Best Friends to Lovers

Chapter 6

Maddison and I shop for the rest of the morning. We decided to stop at the food court to grab lunch before heading back to my house. We were standing in line when Maddison looked at me, "Look, Mel, It's Tanner with some chick and they are heading over here. I glance around and see that what she said is, in fact, true.

Tanner stops in front of me, "Melinda, I want to introduce you to Brittany,"

"Oh, hey, Brittany. First, I wanted to thank you for doing me a favor. You know, since I caught the two of you in my bed together. I realized that I was much better off without that sorry excuse for a man. I now have a new man and I can tell you he knows what he is doing in bed. So thanks again, Brittany." I say with a smile.

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean, Melinda?"

"Are you sure you want to know in front of your lady friend? I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of her," I say with a smirk.

"Oh, come on, out with it," He says.

"It means that I never knew what an o****m felt like until I had s*x with Hayden. That the whole three years we were together, you boy, never satisfied me."

"What in the hell are you saying, Melinda. You had orgasms while we were having s*x,"

"No, I didn't. I never once had an o****m. You only chased after your release. You never once thought to help me reach my release. You are selfish in and out of bed. I am glad that we are over. Oh, do yourself a favor and decide which woman you want. It seems that this one isn't the only one you have cheated on me with. You are now living with a lady you have been with for a year and a half." I say, looking at my watch," Oh, look at the time; I better be getting home. I need to start dinner for Hayden. Bye," I say, walking away.

"How in the hell did you find that out, you stupid b***h?" Tanner yells.

"I have my ways, Tanner. If you keep your s**t up, I will be having a little talk with your girlfriend." I say, grinning, "I now know where you went when you told me you were going on trips to see friends out of state. I am done talking to you now,"

"Melinda, are we still going to eat," Maddison asked me.

"Not here," I replied as I continued to head to the exit.

"Melinda, get back here. We need to talk," Tanner was saying as I reached the door of the mall.

I turned to Tanner, "what is there to talk about? You and I have been over for a while now. You told me the night I found you in bed with Brittany that you never loved me. I gave you everything I had. I supported you financially for most of our relationship. How do you repay me? You repaid me by having a few affairs. Well, guess what I realized over the last couple of months? I loved you but was never in love with you. Have fun. I have moved on. Leave me alone and stay away from me and my house,"

"I can't do that. Over the last couple of months, I realized that I love you. I miss everything about you.."

"No, you don't. If you did, none of this would have happened. I don't want to see nor talk to you ever again. I have always been in love with Hayden and should have never started dating you. You are my worst mistake. If I had waited for Hayden, then I would have saved myself a world of trouble. For the last six months, we have been together. You wanted nothing to do with me. Now I know why and it makes me sick. So please just leave me alone,"

"I can't do that. I love you.." Tanner says.

"No, you don't. You only think you do. Plus, I don't love you. I love someone else," I say and turn and walk out the door. I go to Maddison's car and pull out my phone to call Hayden. I dial his number and then hear, "Hey, kitten. How is your day going?" His sexy voice says.

"It was going good until Maddison and I was standing in line at the food court when Tanner and the woman I found him in bed with walked up to us,"

"What did he want," Hayden growled out.

"He said that he wanted to introduce me to her. So, after the introduction, I thanked her for sleeping with Tanner and…." Then, I went on to tell him everything that Tanner and I said to each other.

"I was planning on coming home at lunch. Why don't you and Maddison meet me at the diner in thirty minutes? That way, I can see you. I am missing you like crazy,"

"Sounds good to me. I miss you too. I love you and will see you in thirty minutes, babe." I say.

"I love you too. Be safe and see you at the diner," Hayden says. We hang up. I turn to look for Maddison. I spot her standing outside of the mall, yelling, "No, Tanner, I will not do that. She doesn't need you to cling to her. She has moved on and is happy now, so just leave her alone. You have Brittany and that other lady you have been with for over a year and a half."

"She is mine. I am not just going to give her up," she is not yours anymore and hasn't been for a while," Tanner yells.

"Whatever you say, Tanner. I can tell you this if you keep stocking her, you will end up in jail. She doesn't take kindly to people messing her things up. Now I got to run. I am hungry and we need to find somewhere to eat," Maddison says as she turns and heads to me.

