hapter 1 Affair
Chapter 1 Affair
She was abandoned by her fiancé, Simon.
“The engagement party is off. We’re done.”
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Right before their engagement, Eden McBride’s fiancé sent her a single text message and then disappeared completely.
She became a joke, mocked, and ridiculed as an unwanted woman.
When she waited outside his apartment to confront him, it was so surprising for her to see him passionately kissing her good friend Olive and his hand moving under her friend’s clothes.
“You betrayed me!” Eden screamed, tears blurring her vision.
It’s a shock for Simon to see his ex. He looked at Olive, then at Eden, and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, but… you’re just too boring, in every way.”
Hearing his cruel words, she felt so incredible and looked at him in pain.
Six weeks later…
“Eden, there’s no regret that alcohol can’t fix. Once we’re inside the bar, find yourself a hotter boy as a substitute, and you’ll forget about that man abandoning you,” Sienna said seriously.
Ever since Eden’s fiancé abandoned her, she has been deeply depressed and downcast. Her three st friends feared that if she continued in this state, she might commit suicide herself. So they brought fier to the bar, Crush, hoping a pleasant one–night stand with a hot man could help her forget her ex, have a better time, and start moving on.
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Chapter i Affan
Crush was the most popular bar in Rock Castle, especially on weekends, and tonight it was packed They had already been waiting in line for over an hour, but they were determined to get in because a very* frandsome and famous DJ was performing tonight
Eden’s other friend tried to comfort her as she remained silent. “Eden, don’t worry. We’ll find you a sexy guy tonight, for sure
“The sooner you move on, the better,” Cassandra added.
Among Eden and her three friends, Eden was the plainest. But she had great skin and slanted, brown eyes that made her look charming. She had to hide them behind thick–lensed glasses because she was almost blind
“He abandoned you. You shouldn’t be thinking about him anymore,” Lydia said bluntly.
Eden sighed and rolled her eyes. She knew her friends meant well. But she would have preferred spending her days and nights in front of the TV binge–watching carbs and terrible reality shows. She was cool with not brushing her hair or changing her clothes for days on end. She was happy to cry herself to sleep and wake up with a puffy face and swollen eyes. But she didn’t want to be rushed through her grief.
Even less, she didn’t want to go to a bar to find a rebound guy with her friends.
How could six weeks be enough to erase the happy memories? Memories about happy moments of four years and hopeful dreams dashed in an instant? How could she move on so easily?
Still, she didn’t want to worry her friends, so she went along.
Just then,
A Lamborghini screeched in front of the entrance, followed by a Ferrari and a Porsche. Threyall handsome men, looking like they had stepped out of a fashion magazine, exited the cars. They threw their car keys at the valets and made their way to the door.
These men were clearly also trying to get into Crush. But instead of joining the queue, they walked straight to the front and began to cut in line.
1304 Mon, 27 Jan
Chapter 1 Affair
Seeing this, she lost all her patience. Without thinking, she left her place and stormed to the entrance, her friends trailing behind her.
She tapped the shoulder of the tall, red–haired man trying to sneak into the club “Sir, there are a lot of people waiting in line. Please don’t cut in,” she said firmly.
The man turned to look at her, his thick eyebrows fusing in a questioning frown.
Eden paused, her lungs struggling to keep up with her thoughts and take in simple breaths. With hair so bright like flames, she expected his eyes to be green. Not this denim blue. She could feel herself struggle against their pull.
“Eden, don’t cause a scene.” Her friend Sienna gritted her teeth and tugged at her arm.
But Eden saw no reason to be polite.
It was freezing, and she had been waiting in line for so long. She couldn’t tolerate queue jumpers.
She stretched to her full height as she tried to match the man’s towering size. But even in her Jimmy Choo stilettos, she still had to look up at him.
“Are you going to stop me, princess?” He asked in a voice meant to melt the pants off of any woman within a kilometre radius.
His rust–coloured eyebrows shot up, his eyes sparkling with amusement, and his Calvin Klein underwear model friends sniggered.
Eden wanted so much to wipe the smirk off his face with her puny little fists. But she was an educated person. She didn’t have to use her hands to prove her point. Words were just as powerful.
“Do you see all these people?” She glared at him and pointed at the endless line. “They’ve been waiting for over an hour. You can’t just come here and skip the queue. If you have any decency, you’ll do the right thing and wait in line like everyone else.” She said this, blinking furiously behind her black–framed glasses.
Mon, 27 Jan
Chapter 1 Affair
A hush fell over the small crowd gathered around them. Eden’s friends kept tugging and pulling at her But she was so over everything, including this night, and she refused to be intimidated by Red as he leaned down to stare at her at eye level condescendingly.
“I guess I’m not a decent person now, am 1?” He blew a cold, minty breath on her face and shrugged. returning his attention to the bouncer
He flashed a few notes at the burly man, gathered up his crew, and waved at her group. “They are with
us!”
