Chapter 55: Chapter 20: He Can’t Even Look at Me

Jamie

Mason walked into my home like he owned the place. He was pissed. That much I could tell by the look on his face. Usually, he doesn’t come by unannounced.

Something was up.

Carmen sat forward on the couch, surprised to see Mason and not a pizza in my hands. She, too, looked at his face and knew that something was going on. He had that pissed-off expression.

“We didn’t know that you were stopping by, Mason. Jamie and I are having a girls’ night!” Carmen said, making sure that Mason knew he was interrupting our evening.

“We thought you were the delivery guy.” I smiled, but it was clear that not even my smile could crack that look of anger. “So, what’s going on?”

“I need to talk to you. In private. Let’s take this outside.” He walked toward my backyard, unlocked the double doors, and went out.

“What’s up with him?” Carmen asked.

“I don’t know. I better go see what he wants. Save me some pizza.” I walked out into the yard and closed the doors behind me for some privacy. “Do you want to sit?”

He sighed. “No, I don’t want to sit, Jamie.”

“Okay.” I sat down on one of my rattan lawn chairs and waited for him to explain, which he didn’t.

It was obvious he was finding it hard to explain to me what the hell was going on. “What’s wrong, Mason? Have I done something to upset you?”

“Earlier today, I received a package at the office, and inside it was a memory stick. I thought it was a little weird. Like why would someone send this to me?

“As it turns out, it was from that fucking doctor you’ve been screwing around with. It was a video of you and him fucking around.”

My heart immediately sank. It was the recording of me and Jack, the one that Sara wasn’t able to get.

What was worse was that Mason had seen it for himself, so I had no chance of hiding this disaster from him.

I felt like lashing out in anger because of what Jack had done to me and crying because of how bad this could get all at the same time.

That ass took a video of us messing around and sent it to Mason to make sure I wouldn’t get back with him.

“I didn’t sleep with him” were the only words that came out of my mouth.

~I should explain. I need to explain.~

“Well, it fucking looked like it to me, Jamie,” he shouted. “Explain to me why the hell there’s a video of you and him? Did you send this to me? Is this your way of getting me out of your life?”

So many questions.

“No. Of course not. I would never…” I reached for his hand, trying to calm him from the chaos that was obviously going on within him.

He pulled away from me. He didn’t want to touch me. He didn’t even want to look at me.

“You don’t even know how hard it fucking is to see you standing naked in front of that guy, letting him touch you as much as he wanted.”

His back was to me, and he was looking out at the garden with his hands balled into fists. “You’ll never know what that is like because I would never do that to you.”

“I’m sorry!” Even though I’m a single woman, I had a huge amount of guilt that he saw the tape of me and Jack. I know if it was me…well, I don’t think I could take it.

He turned around and looked at me. “What’s going on, Jamie? Tell me now. I need to know.”

“Okay. Um, can you just sit down, please? It’ll be easier to tell you if we’re at eye level and I’m not looking up at you constantly.”

He reluctantly sat down on the rattan chair across the table from me.

“So, I found out some information about Jack. He has a couple of DUIs on his record. He denies it, but I think he has a problem with alcohol.”

“Are you serious? This is the man you chose to be involved in your and our daughter’s life. Jesus Christ!”

“Well, I didn’t know that before, obviously. He seemed like a great guy. I even got to know his family pretty well before we started dating.

“Anyway, a friend of his warned me that he has cameras in his place, and he likes to video the women he takes back to his apartment.”

“You’re one of them! You’ve been screwing that guy,” he said with a tone.

It made me wonder how many times I’d have to tell him that I didn’t sleep with Jack until he believed me.

“No, we never had sex. I’m not lying to you about that.”

I’d rather not spell out for him what Jack and I did together. It would only make it worse for him, and frankly, I didn’t want to relive it now that I knew what a prick that guy really was.

“He’s the one that sent that shit to me?” he asked.

“I think so. I broke up with him, and he wasn’t okay with it. He thought I was doing it just so you and I could get back together. I guess the tape was to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Did you?” he asked.

“Did I what?” I had an idea what he was talking about, but I wanted to make sure.

“Did you end things with him so you could give us a chance?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I know I shouldn’t have gotten involved with him. It was a mistake, and now I’m paying for it. Do you think he made a copy of that recording?”

He looked away. “I’m sure he did. He wouldn’t just send one to me and not have a backup. He’s probably keeping one, so he can use it against you when he needs to.”

“Thanks for that. My mind is already going crazy thinking about it. If he has a copy of it, he could do anything. My family could see it, or I could lose my job. Or both.”

He didn’t reply. He didn’t even look my way. The only time Mason had even looked at me since he came into this house was when he had an attitude with me over what happened.

~Is this it for us now?~

Would he ever be able to look at me the same again after seeing me naked with another man?

The door opened, and Carmen popped her head out. “Penelope is awake. I can settle her. Will you listen for the pizza?”

“Okay, sure. Thank you.” I stood up from my chair and walked inside. Mason followed after me into the living room.

