Fae-ted To The Alpha

Chapter Five- Meeting My Cheating Ex, Again

Daisy

The party at Patricia’s house was meant to be a distraction, an escape from the mess of my feelings and the confusion about Rik. Christmas decorations are not up yet, because Patricia had never put them up until after her birthday, which is nearly two weeks away, a fact I knew well. I felt a wave of dread wash over me. Tonight wasn’t going to be about carefree fun. Not for me, at least.

My best friend had also invited Jordan, whom I had blocked on every social media platform and also deleted his contact. Yet here he is, right in front of me, at my best friend’s birthday party. The last person I wanted to see tonight, but Pat had warned me he might show up. My heart clenched as memories of his betrayal flooded my mind. No, I told myself, you can get through this.

“Great,” I muttered, irritation bubbling up. Luckily, he hadn’t seen me yet. I knew he would want to talk now, since he’d been ‘frantic,’ according to Patricia and other friends.

Jordan, Patricia, and I, along with most of the other guests, were classmates from university. Both Pat and I now work at SpaceX, and this was her birthday celebration. I was supposed to feel happy for her and enjoy the evening with friends, but that all changed when I saw Jordan.

If only Mei were here, I would feel better, but she has been so busy lately since opening her own coffee shop and is now expanding to serve other treats besides the typical muffins and donuts. The familiar hum of laughter and chatter filled the house as I moved through the crowd, doing my best to avoid the clinking of glasses and casual greetings. I found Patricia, standing in the kitchen and talking animatedly with another group of our friends. She spotted me immediately and waved me over. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks flushed from the champagne.

“Daisy!” she exclaimed, pulling me into a quick hug. “How are you holding up?” She watched behind me, and I knew it was at Jordan. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed at me, and I shrugged my shoulders, greeting the others with hugs and what I hoped were warm smiles. It would be selfish of me to ask her not to invite her friend because we had broken up, wouldn’t it?

“Just tired,” I lied, offering a smile that I knew was a little too forced. “It’s been a long week.” She knows me well enough to know it’s only half the truth. But I could not tell her the other half, could I? Oh, I had a one-night stand, and he works in the same facility as us. The judgment would be too much, though Pat would never judge me. It was me and my pride.

Patricia’s grin widened. “You should relax, have fun! We’re here to celebrate, not to think about work or anything else. Champayne,” she added with a teasing wink, and the others cheered a bit, taking the conversation to work while I handed my friend her gift, which she took and placed on the already stacked table.

I didn’t want to be around him, but Patricia was already dragging me toward the living room where the rest of the guests were mingling.

Jordan was sitting on one of the plush chairs, a drink in his hand, talking to a couple of people. When his eyes landed on me, the smile slid off his face. For a moment, I thought I saw guilt in his eyes. My chest tightened as I noticed he was alone tonight, with no other girl in sight. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of relief- relief that I wouldn’t have to face her again.

Marlene, one of my other casual friends, pulled me into a conversation about work and I turned away from him quickly, to answer her. Moments later, I felt his presence behind me. His voice was calm, even a little soft, as he said, “Daisy.”

Thinking he was either rude or desperate, I didn’t turn to face him right away. Instead, I took a long sip of my drink, hoping the liquid could drown the ache I was feeling inside. But, of course, it didn’t, and I finished what I was saying, and Marlene nodded with her jaw slackened a bit, in awe. My job was not fascinating until you heard my boss’s name. Then everyone had questions about him, not his work, but his person, which, by the way, I did not know.

“You’re looking good,” my ex said in a casual tone, like everything was fine between us. Like there hadn’t been a breakup like he hadn’t made me feel like I was second best. Marlene sensed a need for privacy, because everyone knew, by now, that Jordan and I were no longer together because he was a cheating sleaze- I made sure they knew, of course- she smiled politely at me, sneered her teeth at him, and left us alone.

“I’m fine,” I muttered, still not meeting his gaze. But I felt his eyes on me, boring into my back. He moved closer, standing beside me now.

“Look, I owe you an explanation. About… what happened. You saw me with her, but Daisy, it’s not like it seemed.” He had the audacity to place his hand on my back.

