by Lauren Wood
I looked over at them with their eager, expectant faces. They were fidgety and restless, like me. I knew they would follow when I left.
“Want me to try and do something to distract them?” Jada offered.
18
Mark
Audrey paced my apartment—the same one she and I used to share. It was surreal to see her walking around there, surveying all the changes.
“I like what you’ve done with the place.” She smiled awkwardly, then her smile faded into an expectant expression.
“What do you want? Why are you here?” I asked, feeling exasperated.
“Aren’t you going to offer me a drink?”
I looked her perfect body up and down, realizing how easy it would be to slip back into the past. I kept telling myself I had come too far for that now, but still I slunk into the kitchen and poured two glasses of wine.
“Here,” I huffed resentfully, handing hers over. “But not for you. For me. I need a drink to get through this.”
“Oh, come on, Mark. Don’t be so dramatic,” she scoffed. “There was a time when you loved me.”
“Until I caught you fucking around behind my back,” I snapped.
“Well, you’ll be happy to know it didn’t work out.” Her bottom lip quivered for a moment before she plopped down on my couch. She set her glass down on the coffee table and raked her hands down her face.
“He left me the same way I left you,” she croaked. “So, whatever I did to you...I’ve more than paid the price for it.”
“I somehow doubt that. So...what? Things don’t work out and you come crawling back here? Do you expect me to pretend like nothing happened?”
“No, of course I don’t expect that.” She pulled out her phone and scrolled across the screen before handing it to me. I glanced at it long enough to see she had pulled up one of the articles featuring Camille and me.
“I wasn’t going to bother you, but then I saw this,” she said. “Mark, I don’t think I realized the extent to which I hurt you until I heard about all of your internet trolling. It’s romantic, if you think about it.”
“Romantic for who?”
“For me.” She shrugged. “To think that when I left you, you decided to swear off love altogether. Like I was the only woman in the world for you, and if you couldn’t have me...you didn’t want anyone else.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re delusional. That’s not what it was at all. You proved to me that love is a lie. To think you could say and do some of the things you did...to act like you were so in love when you were cheating on me the whole time. I realized it was all a big sham. Or...so I thought.”
She raised a brow. “Something changed your mind?”
I nodded. “Someone.”
“Oh, please.” Audrey scrunched up her nose. “You don’t really believe this Meadows girl has any feelings for you. Mark, she was obviously just trying to con you to help her business. Everyone can see it. That’s all anyone is talking about.”
“You don’t know her,” I growled.
“I know people like her. People like her brother, who arranged a whole fake marriage just to save his reputation! What she’s doing with you is no different. I just can’t believe you’d actually fall for it.”
“You can believe what you want.” I sighed. “But at the end of the day, it’s none of your business. You left me. I wish I could say I’m sorry that your affair didn’t work out...which is a real shocker, by the way. I don’t know why they don’t put that all over the headlines instead! Breaking news! Guy who steals away someone else’s girlfriend ends up cheating on her, too!”
“Oh, so you’re the perfect one with all the answers, and no one else is allowed to make a tiny mistake?” She laughed bitterly, taking a sip of her red wine.
“I’d say what you did was more than just a tiny mistake.”
“And I’d say using you to put a happy face on a fucked-up family and a fucked-up company is more than just a tiny mistake, too!” she snapped back.
We were both quiet for a moment, brooding in our anger. But Audrey finally softened and tried to approach me. “I hate fighting with you, baby. I didn’t want it to be like this when I showed up here. I just wanted to talk to you.”
“If you came to warn me about Camille, which you know absolutely nothing about, then I don’t want to hear it.” I walked to the other side of the room, putting a safe distance between us.
“No, actually.” She stalked towards me, flashing a coy smile. “I came to tell you...I love you. I never stopped loving you. I miss how things used to be. I made a huge mistake. You know how sometimes it seems like the grass is greener on the other side…”
“I don’t know that, but I’m sure you do. I knew what I had when I had it, and you ruined it.”
“I know you did, baby,” she murmured, stepping closer. “Which is why I’m here. No one has ever loved me the way you do. I was too blind to see it then, but I see it now. I want you back, Mark.”
“Unbelievable.” I smirked. “Of course, now that I’m ready to move on, you show up here like this.”
“Maybe just in time,” she suggested, “to save you from making a huge mistake of your own. She doesn’t love you, Mark. She’s using you. And since I do care about you, I’m not going to let that happen without saying something.”
I could see the look in her eyes...the one that was trying to appeal to the weakness inside of me. I had loved her so much for so long, it was almost hard to resist her. I had always dreamed of this happening. But the longer I stared at her, the more certain I was that I cared for Camille more than I ever had for Audrey.
“It’s too late,” I said softly. “It breaks my heart to say that, but...actually, no. You know what? It doesn’t break my heart to say that. For the first time in a long time, I can finally say I don’t feel broken at all. I feel indifferent towards you. Sure, there are old parts of me that miss how it was before I realized what a cheating liar you are. But the sane parts of me know better now.”
