CHAPTER THREE

What a sick joke. Now was the time for Thomas to jump out from behind the curtains, yelling ‘surprise!’ Lacey’s laughter had subsided. Not because she felt calm, but because she knew if she continued, she would end up crying. And Lacey only cried when she was sad. At that moment she was devastated, but she wasn’t sad. She couldn’t be sad. 

Manipulate… crazy… safety… left… divorce. Thomas’ words from the press conference were stuck in Lacey’s head in fragments. 

“Thomas got a divorce because I’m a cheater and a manipulator.” Lacey repeated those words over and over, thinking that if she did that, they would actually become real. Or maybe she was a cheater and just didn’t realize it. A manipulator too. Or else, why would Thomas say she was those things?

Where Lacey was on the floor, she put her head to the ground. There was nothing to do. If she called her friends, they would only try to comfort her. Maybe some of them were laughing at her situation. Scrolling through social media was out of the question. From the brief time she went on to try and contact Thomas, she saw hundreds of comments on her page, and none of them had said anything nice to say. 

Fans of Thomas were calling her all sorts of vile words. Those things hurt her, but only a bit. Afterall, those people leaving the comments didn’t truly know her. But Thomas did, and he’d said these things about her. 

The ground was cool against her cheek. Staying there for a few more moments wouldn’t be bad, right? Agreeing with that, Lacey remained there, cheeks pressed against the floor, and replaying Thomas’ words in her head. Not just from the press conference, but from conversations spanning back years. 

The first time they met, the day he first asked her out—Lacey refused the first time because she wanted to see if Thomas would chase her—the second time he asked her out—this time, she said yes—the first time Thomas told Lacey he loved her, the first time Lacey told Thomas she loved him, the day he asked her to marry him, the day they got married, their one month anniversary, celebrating birthdays together.

Numerous conversations, even ones that felt like a memory, hadn’t carried any warning about the future betrayal she was going to face. The heartbreak that came with losing a loved one wasn’t a feeling Lacey expected to face so soon. And definitely not with Thomas. 

It went to show how things didn’t always go as planned. Maybe those classmates who called her crazy for getting married so young were right. 

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed when Lacey heard the passcode to her door being inputted. Abruptly sitting up, she scrambled to her feet. Thomas! It had to be him. It was a crazy dream after all. 

That excitement and hope was short lived as the door opened to reveal three people, with none of them being Thomas. 

“Lacey! I was scared we would meet your lifeless body. Oh, thank goodness.”

Adi was the first in the room, then Sangah, then Maddy. Lacey stood facing her three best friends, who wore similar expressions of pity. 

Maybe it was seeing people who confirmed that everything up until that point had in fact been reality, and not a crazy scenario she made up, or because the tear dams in Lacey’s eyes had reached their limit and couldn’t hold back anymore. Whatever it was, as soon as the tears started flowing, nothing could stop it. 

“Lacey, honey.”

After that moment, Lacey had no idea what was going on. She only felt herself being pulled in a hug and being enveloped by a flowery smelling perfume. Maddy. Someone else was patting her back. The small hand felt like Sangahs’. Adi was stroking her hair. It should have felt uncomfortable, but to Lacey, it was like being placed in a protective box, where nothing could hurt her. 

“I’m fine now, guys. I won’t cry anymore.”

Amidst the trio’s protests, Lacey moved out of the protective box, and back to her former position on the floor. Her friends gathered around her. 

“Tell us what happened, Lace.”

“Let her calm down first, Adi.” Maddy berated her brother. 

“It’s fine, Mads.” Lacey tried to smile, but it came out as a wince. “About what happened, I wish I could say.”

Interpreting Lacey’s words as her trying to hide the truth from them, Sangha said, “Don’t try to protect that asshole, Lace.”

Shaking her head, Lacey explained, “No, it’s not like that. I really wish I could say what happened, but I have no freaking clue. For the time Thomas was gone, I didn’t hear from him at all.” Her head was bowed as she felt bad for all the lies she told them. “When I told you guys he was doing great, I only knew that because of his social media posts. He never contacted me.”

They all grew silent, until Adi asked, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I was embarrassed, okay? He acted weird on the day of our six month anniversary, but I wrote it off as him being tired. The next day, he was gone. That was the last time I saw or heard from him. Until today.”

“None of his accusations are true, right?”

Adi smacked Sangah’s arm lightly at her question. “Do you even have to ask? Not to be that person, but we’ve always thought that there’s something off about him.”

Lacey didn’t respond to that. Her friends have always been open about their dislike for Thomas, only putting up with him because of her.

“In that case, why don’t we expose the lying asshole on social media?” Sangah asked, already taking out her phone. Before she could proceed with her plan, Maddy grabbed the phone from her. 

“Have you seen the way his fans attack anyone who remotely tries to support Lacey? They’ll devour you. Let Adi do it instead. He has more influence than any of us.”

Adi was already nodding at his sister’s suggestion. 

Lacey had quietly listened to her friends’ back and forth. “I love you guys and I know you’re trying to look out for me, but can everyone leave? I want to be alone.”