A Christmas Betrayal

Meeting again

Dawn

I stop in my tracks, and Vincent stands right behind me. I turn on my heels to face him.

“You were at that party? What’s your social status?”

“It’s fun to socialize once or twice. My status? Does it matter? I was an escort for one of the girls attending the party.” He grins brightly and I roll my eyes.

The relief I feel after knowing he isn't one of the rich snobs at the party.

A man this good-looking must have a woman begging for his services. It’s a good thing I didn’t come here for love, but rather working on myself.

“I see, but you must have been wrong,” I answer with my head raised high.

“I never miss a face. I found you to be interesting, you stood out from the rich snobs and didn’t even bother to fit in with the crowd. It made me wonder who you are, but I couldn't guess." He expresses while he taps his chin.

Yep, not one of them, or he would have known I am Dave's wife, soon-to-be ex.

I shrug and turn around once again. I follow Reed into the kitchen.

"I love to keep it low-key. Just like you, I got dragged to the party,"

"Poor us," I don't need to see to know he is shaking his head.

Reed grabs three mugs from the cupboards and places them on the kitchen counter. He proceeds to the coffee machine where he adds some coffee to it.

“Vincent, is the New Year event still on?” Reed suddenly asks as he yawns a little.

Shortly I find myself yawning too. It’s so contagious.

I find a seat and stare at Vincent to see if he does yawn too, but he answers instead.

“It is on, they proposed we wear masks,” Vincent answers as he takes a seat next to me.

Why does he have to be so close?

I chew on my bottom lip as I watch Reed pour some coffee for all of us.

He puts the mugs in front of us. He is so polite.

“We will show up then,”

My ears peek at his words. My head shoots up, and I glare at Reed. He meets my gaze head-on.

“We are going to Dawn, whether you like it or not. You need to go out more, it helps a lot.”

I gesture my hands in disbelief, “But I can just remain behind and watch movies while you go. I wasn’t even in the plans, to begin with,” I argue back.

“As if that matters!” Vincent remarks with a slight cackle that has me glaring at him as he pretends to focus on the cup of coffee in front of him.

Who visits too early anyway?

I scowl at him, and he simply shrugs his shoulders.

I glare at my mug instead.

“I am still not going,” I mutter.

“For the sake of you, I am going too. I hope the event helps you forget a little.”

I haven’t thought about Dave today. He might have seen that letter or maybe not, I don’t know. But I hope he just moves on with Tara. I know others would have said I put up a fight before leaving, but honestly, I am done with that. I am angry at myself that it took me seeing Dave and Tara together and hearing Dave tell Tara he loves her to know that I deserved better. I am never getting into any relationship ever again. I don’t even want any rich snobs near me. I will just focus on building myself.

Dave can stay with the love of his life. I hope he never finds me ever. The next person I have to avoid is Dad because if he finds me, he will make sure to drag me back kicking and screaming with the preaching of how I am meant to endure my marriage as a firstborn daughter and not embarrass him.

“You see what I mean?” Reed says, gesturing at me.

I finally look up with squinted eyebrows, “What?”

“You keep zoning out,” Vincent says, and I turn to glare at him, but his eyes are on his mug.

I roll my eyes instead and sip on some more coffee. The coffee is perfectly brewed and I enjoy it so much that I am convinced I will be begging Reed every morning to make some.

“You see cousin, this is why we are going for that event.”

“What kind of event is it anyway?”

“You will when we get there.” He smiles and I groan. He can save me all the trouble by telling me instead.

I roll my eyes and quietly listen to the men talk about their men stuff, the whole time my mind is on re-enrolling so I can continue with my studies.

For the rest of the day Vincent leaves to go about his business and Reed escorts me into town to purchase a new phone as well as some more clothes including what to wear on the New Year's event.

By the time we get back, it’s evening, and we are walking up the porch with so many shopping bags.

I giggle, “Yeah, I remember that time. You know, I never loved wearing braces as a kid, but then Tara made sure to show all my pictures in braces to everyone at the family event.”

“Tara has always been a silent vixen.” He states with a scowl on his face. “I always saw through her pretense, that’s why she never got along with me.”

I wish I had seen it too. It still hurts me that Tara would do this to me. After confiding in her and getting advice from her when the whole time she was involved in my abuse.

I drop on the couch now that we are finally inside.

