“Well he didn’t seem to have lost his tongue yesterday. I can vouch for that.”
I dropped her hand.
Up until that point I had been prepared to give Heath the benefit of the doubt. Being the girlfriend of the lead singer of a band meant you had to tolerate a certain amount of bad behavior from the girls who wanted to get their hands on him. I accepted that. But this? This was beyond bad behavior.
It was glaringly obvious that Heath and this girl had done something together the day before which had involved drinking and tongues. Just because I was naïve with a lot of things, didn’t make me stupid.
“I think you’d better go now,” Piper snapped. All four-foot nothing of her stepped between the girl and me. And when she didn’t move, Piper glared up at her ready to strike. “What? All that fake tan make you deaf? Get the fuck out of here!”
With another smoldering look at Heath the she-devil in the blue dress sauntered off, throwing a smug backwards glance at me.
My face was stiff, my throat cold and I was unable to swallow. Piper shot a murderous look in Heath’s direction. She took my hand. “Are you okay?”
I had no words because my heart had vomited itself into my throat.
“Don’t let it bother you, Harlow. She’s lying. Girls like that like to cause trouble.” She shot another stare-of-death at Heath and warned, “She’d better be lying!”
For the first time since Mia had appeared Heath met my eyes. And I knew. Right then. I knew.
“But she’s not lying, is she Heath,” I said in a strange alien voice.
His lack of denial was like a slap on my cheek. Heath had been with her the day before.
I was mindful of where we were. That being in the middle of a music festival was no place to have the confrontation we were about to have. Despite my growing realization and my hurt, I was still capable of thinking rationally and knew I had to get out of there.
“Baby—” He reached for me but I pushed his hand away.
“Tell me she’s lying,” I demanded.
“After I saw you with Colton—”
“You went and stuck your tongue down the throat of some random girl?” I seethed. But when he still couldn’t meet my eyes I felt the oxygen leave my lungs. Oh God no. “You had sex with her?” I cried out.
“Harlow, please …” He stepped towards me.
“Tell me you didn’t have sex with her!” I exclaimed, quickly stepping away from him. “Tell me!”
His silence sucked away every morsel of hope.
“No!” I sobbed.
“It was a mistake.” He grabbed me by the arms and gave me a little shake to make me look at him. “It didn’t mean anything. I was drunk. I’d just seen you with Colton …”
I found him through my tears and suddenly wanted to hurt him. I wanted to hurt him so bad. I wanted to punch him. To open hand slap him across his face. Yell at him. Scream at him. I wanted to take him out with the most hurtful words I could muster.
But I did none of that. Instead, I pushed him away in disgust and fled. I ran blindly through the backstage area, pushing past festivalgoers in my urgency to get away. I could hear both Heath and Piper calling after me but I didn’t stop. I was desperate to get away, afraid of what I would feel once I stopped running.
Thankfully there was a cab waiting by the exit and I hurriedly climbed in. Slumping into the backseat I held off my tears and closed my eyes to the powerful thud of my rapidly beating heart. I didn’t want to know the details. I didn’t want the mental images playing out in my mind. I just wanted to run from the hurt that was chasing me and nipping at my heels.
Remembering I didn’t have a room key I hurried across the marble foyer of the hotel to the reception desk. Unfortunately I was stuck behind a group of non-English speaking tourists who were testing the patience and organizational skills of the hotel receptionist.
After an agonizing wait the flushed-cheeked receptionist—her name badge identified her as Sophie—gestured me over to her and apologized for the delay.
Carefully I explained my predicament. But even as I spoke I realized it wasn’t going to work. Heath had checked in alone, so I probably looked like a desperate groupie trying to get into his room. She apologized and looked genuinely sorry, but said she wouldn’t be able to let me into the room.
“It’s okay Sophie, I’m here now. I can let her in.”
I swung around. Heath was standing right behind me looking flushed from running. He nodded politely at Sophie who looked relieved. I thanked her quietly and stalked off towards the elevator, desperate to get my stuff and leave.
“Whatever you plan on saying to me, don’t,” I said, angrily jabbing at the elevator button.
“Please let me explain.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Don’t throw this away Harlow. Not over my fuck up.”
“You cheated on me. What do you expect me to do?” I jabbed relentlessly at the elevator button until the doors opened.
“I thought you were dumping me for Colton,” he said desperately, following me into the elevator.
“So you stick your dick into the next available vagina? Are you kidding me?” I felt my voice rise and echo around the elevator. I stopped myself. I didn’t want to do this. “No. I’m not doing this. I don’t want to know. I don’t need to know the gruesome details. I’m going to get my things.”
The elevator doors opened and I stormed out.
“Please … Harlow, don’t leave. We need to talk about this.”
I swung around, armed with a pointed finger. “No. You need to talk about this. Not me. I need to get my stuff and leave.”
I stopped at the door to the room, waiting for Heath to unlock it. But instead of opening the door and letting me in, he blocked the doorway.
“I can’t let you go back to California without talking about this,” he said desperately.
“Let me into the room, Heath.”
“Promise me you’ll hear me out?”
“You’re not in any position to demand anything here.”
I expected some smart assed comment about me being the one locked out and him having the key, but it never came. Instead, he reluctantly stood aside so I could walk in.
“I’m afraid if I let you leave that I’ll never see you again.”
“That’s the plan!” I snapped angrily, grabbing my overnight bag and shoving yesterday’s clothes into it.
“Don’t say that …” he begged.
“Why? There’s no point beating around the bush. We are through Heath.”
He quickly crossed the distance between us but stopped abruptly when he reached me.
“Baby, I fucked up. I really fucked up, I know that. But I was hurting. When I saw you with Colton, I lost my mind. I thought you had dumped me. I was in agony. I started drinking on the plane. I just needed something to take the pain away. Next thing, I’m in a toilet cubicle with some stranger.”
My head shot up and I straightened. “You had sex with her in a toilet cubicle? On a plane?”
Utterly repulsed I stormed over to the bed to retrieve my boxer shorts from the tangle of sheets. Horror tore through me and I stopped suddenly, swinging around to face him.
“Oh God … that’s why you wouldn’t make love to me last night,” I whispered. The weight of what was unfolding collapsed against my chest and I swallowed hard.
“I couldn’t … not when … not on the same day …” He ran his hand through his hair. “I couldn’t do that to you.”
My eyes shot red-hot anger at him. “Yet fucking some random skank in an airplane toilet cubicle is perfectly acceptable.”
“I’m so sorry baby, you have to believe me,” he cried desperately.
“I don’t have to do anything other than get the hell out of this hotel room.”
I zipped my bag and went to leave. But Heath grabbed my arm.
“I love you Harlow. Please don’t leave me.”
His words reminded me of our early morning lovemaking and the absence of any protection between us. I stopped. Horrified.