Page 109 of Puck with Karma
Abigail: I can’t believe you’d kiss Mallory right in front of me like that
I instantly see red when I read the message. With unfocused eyes, it takes three attempts to have one decent message back.
Xander: I can’t believe you’d just flaunt your fiancé in front of the world after you let me fuck you for weeks!
I slam the phone, screen down, on the hard mattress of the hospital bed. It feels unsatisfying when it doesn’t make a sound.
“Fuck,” I growl into the small space, forgetting that I’m not alone in here.
“Maybe you should just call her.” Bridget’s amused tone reaches my ears.
I grab my phone, ready to do just that.
“But maybe wait until the doctor is done with you…”
I already have the phone to my ear, willing Abby to answer faster so I can unleash my anger on her.
“Or not,” Bridget murmurs and walks away. “I’ll be right back,” she assures me just as Abby answers. I jump right into it, no time or patience for small talk.
“You have some nerve!” My voice cracks a little. “You fuck with my head to the point where I can’t think straight! You makeme out to be the man you’re cheating on that fucker with! I can’t believe that’s who you’re marrying!”
There is no sound coming out of Abby, so I continue until I can’t breathe anymore.
“How do you know Wesley?” she asks when I pause and try to focus.
It takes me a few seconds to process what she just asked. And it doesn’t even make any damn sense. What or who is she talking about?
“Who the fuck is Wesley, Abigail?”
I can hear a faint gasp of shock, but I’m not sure since my head feels weird now, an effect of whatever meds they pumped into me, I’m sure. I can barely hear her when she speaks.
“Xander, who are you talking about when you sayfiancé?”
It’s like she is fucking with me now.
“Brandon motherfuckin’ Karlsberg. And you better tell me that Wesley is his middle name, and you’re not fucking over yet another person!”
What she says next has got to be some sort of a hallucination.
“Brandon is my brother.”
I shake my head a couple of times, trying to clear the cobwebs now taking residence. I am having difficulty processing her words, so I repeat them back to her.
“Brandon Karlsberg is your brother.”
She sounds excited when she confirms that I understood correctly. “Yes!”
What she’s saying still doesn’t make any sense, and I am not that far gone where I forget what she said only moments ago.
“Who is your fiancé then? This Wesley character?”
I think I am about to have a stroke. That is the only explanation I can come up with, because I don’t understand how I found myself in this fucking mess. It’s like the woman I fell in love with never existed. Here I thought she was cheating onme with Karlsberg, or rather that she was cheating on Karlsberg with me, when in fact, there’s another man. One I never knew about.
“Wesley is the man I dated before I came to Minnesota,” Abby explains softly. “He and I decided that we were not right for each other. That was before I left Boston.”
I met heraftershe left Boston, obviously, so…
“How are you engaged then?”