Her eyes darkened, but she didn’t move away. In fact, she moved in even closer and lifted a finger to the top button of my shirt. “I think you’re just stuck in the past. And if I had a chance...I’m sure I could remind you of how you used to feel. The rest of it we could figure out as we went along.”
Her voice slipped into a seductive tone as her finger ran down the front of my shirt, inching dangerously close to my belt.
“Audrey, no. I said it was too late.”
“Come on, baby. If you would just…”
“Just nothing!” I snapped, lifting my free hand to push her away.
As I tried to move past her, she held her ground, sending us crashing into each other. Her glass of red wine splashed all over me, and mine splashed all over her. We both stood there with our mouths gaping, staring down at the red stains spreading on each other’s clothes.
I groaned. “God dammit.”
Audrey burst into laughter. “Oh no.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little, too, and soon it was infectious. We were both cracking up, because maybe that was what we needed to get us through this disastrously awkward moment. After a few moments, our laughter faded. Audrey searched my eyes for any sign that I was caving in to her, and when she couldn’t find any...she had something else to propose.
“Can we at least be friends?” she asked.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. But...we’ll see. I’ll think about it. For now, we have to get out of these. I have something you can change into.”
I walked past her to the bedroom and pulled off my drenched shirt before grabbing new shirts for us both. My jaw dropped when I returned to the living room to see her standing there with her own shirt off. She was wearing nothing but a bra, showing off that killer body of hers I was determined to be immune to.
I looked away, shielding my eyes as I blindly handed her my shirt to borrow.
“Thanks,” she said, taking it from my hand.
&nb
sp; Before either of us could put the shirts on, the doorbell rang. Audrey clutched the t-shirt against her chest and went over to answer it, despite me telling her not to.
From the other side of the room, I watched in horror as she flung the door open to reveal Camille standing there. She was all done up, looking amazing. But the expression on her face cut into me like a knife.
“Oh, it’s you.” Audrey frowned. “We’re a little indisposed at the moment.”
Camille’s eyes darted from Audrey’s half-naked body and my shirt draped around her, to me with my shirt off.
“Yes, I can see that.” She swallowed hard, her eyes filling up with tears.
“No! No, we’re not indisposed!” I shouted, but it was too late.
“Sorry to...um, bother you,” Camille stammered, her voice cracking. She looked back up to me and added, “I guess I see now why you never made it to that press conference today. Or...or maybe this was why you actually deleted your dating profiles. Oh God, I’m so stupid.” She buried her face in her hands. “Was all of this just about getting her back? Was that all you wanted this whole time?”
Audrey’s face brightened. “Oh, I never considered that. Mark? Was that it?”
“No!” I shot back, but once again it was useless.
Camille spun around on her heels only to be met with a slew of photographers shoving cameras in her face. Audrey opened the door wider, giving them a clear view inside. I cringed, imagining the photo of Camille standing there on my doorstep, stunned and crying, with my ex and me both half-naked in the background. That it happened at all was bad enough, but the gossip and pictures wouldn’t help. A picture is worth a thousand words…
But I’d be lucky to ever get a single word out of Camille again.
She wiped her eyes and pushed through the crowd of vultures, taking off running down the sidewalk. I slid into my shirt as quickly as I could and took off after her, stopping briefly to growl at the photographers. “Don’t you dare follow us!”
19
Camille
The cold wind cut against my whole body and froze the stinging tears on my face as I bolted down the sidewalk. I could hear Mark calling out to me, but I couldn’t stop. I had never felt like such an enormous fool in my entire life...seeing him standing there like that, half-naked with her.
I felt someone grab at my arm to stop me and I knew it had to be him. I spun around on my heels and let him see the mess I was. I was too upset to try and hide how hurt I was.
“Don’t!” I screamed at him. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say!”
“Camille, please! It’s not what you—”
“Not what I think?” I laughed. “Oh, sure. Like every woman on earth hasn’t heard that same line. No wonder you were so hell-bent on proving to everyone that love is a sham! That it can only end in cheating, lies, and heartbreak! You’re living proof that it’s true. Not because you’re the victim, but because you’re the one who does the hurting!”
“No, please! I know how you’re feeling right now, but...”
“Don’t you dare pretend to know how I feel right now! Do you know how much I’ve defended you to my family? But it turns out I should have listened to them all along.”
The tears started flowing again just as I heard a camera snap and was blinded by the flash. The photographers had caught up with us yet again and were clicking away. Mark yelled and chased them off, but it was too late. As if all the gossip hadn’t been bad enough already, now one of the worst moments of my life would be plastered all over the internet.
He came back to me as soon as they had gone away, still desperate. “Can we go somewhere and talk? In private. Away from all of this.” He waved towards the vultures, still lurking nearby.
“The last time you said that to me, we ended up sleeping together,” I sobbed, full of regret. “And look where that got us! I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m not falling for it again.”
