Melanie stared at her reflection in the mirror, face tight and eyes somber. Checking for unwanted visitors, she scanned the lobby bathroom in Damien’s office building before rehearsing the conversation she planned to have with her best friend.
“Hey, Damien, remember when I told you I’d support you? Well, I lied, and your girlfriend found out I tried to break your engagement. She’s turning the tables and trying to sabotage our friendship. Crazy, huh?”
She shook her head. Dress rehearsal wasn’t going well. She’d just have to wing it.
Ah, who am I kidding? No matter what I say, Damien is gonna be pissed.
Melanie leaned over the white-and-silver sink, tears stinging her eyes.
Calm down. You’ve known him forever. Just convince him that Vanessa is a manipulative little witch.
Gah! A nervous flutter of butterflies attacked her stomach and, somehow, made her bladder full again. Rushing back into the bathroom stall, she relieved her bladder and nerves.
The main door to the bathroom slammed, and she heard a ringtone that reminded her of circus music.
“What is it, Terrance?” Vanessa’s whiny voice answered. “Yes, I’m here. What are you doing, stalking me?”
Melanie scrunched her eyebrows and stopped breathing. She’d never had a chance to follow up on her earlier hunch. But from the one-sided conversation, her instincts were spot-on. Lifting her legs, she pressed her feet against the stall to hide in case Vanessa was smart enough to check under the door.
“I’m here to see my fiancé, not you. I’m tired of this, Terrance. I can’t … ” She broke off her rant and paced. “Fine, I’ll meet you in the conference room in the lobby.” She stopped pacing and groaned. “This is the last time. We can’t keep doing this, okay? Fine. No, I need to grab some things from the lobby store. Ten minutes. Bye.” Vanessa’s hurried heels clicked into the next stall.
Melanie’s bent legs shook from the strain. Massaging her thighs, she promised herself to add weighted squats to her gym routine. Well, once she joined a gym.
Vanessa gagged once.
Please don’t throw up!
She gagged twice.
Please don’t throw up!
She threw up.
She must’ve eaten her own spaghetti.
Finally, the toilet flushed, and Melanie sent up a prayer of thanks.
Vanessa walked, this time unhurried, back to the sink. Through the small crack in the bathroom stall, Melanie watched her toss water on her face and wash her hands.
Once her heels had clicked back out into the hallway, Melanie lowered her cramped legs. She needed to sneak into the conference room and see what this was about. Opening the stall door, she stared at the mirror. Her sad face was gone. Instead, a steely look of determination prevailed. Operation: Smoke Out the Snake was reactivated.
The song from Mission: Impossible played in Melanie’s head as she exited the restroom. If she were more limber, she would’ve tucked and rolled around the corner. Instead, she peeked her head and, after making sure the hallway was clear, dashed into the lobby conference room.
She’d been here before. The space had two entryways. On tiptoe, she stretched her neck to check if Vanessa or Terrance had arrived yet. The breath she’d been holding rushed from her tense body when she saw the empty room.
A stack of chairs in the corner would be a great place to hide. As soon as she knelt behind the chairs, one of the doors creaked open.
Kneeling lower, she darted her eyes around the room. After a few seconds of silence, she finally relaxed her tense shoulders.
The door swung all the way open. Leaning closer to the chairs, she spied between the cracks. Vanessa’s long legs and stylish, black-and-white-striped skirt came into view. Her cropped, long-sleeved black top showed a sliver of her hard, flat stomach. Melanie tightened her own slight pouch and made another promise to incorporate abs into her gym routine. Again, when she joined a gym.
Three soft knocks echoed in the room.
“I’m here,” Vanessa whispered.
Terrance walked in and softly closed the door behind him. “Vanessa.” He grabbed her face with both hands and then kissed her deeply.
Melanie curled her hands into fist. Bastard! She hadn’t wanted to believe he could sneak around with Video Vixen Vanessa. But there he stood with his tongue down her throat.
Vanessa jerked away and moved across the room, but the kiss had sealed their fate.
“What do you want?” She waved her hands wildly. “I told you I regretted what we did. Damien is a good man, and I want to make our relationship work.”
“You regret us being together?” Terrance walked toward her with the stealth of a panther stalking its prey. “You regret it now, after I told you how I feel? You didn’t regret what we did the first, tenth, or twentieth time I was inside of you.” He grabbed Vanessa’s shoulders to shake her. “I know you love me, too. Damien told me you stopped having sex with him after you got the bling. You didn’t stop to wait for marriage. You did it for me!”
Vanessa swung her head back and forth. “No. I did it because I feel guilty. We’re over. I don’t love you. I love Damien. My father is sick, Terrance. Do you know how he would feel if he found out about us? It would kill him. I can’t do this to Damien, and I can’t do this to my father!”
“You remember that night?” He moved closer. Vanessa backed away. “When Damien went out of town with his client? You told me you loved me.”
“Stop it!” Vanessa’s voice shook. Terrance boxed her against the wall. She stretched out her hands to halt his approach.
“You rushed to my place. Didn’t care how you looked. You were dripping wet from the rain. Then, later, for me.”
He pulled her closer and kissed her roughly. She struggled then finally softened, kissing him back just as enthusiastically and recklessly and selfishly.
Melanie stumbled back on her knees, gasping.
They tugged at each other’s clothes. Buttons popped from Terrance’s shirt, and Vanessa’s tresses tangled under his roaming fingers.
They looked like they were fully prepared to have sex in the middle of the common meeting area. Melanie put a trembling hand over her mouth. She didn’t feel any vindication in uncovering the truth. This would crush Damien. His best friend and his fiancée.
Anger rose like steam in a shower. Stupid Terrance and his stupid inability to keep his stupid thing in his stupid pants.
