Beyond the Breaking Point (4 page)

“You didn’t say no, either. I didn’t hear you complaining once I had your cock in my mouth. You damn sure weren’t complaining when you had your fingers shoved up my pussy,” Amber accused.

Cassidy had seen and heard enough. She put one foot behind her and pivoted, intending to leave the room.

 “Cassidy! Baby!”

She halted mid-motion, gaze flying automatically to her husband.

Phillip appeared startled, as if he hadn’t known she was there. “I know it looks bad, but let me explain.” He held out a beseeching hand and stepped forward, only to trip over his clothing. As he hurriedly pulled up his briefs and shorts, she spun on her heels and strode to the bedroom. Phillip caught her at the door and laid a firm hand on her shoulder. “Cassidy, please, listen to me.”

She jerked away from his hold. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”

“Babe, this isn’t like before. I wouldn’t have had sex with her. I learned my lesson, I swear.”

“She had her lips on your dick!” Cassidy shouted furiously.
And your fingers were in her pussy,
she mentally added.

“But we didn’t have sex.” He had his hands braced on his waist, looking frustrated and guilty as hell.

She couldn’t deal with this now. Cassidy went to the closet and grabbed her suitcase. She should have just left the damned thing packed. Then she could have snatched it and gone.

Alarmed, he demanded, “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” she snapped. “I’m getting the hell away from you.”

“And go where? We’re thousands of miles away from home.”

She didn’t answer him, done talking. She stalked from the dresser, to the closet, to the bed, haphazardly throwing her clothes into the suitcase. In less than three minutes, she’d zipped the bag closed and was headed to the bathroom for the rest of her things, her husband right on her heels.

“Cassidy, if you’ll just calm down and listen, we can work this out. You want me to apologize? I’m sorry. I was wrong. I should have shoved her away, but it’s hard for a man to think when a woman has her hand on his dick. But I swear, I wouldn’t have allowed it to go any further. I love you. Our marriage means too much to me to throw it away over something this stupid.”

Cassidy didn’t even have an answer for the load of bull he’d just shoveled. In silence she scooped up her hair products, deodorant, and body wash and carried them back into the bedroom. Phillip reached out a hand to touch her again and she snarled, actually snarled at him. He visibly hesitated, reconsidering the wisdom of his action.

She continued into the room, ignoring the screeching and yelling coming from the master suite. Dropping the items into her carryon, she zipped the case closed and slipped the strap over her shoulder. Then she collected her purse, laptop case, and extended the handle on her rolling suitcase.

“Cassidy, be reasonable. Where are you going? You don’t have a car and I’m not giving you the keys to our rental.” He tried to take the suitcase and she snatched it away from him.

“I’m getting away from you, even if I have to walk to do so. I’ll go down to the security gate and call a cab.”

He grabbed her suitcase again, halting her forward momentum. “If you’re that determined to leave, I’ll take you. Let me put on my shoes and grab my wallet and keys. Once you calm down, then we can discuss this like rational adults.”

In a low, deadly voice she said, “Let go and get away from me before I hurt you.” Right then she was perfectly capable of committing homicide.

He released the handle and retreated a few steps. “If you insist on leaving, take the rental.”

Just then the door to the master bedroom was flung open. “
And to think I was going to ask you to marry me
,” Max shouted over his shoulder.

“
Marry
?” Amber shrieked from somewhere in the depths of the room.

“Max, I need a ride to a hotel. If I have to spend another minute here, someone is going to get hurt.”

Max’s blue-eyed gaze pinned her to the spot, but Cassidy got the feeling he wasn’t really seeing her. Abruptly, he nodded. “Fucking great idea. Give me a minute,” he said before re-entering the room.

“I’ll be by the car,” she called to his retreating back.

“What do you mean marry?” she heard Amber say.

She had her hand on the doorknob when Phillip spoke again, his tone subdued. “I’ll call you in the morning. When you check in, call and let me know where you are.”

Cassidy opened the door and left like she hadn’t heard a word he said.

