Betrayal: Kyle's Revenge (The Betrayal Series) Page 2

  Crap.

  Getting flustered, Abby called Kyle right away.

  “Hey, honey. How is it going? I’m sorry I missed your calls. My phone died…”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Kyle cut her off through gritted teeth. He was trying his best to not give away how angry he was. When Abby called, he was still in the backyard of his mother’s house watching his cousins throw a football around. “I figured that’s what happened. You always forget to keep your phone charged.”

  “Yes, I’m such a scatterbrain.” Abby chuckled nervously. She was a terrible liar. Lying made her very uncomfortable.

  “So how was work?” Kyle asked, needing to confirm what Victoria had told him earlier about Abby not showing up to work that day.

  Abby began to stammer. “Oh, it was the same as always. Really busy. You know how that place is on the weekends.”

  “Oh really?” Kyle replied, trying his hardest to remain civil and not call Abby out on her lies. “Did you sell a lot of books? Were the customers annoying?”

  “Yeah. We had a good day,” Abby replied, the pitch of her voice rising.

  “How’s Victoria? I hope her illness is nothing serious.”

  “Oh, she’s fine. She just came down with a cold. That’s all.”

  Kyle took a deep breath as crushing disappointment washed over him. The realization that his sweet, lovely girlfriend was nothing but a two-faced, two-timing slut was simply too devastating for Kyle to bear. Abby was the most honest person he knew. How could she lie to him so easily?

  Had it all been a lie? Kyle wondered.

  He felt the urge to yell at Abby and smash the phone against the wall. But the backyard was full of people, and Kyle didn’t want to make a scene or worry his mother. Besides, Kyle wanted to have concrete proof before he confronted Abby with her lies.

  Only three more days.

  Kyle counted to ten in his head and was able to calm down a bit. He shook his head and rolled his eyes at how bad a liar Abby was. The stammering and the rise in the pitch of her voice gave her away. Kyle could practically see the sweat beads building on her forehead.

  Amidst all the disappointment, Kyle found some comfort in the fact that he discovered who his girlfriend really was before it was too late. Kyle felt he dodged a bullet by not proposing to her that night at that restaurant. Finding out Abby was a two-timing cheating whore after he had married her would have done irreversible damage to Kyle’s ability to trust and love.

  “So are we still video chatting tonight?” Abby asked, trying to steer the conversation away from the subject of her whereabouts. “I can’t wait to say hello to your mom and your family.”

  Kyle was not in the mood for video chatting. He felt that if he saw Abby’s cheating, lying face, he was going to put his fist through his computer screen. “No. We’re not going to do that tonight,” Kyle snapped, almost giving away how pissed he was. He cleared his throat to regain his composure. “Everyone decided to go out to dinner tonight. Maybe some other day.”

  “Okay. We’ll do it another day then,” Abby sighed. She was sensing something was wrong. Kyle sounded distant, cold. She knew him well too. She could tell he was upset about something. Little did she know he was on to her.

  “Is everything okay, Kyle?” Abby asked.

  “Yeah. Everything is fine. I’m just a little tired. That’s all. Listen, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  Kyle and Abby exchanged cold goodbyes, and after some awkward silence, ended the call. Abby sat on her couch clutching the phone in her hands. She wondered what was wrong with Kyle and why he wouldn’t confide in her. It also dawned on her that Kyle hadn’t said ‘I love you’ to her in a while. Abby found it odd, but immediately shrugged it off. She just assumed that whatever was bothering Kyle had nothing to do with her. The thought that Kyle might know she was cheating on him never crossed her mind.

  With the video chat cancelled, Abby had the night free to do anything she wanted. She thought about going over to Brianna’s and spending the night with her, but decided against it. She had things to do. She spent that whole night doing her laundry and other chores around the apartment.

  After she was done with her housework, Abby ordered some takeout Chinese food and ate it while watching an episode of Downton Abbey. After she was done eating, she stepped to the kitchen and sat at her kitchen table. With her laptop in front of her and the iPhone Brianna had given her, Abby got on the internet to activate her brand new, expensive gadget.

  She logged into her iCloud account and downloaded all of her contacts, photos and apps to her new phone. She played around with all the cool new features and was surprised at how easy it was for her technically challenged self to figure it all out. She configured her phone that night, oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend had hacked into her virtual storage space and was tracking her every move.

  After setting up her new phone, Abby spent some time packing some of her things. She wanted to be ready to go when Kyle kicked her out of the apartment. Abby looked around the bedroom, realizing how much she was going to miss living there. Yes, the apartment was tiny, and the building was old, but she loved it anyway. She had spent some of the best years of her life there.

