Chapter 3

I woke up with a banging headache and muffled music playing around me. I opened my eyes slowly and remembered what had happened, a wave of sadness hit me as I stared down and realised I was still on the floor in my wedding dress.

 I tore the hem of it in anger and stumbled up, heading to my room to change into a tight, pale cream dress. I was supposed to wear this for the after party. 

As I approached the part where the wedding was happening, tears welled up in my eyes as I found Scarlett and Luke already married, seated at the love seat made for us, they looked happy together and my parents looked even happier. 

The after party had even begun, I wondered how they had found such a beautiful dress for her in such a short time. Perhaps she had hoped something like this would happen? 

My head was swirling, I felt nauseous. 

How could they have done this to me? Why was I so disposable? I turned away from them and let tears fall freely from my face, not minding if it ruined my makeup. I couldn't breathe or think.

 I rushed to the bar where guests were gathered and grabbed a bottle of wine. I drank till everywhere was almost blurry, till the sounds became far away but I could still feel the deafening pain in my heart. 

I desperately needed a distraction, I needed someone to help me lessen this ache in my chest. Through hazy eyes, I noticed someone staring at me in the corner.

 He was tall and muscular but it was his piercing green eyes that startled me. I made my way to him on shaky legs and rested on the table next to him. 

“Nice party isn't it?” I said sarcastically and he smiled although his eyes looked worried. 

“Who are you?” He asked and I laughed suddenly, I realised then that many people hadn’t arrived at the beginning of the ceremony yet and most didn’t know how I really looked like. 

“What's funny?” His expression hardened as he probably thought I was laughing at him but he didn’t understand that laughter was a self degrading one.

“Oh nothing.” I stumbled and fell on him, giggling and he looked down at me in confusion but that confusion didn’t last long, as I trailed my hands all over his strong shoulders and neck, his eyes burned with need for me and I felt powerful. 

I was finally able to feel less of the pain and I closed my eyes, relishing the feeling.

“Take me… some-where, anywhere… except, except here.” I stumbled over my words and for a second, I thought he was going to throw me off him and laugh in my face but to my surprise, he curled his arm around my lower back and pulled me with him out of the hall. We hailed a cab that took us straight to a hotel not too far. 

He paid for a room, collected our keys and pulled me with him to the room we’d be sharing for the night. 

He ushered me into the room and locked the door. He showered and came out with only a towel then told me to go into the shower too and I did so but came out with a white robe. He inhaled sharply when I came and I was scared he had probably figured out who I was. 

“You look even more stunning without all that makeup.” He whispered as he came to stand right in front of me and I blushed, the alcohol had cleared up just a little bit. I sighed in relief and he took my hand and kissed it then he painstakingly removed my bathrobe. 

As he whispered sweet nothings into my hair and neck, thoughts of the wedding were far from me, this was exactly what I needed. He kissed and caressed my senses away until all I felt, heard and knew in the moment was him. 

He pushed me to the wall and began to furiously kiss me. I ran my hands through his hair as he ran his hands up and down the length of my body. I shuddered because we were getting intense. 

He lifted me off the floor and kissed me till I couldn't feel my lips anymore, my robe fell completely to the floor and so did his towel and before I knew it, he was throwing me onto my back on the bed and getting on top of me. For a second he stopped to gaze down at me before he went right back to kissing me from head to toe, I was trembling by the time I finally took him inside me. 

To my surprise, we went at it just two times before he stopped and kissed the side of my head, draping his arm over my waist as we lay in silence. The surprising thing was that I knew he wanted to continue but he purposefully stopped himself, nothing like Luke ever was. 

I groaned, realising I was comparing him to Luke, Luke who I wasn't supposed to be thinking about, Luke who brought immeasurable amounts of pain to me. 

But as I thought about it more and more, the thoughts consumed and I shed silent tears. Even my parents, my dear dear parents had forsaken me, I slept with those thoughts in a repeated loop in my head. 

The next morning, I woke up first and slipped from beneath him, placing a goodbye note on the nightstand and some money, he had helped distract me for the night, even if it was for only some time. 

I needed to go back home, maybe my parents were waiting for me, worried sick. Maybe they regretted what they did and would apologise and welcome me with open arms and we could work to rebuild our shattered relationship but I knew nothing would ever be the same again. 

I looked back one last time at the handsome stranger still sleeping on the bed and left. 

Although what I found at home shook me to my bones, I never should have returned at all.