Terrance’s heavy breathing and Vanessa’s moans were a needle full of adrenaline to Melanie’s heart.
They needed to be neutered.
She stood and shoved the stacked chairs out of her way. Hopping over them, she charged, and the amorous duo broke apart. Vanessa’s hand flew to her mouth, covering a muffled scream. Terrance tripped over his feet and yelled.
Melanie studied him, the one whose betrayal would cut Damien the deepest. He covered his mouth, tucked his arm around his chest, and sighed. Melanie took a step closer to study his dark eyes, the windows to his soul. A flash, as fast as a hurtling comet, illuminated them. Resignation. Relief. Not the right “R.” Where the hell was his remorse?
She didn’t spare a glance at Vanessa. Not yet. Not until she could control the rage shaking her body.
“How in the hell could you do this to Damien? He trusted both of you!”
“Oh, don’t act so holier-than-thou,” Vanessa said. “You’re the one who purposely tried to break up me and Damien. You moved in with my man and tried to seduce him, using that operation to try to make me look dumb. Well, guess what? I still have the papers with your mission notes.”
“Didn’t take much for you to look dumb. And go ahead. Show him whatever you’d like. He’ll probably kiss my feet and thank me for helping him dodge the bullet.”
“How dare—”
“Shut your mouth, Van. I don’t want to speak to you right now. I’m not surprised by your betrayal, but you.” She moved closer to Terrance, pointing at him. “I can’t believe you’d do this. You and D have been best friends for years. You’re gonna let this cheap piece of ass come between you two?” She pointed to Vanessa. “After everything he’s done for you, how can you be so selfish?”
“I … W-we can explain,” Terrance stuttered, stuffing his hands into his tan pants pockets. He didn’t look relieved anymore. He would lose his best friend, and Melanie could tell him with 100 percent assurance that the woman wasn’t worth the loss.
“Oh, let me guess. Vanessa was choking, and you so kindly offered to help dislodge the offending object by stuffing your forked tongue down her throat.”
Melanie’s fist trembled by her side as she stared at Terrance. Vanessa, now silent, scrunched her perfectly made-up face.
“Oh, am I wrong? Well then, let me take another guess. Terrance is dying of a rare disease known as asshole-itus, and Vanessa’s mouth has the cure.”
Vanessa narrowed her eyes. “There’s no need to be lewd.”
“Lewd?” Melanie yelled and shook her head slowly. “I’m gonna need you to think through your word choice. You see, lewd is when you decided to crank your legs open for Terrance and lie to your fiancé.” Melanie swung her attention back to Terrance; his eyes were averted to the wall behind her. She stepped into his line of sight. He didn’t have the right to look away. “I think I finally have the answer. You and Vanessa swapped saliva and other body fluids not to be mentioned because you have the morals of alley cats, have no regard for others, and essentially have stabbed your best friend and your fiancé in the back. Am I right this time?” Melanie was yelling by the end of the question. “I said,” she repeated after no answer from either. “Am. I. Right?”
Terrance nervously shook his head, and Vanessa started the waterworks.
“And you!” Melanie pointed her finger and stepped closer to Vanessa. “He should’ve never asked you to marry him.”
Tears streamed down Vanessa’s cheeks. “You should be happy. You and your stupid missions … You wanted to get me out of his life, and you would’ve done anything Damien asked, including being the other woman.”
Melanie cocked her head and gave her an oh-no-you-didn’t glare. “Girl, please. I respect myself too much. Yes, I love Damien, and if he reciprocated the feelings, I would’ve waited until he ended the relationship with you.”
Vanessa opened her mouth, but when Melanie stepped menacingly toward her, she snapped it shut.
How could Terrance do this to Damien? To all of their friendships? No way could she remain friends with someone so selfish.
She tortured herself with memories of all the things they had done growing up together. Damien not only considered himself her big brother, but he treated Terrance the same way.
When Terrance hadn’t gotten the baseball scholarships he’d wanted from big-name colleges, Damien had helped him practice every night to get his batting average up in order to try again. When Terrance couldn’t find a job out of college, Damien had convinced Mr. James to give his friend a chance. And when Terrance blew through his money on cars and clothes and couldn’t afford a down payment on his condo, Damien had given him the money.
The series of memories screeched to a stop. Maybe Terrance didn’t see Damien as a brother or a best friend. Terrance was always the friend that never quite had it together. Melanie finally figured out the real reason behind the duplicity.
Jealousy.
“That’s why you had sex with me that night.” Melanie flinched when she realized she had verbalized her thoughts.
Vanessa looked as if she’d downed a barrel full of squeezed lemon juice. “You had sex with her?”
“If you like your teeth, I suggest you shut your mouth.” Melanie fixed her attention back on Terrance. “You’ve always been jealous of Damien, wanted everything he had … even the things he didn’t realize he had.”
Terrance clenched his jaw.
“Geez.” Melanie smacked her forehead and groaned. “I thought you were doing me a favor, trying to make me feel good after Damien’s rejection. A silly girl with a huge case of unrequited love. But you just wanted to stick it to Damien. Although I was like a sister to him, he still loved me. Still valued me. And if he ever found out, you knew it would drive him insane with his instinct to protect me.”
“Never thought I’d get a first-row seat to the show Cheaters when I saw Melanie creeping around in the hallway.”
Her heart rolled and plopped onto the ground. Oh crap.
“H-honeybuns, what are you doing here?” Vanessa squeaked.
Leaning against the door near the kitchen, Damien ignored her, eyes focused on Terrance. “Now the cat is out of the bag.” His voice radiated with uncontained violence.
That was putting it lightly. It was more like a squealing cat being pulled from the water, clawing and hissing without abandon. How long has he been here? Did he hear everything? Damien pushed himself from the door and, like a locomotive train, charged straight ahead with a nonstop ride to Terrance Town.