Sharp Edges (6 page)

He reached for me again
, but I stepped back. “Don’t be like this, Lindsey. I love
you
. I’ve always loved
you
. What you saw today had nothing to do with that.”

“What?”
I barked. “Nothing to do with…have you lost your mind? I’m your wife. Whatever you do affects me, especially, when it comes to… to sex.”

Scott
glanced at Darcy, again, and then back at me. “I’d appreciate it if we could talk about this, alone. It’s hard enough as it is. Please, just give me a few minutes?”

I sighed and looked over at her
.

She nodded. “
Okay. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” she glared at Scott. “Sharpening the knives.”

Scott shook his head as she walked away but I was glad she’d followed me home. Besides the kids, her friendship was the only thing I was sure about.

“You
had
to bring her along,” he said.

“She’s the only friend I have at the moment.
Now, get on with it,” I mumbled, crossing my arms across my chest.

He let out a ragged breath and
then reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “First of all,” he said. “I’ve tried to shield you from all of this, but obviously I need to come clean, about everything.”

I snorted.
“Obviously.”

He pursed his lips.
“Lindsey, we’re hurting financially. I’ve been struggling now for the last six months to pay the bills, bring food to the table, Christ, to keep the power going on in the house.”

I’d noticed that some of our bills were late, so it didn’t surprise me that much. We’d struggled in the past.

“
Okay, so we’re broke. What does this have to do with you having sex with other women?”

His stared at me
. “You realize that my bonuses cover most of our expenses, right? Including this house. Without the bonuses, we’d be living under a bridge.”

Our house wasn’t luxurious by any means but we were living on his salary
alone. That was his choice, however, not mine.

“I still don’t understand
what this has to do with sex!” I hollered, losing my patience.

He started to pace.
“I haven’t signed a deal in six months. That means no bonuses, no money coming in.”

I was getting
so frustrated I wanted to throw him up against the wall. “I repeat, what does that have to do with you getting your dick sucked? Huh? Tell me, because I really don’t fucking understand that part of it, Scott!”

He clenched his jaw. “The women that you saw today, they are willing to sign
with the firm if I provide… certain services.”

“
Like sex? You’ve got to be kidding me,” I laughed, bitterly. “You expect me to really believe
that
?”

He sighed. “It’s true. If I make them happy…sexually, they’ve promised to sign with our firm. And Lindsey, they are a huge company. We’re talking
huge
bonuses. Triple digits.”

I stared at him in horror.
“So, you’re doing this for the money? Is that what you’re trying to say? You’re fucking these two women, for money?”

He sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. “Yes.”

“Look at me,” I demanded.

He looked up at me with tears shining in his eyes.
Even now, he looked so handsome that it made me want to claw out his face.

“Even if this were
true, do you really think I’d be okay with that?” I asked.

“No, of course not.”

“How long has this been going on?” I asked.

He shrugged.
“The last month or so.”

My eyes filled with tears. “You’ve been screwing around for the last month
or so
?”

“I’
ve been doing this for us. For our family.”

I shook my head. “You’ve been prostituting yourself for the last month. That
has nothing to do with me or the kids. I could have gotten a job, or we could have borrowed money from your parents.”

He got u
p and moved towards me. “I love you. I never wanted to hurt you. My only reason for doing this was for us.”

I stepped backwards.
“That is total bullshit, okay? You should have told them to go to hell. I mean, really – how
could
you possibly think that I’d be okay with any of this?!”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You weren’t supposed to find out.”

I glared at him. “Obviously!”

He smiled sadly.
“The good news is that they told me they’d sign with our company next week.”

“
Well, kudos to you. Now, I want you to pack your things and get out before the kids return home.”

His eyes widened. “You can’t
really mean that?”

“You’re damn right I do. Either you leave or I leave with the kids.”

He sighed. “Fine, I’ll stay at my parents for now, until you cool down.”

I stared at him
, incredulously. “Until I cool down?”

He raised his hands. “Okay, until we work things out.”

“I hate to say this, but things aren’t
just
going to get worked out. I can’t trust you, and after walking in on that horrible scene, I don’t even want to be near you.”

“I’ll just give you some time,” he said, not really listening to me. “I love you so much. Why can’t you believe me?”

“You betrayed us, Scott.
Not just me but our children as well. Frankly, I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

***

Scott called his parents, packed a suitcase, and left. The moment he walked out the door, I started bawling all over again.

“It will be okay,” whispered
Darcy, hugging me. “You have your friends, your children, and don’t forget about your mother. You know how much we all care about you.”

My mother.

I groaned.

My
zany mother lived in Florida and we talked maybe once a week, which was all I could handle. She lived with her boyfriend, Kyle, who was twenty years her junior, owned a successful botanical shop, and for the last ten years had become a free spirit. Her life now revolved around reading people’s auras, spiritual enlightenment, and smoking pot. She claimed that medicinal marijuana helped control her migraines, which had magically appeared around the same time Kyle had stepped into her life. He also suffered from the same type of migraines and had been the one to recommend the therapy.