"That son of b***h wanted me to talk you into ending it with Hayden. Said that if you could just forget about what you see him doing in your bedroom, you would forgive him. I told him that was crazy. There is no way that you could leave some amazing man and return to a boy that is a cheater and a liar."

"I think the only reason he wants me back is so he can live off of me and not have to work. I am done supporting men. A real man wouldn't want to live off a woman; they should want to take care of their woman—enough about Tanner. Hayden wants us to have lunch with him at the diner. Does that sound good to you?"

"Sounds perfect. I am starving. I feel like I haven't eaten in ages," Maddison chuckles.

"You are always hungry; how do you stay so thin?" I asked her.

"Girl, let me tell you. You aren't the only one getting a lot of good s*x these days. It seems Brenden can't even touch me without us having s*x. It's great s*x, so I am not complaining at all," She laughs.

"More information, then I wanted to know, gosh Maddison," I say as she finds a parking spot on the street.

"Thank gosh, we are here. Let's go eat," Maddison says, opening her car door and jumping out. I climb out of the car, and we head into the diner. I look around to see if Hayden has made it yet. I didn't see him, so we found a booth and sat down. As I was looking through the menu, I looked up and saw Hayden walking toward me. He was wearing a Black suit, which made him look sexier somehow.

"Hey kitten, hope you weren't waiting long," He says, kissing me.

"We haven't been here too long. So how has your day been so far?" I asked.

"Not too bad; I got caught up on everything I missed while being away. I also had looked around and found that this company installs motion-activated cameras. They can be at the house tomorrow evening at about four o'clock. They will hide the…." Hayden was saying when I suddenly tensed up.

"Why the hell is he here? Why is he stalking me? Can't he take no for an answer?" Hayden soon looked to see, so I was talking about.

"The asshat must want to get his ass kicked," Maddison says.

Hayden kisses me, "He will be dumb to come over here. But just in case, let me record it on my phone. I want as much evidence we can gather against him. That way, when he gets caught on camera, it will seal his fate." Hayden says while setting his phone up to record.

A few minutes later, Tanner walked up to our table, "So, I heard you are having some issues at your place, Melinda? I hope it didn't cost too much to repair them. Oh, hello, Hayden didn't see you there.

"I am sure you didn't," Hayden says.

"Oh, Hayden, this is Brittany…" Tanner was saying before Maddison interrupted him.

"She is the woman Melinda caught him in bed with," Maddison smiles.

"Not that it matters anymore," I say, then add, "it was the best thing that happened to me, now I am with the love of my life,"

"I love you too, kitten," Hayden says, smiling at me and bending down to give me a passionate kiss.

"What the hell. I thought you, too, were joking about being together," Tanner says, sounding angry.

"Why would they lie about that? Tanner, they are happy together. Plus, you had her and you f****d it up." Maddison says, then adds, "you have no one to blame but yourself," She was most definitely rubbing it in and smiling at him.

"I never thought that she would find someone else so quickly—I...I thought she would be too heartbroken and take me back when I was ready to come back to her. I was wrong, so wrong," he says with tears running down his cheek.

"When you find an amazing woman, Tanner, you hold on to her as tight as you can. You show her every day that you love her. If you take her for granted, you lose her forever. I was under the impression that you were madly in love with her and wanted to marry her. When I got the call to change her locks, I thought she had lost her keys or something. In my wildest dreams, I never thought you would do what you did to her. I am sorry if you are hurt, but this is what happens when you cheat," Hayden says with a frown.

"I f****d up big time, didn't I? I should have listened to you when you told me you could find someone that treated you better and wanted to spend time with you, Melinda. I need to go now," Tanner says,

"You need to learn from your mistakes. You need to decide which one of your current flings you want to be with and let the others go. Then you need to find a job and take care of your woman. It didn't work between you and me. Relationships end all the time. Now you need to focus on becoming a better you, Tanner." I say.

"Please enjoy the rest of your lunch; sorry for interrupting," Tanner says as he turns and walks away with Brittany right behind him. I feel sorry for him, but he did this to himself. The three of us at the table watch as Tanner leaves the diner,

"I hope he leaves me alone now. But I highly doubt it," I say.

"If he knows what is best for him, he will," Hayden says.

