Page 9 of What Goes Around

I just grabbed my keys and left.

I barely remember the drive. Red lights blurred. Turns I must have taken on instinct. The hotel was thirty minutes away, but every mile felt endless.

My heart was pounding by the time I reached the hallway leading to room 207.

I paused at the door, smoothing my hair, trying to calm my shaking hands. My stomach fluttered nervously and for the first time in weeks, I actually felt hope.

Then I heard a sound. A low, breathy laugh from inside. A man’s voice. A woman’s.

My blood ran cold.

I pressed my ear against the door and froze. The laughter shifted, turning into muffled moans.

And they were familiar in a way that made my stomach twist. I’d heard Nick sound like that before, not even a month ago.

For a split second, my mind refused to believe it.

No. No, it couldn’t be.

I pushed the handle. The door wasn’t locked.

It opened just enough for me to see everything.

Nick.

His shirt half off, pants around his ankles, his hands tangled in someone’s hair as he thrust against her.

Not someone’s hair.

Apple’s.

My sister.

For a moment, the world just… stopped.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. My body moved before my mind caught up. I stumbled forward, hitting the doorframe. My heart slammed against my ribs, bile rising in my throat.

He must’ve heard me, because he froze. Every muscle in his body went rigid before he turned.

And in that instant, everything I thought I knew about him shattered.

The look in his eyes wasn’t guilt.

It was hatred.

The air left my lungs. My knees hit the floor. I clutched my stomach as sobs tore through me.

“This is a dream,” I whispered, my voice raw and broken. “This isn’t real. You didn’t… Nick, not with her. Why would you do this to us?”

He pulled up his pants.

When he reached me, he crouched and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. His touch was rough, his voice nothing like the man I loved.

“It’s nothing you didn’t do,” he said coldly. “Now you know what it feels like. You’re a liar and a cheat, and I wish you all the evil in the world.”

I tore away from his grip, gasping for air. The pressure in my chest was unbearable, like a hand squeezing my lungs until I could barely breathe.

So this was what true pain felt like.