She was pacing by Max’s rental when he came down, large duffle bag slung over one shoulder. His stride was long and hard, his face set in angry lines. She didn’t say a word, simply waited until the locks clicked, signaling it was safe to open the door. She hefted her bags into the backseat and shut the door before climbing into the passenger seat.

Max flung his bag in on top of hers and slammed the door shut. After jumping into the driver’s seat, with a vicious twist he turned the key in the ignition, jammed the car in gear and squealed out of the parking space.

Cassidy glanced at the clock. A little after seven. It had taken less than an hour for her world to turn on end. She remained quiet as Max maneuvered out of the resort. Her fingers clinched on her purse, and there was a tight feeling to her scalp that promised to develop into a doozy of a headache later.

I can’t believe he did this to me
. It was a litany in her mind.
Not after all the counseling, all the promises. I can’t believe—

The sharp smack of Max’s hand slapping the dash jerked Cassidy out of her thoughts. “I can’t believe she did this to me.”

Join the club
.

“I never thought she’d do something like this, and with Phillip of all people,” Max said bitterly.

Well, you should have
! Cassidy wanted to snap.
And what the hell do you mean, “with Phillip of all people?”

She took a deep breath and wrestled her emotions under control. Max wasn’t the enemy, and what happened wasn’t his fault. No, there was plenty of blame to go around and the two culprits that shared it were Amber and Phillip. She wouldn’t allow herself to take out her hurt and anger on Max.

“I want to put my hands around her throat and strangle her,” Max continued.

That makes two of us
, she thought violently.

They cleared the security gate in record time. Once on the main road, Max’s aggressive driving intimidated more than one driver into getting out of his way.

Suddenly, Max burst into laughter, but there wasn’t any mirth involved. “And to think I wanted to marry her.”

Cassidy knew she should say something, either to comfort or commiserate, but she didn’t have any words. Two years spent reestablishing trust, down the drain. She should have followed her first instinct and divorced his cheating ass. But no, she’d fallen for his “Oh God, Cassidy, I’m so sorry act” and forgiven the bastard. She should have known he hadn’t changed.

“Which hotel do you prefer?” Max asked, interrupting her bitter recriminations.

She glanced out the window and took in their surroundings. “I don’t care. It’s just for tonight. I’m flying out on the first available plane I can get tomorrow.”

“Yeah? When you book your flight, make it for two. If I see Amber again before I calm down, I won’t be responsible for my actions.” He swung abruptly into the lot of the Holiday Inn Express. “If they’re booked, we’ll go next door to the Wyndham.”

They went inside and was able to get two rooms down the hall from each other, then returned to the car for their luggage. Minutes later, Cassidy entered her room, put down her luggage and then stood trying to get ahold of herself. This was not how she’d planned on spending her vacation. She wanted to scream, kick, yell and punch—anything to rid herself of this terrible tension.

Instead, Cassidy forced herself to calmly log onto her laptop and check the airline for departing flights. While she was at it, she googled divorce attorneys, transferred half the money out of their joint checking account into her personal savings, and checked for one-bedroom apartments to rent within her price range. She also needed furniture. She didn’t want any reminders of her life with Phillip. A fresh start was what she wanted. What she deserved.

She figured a good hour and a half to two hours had passed when there was a knock at her door. Who the hell would be knocking on her door? There was no way Phillip had found her this soon. She glanced through the peephole. It was Max.

She opened it. In one hand he held a large, fragrant pizza box. In the other, the type of paper bags liquor stores wrapped their packages in.

“We never did eat.” He hefted the brown bag. “Liquor for me, cola for you. I plan to get rip, roaring drunk. Care to join me for dinner?”

She stepped to the side and motioned for him to enter. Max came in and set the pizza on the small coffee table in front of the short sofa. Then he pulled out a fifth of bourbon and a two-liter cola. She read the label: George T Stagg.

“I hope you have ice. If not, I’ll get some. Just point me toward the bucket,” Max said.

Cassidy reached for the bucket and handed it to him. While he was gone, she unwrapped two plastic complimentary cups and placed them on the table along with a stack of paper towels for their hands. She’d just opened the box of pizza to check out the contents when Max came back. She took the ice from him and set it on the table with a hand towel under it to catch the moisture.

