me to the bone. Tore at me until I found it hard to breathe. My eyes burned with the effort of trying to keep my tears at bay. Hot, angry tears. I didn't doubt his words. I knew Jasmine. I knew exactly what she did and did not like.

  But it still hurt. It hurt so much. Too fucking much.

  I had to sit down because my legs would no longer support me. I'd seen broken men before but...I never imagined I would become one. I never imagined this for myself. To my utmost horror, sobs unlike anything I'd ever heard spilled out of my mouth. Loud, wracking sobs where I felt like someone was strangling me while I prayed for oblivion.

  She didn't love me. She never loved me.

  Maybe, despite all the maneuvering, my stupid heart had held on to the hope that Jasmine wouldn't do this. She'd say no to Jasper. She wouldn't be unfaithful to me.

  ...she wants it too, loves my dick...

  "Fuck," I breathed out raggedly. I wished this pain would just kill me right now. I wasn't sure how much more of it I could endure.

  ****

  Jasper

  She came out of the shower just as I finished ordering, those dark curls long and loose, and her golden skin almost glowing. Unbelievably, I felt my cock stirring in my pants at the sight of that still glistening body. So many times I had taken her last night. I was sure of that much through my blurry recollection.