The reality of what she and Abby were doing didn’t really hit her until she looked at those pictures. Kyle was an asshole to her, but Brianna believed he did not deserve the pain that she and Abby were about to cause him. Brianna loved Kyle in spite of everything. He was still her little brother, and her heart ached for him. But she also understood they couldn’t turn back time. What was done was done.
Brianna had not noticed Abby was back in the living room until she felt her sit next to her on the couch.
Now wearing a strappy summer dress, Abby took the picture frame from Brianna’s hands and gazed with nostalgia at the pictures-the sad, cruel reminders of a once solid relationship that was about to end. The whole thing was still hard for her to believe. Just a few days earlier, Abby was sure she was going to marry the man in those pictures. She had been planning a life with him pretty much since the day she met him.
“Amazing how a person’s entire world can be flipped upside down in the blink of an eye,” she marveled, almost to herself. There she was, sitting next to her new lover and mourning the death of her relationship with the man she thought was going to be her partner for life. Abby let out a heavy sigh. The whole thing just felt very surreal to her.
“Let me be there when you tell him about us,” Brianna pleaded, gazing at the picture frame.
“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Abby countered, also gazing at the picture frame.
Brianna turned her head to face Abby. “Please, Abby. Let him yell at me and be angry at me.”
Abby turned her head to meet Brianna’s gaze. “No. I must do this alone. I must take responsibility for what I’ve done and face the consequences alone. Besides, he already hates you enough as it is.”
“But Abby…”
“My mind is made up about this. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“What are you going to do after you tell him?”
Abby shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. But it looks like I’m going to have to quit working at the bookstore and go back home to Michigan until the fall. Kyle will probably ask me to move out, and I can’t afford an apartment by myself. I’ll talk with NYU and ask them to let me move back in the dorms for my final year there.”
Brianna took the picture frame off Abby’s hands and placed it on the coffee table before turning her attention back to Abby. “I don’t want to be away from you the entire summer. Come stay with me.”
Abby scoffed. “You want us to move in together? Don’t you think it’s a little too soon for that?”
“I know it’s too soon, but what other options do we have?”
Abby shook her head. “I don’t know…”
“Come on. Please. You won’t have to quit your job if you stay with me. I’ll let you pay me rent if you want. I just don’t think I can stand being apart from you a whole summer.”
Abby thought about it for a bit. She needed her bookstore job to pay her bills. She wasn’t going to find summer work in Michigan, and she didn’t want to be away from Brianna for three months. “Okay,” she finally replied. “But only for the summer, and I will pay you rent. I’m no freeloader.”
Brianna could not help but giggle and shake her head. She gave Abby a kiss on the temple and stood up. “Let’s get out of here. We have a lot of shopping and sightseeing to do.”
Abby and Brianna spent that whole afternoon in and out of the trendiest stores in midtown Manhattan. Abby felt intimidated walking into those places, afraid she was going to be charged just for being there. After taking a peek at the price tags of some of the things on sale, Abby was very careful not to touch or break anything. Brianna offered to buy Abby a few things, but she adamantly refused, much to Brianna’s dismay and frustration.
With all the shopping, there was very little time to do any sightseeing. They did, however, find the time to sit down at a table in Central Park and learn things about each other. They chatted for hours while enjoying some delicious vanilla swirl ice cream.
Brianna told Abby the story of how she was discovered by a talent scout while working at the restaurant job Andrea had helped her get. They both laughed and cringed at some hilarious and other not so hilarious stories Brianna told about outrageous auditions, sleazy casting directors and unscrupulous talent agents.
Abby told Brianna about her being a top cookie selling Girl Scout when she was a kid and the many trips she earned. She spoke fondly of the pet chinchilla she had growing up and her days as a cheerleader in high school.
They had such opposite experiences growing up that Brianna wondered if they would have gotten along had they met as children. Brianna hated cheerleaders, but Abby made it clear that she was one of the nice ones. They both concluded that they would have gotten along great because of that special connection they shared.
Abby was having such a good time hanging out with Brianna that she didn’t notice her phone had died. She had missed three calls from Kyle, but she would not know about them until she got home that night and recharged her phone.