"The guy is too egotist to let a man have a woman he thought would always be his. He is planning on making his next move." Maddison says as he watches Tanner standing outside arguing with Brittany. "Wonder what they are fighting about," Maddison says, nodding to the front of the diner.

"Who knows, but I am not worried; I will have a camera installed tomorrow, so there is no need to worry too much," I say.

***

Once Maddison and I are back at my house, We decide to watch some Originals on Netflix. At the end of the first season, Hayden walked in with Brenden.

"I missed you more after lunch than I did before," Hayden tells me, kissing me.

"Hey, baby," Brenden says to Maddison as he kisses her, lifting her and setting her on his lap once he settles down on the soda.

"I am going to change, be right back," Hayden says as he heads toward the room to change out of his suit.

As I looked around my living room, I didn't take in my baby blue walls or the blue sofa and two blue recliners with light blue carpet. Instead, I took in the way I felt with Hayden, the love of my life and our best friends here with me. I still felt safe, loved, like I could get through anything with these people by my side with everything going on. It's amazing.

Hayden comes out of the bedroom, picks me up and settles me on his lap when he sits where I was. He pecks my forehead. "I was thinking about that encounter we had with Tanner at lunch. I don't think he is going to let you go. I am worried. Tanner needs some significant help. Kitten, do you think he is on drugs?"

"I don't know, but if he is, that will make a lot of things make more sense," I say.

"What do you mean by that, baby?"

"Well, gosh, where do I start, and how can I say it. Just listen to everything be for you insert your two cents, please. About six months ago, my relationship with Tanner became violent. I had noticed that some money came up missing out of my purse. At first, it was twenty dollars here and there. Then it would be all of the cash I had. When I confronted him about it, he lost it. I told him that the money was to get things we needed during the week. I told him I would kick him out if he kept taking my cash. He started to yell at me, calling me names and then punched me in the face. He told me he was sorry and promised never to do it again. I forgave him. He didn't hit me for a month or two until I confronted him about money coming up missing, again.

"He then hit me in the stomach and kicked me in the side. Late that night, I started cramping badly and bleeding. I went to the hospital found out that I was pregnant and having a miscarriage. I knew right then that any feelings I had for the guy were gone. I just needed the perfect reason to get him out of my house. When I caught him in bed with Brittany, it was the ideal way to get him gone." I say as I wipe tears from my eyes.

"Melinda, why didn't you tell me. I would have been there for you," Maddie says.

"I was too embarrassed. I couldn't believe I was the woman that put up with that. I just stopped getting cash from the bank and stayed out of his way. I knew that there would be a time that I would get away from him. Finding him in bed with another woman was an answered prayer."

"I am going to kill that son of a b***h the next time I see him. How could he lay his hand on a woman? Hayden says, then adds, "Baby doll, I am so sorry you lost your baby. I wish you would have let us know what was happening back then. We would have all been there for you, and I would have personally dragged his ass out of your house." Hayden says as he wipes my eyes.

"I didn't want to drag you guys into my problems. The miscarriage broke me. It took me a few months to find myself after it happened. I blamed myself for allowing it to happen, but I didn't know I was pregnant when I had to keep telling myself that the baby was not supposed to be here. That was the only thing that got me through the heartbreak of losing my child. I believe Tanner is on drugs. That is the only thing that explains his rage," I say.

"We are going to make sure that his rage doesn't affect you anymore. He needs to pay for his crimes and if we can't do it legally, I will handle it my way," Hayden says.

"I am here if you need me to do anything. I think the two of you need some time to yourself. Nad and I will head home; talk to you both later." Brenden says, standing up.

"Thank you for coming over; please be safe on your way home," I say, standing and giving them both hugs before they head to the door.

"I will call later," Maddison says as she sends me a smile that I notice never reached her eyes. I have been friends with her long enough to know that she is pissed. If I know her, she will have Brenden go with her to find Tanner so she can beat the snot have of him. I just hope she doesn't get herself arrested.

"What do you think about the way Maddison and Brenden left, kitten.'

"I think they are going to go hunt down Tanner and beat him to death," I say.

"I think so too. What are you in the mood to eat for dinner?"

"I am not hungry; I have had an upset stomach all day. I think it is just my nerves and stress. I have only felt like this one other time.." I cut myself off and sat on the couch.