My Dirty Affair

Chapter Fifteen

It'd been a week since I found out about the affair. Since then I've been living on Emily's couch constantly dodging her questions about Ellis. I gave her the best excuses I could come up with and most of them were lame. I tried to sway her into believing that Ellis went on a trip, but she could easily go to our apartment and find him there. She could've gone to him for answers, but she didn't. She was waiting for me to spill the beans and I couldn't hold out for long.

"Ellis cheated on me more than once with Kaya." I announced.

Emily was in the middle of drinking her coffee when I spoke. She choked on it when I told her. "Do you think news like that could've come a little later in the afternoon?"

"I don't think this could've waited any longer, Em. Come on, you've been trying to get it out of me all week. I finally gave in." I said. There were three strips of bacon on her plate and while she was distracted I took the opportunity to snatch it.

She glared at me, but didn't say anything about it. "This is serious, babe. Are you sure he cheated on you? I mean you two just got married. I thought it was because you were tired of hearing him snore at night or something."

"Nope. He's been fucking Kaya. They hooked up at our wedding." I thought back to the wedding and how he'd gone missing for a few minutes. Back then I never suspected it was because he'd been with Kaya. I saw her a little earlier before I forgot she was there.

"Did he tell you all of this?"

"No. I got Alex to tell me where he was. They were meeting at a hotel, which is so cliché, and I pretended to be a woman who lost her key to get someone to open the door for me."

"Oh, smart." Emily remarked.

"Yeah and it wasn't hard to find them. The door was closed and I listened. I was numb, Em. I don't even know how I feel now. One minute I want to cry and the next I want to fucking walk to our apartment, beat the door down, and hurt him as bad as he hurt me." I confessed.

Over the week I've had a lot to think about. I decided it was best to stay away from Ellis and he respected that on the condition that I hear him out. After the concert at the bakery, I gave in and went home. Ellis was there, waiting outside for me, and when I showed up he quickly took me inside and we had a heated discussion about what he'd done. Most of it was bullshit because married or not, we were together and we were committed to one another. He insisted I stay at the apartment while he found somewhere else to live until I chose to let him come back home. Everything in the apartment reminded me of him so I told him I'd stay with Emily in her condo. Before he could argue, I packed my stuff and here I am.

"I know the feeling, hon. I dated this banker one summer and the asshole had a wife and kid somewhere in California." She said.

"But this is different. I'm married." I messaged my ring finger where my ring used to be. I wasn't going to divorce him, I decided, for now. I needed more time to wrap my head around the situation first before I permanently made my decision. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You've been a soldier through it all, Mel." She reached across the table to clasp my hand. "I haven't seen you cry not once. How are you handling this?"

Believe me, every night I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and most of all I wanted to hurt Ellis as bad as he hurt me. Normally I didn't believe in getting revenge or getting even, but I was willing to put my morals aside to screw him over like he did to me. He embarrassed me and that made me angry more than anything.

I squeezed her hand. "I feel fine. I just need some time."

"Bullshit, you're hurting."

"Of course I am, Em. I found out my husband cheated on me and now I'm seriously considering murder!" I yanked my hand from hers and rubbed my temples that started to throb.

"Right now all you're feeling is anger. You need to cry, let it out, you never know when your emotions will build up and overwhelm you." She said.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"This is . . . wow. I can't believe that asshole and with Kaya of all people."

"I know." I lowered my head onto my arms. "Kaya and I were never close anyway. And I never knew she used to date Ellis and that Kaya set us up."

Emily gasped. "Oh, hell no."

"I know. She said she had to get him to get over her somehow." I groaned. "What if he was in love with her at some point?"

"Then she would've walked down the aisle eight weeks ago." She said. "He chose you."

I shook my head. "That's the thing, he chose me yet he still fucked her. Why?" I felt my throat clog up and my eyes stung. I was so not going to cry. I took a deep breath. "I need to get ready."

"Get ready for what? I thought you didn't have to go to work until four."

"That's not what I'm getting ready for." I winked and headed to the guest bathroom.

"Ooh, I know that look in your eyes. What're you thinking?" Emily asked as she followed me into the bathroom.

I pulled off my shirt. "I'm not gonna say."

"Then pack your bags and get out of my house."

I gasped. "So it's like that now?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, it's like that until you tell me what you're thinking."

"Fine." I began to undo my pajama bottoms. "I'm planning on getting even."

Emily's bright eyes lit up like the fourth of July. "I have got to know what your plan is!"
"It's still a work in progress, but you can start by finding me a cute outfit to wear. I'll only need it for about an hour to work my magic."

"Hell yeah! I'll go look in my closet."

Emily had good taste in fashion, but I could never pull off all of her styles and I hadn't meant for her to find me clothes from her closet, but she already left the bathroom before I could stop her. I knew what I wanted to do. A part of me wanted to evaluate my plan more, but another part of me urged me to do it. I had to stop hesitating and just go for it and I knew just where to start in my revenge plan.