Once a cheat ...

Harold Collins had never been so humiliated in his life. The more he thought about the solid beating that he had received at the hands of his brother-in-law, the angrier and more humiliated he became.

That asshole had literally floored him in a fight in front of his employees, making him look like a bloody weakling.

Had it been it was another person who did this to him, he would have since pressed charges and made sure that the person faced the full wrath of the law.

However, he couldn’t press charges against Lucas for some personal reasons, and the bastard knew it very well, which was why he had satisfied his anger and pummelled Harold to his satisfaction.

All the same, Harold couldn’t go home the way he was currently looking, with his split lips and both of his eyes nearly swollen shut. 

If his mother saw him in his current state, then she might decide to press charges against Lucas on his behalf, and that would spell some trouble for him.

So he left work a little early and headed over to a nearby hotel that he used to frequent, to spend the remaining part of his bad day, and even also spend the night there.

He was wearing large sunglasses, so he figured that no one would recognize him, even if he happened to run into someone he knew. He didn’t know how wrong he was.

“Well, well, well. Fancy running into you here. Did you happen to change your mind about seeing me?” A somewhat familiar voice said.

He slowly turned around to see Nicole smiling mischievously at him and barely suppressed the urge to groan.

“What the fuck are you doing here, and how on earth did you recognize me?” He asked her.

“Oh, come off it. You currently look a horrid sight to behold, but of course, I’ll recognize you anywhere. I used to be madly in love with you, remember? I still am, if I'm being honest with myself, but that’s beside the point. Did you come here because you missed me? Tell me the truth, Harold.” Nicole replied.

“You’re crazy, woman. I came here for some much-needed peace and quiet. I’ll thank you very much to leave me alone and give me that privacy.”

“Oh, come on! Admit it. You came here because you knew that there’s a very high chance that I’ll be lodged here. This used to be the only hotel in which we carried out our rendezvous back then, after all. We can pick off where we left off, you know. I haven’t had sex in a hot minute, and despite the fact that you look like you’ve been in a ghastly accident, all I can think about right now is devouring you like a starved woman.”

“Oh, Nicole. You haven’t changed at all.” Harold grunted, but he couldn’t deny that his curiosity was piqued.

“Besides, you need to get treated. I have a few essential first-aid items that I think will come in handy in my room.” Nicole said, smiling charmingly at him and sashaying toward the elevator.

Harold’s eyes fixated on her swaying waist and he immediately forgot why he was at the hotel, or all the pains he was currently feeling.

In fact, he barely felt the vibration of the phone that was currently ringing in his pocket.

All that mattered to him was to follow Nicole, and have her again the way he used to do, and so that was exactly what he did.

He followed her straight to her room, and as soon as the door closed, he began to kiss her passionately.

"Damn, you're still as charming and sexy as ever. Let me do a medical check-up for you and see if you've changed over the past few years." He joked as he impatiently took off her clothes. 

Nicole let him do that, smiling smugly to herself when she noticed how crazy he still was about her body.

She was just as crazy about him, and she moaned and screamed out her pleasure when he finally entered her and they had sex.

Once wasn’t enough for them, so they had sex over and over again. Harold couldn’t believe how good she felt.

He felt completely relaxed … in a way he never felt with Diane, and he imagined that it was the thrill of having sex with his wife’s best friend that made him feel that way.

All that changed the minute they finally wore themselves out and Nicole began to confess her feelings for him.

"Harold, you're exhausting me, but to be honest, I can’t complain. Do you know how much I've missed you for the past five years? Stay with me today, I don't want you to go back to Diane after fucking me. In fact, I'm ready to fuck you all night, to make up for the five years we’ve both lost." Nicole pleaded, her gaze dreamy.

Diane! That was when Harold remembered that he had put his phone on DND, so he picked it up immediately.

To his surprise, he saw several missed calls from Diane, which was quite unusual.

A missed call or two was normal, even when he was running late like today and she wanted to find out when he would get back home, but not over thirty missed calls.

Terrified that something bad had happened, he pushed Nicole off his chest, catching her by surprise.

“What’s wrong, babe? Did something bad happen?” She asked him, her face creasing in concern … that is until he answered her question, at which point, her expression changed to a mix of anger, hatred, and irritation.

“It’s my wife. I have several missed calls from her. Something must be wrong. She doesn’t ever call me so much, or rush me to come back home from work. I need to go back home immediately and make sure that she's okay.” Harold said.

Diane was pissed, but she didn’t say anything. She could never understand why Diane had to get it all … a loving, functional family and a wealthy husband, while she, Nicole had absolutely nothing. 

No blood relatives and her love life was wack as well. Men used and dumped her all the time. 

It had always been that way right from when they were young. Diane always got the good-looking guys, and even guys that Nicole liked always preferred Diane to her.

It was why Nicole got so much joy and fulfillment from the fact that Harold obviously didn’t love Diane. 

If he loved her, he sure as hell wouldn’t be cheating on her with her best friend, not so?

The problem now was that she, Nicole, was in love with Harold, and the past five years in which she had been away had changed absolutely nothing. 

If anything, now that she had had him again, the love had intensified, and she realized that she wasn’t above fighting dirty to get him to herself.

It didn’t hurt that he was rich as well, plus there was the secret that she was hiding, which was going to tie him to her forever, whether he wanted to be tied to her or not.

It wasn’t time for her to reveal that secret yet, as she was waiting to get in his mother’s good graces before she did it. 

Since there was already trouble in his marriage, this would be the best time for her to swoop in and get him for herself. Her secret was going to help her greatly in the quest to get him for herself, and she felt so giddy just thinking about it.

Her train of thought was cut off abruptly when Harold suddenly got up from the bed and began to shove his legs into trousers with so much haste that one would think that the room was on fire.

“Diane is a grown woman. She can take care of herself. You and I haven’t seen each other since forever. Didn’t you miss me?” Nicole said at last, unable to hide her envy.

By this time, Harold had finished putting on his clothes, and without a backward glance, he picked up his briefcase and hurried out of the hotel room, leaving Nicole in there.

He drove home as fast as he could, only to meet Diane sitting outside the house and crying, with her belongings, or some of them, anyway, beside her.

"Oh God, baby. I'm sorry. I didn’t see all your calls. I was so swamped with work. Why are you here, what's going on?"  Harold asked. When Diane saw his battered face, she put her discomfort aside.  

"Oh my God, baby. Are you okay? What happened to your face? We need to get you to the hospital immediately.” She said.  

This caused him to feel a tad guilty because of what he had just spent the evening doing, while she was stuck waiting outside the house for him to come back.

He could see welts from where mosquitoes had bitten her while she was waiting outside for him to come back, and he winced.

“Well, I thought you were the one who sent your brother to beat me to a pulp.” He said sardonically, smiling at her to show her that he didn’t hold it against her.

It wasn’t her fault, but rather, his, that they didn’t have a child, yet his mother always punished her for it, so he felt sorry for her.

“Lucas did this to you? Oh, my goodness. I’m so sorry about that, babe. I never imagined that he’d do anything like this. I’ll …” She began to say, but he cut her short.

“Don’t worry about it, babe. He’s your brother, and he’s only looking out for you. I’ll be fine. Let’s go home.” Harold told her, holding her hands and leading her towards their mansion.

As soon as they opened the door, however, Diane's mother-in-law’s annoyingly loud voice came out of nowhere.

“Diane, how dare you come back?!"