Unofficial First Girlfriend

CHAPTER 28

I was about to lock the front door when someone knocked from the other side. I slowly opened the door and found Clark standing outside. He was still in his uniform, and he didn't look happy.

I left the door open and walked over to the couch. I had been waiting for him all day—for the last couple of days even, rehearsing what I should tell him when he comes home—if he comes home.

Now, he was here.

"We need to talk," he began.

"Oh, you think?" I scoffed, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

He shrugged and made his way towards the other end of the couch and sat down.

"So, you're ready to admit the truth?" I asked, taking a seat.

He let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm sorry. It was a stupid mistake."

I let out a burst of soft laughter in disbelief. It was what I needed to confirm my gut was right. And even though I had believed my instinct, a part of me still couldn't believe I'd been right all this time.

I guess even when I was mad, a tiny part of me had hoped I was wrong—for Naiah's sake.

"How?" I asked.

He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "One time, we fought about Nick, and I slept with her."

I shook my head, rolling my eyes at him. This was worse than I had expected. I wanted to slap his face, but my whole body felt too heavy to move—to even lift a finger.

"But I'm going to fix this. I was trying to fix it. Beli—"

"Why?" I asked, cutting him off. "Why am I supposed to believe anything you'd say?"

"Because I'm telling the truth."

"You told me it was over," I reminded him.

He nodded.

"We're over," I murmured and stood up, feeling a weird sense of courage.

"Wait, what?" he asked, standing up after me.

I hurried towards the bedroom door, but he blocked my way.

"What do you mean we're over?"

"I mean, we're over. We're done."

"You can't do that," he protested.

I creased my eyebrows at him, and stated, "I just did."

He closed his eyes and pulled his hair in annoyance. "You can't do that. How about Naiah?"

"Well, I don't think we're doing a good job as parents..." I mumbled and pushed past him to enter the bedroom, and he didn't fight back.

I opened the closet and pulled out a large traveling bag and threw all his clothes on the bed while he stood by the door, watching me.

"Mace, please. I'm going to fix this."

"I don't trust you anymore. I shouldn't have trusted you the first time you had an affair."

"When Sara asked when I was coming over, I wanted to go because I want to end things with her."

"Did you? Did you end things with her?" I asked, stopping for a moment to look him in the eye.

I wanted to know he tried to even fix it.

It took him a few seconds to respond, "I-I haven't yet."

I laughed and a sob rose through my throat as another wave of disappointment washed over me.

"Of course, you didn't. You can't end things with her because if you could, this would never happen," I muttered.

He walked towards me and touched my shoulders, but I shrugged off his grasp.

"Mace, please. Give me a chance to fix this."

"Pack your things and leave," I said instead. "I want you to leave tonight."

"Don't do this," he pleaded as a tear rolled down his cheek. "Mace, we have a daughter."

"And that didn't stop you from having an affair—twice with the same woman." My voice shook at the last words, and I could feel my body trembling.

To my surprise, Clark kneeled in front of me and hugged me. He started pleading and crying to give him another chance—to let him fix what was broken.

I couldn't help myself anymore and I ended up slapping him, hard.

I untangled myself from him and pushed the bag and clothes towards him.

"I'm giving you a few minutes to pack your bag and leave. You can come back tomorrow to collect your other stuff."

I watched him stand up and wipe his tears with the back of his hand. Then he turned to look at me and he mumbled, "I love you."

I smirked at him and shook my head.

"Words don't mean anything anymore. You had all the years to prove your love to me, but look at what you did."

I turned my back to him and walked towards the door.

"I'm sorry," he added, making me stop at the threshold.

"It would be nicer if you sound more sincere," I replied without facing him. "It would've been even nicer if you didn't do it twice."

"How about Naiah?"

"We can talk about that some other time, but tonight, I just want to be alone."

I was proud that somehow, I handled things in a mature way. I didn't break anything in the house, and Clark and I didn't raise our voices to get heard.

I heard him take a deep breath in and sniffle.

I was about to leave him in the room, but I heard him ask, "Did something ever happen between you and Nick?"

I spun on my heels to face him. He was watching me, and his eyes were searching my face.

I nodded in response.

A part of me knew I shouldn't be telling the truth—that I shouldn't be dragging Nick into this mess. But a part of me wanted Clark to know what was going on.

He gave me a sneer and mumbled, "I always knew that."

"No," I disagreed, shaking my head. "You don't know that."

"Did you sleep with him?"

"Yes," I admitted. I didn't know what was happening to me, but I felt fearless. "The night you walked out on me."

I watched him press his lips together and nod at me. The dismay was apparent in his face.

"You know your way out," I mumbled and left him in the room.

It wasn't how I planned to end things with him, should I find out that he was cheating again. But, nonetheless, I knew I did the right thing, and that I wouldn't regret anything I did or said.

My decision was final.

I knew it was theright thing to do.