Page 2 of Rise & Fall

“Right there, Ash. Harder.”

I’m so shocked, I can’t compel myself to move away from the horror in front of me. He’s rough with her. I never got this side of him. Hell, we’d hardly slept together even after he proposed; our sex life wasn’t the best. And I’ll admit, that falls mostly on me. I never felt the connection I was hoping for after he gave me the ring. The ring that I’m currently twisting on my finger right now as he fucks some random chick in the same bed we used to share every night.

Just because I had to move fifteen-hundred miles away and our sex life was mediocre at best, that doesn’t warrant the right to sleep around with someone else. Would he really do this to me?

Bitch! Wake up! His dick is literally inside some slippery skank right now.

My internal monologue paired with the sound of skin slapping snaps me out of my unwanted trance.

Then laughter, from both of them. I can tell that they’re enjoying each other’s company.He never laughed like that with me.

Regret and shame color my expression as I try to will myself not to panic. Even though that’s exactly what my body seems to focus on.

The pain starts to sting its way to my eyes, but I blink the unwelcomed tears away as I try to understand where it all went wrong. I knew deep down that I always felt more mature than him, but I just figured that was because I had to grow up a little faster than he had to.

But I can’t keep lying to myself, things never really felt one hundred percentrightwith him. I was always wanting more, searching for that ground-breaking, soul-shattering love.

“Asher?” I whisper but they don’t hear me.

I don’t know if I’m shaking because I’m angry or becauseI’mthe one nervous to get caught, which is a crazy thought considering he has no idea that I’m here right now.

So, I wiggle myself into the room before deciding to slam the door behind me.

Thatgets their attention.

“Dakota?” Asher stammers as he slides out of his mistress, sweat dripping off both of them. She’s blonde, with fake tits and fake lips. Which, to each their own, but we look nothing alike.Is this the kind of woman he’s attracted to?

She just stares at me, not wavering or confused in the way that I am.

“What the fuck, Asher? Are you serious?” I shout, but not too loud. I don’t want my emotions to hit me until I’m out of here, so he can’t see me fall apart.

“Oh, Boo bear. This isn’t what it looks like.” I blink back the humiliation I feel crawl all over my skin as I think to myself,the audacity of this motherfucker.

He moves off the bed slightly, and my stomach drops to the floor. The view displayed in front of me eviscerates any ounce of affection I once had for this man.

“Your dick in her ass isn’t what it looks like? Then do tell, what does a butt-fuck look like if not that?” I wave my hands at his scarlet woman, who twists a lock of her blonde hair around her finger with a look of inconvenience painted on her face, as ifI’mthe one who is ruining everything.

Asher looks between me and the chick he’s still halfway hovering over, one leg grounded on the floor as his other knee leans on the mattress. That’s when I realize themultiplecondom wrappers on the floor.

How long have they been doing this?

How many times other than this?

“You know what, never mind. I don’t want to hear anything come out of that disgusting, unfaithful mouth of yours. You can get back to your fuck-fest.”

I tear the two-hundred dollar silver band off my finger. Price never mattered to me,hedid. But I wasn’t given the same. I mean nothing to him and suddenly two-hundred dollars seems like a rip-off. Especially when he spent more than that for the party where he produced the damn thing.

I throw the meaningless scrap of metal at him, and of course it would land right in the naked lap of the bored blonde, who gives me a bitchy smirk.

“Come on, Boo. Let me explain. We can talk this through.” He removes his knee from the bed, reaches over and snatches up the ring.

“Like I tried talking to you for the last two weeks? The unanswered phone calls, the texts you’ve read but never responded to?” I turn to leave the room, opening the door with such force that it slams back against the wall.

Asher trips trying to follow me, and I want to laugh, but this isnotfunny.

I reach the front door, abhorrence coursing through my veins at the sheer betrayal that I’ve walked into.

“Wait,” he says, and I hear a slight pang of remorse coat his tone.