Reign: A Royal Military Romance (63 page)

A
riana berated
herself all the way back to the Lodge, cursing herself for coming so close to cheating on poor Graham. Even if she’d wanted to kiss Jake so, so badly. Even if Jake was funny and kind and had actually gone out of his way to help her with something. She knew perfectly well that taking two girls backpacking through thick forest in the middle of the week wasn’t part of his job. He was going because he wanted to.

She realized she didn’t even know if they were still going.

“Fuck!” she shouted to the inside of the rental car.

* * *

W
hen she walked
into the lobby of the Lodge, Theresa was sitting on one of the overstuffed leather couches, looking at her phone, and glanced up when Ariana walked in.

“Hey,” the other girl said. “Do you still want to — are you okay?”

Ariana blinked, realizing that she probably looked like a mess. “Fine,” she said, hoping she sounded light and breezy. “Do you still want to get dinner?”

“Yeah,” said Theresa. She stood. “Chinese, and you can tell me what’s going on.”

* * *

H
alfway through their lo mein
, Theresa had finally dragged most of the story out of Ariana. She’d stopped eating and was just resting her head on both hands, staring at the other girl, wide-eyed.

“He held out packs for you like that?” she sighed. “What a gentleman.”

Ariana shook her head. She felt like Theresa was really focusing on the wrong thing, here. “I almost cheated on Graham,” she said.

“You almost cheated on Graham with the guy whose picture you see if you look up ‘sexy beast’ in the dictionary,” Theresa said.

“I know you don’t like him, but this is a big deal to me,” said Ariana. “Should I tell Graham? I don’t like there to be secrets between us.”

As if on cue, her phone, sitting on the table, buzzed with a text message. It was a photo, and Ariana couldn’t make it out at first until she opened it on her phone, still sitting on the table.

“That’s a dick,” said Theresa, authoritatively. “Is that Graham? That’s Graham’s dick. Oh Jesus.” She hid her eyes with both hands.

Ariana was utterly speechless. Graham had never sent her anything like this before, and she had no idea why he was starting now.

Her phone buzzed again.

Cant wait to see u tonite :)
it said.

“What is it?” asked Theresa, still hiding her eyes behind her hands.

“Weird,” said Ariana. “He thinks I’ll be back tonight, but I told him when I left I didn’t know when we’d be home. I’ll text him and—”

“He’s cheating on you,” Theresa said. Then she covered her mouth with both hands.

Ariana stared, open-mouthed.

“I’m sorry,” said Theresa. “Maybe he’s not? But he suddenly sends you a dick pic and a sexy message when you’re across the country? It kinda seems like...” she trailed off, staring helplessly at Ariana.

Ariana looked back at her phone. She scrolled quickly through the rest of their messages to each other — his mostly one-word answers, hers long and detailed.

“How could he be cheating on me?” she asked.

“You’re gone a lot,” Theresa said.

“Why?”

“He’s a shitbag?” said Theresa. “I don’t know why he’d cheat on you, but—” she gestured futilely at the phone.

“I have to go,” Ariana said. She stood from the table and headed for the door. “I have to call him.” She walked through the door and, moments later, Theresa saw the white rental car swing out of the parking lot.

“Okay, cool,” said Theresa to Ariana’s now-empty seat. “I’ll just pay and walk.”

* * *

I
t was almost
ten that night when there was a soft knock on Ariana’s door. She was curled up, in her pajamas, in the center of her king-sized bed, her phone still in one hand, and ignored the knock.

The knock just sounded again, louder. Finally Ariana got up and answered the door. Theresa stood there, holding two mini-bottles of Jack Daniels.

Ariana sniffled. Her sinuses felt swollen from crying and her eyes were raw. “Where’d you get those?” she asked.

“Plane,” said Theresa. “The CRF doesn’t care if you buy booze with their money.”

“Really?”

“Sure.”

Ariana dragged herself back to the bed and collapsed dramatically. Theresa opened one tiny bottle and handed it to her.

“It went bad?” she said.

Ariana tossed the whiskey back, swallowed, and nodded. “God, it just took so long,” she said. She screwed the cap back onto the empty tiny bottle and set it on the side table.

Theresa produced another from her pocket, handing it to Ariana.

“First he swore he wasn’t, and then we fought, and then he said he was, but just this once, and I got really mad about that, and it just went on and on.” She paused to unscrew the next little bottle and also tilted it back, then put the cap back on, setting it neatly next to the first empty one on her bedside table. “He’s had two other girlfriends in the past year, not counting me.
Girlfriends
, he called them his goddamn girlfriends.”