It sickened me and I turned to face him then, something sharp in my chest. “Oh?” My voice was colder than I meant it to be, but I didn’t care. He had no right to explain himself after what he did. The anger that had been building up since the wreckage of our relationship, was bubbling to the surface, and I didn’t feel like holding it back. “Did you fall on her lips, Jordan?” I recall his flirting and touchy-feely behavior.

“I know it was wrong,” Jordan admits, his face tense with regret. “I shouldn’t have done it. But, Daisy, I… I never stopped thinking about you.”

Bile fills my stomach. This leech.

“Stop,” I said, cutting him off. “You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to come in here and tell me how much you care after you proved to me you didn't. After everything that happened. You-” I stopped myself, frustrated that I was even engaging in this conversation.

Jordan’s hand reached for mine, but I pull it away before he could touch me. “I wasn’t prepared for things to end between us,” he said, his voice taking on that familiar pleading tone. “I wasn’t prepared for you to just leave. Baby, I love you.”

Has he no shame?

“I’m not here for you, Jordan,” I snapped, the words leaving my mouth before I could even stop them. “You don’t get to apologize now. You made your choice. And I’m done with it. Done with you.” His face fell, and for a split second, I felt a hint of sympathy for him. But that didn’t last long. I was too tired to feel sorry anymore. Too exhausted from carrying around the weight of our failed relationship.

As I turned, I saw Patricia watching us from across the room, her face unreadable. Is she trying to get us to make back up?

Instead, I moved further into the crowd, distancing myself from Jordan. I wanted to be alone, if only for a moment. The buzzing chatter around me made it harder to think, but then again, there was a comfort in the noise.

Grabbing a drink from the makeshift bar, my mind spinning with conflicting emotions, I sulk, while deep inside me, I still felt that painful tug of Jordan’s cheating and me seeing it. I hated him. I didn’t want to feel that way, but it was hard not to. And so, I stayed away from Jordan for an hour and a half, avoiding any conversation about him at all costs. But my eyes did find him from time to time and sometimes our eyes caught one another, and it ached in my chest.

It wasn’t him but the memory of what I thought we had that ached my heart. Two years of my life were wasted. I’d planned to marry this man and have children with him, and he was ... playing me like a strung-out fiddle.

As the evening wore on, the alcohol dulled the sharp edge of my emotions, but it didn’t fully erase the ache, and I was annoyed that I wanted my friend to get on cutting her cake, so I could leave. Jordan had me feeling this way. I didn’t care about him anymore, not really. It was just… so hard to let go.

Patricia found me outside to inform me she was about to do the traditional cake cutting. “Hey,” she said softly, sitting next to me when she saw I made no move to rush and get up, mostly because the alcohol had numbed my brain a bit. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. She didn’t press further, but the look in her eyes told me she knew I wasn’t. Patricia had always been a good friend, a steady presence in my life. I am grateful for her, especially now.

“I’m proud of you,” she said after a long pause. “For standing up for yourself with Jordan. You deserve better, Daisy. Besides, Dale could plummet him if you say the word.” Her words made me smile, but it didn’t stop the ache in my chest.

My brother would do it if he found out Jordan cheated on me, which is why I reminded her to not say anything to him about it.

Rik. His face appeared in my mind, unbidden, and I cursed myself for not being able to escape him. He scared me. Him and this wolf that spoke to me. I had tried to distance myself at work. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see him- it was the opposite. Every time I walked into the building, I expected to find him there, his sea-green eyes cutting through the crowd with that quiet intensity, waiting for me because I had kept my distance. I’d switched my route to the small café down the street, and every time I felt the urge to cross paths with him, I steeled myself.

But still, he lingered in the back of my mind. Every conversation, every meeting I sat through, I could almost feel his presence like a pull at the base of my chest. I wanted to be near him, to talk, to feel the raw power he exuded without even realizing it, but I had no idea how to navigate this newfound confusion.

I tried not to let it show- no one needed to know that beneath my calm demeanor, I was fighting the urge to seek him out... while I battled with my ex-boyfriend's betrayal.

My phone vibrated then, and I watched the notification from my father, sighing. He and my mother would message me every day about everything since university, and it only stopped when I got back home, during semesters. And now that I am working, they started again. But it’s weird because I go home every day after work.

“Let’s get your birthday wish, baby,” I say to Pat, and she pulls me up.