“I know what this looks like, but you have to listen to me...Audrey just showed up and then I spilled some wine and—”
“You were right all along.” I cut him off, shaking my head as I stared at the ground. I couldn’t stand to look at him. “All people lie and cheat in relationships, and you’re no better. What’s crazy is that I actually agreed with you in the beginning, even though I was trying to change your mind so you’d leave us alone. But then you had me thinking that maybe we were both wrong. That things could be different. So stupid...” I laughed bitterly through my tears. “If I wasn’t smart enough to listen to you about it all, I should have at least trusted myself. You were right. Love is a sham.”
“Camille…”
“I guess you got what you wanted. You proved your point.” I turned to leave, but he grabbed me again. I threw his hands off of me and growled at him. “Leave me alone! I don’t ever want to see you again.”
As I stormed off, I knew that was impossible. Our pictures would be all over the internet in a far less flattering light even than before. My humiliation would be on full display for the whole world to see, just to rub in how stupid I already felt.
Later that night, I was curled up under a blanket on my couch while Jade made me a hot cup of tea.
“Is there alcohol in this?” I asked hopefully.
“I thought that might make things worse,” she replied. “So, no. I didn’t spike the punch.”
When I had calmed down enough to stop crying for longer than five seconds at a time, I’d called my little sister and she’d been taking care of me ever since. Being the kind person she was, she didn’t say a single ‘I told you so’ or anything else that would make matters worse. Which I was very much grateful for.
My phone buzzed from where it lay on the coffee table for the millionth time. It stopped for a moment and then almost immediately started again. I snatched it up and stuffed it under the couch cushions to muffle the sound.
“Is it him?” Jada asked, eyeing me carefully.
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” I huffed. “But yes. It’s him.”
“You don’t want to hear what he has to say? What if it really was just all one big misunderstanding like he said?”
“I’m not falling for that. If there’s room for a misunderstanding, something’s probably wrong anyways. He got what he wanted. He proved himself right. That’s the end of it.”
“Whatever you say.” She sighed, leaning back against the cushion with her own cup of tea. I could tell she was biting her tongue.
“I should have listened to everyone. Maybe this was all a part of his plan. To make me fall for him so he could prove his point. Joshua and Lucas thought so, but I was convinced he was different...even though every logical conclusion pointed to the opposite. I can’t believe I was so gullible! He played me like a fiddle right in front of everyone.”
She was quiet for a moment, choosing her words carefully. “Maybe. But also...what if you were right all along? What if you still are?”
“Oh, please,” I grumbled.
“No, really, Camille. You were trusting your gut, and we still don’t know for certain that you weren’t right about him. It seemed to me that what both of you felt was real. Lots of people thought you were the one playing him, but he knew it wasn’t true. Maybe he’s in the same boat. Things aren’t always as they seem.”
“You’re right about that last part,” I scoffed. “But that’s about it.”
We sat there in silence, drinking our tea, until I felt the hot rise of anger and sadness building up inside of me with renewed intensity.
“I need to be alone,” I told her, digging my phone out of the cushions before heading to my room.
“I’ll be right here if you need anything.”
I slammed my door shut and climbed into bed. After another crying spell, this time into my pillow, I was finally brave enough to look at my phone and take in the articles and photos that were spreading like wildfire.
HEARTSTRING APP CEO CAMILLE MEADOWS AND HER LOVER, MARK SILVER
—The saga continues. It seems we misjudged Camille’s motives and it was Mr. Silver who was playing her...not the other way around. He was caught red-handed with one Audrey Murphy in a rather compromising position. Ms. Meadows set out to placate their company’s internet troll, only to end up getting trolled herself. And by the looks of it, she’s not taking it so well.
I read until I couldn’t anymore and let the phone fall down to the floor beside my bed, my arm hanging limply above it. My screen lit up every few minutes with new notifications from Mark—calls and texts. I couldn’t stand to see anything he had to say, much less hear his voice.
The longer I laid there, the more it was abundantly clear what I needed to do. I yanked the phone back up, scrolled to his name in my contact list, and blocked it. The sting from even looking at his name, knowing I hoped never to see or hear it again once things settled down, was the final exhausting push I needed to make me long for sleep.
As I drifted off, I couldn’t help but indulge in a fantasy about what would have happened if things had gone the other way...if I’d showed up looking so good and Mark had taken me into his arms...This time, we could have made love right there in his living room.
But I guessed he’d already had that plan in place, just for his stupid ex...not for me.
20
Mark
After another slew of unanswered texts, I tried calling Camille again. I was convinced that if she could give me a few minutes—if she would just listen—I could say everything that might make this right and make her see what a huge misunderstanding this all was.
But instead of ringing or going to voicemail, a recorded message played in my ear: “The number you are calling is no longer in service.”
I knew Camille wouldn’t have up and changed her number; it was more likely that she had blocked me. But even if she hadn’t changed her number, it was clear that she was intent on never speaking to me again.