The Price of Betrayal

Piper This is it, I thought to myself as I drove home. My husband had texted me to say he missed me. I smiled, remembering getting the text while I was at a seminar about acquisitions and the potential in flipping houses. It was supposed to be four days long, but it ended a day early. The drive from Provo, Utah, to Layton, Utah, was only an hour. But with traffic, it could be a lot longer than that. So instead of fighting it every day, I just stayed at my best friend Mia’s house. She lives in Lehi, and it was only a fifteen-minute drive to the seminar. I told Mia I was going home to surprise Craig. She nodded, giving me a look. I smiled, like everything was okay. I got cheeseburgers, fries, and chocolate shakes from Sam’s, Craig's favorite diner. Getting the text had been a surprise. Craig has been distant over the last year. He’s been working constantly. Conversations had become shorter. He was always on his phone. And we haven’t made love in four months. He’s been on three business trips, and he says he’s always tired. He was only 30, I was 28. s*x should still be a priority in our marriage. We’ve only been married for 5 years. I met Craig at a coffee shop. I was studying for my real estate license, and he came into the coffee shop to get an order for the office. He asked if he could sit at my table to wait for his order, and since the place was packed, I agreed. He worked for Williams Financial. At the time, he was learning the ropes from his father before taking over the business. Now he was the Ceo. We had a comfortable life. Lived in a four-bedroom, five-bath, two-story house. Craig had it built during our first year of marriage, while we lived in my two-bedroom apartment in Ogden. Last year, his dad died of a massive heart attack, his mother basically split to live her life on a cruise ship, so it was just us. And although this past year has been difficult, I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. It started raining a mile from the house. I grimaced because I was still in my heels, and my feet were going to get soaked. I didn’t have an umbrella. I looked at my bag in the back seat. I’ll just get it in the morning instead of coming back out in this weather after bringing the food in. I pulled into my driveway, grabbed the food and my purse, and ran to the front door. Before I could get my keys out, I noticed the door wasn’t latched all the way. I pushed it open. I heard low music as I stepped inside and shut the door. I shook myself out a little and put the food on the coffee table in the living room. The music was coming from upstairs. “Craig?” I called out. I didn’t get an answer. I turned to the kitchen to get a dish towel to dry my hands and face off, and stopped dead. There were two wine glasses on the kitchen table. One of them had a red lipstick stain on the rim. I blinked, trying to process what I was seeing. Suddenly, I heard a muffled thump from upstairs, followed by laughter. It wasn’t Craig’s laugh either, no, this laugh was distinctly feminine. Then I heard a groan. My pulse started racing as I turned and slowly started up the stairs. My right hand was gripping the banister as I took quiet steps. A low moan came to my ears, and then a rhythmic thump started, and I could hear the creak of the bed as I walked closer to my room. Every step felt unreal. I could see light spilling out from the partially open door. I stopped outside it. I heard Craig’s voice. Low, intimate. “You feel so good,” he said. I closed my eyes. I pushed the door open and saw exactly what I expected. Craig is thrusting into a red-headed woman. Her legs wrapped around him, and his fist was in her hair as he kissed her passionately. “Missed me so much, you fell into the closest willing p***y, huh?” I said. I had no idea why that was what came out of my mouth. Craig’s head snapped up, and the woman’s head looked to the side and up at me. She gasped. “Piper,” Craig whispered. Then he scrambled off of her. I saw he wasn’t using a condom, and I grimaced. Great, now I need an STI screening. Of course, catching him cheating, I was getting one anyway. The woman had the decency to cover up as she sat up. She lowered her eyes like she was ashamed. She deserves an Oscar. Craig put his hands over his junk, like I hadn’t seen it a million times before. “Baby, I can explain,” he started to say. “Baby? Oh, no, no, no. You lost the right to call me baby, the moment you brought another woman into my house!” I snapped. “This isn’t what it looks like,” he started again as he grabbed his underwear and started to put them on. My eyes were surely bugging out at that line. Was he f*****g serious right now? I looked at the redhead. She looked horrified, actually horrified. I couldn’t be mad at her. She didn’t owe me anything. She wasn’t married to me. “I’m going to go,” she choked out and started to move. “Don’t move,” Craig snapped. Don’t move? Like she belonged here? “Excuse me,” I said. “You weren’t supposed to be home tonight.” “Well, sorry for ruining your evening.” I looked at the woman. Her eyes were huge. “She’s a friend who came over, and we got to drinking, and we drank too much. I made a mistake.” “Oh my God,” I said with a laugh. It was either that or start crying, and I was not going to cry in front of them. “Piper, please,” he said, moving towards me, hands outstretched. I stepped back. He stopped and looked shocked that I would step back from him. “No, you don’t get to touch me, not after having your hands all over her,” I said, pointing at the redhead who flinched. “Let’s just talk,” he started, and I snorted. “Talk? You were naked in our bed with another woman. There is nothing to talk about.” “Babe, please, it was an accident.” I scoffed, “Are you really going with the 'I accidentally fell and tripped’ defense?” “Piper, you don’t have to be sarcastic. We can talk calmly about this.” I snarled at him. The woman got off the bed. “I’m leaving,” she said. “NO! You stay right there,” I snapped. They both froze. Both of them were looking at me like I was about to go all crazy on them. “What’s your name?” I asked her. “Jessyca, with a y.” “Cute. Did he tell you he was married?” I asked. Jessyca looked at Craig. I saw the answer on both of their faces. “He didn’t, did he? How long has this been going on?” “Four months,” Jessyca said. “Jessyca, shut up,” Craig hissed. She snapped her mouth shut. “You told her you were single?” “It wasn’t like that,” he said. “I’ve been hurting and I just…” “You lying bastard,” I said through clenched teeth. “Piper.” “NO!” The anger in me rose almost to my breaking point. I was pissed, hurt, and humiliated. Seeing him cheating with my own eyes was burned into my brain. “Do you love each other? Is that it?” Silence met my question. I chuckled. “Awesome.” “I love you, too,” Craig said. “Oh, blow it out your ass, Craig,” I said. I was f*****g done. I walked all the way into the room, went to the closet, opened our safe, and took out my birth certificate, Social Security card, and passport. I also took the $5000 we had in there. “What are you doing?” Craig asked, panicking. “I’m taking what’s mine. That bed and those sheets cost $5000. This is my compensation, and the fee for my attorney.” “Piper, don’t leave.” “I’m not staying, Craig,” I said. I looked at him. He had the audacity to look devastated. His blonde hair and blue eyes were wild. “We can fix this,” he said. “You touched another woman, Craig, no, we can’t.” I walked past him and left the room. His voice, shouting my name, was drowned out by the buzzing in my ears. I grabbed my purse, the food, and shakes because there was no way I was letting them eat this delicious food. It was all mine. I slammed out of the house and made it to my car. I looked at a pink Mercedes that was parked across the street and smirked. Asshole. I started my car, and as soon as my phone connected to it, I pressed the call button on my steering wheel and called Mia. I put the car in reverse, slammed my foot on the accelerator, shifted into drive, and drove off.