CHAPTER TWO: COFFEE WITH THE DEVIL
1520 Words
Maya didn't sleep at all.
She watched the darkness outside her window slowly turn gray and then pink and then gold. She listened to Jacob breathe beside her. Deep and peaceful and unbothered. Like a man with no secrets. Like a man who hadn't shattered her heart fourteen times.
When her alarm rang at seven she was already awake. Already exhausted. Already dreading the day ahead.
She went through the motions. Shower. Coffee. Makeup to hide the circles under her eyes. A blouse that covered the bruise on her arm from where she bumped into the doorframe last week. Or at least that's what she told herself. She couldn't actually remember how she got it anymore.
Jacob kissed her goodbye at the door. A soft kiss. A loving kiss. The kind of kiss that made her doubt everything she felt the night before.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too."
The words came out automatically. Like breathing. Like blinking. She didn't even think about them anymore.
At work she sat at her desk and stared at her computer screen without seeing anything. Her coworker Sienna stopped by with a coffee and asked if she was okay. Maya smiled and said yes. Just tired. Didn't sleep well. Sienna nodded sympathetically and walked away.
Everyone always walked away eventually.
At one thirty Maya told her boss she had a dentist appointment. A lie. She was getting good at lies. Maybe Jacob had taught her something after all.
She drove to Rosewood Cafe in a daze. The whole way there she kept asking herself what she was doing. Why was she meeting the woman who slept with her boyfriend? What good could possibly come from this?
But she didn't turn around.
Something pulled her forward. Curiosity maybe. Or desperation. Or that small voice in her head that whispered maybe you need to know the truth even if it destroys you.
The cafe was small and quiet. Exposed brick walls. Soft jazz playing from hidden speakers. The smell of fresh pastries and expensive coffee. Maya spotted Vanessa immediately.
She was sitting in a corner booth. Dark hair. Red lipstick. A silk blouse that probably cost more than Maya's monthly rent. She looked exactly like Maya remembered. Beautiful and cold and untouchable.
Maya's stomach twisted into knots.
She almost turned around. Almost ran back to her car and drove away and pretended this whole thing never happened. But Vanessa looked up and their eyes met and it was too late.
Maya walked over on shaking legs.
"You came," Vanessa said. Not surprised. Not pleased. Just stating a fact.
"I don't know why."
"Sit down."
Maya sat.
For a long moment neither of them spoke. A waitress came by and Maya ordered a tea she didn't want just to have something to do with her hands. Vanessa already had a coffee. Black. No sugar. She didn't touch it.
"I'm not going to apologize," Vanessa said finally. "For what happened between me and Jacob. I'm not sorry and I won't pretend I am."
Maya felt a flash of anger. "Then why am I here?"
"Because I have information you need. Information that has nothing to do with me. Nothing to do with the affair. This is bigger than that."
"Bigger how?"
Vanessa leaned forward. Her eyes were hard but there was something else in them too. Something that looked almost like pity.
"Jacob isn't just a cheater Maya. He's a predator. A real one. And you're not his girlfriend. You never were."
Maya's heart stuttered. "What are you talking about?"
Vanessa reached into her purse and pulled out a photograph. She slid it across the table.
Maya looked down.
The photo showed Jacob standing on a beach. He was smiling that perfect smile. His arm was around a woman Maya didn't recognize. She was pretty. Blonde. Young. They looked happy. They looked in love.
But that wasn't what made Maya's blood run cold.
It was the wedding ring on Jacob's finger. And the white dress the woman was wearing. And the flowers in her hair.
"That's Celeste," Vanessa said quietly. "Jacob's wife."
Maya couldn't breathe. "His wife?"
"They got married six years ago. A year before he met you. He never divorced her. Not legally. Which means your entire relationship has been a lie. You're not his partner Maya. You're his mistress. You have been from the very beginning."
The cafe seemed to spin around her. The jazz music became distant and distorted. She gripped the edge of the table to keep herself from falling.
"That's impossible. He told me he's never been married. He told me—"
"He told you a lot of things. Were any of them true?"
Maya opened her mouth to respond but no words came out.
Vanessa continued. "I didn't know either. Not at first. He told me you two were broken up. He told me you were his crazy ex who couldn't let go. I believed him because I wanted to. Because he was charming and beautiful and made me feel special."
She laughed bitterly.
"Sound familiar?"
Maya nodded slowly. It did sound familiar. It sounded exactly like her own story.
"I found out about Celeste by accident," Vanessa said. "I saw a photo on his phone. I confronted him and he turned it around on me. Made me feel like the crazy one. Made me doubt what I saw with my own eyes. Classic Jacob."
"How did you get out?"
"I hired a private investigator. Spent three months digging into his past. What I found..." She shook her head. "It wasn't just Celeste. There were others. Many others. Women he targeted and manipulated and destroyed. He keeps a notebook Maya. A literal notebook where he writes down information about us. Our weaknesses. Our traumas. Our fears. He studies us like we're specimens in a lab."
Maya thought about all the times Jacob seemed to know exactly what to say. Exactly how to comfort her. Exactly how to push her buttons and then pull her back in.
She always thought it was love. That he knew her so well because he loved her so much.
But what if it wasn't love at all?
What if it was something much darker?
"Why are you telling me this?" Maya whispered.
Vanessa was quiet for a moment. When she spoke again her voice was softer than before.
"Because I got out. It took everything I had but I got out. And every day I thank God I did. You're still in there Maya. Still trapped. Still believing his lies. And I know you hate me. I know I'm probably the last person you want advice from. But I'm telling you the truth right now."
She leaned closer.
"Jacob Stone is dangerous. More dangerous than you know. And if you don't leave him soon you're going to end up like the others."
"What others?"
Vanessa reached into her purse again. This time she pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"Celeste's number. Call her. Hear her story. Then decide for yourself."
She placed the paper on the table between them. Maya stared at it like it was a bomb waiting to explode.
"Why should I trust you?" Maya asked. "You slept with my boyfriend. You knew he was with me and you did it anyway."
"You're right. I did. And I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'm asking you to survive."
Vanessa stood up and dropped a twenty on the table.
"The coffee and your tea are covered. Call Celeste or don't. Stay with Jacob or don't. I've done what I came to do."
She paused and looked down at Maya with something almost like compassion.
"I hope you get out. I really do. But if you don't... at least you can't say nobody warned you."
Then she walked away.
Maya sat alone in the booth for a very long time.
The tea grew cold. The cafe emptied and filled and emptied again. Shadows lengthened across the floor as afternoon turned to evening.
She stared at the photograph of Jacob and his wife. The wife he never mentioned. The wife he never divorced. The life he built before her that she knew nothing about.
Ten years.
She had given him ten years.
And she didn't even know who he really was.
Finally she picked up her phone. Her hands trembled as she dialed the number on the paper.
It rang three times. Then a woman's voice answered.
"Hello?"
Maya swallowed hard.
"Is this Celeste?"
A pause. Then softer. Sadder.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"My name is Maya. I think we need to talk. I think... I think we have something in common."
Another pause. Longer this time.
Then Celeste spoke.
"You're with Jacob aren't you."
It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
She heard Celeste exhale slowly. Like someone preparing for a very long and painful story.
"Then yes. We have a lot to talk about. Can you meet me tomorrow?"
Maya looked at the photograph one more time. Jacob's perfect smile. His wedding ring. His wife.
"Yes," she said. "Tell me where."
- Writer