Chapter IX
Meanwhile in Montana, Kyle sat on a wicker chair in the backyard of his mother’s house. He stared at his phone screen wondering why Abby was not answering her phone. There were children running and squealing around him and adults trying to get his attention, but Kyle could not hear any of them. He was consumed with worry. Since Abby had said she was at work, Kyle decided to phone the bookstore.
“Hi. Is Abby there?” Kyle asked when he heard a female voice on the other side of the line.
“Abby? No, she isn’t. May I ask who’s calling?” The girl who had answered the phone asked.
“Was she there earlier and then left?”
“I’ve been here since the store opened, and I have not seen her. Who is this?” The girl asked again, starting to get exasperated.
A hot chill rippled in Kyle’s stomach. The realization that Abby had lied to him was suddenly making him queasy. “No one,” he stammered. “It’s not important. She ordered a book for me, and I was just calling to find out if it’d arrived.”
“I can check that for you. What’s your name?”
“Never mind. I just placed the order. It’s probably not there yet. Who am I speaking to?”
“This is Victoria. I’m the cashier on duty today.”
“Victoria?” Kyle asked incredulously, nausea building in the back of his throat. “I thought you were out sick today?”
“Who is this?” Victoria snapped, realizing she was not speaking to a customer.
Breathing heavily and staring into space, Kyle removed the phone from his ear and hit the end call button. He shook his head slowly, trying to silence the little voices in his head.
She’s cheating on you, Kyle.
Kyle managed to get on his feet even though numbness had started to besiege his legs. Without making eye contact with anyone, Kyle slowly walked past all the screaming children and half-drunk adults and made it to the back entrance of the house.
“Kyle? What’s wrong, sweetheart?” His concerned mother asked when Kyle walked past her, but Kyle did not answer or even look at her. Some of his little cousins had surrounded him and were tugging at his arms to get his attention. They wanted Kyle to go throw a football with them. “I’m sorry guys, I can’t,” Kyle mumbled, staring into space, his breathing becoming more labored.
Kyle went inside his mother’s house and made it to his old bedroom, every corner of it filled with trophies, medals and awards Kyle had received for both his athletic and academic achievements as a child. Kyle locked the door behind him and plopped on his bed. He ran a hand through his gorgeous dirty blond hair and kept shaking his head.
He wanted to pretend that the phone conversation he just had didn’t happen. He tried to desperately convince himself that it was all a misunderstanding, and Abby did not lie to him.
Maybe Abby was called to go into work that day, but after our conversation, the manager told her not to.
When that didn’t work, Kyle began to make excuses in hi
s head for why Abby had lied to him about having to work that day.
My birthday’s coming up. Maybe Abby is preparing a secret birthday party for me.
Denial is a very powerful thing.
Kyle needed to make those excuses and those rationalizations because the idea that Abby could possibly be cheating on him was just too painful to accept. Abby was the love of his life. The only woman Kyle had ever loved. The only person in the world he felt he could truly trust with anything and everything. The only person he was sure would never betray him.
Kyle buried his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes. He slowly raised his head up and spotted his laptop sitting on his desk. After logging off the video chat with Abby the previous night, Kyle had spent hours putting together the video and picture montage he was going to use as part of his proposal to Abby.
In a matter of a few seconds, Kyle had gone from being on top of the world about the proposal and his bright future with the woman he loved to being a man whose world was crashing down around him.
With a clenched jaw, Kyle scowled at the laptop before springing to his feet and walking towards it. He sat in front of it, got online and went straight to his airline’s website. He was not scheduled to return to New York for another nine days, but he couldn’t wait that long. The uncertainty was suffocating him. He needed to know if Abby was cheating on him. So he began to search for the next available flight back to New York.
End of Part II
DEAR READER
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. If you enjoyed it, I would really appreciate it if you recommended it to people you know and leave a review. If you write a review, let me know via email at [email protected] and I’ll thank you with a personal email.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Part 1 of the Betrayal series: Abby’s Guilt and Part 3, Kyle’s Revenge, available now.
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Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
DEAR READER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Betrayal: Brianna's Secret (The Betrayal Series) Page 10
