My BFF & Him Cheated, I Went Wild

Chapter 2

That "Thanks, Nellie" hit me like a slap in the face, dripping with bitter irony.

Everyone had known. I was the only i***t left in the dark.

The 7-person group chat was nothing like the 8-person one, where a message showed up maybe once every couple of weeks. This one was constantly buzzing, with everyone in it chatting away.

I swiped up for what felt like forever and still hadn't reached the messages from the day before.

My fingertips went ice-cold.

The first time I'd brought Rola to hang out with this group a year ago, she'd been a timid, quiet girl who stuck close to me, barely saying a word.

Gideon's friends hadn't paid her much attention either. They'd given her a quick, lukewarm greeting before carrying on with their own conversation and leaving her out.

I hated seeing my best friend sitting there like she didn't belong, so I did everything I could to keep things lively and draw her into the conversation.

She couldn't hold her liquor, so whenever she lost a game, I downed her penalty drinks one after another.

Gideon couldn't stand to watch it. He snatched the glass from my hand, his voice thick with concern.

"If you can't hold your liquor, stop playing. You keep drinking for her and you're gonna wreck your stomach. You'll be up all night in pain again, you know that?"

The second he finished, Landon and the other guys started hooting and teasing him.

"C'mon, Gideon. If your wife can't drink, you can always take her place!"

Gideon didn't even look up.

"I'm not obligated to drink for other people. The only person I'd ever drink for is my wife."

Rola's face went from bright red to ghostly white.

After that, Rola refused to come to any of their gatherings.

I felt guilty about it for ages. I even blew half a month's salary on a bag just to make it up to her.

My fingers moved on their own, swiping all the way back to the very beginning of the chat history.

The first message in the group was from Rola, tagging Gideon.

Rola: Thanks for covering my drinks yesterday. Are you feeling okay today? Also, can we keep the kissing penalty between us? I don't want Nellie to get upset.

Gideon's reply had been cold and distant.

Gideon: You're my wife's friend. I only helped you because she asked me to. It was just a small favor.

After that, Gideon hadn't replied to any of her messages.

At the time, he'd been busy making me hangover soup, after all.

I remembered that day so clearly.

Gideon had an important meeting scheduled, but I'd drunk way too much and spent the entire second half of the party hunched over the toilet, throwing up. I didn't start feeling better until we got home.

He couldn't bear to leave me to fend for myself when I was that sick, so he'd skipped the meeting entirely.

His assistant had called him a dozen times, but Gideon had simply said he had something urgent to handle, shut off his phone, and pulled me into his arms the moment he turned around.

"Nothing matters more than you. I can always find another job if I lose this one, but if I lose my wife? I'd never survive."

And yet, that very same man who'd sworn he couldn't live without me was in the guest room, in bed with my best friend.