Before Eden could even process his announcement, they were already inside the club, wading through a swarm of sweaty, heaving bodies swaying to the music.
It took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dim lighting. Up ahead, she saw the man she just tussled with head to a VIP booth.
Was she supposed to thank him for getting them in? No way, she shook her head. Now that she was inside, she was glad her toes and ass were not so numb anymore, but she had no issue waiting her turn like everyone else.
“Oh, St. Eden, we are forever in your debt. Drinks are on us tonight! Cassandra bowed and brought her hands up in a prayer–like gesture.
Lydia giggled and gushed. “Yeah, you took one for the team! I mean, I would never have dared to approach Liam.”
“That’s his name?” Eden asked, barely paying attention to her friends‘ chatter. ‘Red‘ suited him better in her opinion.
She craned her neck, scanning the room for free seats. But other than a few empty stools at the bar, there was no sitting room anywhere, and she desperately wanted to sit down. As cute as her shoes were, especially when paired with her black midi dress, her feet were seriously killing her.
Chapter 1 Affair
“Liam’s like royalty around here. You must have heard about any Game sted way ** motorsport driver, throws the craziest parties, and he has a duce unguthrys than three months.”
w
“What a charming guy!” Eden nodded absently, but she’d never heard of him is of sunen E she never paid attention to Rock Union’s social scene
Her eyes lit up when she saw some empty stools at the bar it was gime de sesaly snice all the already inebriated idiots seemed to gravitate there, but she had to rest her fore
“Let’s go,” she said, grabbing Sienna’s hand, and they pushed their way through the crowd Cassandra and Lydia close behind them.
“First round’s on me!” Lydia yelled over the music as she tried to catch the bartender’s attention
They kicked off their evening with a round of shooters and some gossip, followed by cocitals and more scandalous stories. Lydia was sleeping with one of the lighting guys from her fing drew and the had no issue describing all his throbbing, turgid parts for anyone who would listen.
Halfway through her first cocktail, Eden’s mood improved some, and she stated to dunk maybe coming out here wasn’t such a bad idea.
The DJ switched to a fast–paced tune. Lydia and Cassandra screamed something about it being ther favourite jam. Shrieking their heads off, they ran to the dance floor. Eden watched them jump and bob fo the music, a tipsy smile on her face.
“OMG!” Sienna said, her eyes filled with horror. “This is not happening
Eden’s heart shattered all over again when her gaze clashed with Simon’s across the room
Simon was the heartless man who had abandoned Eden. Olive, their former friend, dressed in a skintight metallic dress, hung on his arm like a man’s purse.
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Chapter 1 Affair
“I didn’t know they’d be here,” Sienna said.
Eden nodded. “I’m okay.”
But she wasn’t.
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Her heart was still so bloody and raw over her broken engagement. It wasn’t so much the breakup she was struggling with, though. It was the cowardly way Simon chose to end their year–long engagement over a text message. He didn’t just leave her with a broken heart, but also the admin of cancelling the wedding and fighting for refunds.
She watched them now make their way through the room, carefree and in love, like they never left her broken and bruised.
In the first two weeks after their breakup, she was in numb disbelief and too busy trying to explain to her parents and everyone around her why her intuition was so off the mark about Simon. The worst, though, was calling all 100 guests to let them know it was okay to use their wedding invitations as toilet paper because there wasn’t going to be a wedding.
She spent the next four weeks floating between disbelief, crushing sadness, and rage. She went through all the stages of grief in those weeks.
Now, as she watched the two people she’d trusted with her life laugh and have fun, Eden realised she was still somewhere between anger and acceptance.
“Should we go somewhere else?” Sienna asked.
Eden shook her head. She did nothing wrong except trust the two of them with her heart. If anyones should leave, it was Simon and his cheating heart.
“Come on, let’s show him you don’t need him! Find a hot guy.” Sienna consoled her as they downed the shots lined up on the smooth, marble top.
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Chapter 1 Affair
“You’ve moped long enough for him!”
Eden felt Sienna was right.
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Six weeks was way too long. It was pointless to sit and cry for a man who had no intention of coming back, Eden thought as she guzzled kamikaze shots, one after the other, in quick succession.
Her heart, hellishly numb now, was thankful. But her liver screamed at her to stop as the vodka hit her
hard.
Sienna tried to warn her to pace herself, but Eden was way past the point of being reasonable. She Wanted to get sh*tfaced and forget all the pain through alcohol.
“I’m going to dance.” She hiccuped her way from the bar to the dance floor, determined to pick a random stranger to dance with. She wasn’t fussy. Anyone would do.
She hadn’t expected the guy who had cut in line, the annoying Liam, to approach her.
“Hey, lady, got a minute? I’d like to invite you to dance with me,” Liam said.
Eden’s heart leapt. She had been worried about finding the right dance partner.
