2. Homewrecking Skank

HOMEWRECKING SKANK

I took my time with my makeup the way I always do when it's drop-off time. I never want her to forget that he traded up. I know the bitch must be dying inside that I interrupted her happy little home, even though she pretends otherwise. Women like her make me sick.

If the man wants out, just let him go, I say. If she was doing her job, there's no way I could've taken her man, so she can't blame me. If he was happy with her, he wouldn't have picked up what I was putting down, so I feel no guilt. I'm not the one who promised to love and cherish her after all.

I'm in a much better position now than I was two and a half years ago when we first started. Now, I don't have to hide the man of my dreams and our relationship has been more fulfilling. He's the best thing that has ever happened to me and everything I ever wanted in my man.

He's attentive and caring, and best of all, he chose me. I never really paid any attention to her before; I didn't really care about her as a person. Her existence didn't get in the way of our growing love for each other, and that's all I cared about.

She was so stupid she didn't even realize all those times he was right next to her texting me, or all the times we went away on ‘business' when we were really spending about one hour a day working and the rest of the time fucking like bunnies or living our best lives together away from the pressure and stress of being caught.

I know the bitch probably got pregnant because she suspected something to try to hold onto him; he says not, but I'm a woman; we know these things. I know she's only pretending not to care.

She thinks she's still in the game because his family and friends chose her side, but I'm willing to wait them out because I know that with time, they'll come around. As soon as I have our first child together, his parents are going to want to see their grandchild, and that's going to be the thing that breaks the ice.

They may hate me all they want, but once they realize they won't get to see my kid without me, that will be the end of this bullshit. It still burns my ass that they invite her everywhere, but I can bide my time. I waited two years to finally steal Doug away from her after all, and that worked out well.

She's never said a bad word to my face, and I've heard whispers about her shutting down any talk about the affair. Apparently, she's not mad at me because she doesn't even know me, the snooty bitch. It's all pretense, I'm sure of it. A last-ditch effort to guilt Doug into feeling guilty, which worked in the beginning until I showed him what he would be missing if he and I broke up.

He still gets to see his son, and his daughter is getting to the age where we can have her overnight as well, so until I'm ready to have kids of my own, that's essentially like having the best of both worlds. The stupid bitch didn't even fight him on seeing the kids, which, if I had been thinking at the time, I would've made him go for fifty-fifty.

But back then, I was only thinking of our freedom. But as the months went by and his son still hasn't really warmed up to me, I've rethought my position. I need her out of the picture completely.

I've been racking my brain for a way to get Doug on board, but since I no longer have anything to hold over his head, it's proving to be difficult. He refuses to see things my way, still stuck on his guilt for hurting her, which is starting to piss me off.

I've done the research, and since she hasn't done anything, there's no way a court would take the kids away, but that's easily rectified. When the time is right, I'm sure I can come up with something to get rid of her. In the meantime, I'll just keep showing her that the best woman won.

BASTARD

I could feel my heart racing as I made the turnoff to my old neighborhood. It hadn't done that in a while, and I wasn't sure how to feel. I haven't felt settled since the day before, and I have so many questions. Like when did Rachel and my friends get so close?

They seemed way too familiar for just a casual acquaintance. I almost ran over the curb when I saw Jacob exiting the house where I was expecting Rachel. "Jacob, what are you doing here? Where's Rachel?"

"She had a last-minute errand to run and asked me to wait here for Kevin."

"Hey, little man." He greeted my son, who seemed happy to see him as I got out to take him out of the car seat.

"Where's Sarah?"

"She's asleep; that's why Rachel asked me to come over."

He picked up my son and kissed his cheek before walking away. He didn't even acknowledge Wendy, which I knew was going to set her off again. I watched him disappear with my son, and that bad feeling started up in my gut again. As expected, Wendy was steaming, but at least she kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything to make the situation worse.

"I bet you anything she's in there. She's just playing games." No sooner had the words left her mouth than we saw Rachel's car turning the corner. I wasn't sure if it was okay to beep the horn or not, and I so badly wanted to turn around and go back there, but I knew that wouldn't end well, so I kept driving.

The thing is, I was pretty sure Rachel saw me, but she didn't even look in my direction. At least, I don't think she did. I white knuckled the steering wheel all the way back to the house that Wendy and I were renting while looking for our forever home, as she calls it.

For the first time, I walked through the doors with an emptiness inside. I missed my son already and I was missing most of my daughter's life. Why did she call Jacob? I'm Sarah's father. If she had an issue she should've called me, I would've been more than happy to help.

But Rachel hasn't asked for my help with anything since I confessed. How had that gone completely over my head? How had I not realized that, except for talks about our kids, she had completely cut me out of her life like an incision from a surgeon's scalpel?

It's the way she drove past me just now. I know she recognized my car the same way I recognized hers, but she just drove by as if I wasn't there. She never let her eyes shift, not even a little bit. This is the woman I had loved for ten years.

We have children together, and yet she'd just blown me off as if I were nothing. She didn't act like that yesterday at the party. She didn't go out of her way to talk to me or anything, but she didn't freeze me out, either.

I only now realized that she usually acts that way when the kids are around. She always smiles and acts happy when our kids are in the vicinity, but other than that, she hasn't really talked to me since the divorce. Something else that had gone over my head until now.

When had it started? When had she pulled away so completely? And why do I feel this void, like I'm standing at the door to the abyss?