2
The next day, Sawyer took me to a bar, saying he wanted me to get reacquainted with his friends.
As soon as we walked into the private room, I spotted Leo making out with some blonde.
Sawyer cleared his throat, interrupting them.
Leo looked up, startled, then slowly stood up.
“Hey, I’m Sawyer Grant, Leo’s childhood friend,” Leo said, smoothly. “And this is my girlfriend, Heidi Bliss.”
“Okay,” I said, pointedly not shaking his hand.
<
Heidi, of course.
Leo’s high school sweetheart.
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They’d broken up because of family stuff, but
then reconnected while I was supposedly losing my mind.
She was the reason Leo wasn’t ready to come home.
Leo’s other friends were there, the ones who’d taken turns playing my husband. They all acted like nothing was wrong, cracking jokes.
“Clara, you lost your memory again? Leo’s such
a good guy, sticking by you no matter what!”
“Yeah, Clara, you’re so lucky to have him!”
I gave them a sarcastic smile.
Sawver pulled me down onto the couch next to
<
As soon as we sat down, I picked up a piece of
fruit and fed it to him. “Honey, eat up.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Leo
watching us.
I leaned close to Sawyer’s ear, nibbling on his
earlobe. “Honey, you were so hard last night, it hurt so good~”
Sawyer froze, awkwardly squeezing my hand.
“Babe, not here.”
Leo was gripping his glass so hard his knuckles
were white.
Heidi, sitting next to him, was all sweetness and shade. “Clara, you’re amazing. You got the one
guy in our circle who’s totally immune to
women wrapped around your finger.”
Leo’s friends coughed nervously, trying to cover
- up.
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“That just shows how much Clara and Leo love
each other!”
“Yeah, even when she can’t remember things,
they still have that spark!”
I saw Leo knock back his drink, his face dark.
A wave of satisfaction washed over me. I got up
and went to the bathroom.
Heidi was waiting for me when I came out.
As we passed, she “accidentally” spilled her
entire glass of red wine all over me.
“Oops, so sorry, my hand slipped.”
“Oops!”
I slapped her across the face.
<
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“Sorry, my hand slipped too.”
That’s when I heard Leo roar, “Clara, what the
hell are you doing!”
He stormed over.
Heidi immediately ran into his arms, sobbing. “Honey, I just accidentally spilled wine on Clara,
and she freaked out and hit me! I think I’m
gonna pass out!”
Leo’s face was thunderous. “Apologize to
Heidi!”
I scoffed. “Who are you to tell me what to do?”
“Clara Maxwell!” Leo was furious. “What
happened to you after you lost your memory?
You’re acting like a crazy Bitch.”
“What I do is none of your damn business.”
I turned to leave.
Then Leo kicked me in the back of my knee, hard, and I went down, falling onto the floor.
“Clara, don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re a flake! Apologize to
Heidi right now!”
Looking up at him, at this man I’d once thought
I knew, I felt this mix of sadness and disgust.
I was an orphan. Leo was all I had in this world.
We’d been together since college, a decade.
He’d proposed, promising to love and protect
me forever, swearing he’d never betray me.
Now, he was cheating on me and physically
hurting me for some other woman.
A II!
<
All those promises, all those sweet words, were
a joke.
I was still on the ground when I heard Sawyer’s
voice, icy and lethal. “Get away from her.”
I pulled myself up, slapped Leo across the face,
and ran into Sawyer’s arms. “Honey, your friend
is so mean! He hurt me!”
Sawyer’s face was a mask, his eyes warning.
“Don’t touch her.”
Leo clenched his jaw.
Heidi, still in Leo’s arms, sneered, “Trailer trash
hooking up with a cuck? How pathetic.”
“Shut up!”
Leo and Sawyer said it at the same time.
