AUTHORS POV
SYDNEY SLID OUT of the sleek chiffon dress she was wearing. Blake’s girlfriends do have a good fashion sense. Sydney thought.
She sank into the steamy bathtub, exhaling a deep sigh as the warm water enveloped her. The tension in her body melted away instantly. It’s been quite a day and she needed to cool off.
Her eyes were shut, and her arms were spread across the bathtub.
Not only did Gavin sleep with Avery, but he had unprotected s! x with her. Didn’t he think of the aftermath of what he had done?
Today was their anniversary. They were meant to spend time together alone and now he’d brought someone else into their home.
Her heart throbbed but not as much as her body did. She was a woman with needs. He hadn’t made love to her since the night he came home drunk and she couldn’t bring herself to tell him she needed him.
Despite how much she craved her husband’s touch, she couldn’t let what he’d put inside another woman enter inside her. She was starting to be strong, and she knew if he touched her, she would break.
Her phone buzzed, slicing through the serene atmosphere and disturbing her thoughts. She lazily reached out and plucked the phone from the nearby table.
It was Sofia calling.
” I’m sorry I didn’t pick up your calls earlier; I had some late-night work to attend to.” Sofia apologized earnestly.
” I understand, I struggled with a few midnight works myself.”
Sydney got out of the shower with her phone held to her ear when she asked, ” How’s Ethan and Emily?”
” Emily seems fine; I just worry a bit about her, she reads a lot of books. I saw her reading Fifty Shades of Grey. I didn’t know how she reached my top shelf, but when I collected it from her, she wouldn’t stop bewailing.”
” Ethan doesn’t say anything; he just stays at the basketball court, trying to score a goal all the time.”
Sydney tied her robe around her body. Emily was really smart for a six-year-old; the time she’d barged into her mommy and daddy’s room with knocking, she had disturbed Sydney with a lot of questions like: Is that how I came to this world? Are kids allowed to do that?
It took Sydney and Gavin a week to convince her they were acting Power Rangers in bed.
Sydney sighed wearily, ” It’s fine, I’ll come over tomorrow morning to pick them up.”
” Oh, are you in California?”
” I arrived some hours ago.”
Sydney and Sofia chatted for a while before Sydney ended the call.
She wondered how they would feel knowing Avery was now living in their home.
She blew her hair with a hair dryer before packing it into a messy bun and leaving the bathroom.
The first thing she saw when she entered the room was Gavin’s black blazer and red tie on the bed.
Did he wear this to work? She picked most of the clothes he wore to work or any place in particular. He had a good fashion sense but he always preferred Sydney to pick what he’d wear.
Seeing the blazer and tie on the bed, Sydney wondered if he picked it out while sleepwalking.
” I thought you would spend at least half a month away with your lover,” Gavin said as he walked out of the closet.
Sydney looked at him.
Right, he was sleepwalking when he chose this outfit.
His forest eyes grazed the robe on her body. He had already had a boner seeing her naked minutes ago. Wild thoughts ran through his mind and he had to muster up a lot of courage to peel his eyes away from her. He had almost forgotten how beautiful she was.
” So you’ve been anticipating.” She threw back with a cheeky smile.
His eyes narrowed at her. Why was she in a bright mood, didn’t she notice Avery was around?
” Don’t dream of it.” He took his eyes off her and grabbed his towel.
All he could imagine was what she had done with that man. Did she let him see her nakedness? Even worse, did she sleep with him?
” But how did you know I went to Arizona with Gabriel?” Sydney asked just to spite him up.
She noticed his veins bulging as he turned to look at her. He couldn’t hide the envy in his eyes.
” Are you going to pretend like you didn’t leave the city alone with that stupid man?”
Sydney’s eyes darkened. Did he have the bloody right to be jealous?
” First of all, Gavin Gabriel is not stupid, and second, I’m not denying it. Read my lips, Gavin; I did leave the city with Gabriel; if that information isn’t enough for you, I also lived in the same apartment with him.”
She continued when she noticed it made him angry, ” His room was next to mine, we ate breakfast and dinner together and he’s a more decent and caring man than you’ve ever been to me.”
Gavin opened his mouth, ready to wade into her, but she turned around, grabbed a duvet, and headed for the door, cutting him off.
” Come back here, Sydney, where the f**k are you going to!” He barked.
Sydney halted and turned to him with a nasty scowl.
” I’m making things easier for you. Why don’t you bring your pregnant little prostitute to stay in your room with you? She looks like she needs to be screwed.”
Gavin stood stiff, dumbfounded, as Sydney left the room.
When did she become so feisty and bold? So, she knew about Avery’s pregnancy yet she seemed so indifferent.
Had she already gotten over him?
__________
Sydney chuckled as Gabriel botched an easy shot.
“Give up, lumber boy! The girl’s got this,” Paxton Grey, the country club president, joked, laughing alongside Alfred.
Sydney had expected Gabriel to be a tennis ace, but he was struggling to keep up. In a game of 24. Sydney led by 21 and Gabriel 2.
Gabriel squinted through the harsh sunlight and shot back, “Never! I’m improving by the second!”
Charlotte chimed in, “In your dreams!” and the group erupted into laughter everyone except Elizabeth Freeman and her friends, who were too busy gossiping about Sydney.
The match ended swiftly, with Sydney emerging victorious. As they shook hands at the net, the lighthearted teasing continued.
The game was over in a minute and Sydney emerged as the winner.
” You did great; I had to let you win; next time, I won’t go easy on you.” Gabriel teased.
Sydney scoffed, “Tennis is clearly one thing you’re terrible at.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think I’m bad at anything else?”
Sydney smirked. “None that I know of.”
Alfred interrupted, asking Sydney to play a match with him. She agreed without hesitation, handing Gabriel her phone and purse to hold.
As Gabriel watched Sydney play with Alfred, he couldn’t help but smile. She radiated happiness and cheerfulness, a sight he’d always wanted to see. He noticed she’d been putting more effort into herself lately.
Just then, Sydney’s phone buzzed, breaking Gabriel’s trance.
His expression hardened when he saw the caller’s name:
Logan.