Page 2 of Unmasking You

I’m in a vicious cycle I can’t seem to shake myself out of.

“Ruby, where are you when I need you the most?” I say to the empty room.

“I was very busy making the most of my honeymoon.”

I spin around with a scream, hand on my heart to avoid it coming out of my chest, and if not for the fridge door keeping me upright, I would have ended up on my arse. When I get a glimpse of Ruby’s suggestive face, I’m reminded of the wicked things IwishI was doing but I’m not.

You know why.I ignore the thought. I don’t want to go there… ever. Instead, I concentrate on my bestie.

“Stop doing that,” I say with a stern face, that morphs into a smile before we embrace as if we haven’t seen each other in a long, long time, instead of just the two weeks she was having fun between the sheets with her new husband. Second honeymoon, they called it.

“How are you?”

“Messed up.”

“I’m sorry, babe. With all the men walking the planet, you just had to find him in your path.”

“Just my luck,” I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“When are we going to kick his backside?”

“Don’t tempt me. But we both know he would probably kick mine.” I glance at her, surprised by her new behaviour. “Since when is itbacksideand notarse?”

“Since I’ve married a rich-as-fuck man,” she says, looking at the tall man who walks in behind her.

“Babe, I married you for that faulty mouth of yours.” Her husband laughs as he wraps his arms around her waist.

“I love you too, babe,” Ruby says to her handsome husband, making me more than a little jealous inside.

“I’m very happy for you two, but please, don’t rub it in.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it,” Ruby’s husband announces. “I have things to take care of in the office.”

“Bye baby,” Ruby says to him while planting a heated kiss on his lips.

How good would it be to have someone love me that much? As if it’s ever going to happen for me. I only meet people like Shane, and my last encounter with him really opened my eyes and crushed my dreams of someday meeting a unicorn. One who could have helped me forget my past. Someone to give me a chance to see the future I’d imagined so many times before it was taken away from me.

I pull things out of the fridge and place them on the counter. I need to keep busy, and baking is what helps me calm down.

“What are you doing?” Ruby’s voice penetrates the fog of doubt eating at my soul.

“Baking.”

“Oh, babe.”

Her voice nearly breaks me, but I concentrate on whatever I have in front of me and lose myself in the familiar steps that will soothe me, at least for a while.

I shake my head, knowing she’ll understand I’m not ready to talk and just need to work through my feelings.

“Tell me about your honeymoon. I want every detail.” As she opens her mouth, I stop her because I know she shares too much. “While your other half is hot, I’m not interested in your bedroom activities.”

“So, my honeymoon?”

I listen with one ear while she talks about the island they spent two months on. Jealousy rears its ugly head when she talks about how much Liam took care of her. It disappears, though, when I glance at her and spot her beautiful face sparkling with joy. She deserves that. She deserves to have a man who’s wrapped around her little finger.

And what do you deserve?

“Then we had sex while suspended from the ceiling.”

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