When He Holds Your Hand

I managed to sleep for a couple of hours, but as soon as the living room started to lighten up with that blue glow that comes with early morning and the birds began chirping I was up and out of bed.

Creeping into Rose’s room I crouched down next to her bed and gently woke her up,
"There are hamburgers in the bathroom cupboard." She mumbled sleepily then looked at me confused by her sentence, "what time is it?"

"4 o’clock, I'm popping home but I'm going to borrow your keys because I'll be back in a minute."
Rose nodded and frowned, "are you ok?"

"I've never been better, I'll see you later."

She said goodbye and rolled over with a groan.

I only hoped that when I came back from ending my marriage she wouldn’t be too pissed off when I asked to stay until I thought of a better solution. I wasn't stupid, I knew I should have a better plans to not be so rash but I also knew that if I didn't do it today, I never would.

I'd messaged Will the previous night to say I was staying at Rose’s, he had read the text but didn't reply so I knew that I was going to be in for a frosty reception, and for that I didn't care about waking him so early.

The house felt...different when I walked in, and I guess with hindsight it's easy to wonder why I didn't know what was up. I headed straight upstairs to our bedroom, the door was ajar and I could hear Will snoring from the landing.

He was flat on his back, mouth open and one leg hanging off the edge of the bed. It took me a second to register the third leg which was hooked over Will’s and the arm thrown across his stomach, they both looked so peaceful that I almost crept back out feeling rude to wake them.
Luckily I came to my sense and realised what I was seeing before me, I had had my suspicions for a couple of months that my husband had been sleeping with his business partner’s daughter, Mia, but without the proof I had ignored it. What had never crossed my mind was that it wasn't the daughter he was sleeping with, but the business partner himself.

Terry was curled up against Will’s side, his hair was dishevelled and I could make out a sleepy smile on his face.

I was stumped, that was for sure. Had I unknowingly been a beard for this man for all these
years or was this a knew thing? Was I the only one who didn't know?

Rage bubbled up violently and I turned to the bedroom door, grabbed the edges with both hands and threw it open so hard that it hit the wall with an almighty bang, the handle denting the wall before swinging back shut and causing a second bang.

With a bleary confusion, they both sat up, eyes wide and with at least some decency to look guilty.

"Layla!" Will was up and out of bed, naked he came toward me before realising and grabbing his robe from where it lay on the floor, thrown in a moment of passion no doubt.

"I thought it was Mia!" I laughed to fight back the tears, I wasn't even that upset about being cheated on but the betrayal by Terry was tearing me apart; I thought he was an ally.

"We can explain, Layla, please listen." Will was talking but it turned into static, I was staring at Terry who was silent and shame faced.

"Shut up!" I spat at Will, "just shut the fuck up."

Tension filled the room while they waited for me to make my next move, neither of them dared to say anything or to approach me. My next action was to head to my closet, to grab a suitcase and throw as much in there as I could.

"Where are you going?", I looked up at Will stood in the doorway, he looked petrified I was going to throw the shoe I held in my hand at him but while it was tempting, I decided he wasn't worth it.

"Luckily for you, I decided last night that I don't want to be your accessory anymore and that you can stick your marriage and your house and your bitch of a mother, and while you're at it, you can stick him as well." With a violent yank at the zip, I lifted it up and barged my way past a stunned Will, "I hope you'll be very happy."

My knees were jelly as I thumped the case down the stairs, i was sure I'd forgotten everything I really needed but I wanted to get out of the house as quick as possible.

"Go on then, you whore!" Will was behind me, his normal manner was resumed and he obviously no longer wanted to play the part of feeling guilty, "you think I don't know you were fucking Harry?"

I flinched, he made it sound dirty but I wasn't going to let him know that he had shocked me,
"I don't care if you knew or not, all I know is that he's ten times the man you are and he thinks you're a desperate joke." I pulled the front door open that this one also hit the wall with a bang and the glass gave a protesting rattle.

"I'm the joke?" Will scoffed loudly, "you're just some desperate slag to him, he's screwing at least another 6 girls, all thinner, all younger and all prettier than you."

I bit my tongue so hard I feared my teeth would go right through, I wanted to destroy him, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction or ammunition. Instead, I threw my case in the boot, got in the car, stuck my two fingers up at him and drove off feeling confused, hurt and angry but also relieved, lighter and free.

Notes

STAY TUNED FOR THE SEQUEL!