They sat on the small love seat. Max reached for the bourbon, filled his cup with ice, and poured a healthy measure into the cup. She handed him her cup. “Give me some of that.”

He frowned. “You don’t drink.”

“I do tonight.” She shook her ice-filled cup.

Max splashed a small amount of the dark liquid into it. Cassidy looked at the amount in his, compared it to hers, then rattled her cup for more.

“It’s strong,” he warned.

“The goal is to get drunk,” she reminded him.

Both his eyebrows rose. “That’s my goal.”

“It sounds like a great one to me.” She motioned again for him to give her more.

This time he filled the cup halfway. When they each had their cups in hand, Cassidy lifted hers and made a toast. “To Amber and Phillip, the skank and the prick. May they roast in hell.” She took a large gulp, grimaced and shuddered as the liquor hit her system before reaching over Max for the soda and adding some to her cup. The bourbon was strong enough to incinerate her esophagus and tear the lining from her stomach.

“Amen!” Max echoed and drained his cup. “Those two deserve each other.” As he poured himself another drink, he asked, “If he’s a prick and she’s a skank, what does that make us?”

“Their dupes,” she muttered bitterly and took a second large swallow. Like before it scorched going down, then mellowed out into a nice glow.

The smell of the pizza, combined with the burn of the alcohol, reminded Cassidy it had been hours since she’d eaten. She reached for a slice and dug in. They didn’t have plates or any other such niceties. Instead they ate straight from the box.

Max and Cassidy sat side-by-side, isolated in individual bubbles of brooding silence. After her second cocktail, Cassidy unwound enough to start feeling chatty. “You know what pisses me off the most about this whole thing?”

He glanced at her. “What?”

“How stupid he thinks I am. Maybe I am stupid. I trusted him. Trusted
them
. It never even crossed my mind that something like this would happen.” She pointed at herself. “
Hel-lo-oh
! Wife, best-friend’s fiancé—”

“Girlfriend,” Max corrected.

Cassidy waved that off with a slice of pizza. “Whatever. The point is, I never saw it coming.”

“Me, either,” Max said as he poured himself another drink, tossed it back, and then poured another one.

“
But I didn’t have sex with her
,” Cassidy mimicked Phillip’s voice. “What the hell does he think sex is?”

“Beats the hell out of me,” Max responded dourly.

On a roll, she continued, “Let him have walked in and found me with my mouth wrapped around another man’s dick and see how he likes it.”

Max gestured grandly with his glass, sloshing a little of the liquid over the sides. “He’d have blown a gasket, like I did.”

“I should fuck someone else, even the score. See how he likes being the one cheated on,” Cassidy muttered before taking a swig of her drink—her third.

“We both should fuck someone else. Then tell them to kiss our asses. That will teach them to screw with us,” Max said.

Their gazes met and locked as the idea settled and took root. Later, Cassidy never would be able to say who made the first move. She didn’t remember dropping the cup or the pizza. Suddenly, her hands were on his chest. She fisted them in his shirt and tugged. At the same time, Max palmed her nape with one large hand and yanked her to him.

Their lips met and there was nothing tentative about their kiss. This was a carnal explosion of lips, teeth, and tongue. They broke for air and stared at each other a moment.

Are we really going to do this
? her eyes asked.

Hell, yes
, his answered.

They lunged for each other again. Max used the weight of his body to force Cassidy into a reclining position on the couch, with him half over her. As he moved to cover her completely, his knee bumped the table hard, rattling the items on it and causing the bourbon to flip onto its side. Good thing it was closed, Cassidy thought vaguely. Max cursed, propelled to his feet, stumbled a little, and then reached down and snatched Cassidy up by the arms. With a small “oomph,” she landed hard against his chest.

Their lips meshed together again as he herded her backward toward the bed. Cassidy sucked in great gulps of air as Max whipped off his shirt, and afterward hers. She cried out as he fastened his mouth to the sensitive skin of her neck and worked his way down to her breasts, tugging her bra straps down her arms. Cassidy reached behind her and undid the hooks, shrugging her shoulders so the offending item would fall to the floor.