Page 24 of I’m Already Gone

I caught it, my eyes locking on the red smear. My stomach dropped. I looked up, ready to stammer out some explanation, but her face was a mask of furious certainty.

“Are you cheating on me?” The question was laced with a raw, agonizing hurt that cut through my own anger at myself.

“What? God, no! I would never do that to you, Lily! To us.”

“Oh, really?” Her laugh was harsh and bitter. “Because the evidence says otherwise.” She threw the phone at me with a vicious underhand toss. I snatched it out of the air. Before I could even open my mouth, she spun on her heel and stormed out of the bedroom, slamming the door.

My eyes blazed, fixed on the screen.

Emma

I’m so sorry about what happened tonight. It will never happen again. Please accept this as my formal resignation.

I didn’t bother texting back. I didn’t bother doing anything but clench my jaw, my knuckles white around the phone, and stalk out of the room after my wife to salvage the mess I created.

Lily

That lying, cheating bastard! How could he?!

My fingers clawed through my hair, tangling in the strands, filled with a desperate urge to rip it all out by the roots and shove it down his…

The sharp click of the door latch interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up to see Ethan standing in the doorway of the guest bedroom.

“Will you please let me explain?” he begged, the door softly clicking shut behind him.

“I’m not the one receiving late-night text messages from my goddamn assistant and lipstick smeared on my shirt!” I spat, my hands slamming onto my hips.

My stomach churned, a bile-like acid rising in my throat as the memory of the message flashed through my mind. I hadn’t meant to snoop, not really. But Ethan had been a ghost lately. It made no sense. We weren’t having sex, and we didn’t even have the comforts of a hug or a proper goodbye kiss anymore. We were roommates, strangers sharing a bed, and the gaping chasm of his indifference was heartbreaking.

Was she warming his bed? And what the hell was she sorry about? What happened between them tonight?

He stared at me, his face a mask of disbelief. “Lily, I swear, I am not cheating on you. Nothing is going on between me and her, or anyone else, for that matter.”

“Stop lying to me!” I shrieked.

“I’m not lying!” He threw his hands up, his voice rising to match mine.

“Ethan, we haven’t been intimate for months,” I began. “You’re working later and later. And now there’s goddamn lipstick on your collar.” It was my turn to toss my hands in the air, letting them fall uselessly to my sides, the weight of my despair crushing me. “What in the hell am I supposed to think?”

A flicker of understanding danced across his face. “Sunshine,” he murmured, taking a tentative step toward me. “I am not cheating on you.”

My mouth fell open, and a silent scream caught in my throat. It took a few agonizing seconds for my brain to process the red-rimmed eyes and the way his words slurred. “Are you drunk? Did you drive home intoxicated?”

“No, I got an Uber.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “What happened tonight, Ethan? What is your assistant apologizing for?”

He swallowed hard, and clenched his hands into tight fists at his sides. “She…we.”

I waited for him to continue while trying not to freak out. My husband was a looker, there was no denying that—his sharp jawline, those intense blue eyes, the way he carried himself. It never bothered me when women gawked at him because I’d always known that he would never act on it. He was mine. But now I was starting to question it. Question everything. Question his loyalty to me, to us.

He ran a hand down his face, a ragged sigh escaping his lips. It was a sound of pure dread, as if this was the last conversation on earth he wanted to have.

Me too, buddy.

His eyes met mine again, clouded with fear and shame. “We… kissed and…” He swallowed hard, and my heart, already bruised and battered, stopped beating altogether.