“I should go. I have work to do still,” he pulled his keys from his suit pants. “Listen, if he contacts you, then I need you to ignore him. We don’t really know what he could be capable of.”

I thought of rolling my eyes at his comment but decided not to. I was already in his bad books. I didn’t want to make things worse. “I don’t plan on talking to him.”

“Good. This is bad enough as it is. Let’s not make it worse. I’ll come by tomorrow to pick up Penelope.” He turned around and walked toward the front door.

“Mason…” I walked across the room toward him. “You can’t even look at me now, can you? Because of this.”

He released a sigh in annoyance. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Jamie.”

“The truth!”

“The truth? The truth is I can’t look at you without picturing you naked with him, without picturing you pleasuring him and him pleasuring you. I watched the tape. Now I can’t fucking escape it!”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t even have the words to reply before he left. The man who always wanted to be close to me now couldn’t stand the sight of me.

The following day I had lunch with Ethan in the park before I went back to work. We’d spent the last twenty minutes walking and talking, so I’d been telling him everything.

“I can’t believe this. What are you going to do?”

I shrugged my shoulders in reply. “There’s nothing we can do, really. I don’t think I can go to the police about this or anything. Even if I could, I’d rather not.”

“I thought he was a pretty cool guy at P’s birthday party. I guess he had us all fooled.” Ethan clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth.

“There must be something we can do. What about Mason? I’m sure he’s pissed about this.”

“Pissed, yes. But I feel it’s more at me than at Jack. I don’t think he cares. At least that’s the way he’s acting. I told him last night, and he couldn’t even look at me. He hates me now!”

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you, Jamie. But he did watch that tape of you and Jack together, so imagine how the guy must be feeling. I bet he’s heartbroken.”

Ethan had sympathy for Mason, which was nice to see for a change. He’d always had so much hate for him.

“He’d have to have a heart to break it.” I chuckled.

“I think you should try to make it up to him. How about you show up at his door later tonight and beg for his forgiveness?

“Wear something sexy, show a little skin, and he won’t be able to keep his hands off you.”

“I don’t know about that. What if he slams the door in my face?” I asked because, let’s face it, it was a possibility.

“Well, then he’s not worth your time. All you can do is apologize and see where things go from there.” Ethan’s phone rang in his pocket, and he pulled it out and looked at it.

“Look at you, the expert on relationships. Thank you for the advice.”

“You’re welcome. I’m an expert on everyone else’s but my own, apparently.” He slipped his phone into his pocket and sat down on a nearby bench beside the water.

I sat down beside him. “Is everything okay with you and Stephanie?”

It was so clear that something was going on in his life lately, something he’d been keeping from all of us. Ethan had basically been MIA since he’d proposed to Stephanie.

“Um…well, there’s something that I’ve been keeping from you. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it myself, so I haven’t wanted to open up and talk.”

“I’m definitely worried now. I don’t want to push you to tell me, but I am here for you if you want to talk.”

I wanted him to tell me. I wanted to know what was going on in his life. But I wasn’t going to make him feel like he had to open up if he wasn’t ready.

He rested his back against the bench and released a sigh. “She cheated on me. Stephanie cheated. She told me that night at dinner right before I was going to propose to her.”

My heart sank. Of all things, I really didn’t think that was it. This had been eating away at him for weeks, and I didn’t even know.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry. When did this happen?”

“She said it was a couple of months back, with a guy from work. It was one time, but it was enough.” He shook his head. “I just can’t believe she did this to me.”

I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I thought you two were rock solid. I mean, you two always seem so stable in your relationship compared to the rest of us. So, are you working through it?”

They’d showed up at Penelope’s party together, not really acting like their usual selves. That much was clear.

“We’re trying. I’m trying to forgive her and work this out, but I don’t know if I can. Every time she leaves for work, I wonder, is she going to do it again?

“Her one mistake has cost us everything we built.”

“God, I’m sorry! I don’t know what to say,” I replied.

“There’s nothing you can say. Just be there when I need to vent and call her a cheating bitch.” He chuckled, and I chuckled back.

“Don’t tell Carmen or anyone else. I don’t want Carmen uninviting Stephanie to the wedding. I can’t deal with that drama.”

“Sure, your secret is safe with me.” I rested my head on his shoulder, and we both watched the swans in the water.

***

Mason

“The payment is transferred. Did you get me everything I asked for?” I asked. “His address… I need to know where he lives.”

“I sent everything to your email. Check it now, and it should be there.”

“Hold on.” I opened up my laptop and went straight to my emails. It was all there, the info I needed on him. “I have it.”

“I’ll stop by with the originals tomorrow in case you need them. It’s been a pleasure working for you, Mr. Knight.”

I hung up the phone and cleared up before I left. The address is all I wanted. I could’ve easily asked Jamie, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want her stopping me from doing this.

~I don’t know if he has a copy of the two of them together. Chances are he does. I can’t sit back and not do anything. I can’t sit back and let this prick do this to her.~