The Man She Cheated

Red Light, Broken Trust

CHAPTER 3

Josh didn’t slam the door. He didn’t yell. He just walked out of Nancy’s apartment and didn’t look back.

Nancy sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the empty doorway. The man beside her scrambled to get dressed, but she barely noticed.

“I’ll call you,” she said, her voice flat.

He left without answering. Nancy knew she’d messed up. Josh paid her rent. He was married, scared of scandal, and this was the first time he’d caught her. She couldn’t lose him. Not yet.

The next morning she went to his house. She always had a way of making it right. A few tears, a few promises, and he’d forgive her. He’d done it before.

Clara watched all of this and didn’t understand how.

“Nancy, what aren’t you telling me?” Clara asked

one afternoon. “How do you get them to stay after you do that?”

Nancy laughed it off. “I’m just lucky, I guess.” Clara didn’t believe in luck anymore.

She was still trying to forget Kendrick. She was still trying to forget Jasper. She needed money for her medication, and the only man who’d offered help was Liam from the salon.

She lied to Nancy and said she was visiting a sick friend. Then she went to see Liam.

Liam’s office was on the top floor of a building downtown. He listened to her story without blinking.

“I can help you,” he said. “But it won’t be free.”

He looked her up and down like he was deciding if she was worth it.

“You’ll be available when I need you,” he said. “In bed. Anytime I call. If you agree, you’ll get the money and the apartment.”

Clara swallowed. She hated the way he said it. But she hated the idea of dying more.

“I agree,” she said.

Back at Nancy’s, things were tense.

Nancy managed to smooth things over with Josh, but it didn’t feel the same. He was distant, suspicious.

Then she met Kendrick at the mall.

She was rushing out with shopping bags, not watching where she was going, when she almost ran into him.

“Sorry,” she said, stepping back fast.

Kendrick caught her arm before the bags could hit the floor. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.” She looked up and stopped. He was tall, fair, calm. Nothing like the men she usually dealt with.

“I’m Kendrick,” he said, offering his hand.

“Nancy.” She took it, and for a second neither of them let go.

She drove off with his number in her phone.

After that, he started calling. Every day. She liked the attention. He was steady, calm, not desperate like the others.

When he asked her out, she said yes. But she insisted they use her place.

That night, Kendrick came over in a suit. He looked nothing like the sweaty guy jogging in the street.

Nancy was dressed to kill. She wanted his full attention.

Dinner was quiet. Too quiet. Their eyes did most of the talking.

After they ate, he asked about her boyfriend. She dodged the question. He saw through it.

“How can a woman like you be lonely?” he said, leaning in. “How have you been handling that?”

He kissed her before she could answer.

Nancy pulled back, walked to the table, bent over to pick up her phone slowly. She looked at him over her shoulder.

Then she walked toward the stairs. Kendrick followed.They didn’t stop until they hit the bed.

Afterward, lying there with his arm around her, Kendrick said what he’d been thinking all week.

“I don’t want to do this casually,” he said. “I want us to be official.”

Nancy didn’t answer right away. She wasn’t ready to give up the other men. Not yet.

But Kendrick was starting to feel different about her. He wanted to know where she was, who she was talking to. He didn’t want to be fooled again.

That’s what got him into trouble.

A week later, he was at a bar with his friends, showing them Nancy’s pictures, talking about how serious he was getting.

“Yeah man, this one’s different,” Kendrick said, swiping to the next photo. “I think I’m gonna make it official with her.”

His friend laughed. “Slow down, Romeo. You barely know her.” Kendrick grinned and took a sip of his drink. “I know enough.”

Then he saw her.

Across the room, under the dim red light, Nancy was laughing. Sitting on Josh’s lap like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her arm around his neck. Josh’s hand on her waist.

The glass in Kendrick’s hand stopped halfway to his mouth.

For a second, the noise of the bar faded. It was just her eyes meeting his across the room. Her smile dropped.

She stood up fast, mumbling something to Josh, but Kendrick wasn’t listening anymore. He set the glass down. Hard.

“Excuse me,” he said to his friends, and walked out.

The door swung shut behind him, cutting off the music and the laughter.

And Nancy was left standing there, staring at the empty doorway.