LA: Loyalty or Annihilation

Kristal's POV Five years in Los Angeles, and I still hated traffic. You would think after spending half a decade crawling down the same overcrowded streets, sitting through the same endless red lights, and silently cursing people who apparently received their driver's licenses from cereal boxes, I would've gotten used to it. Nope. Jersey girl for life. I pulled into my assigned parking space beneath our apartment building and immediately shut off the engine. Silence. Beautiful, glorious silence. "Oh, thank God." My head fell against the headrest. I was exhausted. Today at the clinic had been absolute hell. We were short two people, one of the doctors had been running almost an hour behind schedule, and somehow every patient who walked through our doors had decided today was the perfect day to test the limits of my patience. I loved my job. Most days. Today wasn't one of them. All I wanted was a hot shower, some food, a glass of wine, and my fiancé. Preferably in that order. I glanced at the apartment building through my windshield. Home. It still felt strange sometimes calling Los Angeles home. Five years ago, home meant New Jersey. My family. My friends. Familiar streets. Sunday dinners. Everything and everyone I'd ever known. Then Shawn Montgomery received the promotion of a lifetime. It was the kind of opportunity young attorneys dreamed about—better cases, better money, powerful connections, and the possibility of climbing the ladder at his firm faster than either of us imagined. There was only one catch. Los Angeles. I remembered staring at him when he'd told me. "California?" He'd grinned. "California." I thought he was crazy. Then he'd taken my hands, looked directly into my eyes, and promised me we were building our future. Together. So I packed my life into boxes. Said goodbye to my family. Cried like a baby on the plane. And followed the man I loved nearly three thousand miles across the country. Five years later, we were still here. And despite everything I'd given up, I couldn't say I regretted it. Not when I had Shawn. My phone vibrated inside the cup holder. I reached for it absentmindedly while grabbing my purse. SHAWN ❤️ A smile immediately tugged at my lips. "Speak of the devil." I swiped to answer. "Hey, baby—" Laughter came through the speaker. I stopped. It wasn't Shawn's laugh. It was a woman's. My brows pulled together. "Hello?" No response. There was muffled movement on the other end. Then Shawn's voice. My shoulders relaxed. Of course. He'd probably called accidentally. "Shawn?" Nothing. I brought the phone closer to my ear. More rustling. The low hum of a car engine. Music playing quietly somewhere in the background. Then the woman laughed again. I frowned. Who was he with? Shawn was supposed to be working late tonight. At least, that's what he'd told me this morning. I opened my mouth to call his name again when his voice came through clearly enough to stop me. "I've missed you." My hand froze around the phone. The woman said something I couldn't make out. Then Shawn laughed softly. Not his courtroom laugh. Not the polite little chuckle he used around coworkers and clients. I knew that laugh. That was Shawn's intimate laugh. The one he used late at night when we were lying in bed together. I sat back down. "Shawn?" Still nothing. Neither of them could hear me. My heart started beating a little faster. I turned up the volume. Maybe I was misunderstanding. I had to be misunderstanding. There were a hundred explanations. A coworker. A friend. A client. Maybe he'd had a few drinks. Maybe— "You know I hate when you say things like that," the woman said. This time I heard her clearly. There was something playful in her voice. Something familiar. Comfortable. Shawn sighed. "Why?" "Because you always make me believe you." A pause. Then Shawn said something that made every thought disappear from my head. "You should believe me." I stared through the windshield. My fingers tightened around my phone. The woman laughed again. "Shawn..." "What?" "Stop." "I'm serious." Another pause. I could hear my own breathing. My pulse. The faint ticking of my cooling engine. And then— "I love you." Everything stopped. I blinked. Once. Twice. My brain refused to process what I'd heard. No. Absolutely not. I looked at the screen. SHAWN ❤️ The call timer continued climbing. I actually pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at his name as if it might magically change into somebody else's. Maybe I was more tired than I thought. Maybe someone had his phone. Maybe— The woman spoke. "I love you too." My stomach dropped. "No." The word slipped out before I could stop it. I pressed the phone against my ear again. "Shawn?" Nothing. "Shawn!" Still nothing. They couldn't hear me. "Baby, you have to stop worrying so much," Shawn said. Baby. My entire body went cold. That was what he called me. Baby. I swallowed. Hard. Maybe— Maybe this wasn't what it sounded like. God, please don't let this be what it sounded like. I couldn't