Chapter one

Cassandra smiled as she pulled into the parking garage of her boyfriend's law firm. She was excited about surprising him with lunch from his favourite restaurant.

She was looking forward to seeing him today so she could finally catch up.

Since Johnathan had been working a lot of extra hours lately, trying to make partner at his law firm and she felt like she hadn't seen him much at all for the past several weeks.

He'd been so busy with work that they barely took time to spend any quality time together as a couple, so she hoped he would be free for lunch today.

Cassandra bounced across the parking lot toward her boyfriend's office building feeling the warm, late spring sunshine on her face.

As she neared the building, the doorman greeted her, "Good afternoon Miss Miller."

The doorman, Mr. Wilks, was a heavily bearded old man with very little hair on his head. He greeted everyone and was always polite and respectful, no matter how lowly they were.

"Good afternoon Mr. Wilks. Beautiful day today, isn't it?" she said breezily.

The doorman returned with a curt nod of his head, smiling at her, "It is, Miss Miller."

Whenever Cassandra came by, Mr. Wilks was always happy to see her, and his smile never failed to brighten her day. Gesturing for her to proceed into the building, Mr. Wilks opened the door for her.

"I do hope you have a nice day."

Cassandra laughed lightly, "You, too, Mr. Wilks."

As she walked into the building, Mr. Wilks closed the door behind. Floating through the building, she quickly got through security at the front desk and then made her way to the elevator.

She pressed the button and waited patiently for the elevator to arrive. When the doors opened, she stepped inside and pressed the button for Johnathan's floor.

When the door closed in front of her, Cassandra stood quietly and watched the numbers on the display increase, as the elevator rose fast.

The ride to the floor was quiet and uneventful, but at least it was short. As soon as the doors opened slowly on Johnathan's floor, Cassandra got out and stepped on the marble-tiled walk away.

As she walked towards Johnathan's office and turned left down the hallway, the sun streamed brightly through the large "floor-to-ceiling" windows.

She felt the excitement build as she got closer to his office. Johnathan hated surprises but, she knew he'd be happy about this one.

He had promised some quality time together but couldn't seem to tear himself away from the office. Cassandra tried to be understanding and supportive of his career.

It made sense that he would be stressed, but she wasn't too happy about the lack of time he was putting into their relationship and wished that Johnathan could let go enough to have fun and unwind with her.

As she entered his office, she sailed past his assistant, Ashley's, empty desk because, as usual, she was not there.

She was probably off gossiping in a corner somewhere with her stuck-up co-workers.

For all she knew, Ashley probably talked badly about her behind her back, but she didn't care because today was going to be a good day, and nothing was going to ruin her mood!

Stopping outside the door to Johnathan's office, Cassandra could hear voices coming from inside, and after carefully listening, she recognised them as Ashley's and Johnathan's.

They must probably be busy discussing something important, Cassandra thought.

Taking a deep breath, she lightly knocked on the frosted glass door, but no response came back except the sound of laughter. She wanted to knock again but decided against it and entered his office without his permission.

Her breath caught in her throat at what she saw there.

Perched on Johnathan's desk entangled in his shirtless arms was a half-naked Ashley. Judging by the grins on both their faces, they both looked happy with what they were doing.

Cassandra watched as Ashley pulled open the front of Johnathan's shirt, exposing more of his bare chest which instantly made the blood leave Cassandra's face.

There stood Johnathan wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and his white shirt. Johnathan himself was oblivious to Cassandra as a satisfied smile spread across Ashley's lips as she pushed her tongue into Johnathan's mouth.

His mouth moved hungrily over hers as if he never intended to stop for even a moment, making her arch underneath him, moaning.

Seeing the sight before her, Cassandra felt sick to her stomach. A tear slipped down her cheek.

Ashley wrapped her legs tightly around Johnathan's waist, as he nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck, and let his hands roam freely and unceremoniously over her body.

It looked so wrong, and Cassandra's heart was breaking with every touch.

This wasn't how the afternoon was supposed to end for them.

They should have been having lunch now.

Even though the image before her was slowly eating away at her, she couldn't turn her eyes away. She could only stand there and stare dumbfounded.

Feeling the lump that filled her throat, threatening to make its way into her mouth, Cassandra swallowed hard and tried to push down her rising bile.

She couldn't believe this was happening.

Why was this happening?

It felt as though the entire world had suddenly gone black all around her.

As her whole body shook, Cassandra unconsciously dropped the bag of food onto the floor. Hearing the noise, Ashley looked up and saw Cassandra standing there. Without much thought, Ashley immediately broke away from Johnathan.

She pulled herself away from Johnathan and jumped down from his desk when she met eyes with Cassandra. She looked just as shocked as Cassandra.

Wondering why Ashley stopped, Johnathan turned around to find Cassandra looking at him. Instantly, a look of horror plastered all over his face.

He was staring at her with his mouth hung open. For what seemed like hours, all they did was stare at each other until Johnathan finally managed to form words.

"I can explain," Johnathan said calmly, though he looked equally flustered and embarrassed.

His chest rose and fell rapidly; as he tried to calm down from his arousal.

He quickly sat upright, trying to pull up his shirt, while Ashley gathered her blouse from the floor and slowly walked out the door.

He took in Cassandra's frozen expression, her wide eyes filled with shock, disbelief, and most of all, betrayal.

"It's not what it looks like!" Johnathan blurted out as he walked toward Cassandra. It was the typical clichéd response from a cheater that had just been caught in the act.

It took every ounce of Cassandra's willpower to keep herself in check as a sob threatened to escape her mouth.

"I should have known," Cassandra said, feeling her anger rising fast as more tears escaped.

As Johnathan drew close to Cassandra and reached out for her, suddenly and without warning, she came out of her shocked state and instinctively cocked her arm back and slapped him across his flushed face.

"You cheating bastard! You can go screw yourself!"

Johnathan took a few steps back and stood in shocked silence as he rubbed his jaw where Cassandra had just struck him.

"You are a filthy, classless, bastard and I never want to lay eyes on you again!" she blurted out angrily.

"But Cassie,"- Johnathan pleaded but was quickly cut off.

"Don't call me Cassie. In fact, don't call me ever again!" Cassandra yelled through her tears as they streaked down her face. "I never want to see you again!"

As she wiped furiously at her cheeks with the sleeves of her sweater, she turned away and left the room without another word, slamming the door shut behind her and making her way back out into the hallway.

Cassandra could hear Johnathan behind her calling out her name, "Cassie?... Cassandra?... Come back, and let's talk about this!"

But she didn't turn back, and he stood there at the door, staring after her.

Johnathan watched after Cassandra left, unable to move from his spot as the realisation of what happened weighed heavy on him.

While Johnathan slowly lowered himself into a crouch against his door frame, Cassandra was already storming past Ashley's desk.

But, just a few feet away, Cassandra stopped and turned back to Ashley, who was now seated and silent. Her face flushed from the passionate embrace she had shared with Johnathan just a few moments ago.

With cold, unfeeling eyes, she said, "Oh, by the way, I hope you enjoyed my sloppy seconds because all you will ever be is somebody's side piece.

"You're nothing but a no-good, worthless whore!" and with that, she ran toward the elevators.

Tbc