Read Online Exposed: A Novel by Ashley Weis - Free Book Online Page A

watched him inhale the cereal. The spoon clanked against his teeth and milk dripped down his chin. I never noticed how loud he chewed before.
    I stood and walked through the glass doors into our dining room. Jessie’s computer screen laughed at me.
    I imagined going out with him tonight and hoped for the energy to smile. Just as long as our waitress wasn’t a blonde with perfect curves, I’d be okay.
    Footsteps tapped behind me, then stopped. Jessie’s arms wrapped around me. The warmth of his neck heated mine. Flesh to flesh, I cringed inside. The sound of his breath, his chest rising and falling against my back, I couldn’t take it.
    My own marriage suffocated me, stealing my breath with every thought of the past, of what we were supposed to be, not what we’d become.
    I pulled away and headed for the shower.
    As I opened the bathroom door a familiar smile enticed me. I closed my eyes. There, on the backs of my eyelids I saw him. Sean Kensington. High school sweetheart. First date. Prom date. Best friend, all those years, until Jessie. He would’ve taken care of me, unlike Jessie. He wouldn’t have lied. He adored me, everything about me. Brown hair and all.
    Maybe I married the wrong person.
    I turned the faucet in the bathtub. I knew I shouldn’t, but I allowed thoughts of Sean to entertain me. Water gushed and swirled around the tub. I turned and looked in the mirror. My eyes, my hair—Jessie made me hate it all. But Sean. . . .
    Sean adored me.
    Jessie opened the door to our favorite restaurant and I walked inside, scanning the room for blonde women.
    Coast clear.
    His hand reached for mine. I put my hand in my pocket.
    “How many?” The coal-haired hostess said.
    “Two,” Jessie said.
    She handed us a pager with flashing red lights. “It’ll be about twenty minutes.”
    Jessie led me to the other side of the room and we sat down on a bench. His eyes were on me. My eyes were on my shoes.
    “You okay?” Jessie said, brushing my hair behind my ear.
    I nodded.
    Laughing people mocked our silence. How I wanted to laugh. I looked at Jessie. He snapped his head, quick. My heart plummeted. I looked across the room and saw her straight blonde hair soft on her shoulders, curves in all the right places, model height. Jessie’s eyes were on me. Mine were on the girl I caught him staring at. This can’t be happening, I thought. “Were you staring at her?”
    “Who?”
    I pointed and watched his eyes scan the girl’s body.
    “No, I wasn’t.”
    “When did you turn into such a liar?” I said loud enough to slice the laugher in the room.
    People stared. My hands trembled. I shook my head, scrunching my face to avoid tears. Then I stood and walked out. He followed and tugged my arm. I shrugged him away and jogged across the parking lot. Clammy June air dried my cheeks. I could almost smell the salty Chesapeake Bay. Jessie jogged behind me. A gamut of beautiful memories clung to my mind. Our memories. Our past. Out of breath, I stopped beside the car and turned to him.
    His eyes moved back and forth across my face. “Please. Don’t do this.”
    “Don’t lie to me. Were you looking at her?”
    His shoulders dropped.
    Another tear trailed my nose. “Were you attracted to her?”
    “Don’t ask me something like that.”
    “Tell me.”
    “Yes. I was attracted to her, okay? I didn’t mean to look at her. She just caught my eye and you happened to look at me right when I saw her. I didn’t stare at her like you think.”
    “Why am I not enough to keep your attention?” I opened the car door, sat down, and slammed the door in his face. The car shuddered.
    He walked around the car, head down, and sat in the driver’s seat. “You can’t expect me to not see people, Ally.”
    I stared out the window, avoiding everything about him. “I want to go home.”
    “But—”
    “Now.”
    Jessie pulled into the garage. I jumped out before he turned the car off. My knees weakened. My pulse felt non-existent, yet