Chapter 3

[Cassidy’s POV]

What am I even thinking right now?

This is the only thing that comes to mind as I stare at the dark penthouse, and I realize that even now, the fear of being betrayed, broken, and left alone is strong.

I thought that I was getting better and forgetting that feeling, but here I was expecting the two people that I trusted the most to do to me what my father did to my mother so long ago.

Don’t be ridiculous, Cassidy.

Shaking off the feeling of foreboding before it can grow, I head toward the building in front of me and then head inside.

“Welcome back, miss.” Bernie the concierge calls to me as I pass by. “Happy birthday!”

“Thank you, Bernie,” I smile, making my way to the elevator and then pressing the up button. “Don’t work too hard.”

“Never,” he smiles, tipping his hat and then turning to greet the next person coming in.

Smiling, I step into the elevator when it arrives and then press the button for the penthouse.

Sighing, I pull a mirror from my purse and examine myself, making sure that every curl is in place and that my makeup is still wearing right. When I’m certain it is, I push the mirror back into my bag and then wait until the elevator doors in front of me open so that I can step out and head down the hall toward my home.

When I arrive, I find that the living room and kitchen are empty, and the first floor of the place seems abandoned.

It’s strange to say the least since that was the floor that Tina used and the one that Isaac stayed on when I wasn’t home.

As I continue to look around, that bad feeling starts to grow more, and when I spot heels and shoes at the bottom of the staircase leading to the second floor where my room was, I feel my heart kick up in speed.

No. I tell myself, starting to move. This doesn’t mean anything.

Right. It didn’t mean anything, but as I reach, I recognize the shoes as Isaac's and Tina’s.

For a moment, I don’t move as I stare at them, and when I hear a woman’s laugh, I look up as panic starts to slowly trickle through me.

“Tina!” I call, taking one step then another. “Are you up there?”

Growing quiet, I wait, listening intently for Tina’s reply, but when it doesn’t come and my stomach starts to churn while my heart squeezes painfully, I start taking the steps two at a time.

Within seconds, I reach the second-floor landing and then look toward my room to find that my door is cracked and I can hear moans coming from within.

Instantly, I feel like my blood is turning to ice while memories of a time much similar to this come to me, but unlike back then, the one doing such a thing was my Isaac and not my dad.

As I stand in place, the moans grow louder until there is no mistaking what is happening, and I know that I should go forward and stop them, but I can’t.

I’m stuck in place, listening to the clear sounds of my being betrayed.

“How?” I whisper, unable to think of a single time that I may have pushed Isaac to do this. “How could…”

My voice breaks as I feel like something in me is snapping, and then I’m moving, storming forward until I can kick the door, and then I’m lashing out.

“Isaac!” I shriek as the door slams into the wall, knocking a few pictures down in the process, and as the glass to those photos breaks, I feel like it is my heart shattering into a million pieces. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Cassidy!” He gasps, sitting up and staring at me. “Why are you…”

“Why am I what?” I demand, taking in the cheating bastard in front of me like he is someone that I’ve never seen.

Of course, he is the same Isaac that I’ve known all these years with his messy brown hair, sparkling green eyes, muscular build, and tan skin, but he isn’t at the same time.

He’s a foreign person to me.

One that I’ve never seen before, and the woman beside him, who also looks exactly like the woman I’ve always known and trusted with everything, looks like a complete stranger.

“And you,” I continue, my gaze narrowing on Tina. “What the hell do you think you’re doing with my boyfriend?”

For a moment, Tina doesn’t respond as she stares at me, her brown gaze unreadable, her pale cheeks flushed a deep pink, and her lips that are swollen from kissing are turned into a damned smile that seems to almost be mocking me.

“Isn’t it obvious?” She asks now, running her hand along Isaac’s chest. “I’m having a little fun.”

“A little fun,” I repeat, my temper starting to get the better of me. “HAVING A LITTLE FUN! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? WHO THE HELL HAS FUN WITH THEIR BEST FRIEND’S BOYFRIEND?”

This was crazy.

She was crazy.

How could she say such a thing while looking at me so seriously, and how could Isaac just sit there and say nothing?

“Isaac,” I say slowly, my throat threatening to close on me. “Tell me that this is just a misunderstanding.”

Tell me. I whisper inwardly. Tell me it was a misunderstanding and you were drunk and mistakened her for me or something!

Maybe if he could lie well enough to convince me of this, then I could pretend that I didn’t see anything.

I could pretend and then…

You’ll be just like me.

My mother’s voice sends shivers through me as I realize too late that I was doing the exact thing I swore to myself I would never do.

I swore I would never let a man reduce me to such things because I was desperate to keep him beside me, but now that it was happening, I realized that maybe I misjudged my mother a bit.

“It isn’t a misunderstanding,” Isaac says now. “But is it really that big a deal?”

“What?” I hiss, confusion slamming into me. “What are you asking right now? Of course it is a big deal! You’re cheating on me with my best friend!”

“But haven’t you been pushing her onto me?” He continues. “When you have to work late. When you need me to do something for you. Even when you have to leave and ask me to stay. Isn’t Tina the one that you always insist on leaving me with?”

“That…” I begin but stop as I realize that it could look that way. “It’s because we all grew up together and…”

“And we mean just as much to you,” Tina finishes for me. “And since we both mean the same to you, don’t you think that this is good?”

“Good,” I repeat, trying to make sense of the way the conversation was shifting. “Good! What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?”

“Why don’t the three of us try being a thing? How about an open relationship? You can be open to me while I am enjoying my time with Tina” Isaac offers, taking my silence as an invitation to keep speaking. “That way when you’re too busy, Tina can take care of my needs, and when you’re around, you can keep both of us close without having to choose who deserves more of your attention because we will all be one happy family."