Read Online Private Affairs by Jasmine Garner - Free Book Online

no good. He cheated, he got caught, and he refuses to admit to it. Hearing him confess would break my heart all over again, but at least I’d finally get the truth. I could even see myself forgiving him. But he won't admit anything. I caught him in the act , and he still won't budge.”
    “Was it just the one time?”
    “He says it never happened at all; I don’t even want to think about him doing it more than once.”
    “Is that why you’re not into Steven? Because of this other guy?”
    I nodded.
    “Can you ever see yourself happy without him?” she asked.
    I shrugged and reached for my drink again, taking a small sip.
    “I cheated once,” Amira said after a pause.
    I turned and looked at her wide eyed. She took a long drink of her beer.
    “To this day, I couldn’t tell you why. I wasn’t bored in my relationship and our sex life was hot. An interesting man approached me one day… and I just did it. Ruined the best relationship I ever had.”
    “Wow.”
    “He forgave me, but we broke up about a year later anyway. I had no reason to cheat, and no reason not to. I felt guilty, but not guilty enough to never do it again. But once he forgave me, I made the choice not to do it again. Do you think he would do it again?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t think so. But I just can't get over it.”
    “You should. He’s held power over you all this time, and you two weren’t even together. Even if you don’t get back with him, you need to let it go. And if he someday decides to own up to his mistake and apologize, you can make a rational decision about the next step now that the anger won’t be in the way.”
    I smiled. “Thanks, girl.”
    Even though Kevin would be my best friend for life, there was nothing like getting advice from another woman.
    “You’re welcome. And since it’s your turn to pay for happy hour, I’m ordering another couple of drinks.”
    I laughed as she waved down the bartender. She ordered a cocktail, and I went back to my Shirley Temples. Dropping the alcohol was the first step to getting me back on track.

 
    6
    I felt afraid to enter my own house. After leaving the bar, I sat out in my car, staring at the illumination coming through the windows of my house. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Kevin because I knew what he would say. I turned up the radio and sat back. Once the lights in the living room turned off an hour later, I got out of the car and snuck inside, locking myself in my room.
    I left for work early the next day to avoid him, but I couldn’t avoid him when I came back home.
    He watched me enter the house, arms crossed. “I saw your car outside last night, dummy. I know you’re avoiding me.”
    I shrugged. “I don’t need to explain anything to you.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me your mother was sick?”
    “Because I don’t want to talk about it.”
    During high school, Kevin and I always hung out at my house after school ended. Since my mother was never home, we had free range to do whatever we wanted- party, smoke, or whatever. Not that it mattered if she was there or not. She wouldn’t care what we were doing either way.
    “Look, I like Ann just as much as you do. But she’s your mother. You don’t want to make a decision you’ll regret. Because if she… dies before you make up your mind, you’ll never have a chance to make things right.”
    I scoffed. “I don’t have any obligation to make things right with her; I didn’t do anything wrong!”
    My face heated up as I listened to my best friend defend her. He was the first- and only- person I called when I caught Ann and Wes. He saw what it did to me, how devastated I was. He spent just as much time around her than I did. He knew what a shitty person she was. But he was defending her.
    I shook my head. “I’m not going to listen to you make me seem like the bad guy. And I don’t want to talk about this. If you’re so worried about easing my mother’s death-bed guilt, you can go fucking see her