Chapter One

What the freaking hell?

I stood in the doorway and stared. This had to be a nightmare. A bad dream. There was no possible way this could be real. He wouldn't do this to me. He couldn't do this to me! And yet, there he was...

Banging the waitress.

While I looked on in horror.

I didn't know what to do. I had been so excited about the phone call for the most amazing job ever that I had literally ran the four blocks to Chad's apartment, the one I had a drawer and part of the closet at, to tell him the good news.

I had ignored the locked door and the strange sounds I heard inside, my excitement and eagerness at telling the news to my soon-to-be fiancé overriding everything. Well, now ex-soon-to-be fiancé.

She moaned, arching her back and flipping her bleach blonde hair around as he railed her from behind. They were both so busy cheating that neither one had heard the front door open. I had no idea what to do next.

Do I knock on the bedroom door and ask politely what was going on? Did I turn around and leave? Come back later after breakfast? This wasn't exactly something polite manners of society covered. So, I did the first thing that popped into my head.

I threw a lamp at them.

Glass shattered above the headboard. I hated that lamp anyway. The ugly off-white lampshade hit Chad in the head and I smiled. It had been a split second decision not to throw it directly at him, so I was glad something had at least hit him. The two illicit lovers froze mid pump, both of them turning at the same moment to see where the flying lamp had come from.

“You don't find her that hot, huh?” I asked, looking Chad in the eye. He at least had the decency to blush. He had, after all, told me several times that there was nothing going on between him and Charity. Nothing. They were just friends. He tipped her well because she was nice, not because she had a big rack.

“Ava, I can explain. It's not what it looks like...” he started, grabbing a pillow to cover himself. Charity scampered away from Chad, trying to wrap herself up in the tangled sheets and disappear. It didn't work very well.

I laughed, but it was more to keep from sobbing than actually finding the situation amusing. “It looks like you're banging the hot waitress two weeks before we were going to go look at rings. I'm not quite sure how it can look like anything else.”

Chad scrambled off the bed. I used to like the way he looked, but today I couldn't stand him. He worked out regularly and had a great body. Nice arms, a great chest, the beginnings of a six-pack, but skinny chicken legs. The man really needed to not skip leg day.

“We're done, Chad,” I stated, backing away. I was really proud that my voice didn't waver, even if tears were running down my face. “We're done.”

“Ava, please,” Chad begged, stuffing his legs into a pair of pants as I backed out of the room.

“I'll have someone come get my things.” I looked over at Charity. She had made herself as small in the bed as humanly possible. I shook my head and considered throwing another lamp.

Suddenly I saw things in a new light. This wasn't the first time they had done this. Chad had missed too many breakfast meetings, explained away strange clothes in his apartment-- had I actually believed that those panties were his sister's? And I had believed him. I had believed every lying word. I was so stupid.

“Ava, please don't do this,” Chad implored, struggling with the denim.

“Don't do what, Chad?” I snapped. “Cheat on you, all while pretending to want to marry you? Oh wait, you did that. I didn't do anything.”

“Please let me explain.” He held out his hands, asking me to just stay for a moment. “We're meant to be together.”

I wanted to hit him so bad. I wanted to wind up and just clock him in his square jaw or break his handsome nose. I had thought I was so special because Chad Malin, the old high school quarterback and popular kid, liked me. Dated me. Had talked about going to look at wedding rings so he would know what style I liked. I had wondered how someone like him, someone who could have any girl in town, had picked me.

Now I knew. He hadn't picked me.

“Explain? You want to explain why you're wearing your new girlfriend's jeans?”

He looked down at his new skinny jeans with pink stitching and cursed. I turned to leave, but he caught my hand. Again, I nearly slugged him. The last person in the entire world I wanted touching me was that slime-ball. I wrenched my wrist out of his grasp, leaving him grasping at thin air.

“Ava, baby...” He flashed me his trademark smile, the one that had made me weak in the knees just yesterday. Now I saw how fake it was. How fake he was. “Baby, we have plans. We're going places...”

“Yup,” I interrupted. “I'm going away from you.”

With that, I turned and stormed out of the house.

He didn't try and follow me.

***

Please, baby. You're never going to do better than me.

You're just mad. You never respond well when I do something you don't like. Don't be this way.

Come on Ava, what are your friends going to say?

Delete text message, delete text message, delete text message. I thought about calling my phone company and asking them to block his number, but that seemed like effort and I just didn't have the energy right now.

I sat on the floor and stared at the blank spot on my wall where a picture of Chad and I used to hang. The only sign that something had ever been there was the small hole where the tack had been to hold the frame. Other than that, it was as if the two of us had never existed.

The frame now lay empty on my desk, the picture torn to tiny shreds in the bottom of my waste basket. It had felt good to destroy something, but ruining the picture had only taken moments and then the desolation set back in. I had destroyed as many pictures as I could get my hands on.

He cheated.

I couldn't understand how it had happened. Two days ago, we were planning a trip down to the city to look for rings. Now, I was picking up everything he had ever given me, which was actually surprisingly little, and putting it out on the curb. I couldn't believe that he had betrayed me. With Charity.