“By the way, when you are ready to talk to someone about Dave and all that you endured I am here for you, cousin always. I know it must have been tough and traumatic, but you can always talk to me.” He has the look of sympathy in his green eyes.

“When I want to talk about it, I will open up,” I tell him, then sigh.

I didn’t tell him the full story. He doesn’t know that Tara is involved, all I told him was that I was tired of Dave mistreating me and I needed to run away from him, and he immediately agreed.

“By the way, your friend Vincent, how long have you known each other?” I ask, changing the subject.

His friend is so cocky that he irks me in a way. Yet something about him seems so familiar like there is something I am missing right under my nose.

“Since I was young. Our parents got along before they moved to another country, though we still kept in touch, and after we both grew up, we found ourselves in this town," I nod in understanding.

I wish I had such a close friend like that too.

“You must be very close then,”

“We really are. I can count on him for anything, the same way he can count on me too.” He says with admiration.

I am envious of their closeness.

“That’s so cool,” I mutter.

I close my eyes, and my mind flashes to images of the mistletoe booth, and my eyes shoot open. I can’t have a stranger on my mind simply because we shared a mind-blowing kiss.

“Where is your mind at, girl?” Reed asks with a devious smirk.

He chuckles and leans back in his seat.

“It’s nothing,”

He passes me a side eye and then laughs. “If you say so,”

The rest of the night, we just chat and order some takeaway.

The rest of the days fly by, and life is so peaceful for once. The broken part of me misses Dave a little. I believe it’s because I got so used to the abuse, and now that I am no longer living with it, I feel a little weird. So I channeled my energy where it mattered. I managed to enroll in school and was able to continue where I left off. The classes are online, and they keep busy during the day while Reed is at work. He took over as CEO of the branch company that's in this town.

Away since that day I haven’t seen Vincent, and I must say I am glad. There is just something about him that I don’t know if it scares me or excites me.

It’s finally New Year’s night and I stand at the entrance of the hall with Reed by my side.

For the event, I am adorned in a royal backless purple gown that touches the floor. It hugs my body up to my knees, where it flows after showing off my hourglass figure. The gown is simple except for a few diamond pieces that make it shine. Reed is adorned in an all-black tuxedo that shows off the firm muscle underneath as well, complementing his sexy height of 6’0.

With masks on our faces, I chose a feathered phoenix design that is a mixture of black and red to make me stand out while Reed settled for a fox, rather a sly fox as I like to tease him.

We look like the ultimate couple as we waltz in, grabbing the attention of many. Heads are turned our way, and a few others whisper among themselves. They must think we are the ultimate couple. The thought alone makes me giggle, and Reed leans his head closer to me.

“Is something funny?” He asks, probably wanting to be filled in on the tea.

The past few days, we have gotten so close that when he gets back from work, the first thing he does is fill me in on all the work gossip.

I shake my head gently.

My laughter dies down as my hairs stand on their ends. There is that feeling again. I have been feeling like this since I came here like someone is watching me. I don’t know if it’s just in my mind or if someone is really stalking me.

We reach the center where music is playing and people are sipping on Champagne.

A few who manage to recognize Reed by his platinum blond hair and beard approach us and ask a few nosy questions about whether I am his girlfriend or not.

Of course, we both laugh it off until Reed excuses himself.

I see the food table and decide to head there. I grab a glass of wine and drink on it. I turn around to face the crowd, only to pause at the sight in front of me. I remember that back; it’s the man from the booth.

He suddenly turns on his heels and begins to head my way. The wolf mask he has on gives nothing away, and he lazily stalks towards me.

He probably doesn’t know it’s me. He won’t be able to guess anyway, so I have nothing to worry about.

The royal blue suit he has on is tailored to perfection, a costume made with very expensive-looking material. Dave is a millionaire, but not even he has the kind of suit this man is wearing. He has to be one of those wealthy snobs I vowed to stay away from.

He goes to grab a glass of wine before he stands next to me.

“What’s a fine woman like you doing here all by herself?” He strikes conversation and his damn voice is sexy. He is mysterious in a very sexy, rich way, and I should stay away from him.

“Nothing,” My reply is short. I don’t want to lead him into conversation.

“How about a toast instead?” He says the scent of musk with a touch of vanilla hits my nose, and my knees feel weak.

I turn to observe him now that he is up close. He is giving nothing away. Except for his black hair. He made sure to hide his eyes too.

“A toast to what?”

“To meeting each other again after sharing a kiss under the mistletoe.”