My Beautiful Mistake

Chapter Eleven

The Phone Swap.

An excellent name for our romance.

My eyes lit up with amusement as I thought of cheesy names to call our romance. Aiden had switched back phones with me and I now held my own, much to my dismay. 

Weeks had passed since we had developed a daily routine. We spent countless nights falling asleep, our phones in our hands. We had normal conversations throughout the day, but at night, our conversations turned to more unique topics such as conspiracy theories and conversations about our wildest fantasies. 

I had grown quite fond of him, actually. My infatuation with him grew as he consumed most of my attention every day. 

A giggle escaped my lips as I looked through my gallery, seeing pictures that Aiden had taken of himself while in possession of my phone. He had even changed his contact photo to one of him shirtless. Not that I was complaining. As I continued to scroll through my phone, I noticed a strange number had been messaging him, something he had probably meant to delete, but forgot to. 

Should I read it?

I mentally debated about invading his privacy for a split second before realizing it was on my phone. It wouldn't technically be invading his privacy, now would it? Without hesitation, I clicked on the message history.

Reyes, I got your shipment ready for pick-up.

At the drop-off location?

Yea. 

I'll be there.

Shipment? I was confused. There was absolutely no context other than what was there. All the other messages had been deleted. Upon scrolling through my messages some more, another set of cryptic-sounding messages caught my eye.

I got some information on that note you got.

Get Zach or someone else on it. I'm busy.

I asked because I thought you'd want to handle this. It seems like someones trying to take you down directly.

We both know he probably has a death wish.

Yea, well call me back. I think we know who it may be.

One thing was certain. I didn't know who the hell Aiden was. I knew he had sort of an aggressive attitude, that much was obvious. I didn't realize he could probably be a serial killer or an ax murderer. He certainly had the disposition of one, and these messages just made him seem all that shadier.

My thoughts flew back to the date we have been on just a week ago. There was no way Aiden could be a murderer. Feeling very confused, I found myself going through the call history trying to find more information. The numbers that had messaged him weren't listed, but another number was. He had called his number just a few days before our first date. Without thinking of the consequences, my fingers hit the dial button and I sat nervously on my seat wondering who would answer.

It wasn't long before a female picked up and started speaking so fast I could hardly understand her.

"I'm sorry, who's this?" I asked, thinking it would be his sister.

The woman on the other end was in hysterics. I could hear her sobbing heavily over the phone and I could almost the tears streaming down her face. "I miss him so much." she whimpered between breaths.

"I'm sorry?" I asked again, forcing my voice to be more gentle and compassionate.

She drew in some air and exhaled rather loudly, perhaps attempting to calm herself down. "Are you the w***e he left me for?"

Her voice had become rather snarky and all the empathy I had felt for her suddenly dissipated. "Excuse me?" 

Who the hell did this woman think she was, talking to me like this? And more importantly, how did she know Aiden?

I felt a pit in my stomach grow as the answer to that dawned on me. 

She snorted in an unladylike manner. "Usually I wouldn't care less about his antics, but you deserve to know what kind of man you're dealing with. I'll text you my address. Text me when you're here."

With that, she disconnected the line, leaving me with more questions than I originally had. But, I suppose today was going to be the day where I finally learned the mystery behind Mr. Reyes. 

I arrived later at a seemingly expensive apartment complex. It was complete with a large parking garage, large water fountains, and expensive curtains draping the windows of every floor. This was a place I dreamed of living in after graduating from college.  I parked my car on the second floor of the garage and walked over to the elevator until I realized I hadn't let the woman know I was here.

I pulled out my phone and sent her a quick text before entering the elevator and waiting until it reached the fifth floor. My jaw almost dropped as I looked at the hallway around me. If I thought the outside of the building was impressive, this beat it times ten. 

The decoration was exquisite, something Matt would've fawned over, being an architecture major. The halfway was decorated in a color scheme of baby blue and gold, a bold, but stylish choice.  I somehow made it to her apartment in my clear determination not to seem like a young, financially unstable college student in awe of every expensive item she saw. 

Before I had the chance to knock, the door flung open revealing a very beautiful woman. She had the attributes you would expect a model to have- tall, curvaceous figure, breasts that were probably enlarged by implants. In all, she was nothing like me.

"Don't just stare, darling. I don't roll that way," she remarked, winking at me when she noticed my stare.

I shook my head in embarrassment and managed a tight-lipped smile as I followed her into her apartment where she offered me a seat on a rather fancy leather couch in her living room. She sat down directly across from me and we both sat in awkward silence.

"I take it you're Aiden's new plaything." she finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"Excuse me?" I asked, not believing how utterly blunt she was. 

She laughed harshly. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, dear. I was his too,  for a while."

Her eyes became overwhelmed with an emotion I couldn't quite identify as she said that last part. Was it...grief?

"What do you mean, plaything?" my voice was softer now, acknowledging now that he had probably dumped her.

"His call-girl. His one night stand. His whore." she spat the last word out like it was a bad taste in her mouth. 

My heart stopped beating for a second as I took in what she was trying to tell me. "What exactly were you to him?" I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer.

Tears began to well up in her eyes. "Nothing," she whispered so low I thought maybe I had imagined it.

She lifted up a weak hand and wiped her eyes with the back of it. "Men like Aiden don't love. They don't care about the countless women they sleep with. All we are to them is a good f**k!" her voice rose, her chest rising and falling heavily as a surge of emotions took over.

"If you think he actually cares for you, you're f*****g wrong. I had been by his side for so long, and you know what happened the last time I saw him? He didn't even f*****g know my name." she was yelling now, at nobody in particular, yet I sensed a hint of jealousy in her tone.

As much as I tried to remind myself that she was just upset after being dumped, her words were like a dagger, slashing me left and right. 

"I'm sorry that happened to you," I maintained my calm and hoped it would have the same effect on her.

She was relentless. "Sorry? Oh, you're sorry for me? You're nothing like Aiden. You just take whatever I say and don't yell back. God knows why he's keeping you around."

I couldn't resist the anger that suddenly consumed me. My next actions were fueled solely by fury. I walked over to her and my hand flew across her face, gritting my teeth as I felt the impact of her nose piercing ripping my flesh.

She slumped back in her seat with an eerie look of satisfaction on her face. "I knew you had it in you."

"What?" I asked, further infuriated by her sudden change of tone. There was a small cut on my index finger where her nose piercing had scratched me.

She patted the seat next to her and I sat down. "You have a fire in you that's enough to take him down. I'm going to tell you everything I know."