see them. I didn't know where Shawn was. I didn't know who this woman was. For all I knew, he could be drunk. Hell, maybe I was losing my mind. I had worked nearly eleven hours today. Maybe exhaustion had finally broken something inside my brain. Because there was no way Shawn Montgomery—my Shawn—was sitting in a car telling another woman he loved her. There couldn't be. We'd been together for years. We were engaged. I wore his ring on my finger. I had crossed the damn country for him. "Who are you talking to?" I whispered. Obviously, they didn't answer. I covered my mouth with my free hand. The woman's voice became muffled again. I caught only pieces. "...can't keep..." "...much longer..." "...her..." Her? My spine straightened. "What about her?" I turned the volume as high as it would go. "Shawn, what about her?" Static crackled through the speaker. His voice came back. "...handle it." "Handle what?" I was practically shouting now. The woman said something. Shawn answered. I caught only the end. "...never meant for this to happen." My chest tightened. "What didn't you mean to happen?" Silence. Then the woman: "Do you regret it?" A long pause followed. Too long. My eyes burned. I didn't even know what I was crying about yet. I didn't know anything. That was the worst part. I was sitting in a parking garage listening to pieces of a conversation I was never supposed to hear, desperately trying to construct a picture from fragments. Then Shawn spoke. "No." One word. Certain. Immediate. The woman went quiet. "I could never regret you," he continued. My breath caught. A tear slipped down my cheek. I wiped it away angrily. "No." I shook my head. "No, no, no." This wasn't real. There had to be an explanation. Shawn loved me. He told me every day. He kissed me before leaving for work this morning. He'd stood in our kitchen drinking coffee while complaining about a deposition. He'd smacked my ass when I walked past him. I'd threatened to stab him with my fork. He'd laughed. Normal. Everything had been normal. How could normal become this in less than twelve hours? I looked toward the elevator. Maybe Shawn was upstairs. Maybe his phone was somewhere else. Maybe— No. His car wasn't here. I knew because his parking space was three spots down from mine. Empty. My stomach twisted. "Where are you?" I don't know why I whispered it. Then the woman said something that made Shawn laugh again. A few seconds later, his voice softened. "You know you're the reason I'm here." I stopped breathing. Here? Here where? Los Angeles? California? In the car? My thoughts began tripping over one another. "What does that mean?" My voice cracked. "What the hell does that mean, Shawn?" The woman responded, but a burst of static swallowed most of her words. I caught only— "...five years..." My blood ran cold. Five years. We had moved here five years ago. "No." I sat completely still. My fingers started trembling. "Shawn..." More static. Then his voice returned, faint and distorted. "...wanted to be close to you." My stomach lurched. I suddenly felt trapped inside my own car. I pushed the door open and stumbled out, sucking in the cool garage air. My purse fell from my shoulder. I didn't care. I held the phone against my ear with both hands. "Who is she?" My voice was barely audible. "Who the f**k is she?" The woman laughed softly. Then— Silence. I stared at my phone. "Hello?" Nothing. "Shawn?" The screen went black. "No." I tapped it. Nothing. "Come on." I pressed the power button. Dead. My battery had died. "Are you f*****g kidding me?!" I slammed my palm against the roof of my car. The sound echoed through the parking garage. Then everything went quiet again. I stood beside my car, shaking. My purse lay on the concrete. My keys were still inside the vehicle. My phone was dead in my hand. And my fiancé had just told another woman he loved her. Maybe. That single word became my lifeline. Maybe. Maybe I'd misunderstood. Maybe he was drunk. Maybe there was context I hadn't heard. Maybe the woman was someone from his family. Except Shawn didn't tell women in his family that they were the reason he was in Los Angeles. He didn't call them baby. He didn't tell them he could never regret them. And they certainly didn't whisper about another woman. About her. About me? My eyes dropped to my left hand. The diamond on my ring finger sparkled beneath the fluorescent garage lights. For five years, that ring had represented my future. Tonight, for the first time, it looked like evidence. I slowly bent down and picked up my purse. My legs felt numb. I needed a charger. I needed Shawn. I needed answers. Most importantly, I needed to know who the hell had been sitting beside my fiancé. I started toward the elevator. Then stopped. One sentence replayed inside my head. You're the reason I'm here. Five years ago, Shawn told me we'd moved to Los Angeles because of his career. Tonight, for the first time since I'd followed him across the country, I wondered if he'd lied. And if he had... What else had he lied about?