“That fucking asshole,” said Theresa.

“And then he tried to blame me!” said Ariana. She was starting to cry again, just a little. “He said if I were around more, he wouldn’t have to look somewhere else for pussy.”

“It is
not
your fault
,
” said Theresa, firmly. She produced a third tiny bottle and handed it to Ariana.

The other girl looked down at it. “How many of these do you have?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Theresa said. Ariana obeyed, downing the little bottle and then tossing it at the garbage can. She missed.

“A year, Theresa,” Ariana went on. “He’s been cheating on me for a year and I had no idea! Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“Did they know?”

“Did you?”

Theresa shook her head. “I just thought he was a loser,” she said. “Honestly, I’m surprised he got up off his ass enough to find those sluts — oh no, no, I’m sorry, don’t cry!” Ariana erupted into a fresh set of tears.

“I just feel so stupid!” she said.

“It’s okay,” said Theresa. “Karma’s gonna tear him a new one someday.” She put her arms around the other girl and they sat like that, in the middle of the bed, for a long time.

Finally, Ariana spoke up again.

“I guess it’s not really that big of a deal,” she said. “It’s not like we live together or something.”

“True,” said Theresa.

“My life isn’t even going to change that much,” she went on. “Still mostly traveling for work, still got my own apartment.”

“Still buy your own wine and order your own pizza,” said Theresa. “You just don’t have to share it now.”

Despite herself, Ariana snort-laughed. “I guess,” she said.

“We’ll go to bars together when we’re out,” she said. “I heard there have been some more Loch Ness sightings. You interested in some Scottish men?”

Ariana laughed again, weakly.

“I don’t even know if we’re going camping tomorrow,” she said.

“I thought you got a tent and a pack and stuff for us,” said Theresa. “And then got hit on pretty hard by Jake the lumberjack?”

“I didn’t even finish my story,” said Ariana. “We almost kissed, and then I shouted ‘I have a boyfriend!’ and ran away.”

“Did you literally run?” asked Theresa.

Ariana just nodded, miserably.

Theresa pulled her close again, stroking her hair. “You’re a mess,” she said.

Ariana just sighed.

* * *

W
hen Ariana woke up
, there was one instant where she felt almost normal. Then, she remembered what had happened last night: the tent in the office, the dick pic, the phone call, the crying, the tiny bottles of Jack Daniels. While she wasn’t exactly hung over, her head pounded.

Her room didn’t have a coffee maker in it, so she slipped into her pajamas and headed downstairs. Normally she didn’t like to be seen by others in a state of undress like this, but today she just didn’t give a shit.

Look at my busted ass, world!
She thought.
Hope you’re enjoying the show
.

She walked groggily to the coffee machine, grabbed a styrofoam cup, and put it under the spout.

Then, just as she pushed the button down, she heard a deep voice behind her.

“We still going out today?” it asked.

Ariana froze, just for a moment. It was Jake, of course, the very last person she wanted to see her in her current state of disarray.

She swallowed, then turned.

“I, uh, wasn’t sure what time to meet you,” she said. “Or where. Sorry I left so suddenly.”

Jake shrugged, and she could tell he was trying not to act hurt. “No worries,” he said. “I got all the stuff we need. I grabbed a couple packs I think will fit Theresa, she can pick one and we’ll be on our way.”

Ariana stepped away from the coffee machine, leading him from the most crowded part of the hotel lobby.

“Look, I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said. “It was, I just, you know,” she said.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I overstepped my professional boundaries, and I shouldn’t have. Just business, from here on out.”

She nodded, sipping more of her coffee. “Thanks for understanding,” she said. At last, she let herself look at him. Even in his hiking gear he looked incredible: his t-shirt showed off his bulging arms and wide shoulders. He hadn’t bothered to shave that morning, it looked like, so he had at least a day’s worth of stubble sprouting from his chin.

Ariana looked away again.
You’re in no state to be thinking any dirty thoughts
, she told herself sternly.

“Think they’ll mind if I grab some coffee?” he asked.

“I doubt it,” she said, and he reached past her for a styrofoam cup of his own.

He poured it, then emptied in two packets of sugar and what seemed like half a cup of cream.

“You take any coffee with your milk and sugar?” she teased.

“Very funny,” he said, tossing his stir stick into the trash. “So, are we still going, or did I show up here at the crack of dawn for nothing?”

Ariana wavered for a moment.

“Don’t make me do paperwork all day,” he said.