“Ava? You in there?” Dad asked, knocking gently on my bedroom door. I sighed and wiped fresh tears off my cheeks.

“Yeah, come on in.”

The door slowly opened and my dad peeked his head inside. He was a big man, but the way he chewed his lip made him look like a small boy. I knew he had heard me crying and had come to investigate. The downside to still living with my father instead of having my own place.

“What's wrong, sweetie?” he asked, sitting down at my desk. He ran a big hand through his graying hair and studied me. “Who do I need to go kill for my baby girl?”

I almost smiled. “Chad.”

“Done. He's a dead man,” Dad announced. When I didn't respond, he leaned forward, his glasses catching the last of the day's light. “What happened? You two have a fight?”

“I caught him cheating.” The words were fire in my mouth. Each one burned just a little bit more.

Dad stayed silent for a moment before leaving the chair to join me on the floor. “I'm sorry, Ava. I really am.” I could tell he was fighting the impulse to go bury Chad.

“It was with Charity.”

“The waitress?” He frowned, tightening his fists and looking dangerous. Then he just looked tired. “That explains why he always insisted we eat there. I hate that restaurant. They never put enough salt on the fries.”

“I can't believe I was so stupid...”

“No, no, Ava,” Dad scolded me gently. He put his arm around me. I felt a little bit better. At least I had one man in my life I could depend on. “He's the stupid one. I can't say that I ever particularly liked him, but I knew how you felt about him. I'll fire him first thing in the morning.”

“You can't, Dad,” I informed him. I wished to heaven he could. I wanted that son-of-a-bitch as far away from me as possible. I groaned. I was going to have to see him at work. “He hasn't done anything wrong as far as his job goes.”

“I'll ask your aunt. Heaven knows she can find fault in anything,” Dad offered. He gave me a squeeze.

“She won't do it,” I told him, wishing he could just squeeze the ache out of me. “He's her best auctioneer. Especially with the job coming up, she won't do it.”

Dad sighed. He knew I was right. Up until now, Chad and I had been the perfect couple to take over the business when Dad and Aunt Jenny retired. Not any more. Everything I had planned on was now gone. I had no idea what was going to happen next.

“So, I'm not allowed to commit murder, and you won't let me fire him...” Dad mused, trying to make me smile. “Can I at least demote him to a crappy desk?”

I gave my best approximation of a laugh. “The smallest one. Away from the window.”

“Done,” Dad promised. I sniffled and he wrapped his other arm around me. “I wish I could make you feel better. I hate seeing you upset.”

“I'm still tempted on letting you murder him,” I replied. He chuckled and I rested my head against his big chest. “It's not fair, Dad. I had such good news and now it's all ruined.”

“You can tell me the good news,” he offered.

I fiddled with a strand of hair, playing with the dark red tress like a toy. Dad had once claimed the same shade, but now his was a distinguished silver. I sighed. Maybe telling Dad the good news would make me feel better, or at least distract me from the soul crushing betrayal that had me pinned to the floor.

“I got a phone call at the office today,” I started. Dad nodded. He and his sister were the proud owners of Fairchild Auctions and Appraisals. Dad and I did all the appraisals while my aunt handled the auction side. “It was from Sebastian Belrose's assistant.”

“Sebastian Belrose? One of the guys who run the Kindling Romance dating website?” Dad asked, sounding a little awestruck.

“Yeah,” I answered. “How do you know who he is?”

“Just because I deal in antiques doesn't mean I don't know what is going on in the modern world,” he justified. “I actually saw his name in the financial section of the paper this morning. What did he want?”

I wiped at my nose. This was good news, not news that I should cry about. “He wants to hire us.”

Dad's eyes went wide with excitement. “That's fantastic!” Then he remembered why I was sitting on the floor crying and tamped his enthusiasm down a little. “And you went to go tell Chad?”

I nodded, a fresh wave of tears rolling down my face. “I was going to tell him that Mr. Belrose hired us to appraise his mansion in the Caribbean and to put it up for auction. It's the biggest job we've ever gotten,” I said, still sobbing.

“Oh, sweetie, that's great” Dad whispered, hugging me close. “When does he want us to go?”

“Dad!” I wailed.

“Sorry, sorry,” he quickly apologized. “You breaking up with your boyfriend takes precedence. Sorry.”

He let me sob for awhile, just holding me and letting me get it out of my system. I knew he hated it when I cried, but I couldn't stop. I hadn't been enough for Chad and it made even my bones hurt.

“You going to be okay?” Dad asked when I finally stopped gasping for air. He brushed the hair out of my face and looked me over, checking my face for cracks like I was a valuable vase someone had dropped.

“No,” I said shaking my head. “But you and I will be going to the Caribbean in two months, so that will probably help. Mr. Belrose, or rather his assistant, will be sending all the details tomorrow, but you and I will go out and appraise everything in the house and then Aunt Jenny will run the auction.”

Dad grinned and then promptly tried to cover it up. He hugged me tight, nearly squishing all the remaining air from my lungs. I let him. This was the job that would save our business. He deserved to be happy for a moment, especially given everything that had happened in the past five years.

“It will work out, sweetie,” Dad promised. “Things always do.”