Chapter 2 - The Betrayal

Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - The Betrayal

Jesse staggered backwards, his pale blue eyes glued to the sight in front of him.

This had to be a nightmare. Every instinct in him screamed to move, to do something, but his body wouldn’t listen. It was like something had grabbed hold of him and wouldn’t let go.

Jesse stood still by the doorway for a moment watching the two people he held dear betray him.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!" He yelled eventually and the two scrambled off each other.

Andrew nearly tripped over his own feet as he got off the bed and yanked his pants back on, muttering something that Jesse’s ears were sharp enough to hear.

"You just know how to ruin a good time."

Tatiana yanked the duvet and pulled it up over herself, not looking at Jesse.

Jesse’s brain was still trying to process what he’d just walked in on, in his house. His fucking bed.

How long have they been doing this on my bed?

Does she even change the sheets?

Andrew pulled his shirt on, breathing hard. He clearly wasn’t expecting Jesse home at this time. He glanced at his watch. "Dude, are you done with work already?"

The nerve on this guy. Jesse almost laughed. Ask me about work. Right now.

"You and I both know that I wouldn’t have finished setting up everything today by myself," Jesse said, surprising himself with how steady his voice came out. "But I guess that’s what you were counting on, huh? Keeping me busy while you were here fucking my girlfriend."

He heard himself say it. It didn’t feel real coming out of his own mouth.

"The second I disrupted you two’s horizontal tango, you said something," Jesse continued with a maniacal glint in his eyes.

"You said I just know how to ruin a good time. So is you fucking your friend’s girlfriend a good time? Should I have waited for you to finish?"

Andrew opened his mouth, then closed it. He pulled his shirt down and tried again. "I know how this looks. But there’s more to this than you think..."

"Really!" Jesse interrupted in a mocking tone. "There’s more to you just fucking her in my bed?"

He turned his attention to Tatiana who was now peeping her head out of the duvet.

"Did you hear that, Tati? There’s more to you getting fucked in my bed. You freeloading slut!"

"Dude! You are making a lot of noise," Andrew finally said. "And it’s quite grating to my ears."

Jesse’s brows flew up, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He charged towards Andrew, his knuckles turning pale.

Sensing what he was about to do to Andrew, Tatiana jumped out of the bed yelling, "Stop! Don’t do it!"

Her big breasts bouncing with each movement, she stood between them before Jesse could strike.

Jesse’s blood boiled, even though he knew there was a chance that he could get beaten by Andrew, he still wanted to land two or three punches on his perfect face, just to muddy it up a little.

Jesse looked at both of them standing close to each other and his heart broke further. He thought about the last twenty-four hours—burying his mother yesterday, getting passed over for the promotion today, an eviction notice from his mother’s siblings just as he got home and now this. The one person he had left.

"How long," Jesse said. It wasn’t really a question. "Tell me how long this has been going on under this roof?"

Tatiana gazed up at him. "Jesse, you need to calm down. This isn’t that deep..."

"Whoa! Not that deep huh?" Jesse interrupted her and locked eyes with Andrew. "So, what do you have to say for yourself, Andy?"

Immediately Andrew’s face changed from smug and mildly irritated to something colder.

It happened fast.

"Fuck this," Andrew said it flat, almost bored. "I don’t need to explain myself to you or anyone."

"I am Andrew Hyland. I take what I want, when I want, however and wherever I want it. You put a fine piece of ass like her in this shitty house thinking she isn’t going to do better. That shows how stupid you are. Like come on, dude! You don’t deserve her."

Jesse’s eyes widened.

Andrew kept going, and his voice didn’t rise, which somehow made it worse.

He took a few steps towards Jesse leaving them a few inches apart. "So yeah. I fucked your girl and there’s nothing you can do about it because I am your boss and I own you. Without me no one will hire you, and I will make sure no one ever will in this city."

Jesse stayed still, his chest tightening with every word Andrew said.

"I want you at work tomorrow working your ass off like you have been doing for the past five years, Slave. And since you don’t get it— you’re my slave. Always have been. As long as you’re useful, that’s all you’ll ever be to me."

From the corner of his eye, Jesse caught something on Tatiana’s face. A flush creeping up her neck. The corner of her mouth curled, just slightly, into something that looked almost like a smile.

Like she liked hearing it.

It was gone in a second, but Jesse had seen it. He knew he wasn’t going to forget it either.

He understood, with a clarity that felt almost peaceful, that Andrew had him boxed in completely.

Nobody was going to hire him. Not with his father’s name attached to his. He had just two thousand two hundred dollars to his name, what was left after his mother’s chemo, student loans, and whatever scraps the tenants at their house could scrape together. There was nothing else.

There was no other move. He was cornered, and some part of him had known it for a while.

"One more thing, if this gets back to my fiancé in any way I will make your life a living hell," Andrew said and walked out like nothing had happened, shoulders back, like the world owed him a parade.

Jesse turned to Tatiana. She looked back at him, calm now, almost bored—like she hadn’t just been caught, like none of this had cost her anything at all.

"You couldn’t afford rent and I let you move in with me," Jesse said. His voice cracked on the second word. "For over a year you have stayed here. I make sure you have food to eat and clothes to wear and this is the thanks I get?" He asked.

She stayed quiet.

Jesse took a long hard breath. "I am going to step out for a bit but when I come back I don’t want to see you here."

He said and walked out of the room.

"Come on, Jesse. You can’t kick me out. I have nowhere else to go!" Tatiana yelled at him.

Jesse didn’t respond and walked out of the house.

He didn’t have a plan. He just knew he needed a drink. He’d been drunk exactly once, back in college, and it had scared him enough to never try it again. Tonight he didn’t care. He found the first bar he came across in Astoria and walked in.

He hadn’t even finished his first drink when he noticed her—a woman a few stools down. She had short blonde hair, bangs that covered most of her forehead and a pair of piercing grey eyes that pulled you in. She was quite frankly the kind of pretty that made it hard to look away.

She noticed him noticing.

He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or just the fact that he’d hit some kind of rock bottom where none of the usual rules applied anymore, but when she walked over, gazed into his eyes and asked with a seductive smile and her British accent, "Would you buy me a drink?"

A stunned and excited Jesse said, "Of course, my lady."

Maybe today isn’t going to be all bad.