Go figure.

“I’ll call her when things settle down,” I mumbled. “If I tell her what’s happening, she’ll be on the first plane out here.”

She tilted her head to the side.
“That might not be a bad thing. You need to surround yourself with people who will support you while going through this.”

I sighed. “I’ll be fine. I just need some time to think about things.”

“Just don’t give in to whatever crap he’s trying to feed you. That talk about having sex to get his deal done, I mean, really? It sounds like a bunch of bullshit.”

I bit the side of my lip
.

She put her hands on my shoulders and stared into my eyes.
“Listen, I know you two have been together for a long time and maybe he still loves you, but you
have
to stay strong. Don’t let him manipulate you. What he did is wrong and he knew it every time he stuck his dick inside one of those whores.”

I snorted
. “He claims it was for us.”

“Oh, right, he did it for
you and the kids? You know he enjoyed every single disgusting minute of it, and I’m sure he wasn’t thinking about you at the time.”

“
You’re right.”

“
Damn right I am. Now, I’ve got to get home and pack an overnight bag. We’re going to have a girl’s night full of male-bashing, good wine, and a large pizza with extra cheese, hold the sausage. Sound good?”

I nodded
, although nothing sounded good at the moment. My marriage was over and everything I’d known for the last fifteen years.

What
in the hell was I going to do?

What did I tell our children
?

“Okay, hon,” she said, grabbing her purse. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

When Darcy left, I put a cold rag over my eyes to try and reduce the swelling. Then I made some phone calls and was able to arrange to have the kids stay overnight with their friends. They were both ecstatic about missing our anniversary party and didn’t even bother to ask about the change of plans when they returned back home to pack their bags.

“You
rock
, mom,” smiled Regan, carrying her new purple and pink skull backpack. “You and dad have fun tonight.”

I forced a smile. “Thanks.”

“Remember, no drinking and driving,” warned Jeremy. “It takes your liver about an hour to metabolize just one ounce of alcohol.”

I nodded.
“Don’t worry; there won’t be any drinking and driving. You have my word.”

After they left, I started looking through Scott’s things. I couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t until I went into his study and checked the computer that
my heart was crushed all over again.

“You bastard,” I whispered, looking through his
deleted emails, which contained naked pictures of the two women I’d seen earlier that day. Apparently,
they’d
also shared a sexual relationship together and had sent him some pretty raunchy pictures. His enthusiastic replies hammered the final nails into the coffin of what had once been our happy marriage.

I can’t wait to have you both.

You make me so horny, I can’t see straight.

That certainly didn’t sound like a man wh
o was doing this for his family!

I was
so angry that I wanted to dump the rest of his belongings out onto the lawn and burn them all to hell. But as much as I contemplated doing it, I knew it would only make
me
look like a bloody fool, so instead, I printed out the emails and shut his computer off. As I was contemplating a more suitable revenge, the doorbell rang.

I wiped
away the rest of my tears with the back of my hand and went to answer the door.

Jake.

I stepped onto the porch and his face darkened. “Jesus, did I come at a bad time?” he asked.

I smiled weakly
. “No, it’s okay.”

“I just wanted to bring this over,” he said, holding a box. “The delivery guy dropped i
t off at the wrong house. It looks like it’s for Scott. Office supplies or something.”

“Thanks,” I said as he handed it to me.

He rubbed his chin. “I just have to ask, would you like someone to talk to? I know we’ve just met, but if you need an ear I’m available.”

I sighed.
“What I need is my husband, a shotgun, and a shovel.”

“U
h oh,” he grinned. “Someone’s in the doghouse?”

“It’s worse than that. He’s not even allowed in the doghouse anymore.”

Jake leaned against the wood railing and crossed his arms under his chest. “Did you catch him cheating?”

I stared at him
in shock. “Yes.”

“
The only reason I asked is because of his odd schedule and the painful look on your face.”

“You noticed it too, huh?”

He nodded. “It’s my job to notice things. Plus, I was once a victim myself,” he answered with a bitter smile. “I know the signs.”

My eyes widened. “You were married?”

“Engaged. My ex-fiancée traveled frequently due to her architectural job. Well, I surprised her one time by showing up at the hotel she was staying at. Needless to say, our engagement ended that night.”

I stared at the sexy
cop standing less than five feet away and was amazed that anyone would cheat on him. Who in their right mind would give all
that
up?

“
Obviously, she was crazy,” I blurted out.

Ou
r eyes met and he gave me a grateful smile. “Thanks for saying that. Anyway, I’m just glad I found out before I wasted any more money on the wedding. I almost had to take out a second mortgage just to pay for the damn gown she’d picked out.”

“Weddings are expensive. That’s
why they should only happen once,” I said.

“Yeah, well I’ve
since come to the conclusion that marriage isn’t for me. I’ve just recently started dating again, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s all I can handle, especially with my work schedule. In fact,” he said, pulling out his cell phone, which was vibrating loudly. “Duty calls. I’ll talk to you later.”