  Abby sighed, overcome with conflicting feelings. On the one hand, she was sad that the beautiful, solid relationship she had with Kyle was coming to such an unfortunate end. She was sure she and Kyle were going to go all the way. On the other hand, she was excited about her relationship with Brianna. She was looking forward to moving in with her and getting to know her better.

  She smiled as she remembered being in Brianna’s arms that morning and shivered at the memory of Brianna’s hands and lips touching and kissing her everywhere.

  Even though Abby had decided to give herself a chance to be happy, she still felt guilty about it. Fear and dread still tied her stomach in knots every time she thought about confessing to Kyle what she had done.

  As she emptied her drawers and stuffed clothes inside a suitcase, Abby wondered how Kyle would react to her confession. Kyle was not a violent guy. Over the three years he and Abby had been together, Kyle had never raised his voice to her, let alone gotten physical. Sure, they had fights like any other normal couple, but they always resolved them rationally and civilly, with words, not with fists.

  Still, what Abby did to him was so hurtful and undeserving, she was convinced there was no way he was going to react to it calmly. Part of her wished she could just tell him and get it over with. The uncertainty and anxiety were driving her crazy.

  Abby was also dreading telling her family and friends about breaking up with Kyle. The news of their breakup was going to be tough on her parents, especially on her mother who adored Kyle and was looking forward to him becoming her son-in-law. Kyle hadn’t proposed to Abby yet, but Abby’s mother was certain he would soon.

  Abby’s brothers were also going to be disappointed upon hearing the news that she was not dating Kyle anymore. They were very protective of Abby and thought no man was good enough for their little sister until they met Kyle. Kyle had turned out to be a standup guy, and Abby’s brothers were looking forward to him joining their family.

  But the thing that Abby dreaded the most was telling her family about the new person in her life. Even though her family were rational, loving people who loved her unconditionally, Abby feared they wouldn’t understand and shun her the way Brianna’s family had shunned her. The thought of her parents being ashamed of her and cutting her out of their lives made Abby feel profoundly sad.

  But there was no going back. She had made up her mind. She was going to follow her heart on this. She was going to be with Brianna whether her family or friends approved of the relationship or not.

  Abby’s head was spinning. She had so many things to do and so many explanations to give. There was too much uncertainty in her life, and she hated that. After she was done packing her most essential things into a couple of suitcases, she took a warm, relaxing shower a
nd slipped into her favorite pj’s. She downed a cup of warm, chamomile tea to quiet down her mind and then went to bed, hoping she’d survive the next ten days without losing her mind.

  ****

  After dropping Abby off, Brianna instructed the cab driver to take her to her apartment. She had bought so many things for her new, temporary home, the doorman of her building had to help her carry all of her bags upstairs.

  Brianna walked into her apartment with a huge smile on her face. She had been smiling like a deranged person all day and didn’t care who saw it.

  After ordering some Italian food from a restaurant down the street, Brianna began to empty her shopping bags. Each item she pulled out of a bag reminded her of something funny or adorable Abby said or did that day. She couldn’t stop thinking about Abby and the wonderful day they shared.

  While she waited for her food to be delivered, Brianna poured herself a glass of wine and attempted to unwind. But she couldn’t sit still. She was too high on love to stay calm. She felt like dancing, so she rushed to retrieve a CD from one of the shopping bags sitting on the floor.

  While she and Abby were out shopping, they walked into a record store and Abby suggested some classical music for Brianna to buy. Brianna popped the CD in her record player and began to dance around her living room by herself. She giggled like a maniac as she spun in circles.

  She was celebrating the fact that she and Abby were going to be together. Brianna wanted to pinch herself. Even with the smell of Abby’s perfume on her and the taste of her lips still burning hers, Brianna couldn’t wrap her head around all the wonderful things that happened that day. It was all still too surreal. She couldn’t believe she was going to get to wake up next to that adorable girl naked in her arms every day. For the first time in her life, she felt happy.

  Happiness was such a foreign feeling to Brianna. She had spent her entire adult life trying not to get close to anyone for fear of getting hurt. She had grown up believing she was not worth loving so she shied away from love… until Abby came along.

  Abby was different than any other girl Brianna had ever met. She was such a sweet, kind soul. Brianna had fallen hard for the adorable girl and couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life with her. Yes, they had just met and didn’t know each other that well, but Brianna felt it in her heart that they were going to go all the way.

  Brianna felt terrible for Kyle, but there was nothing she could do about it. The heart wants what it wants. After all the sacrifices she had made for her little brother over the years, Brianna felt it was time to be a little selfish and put herself first.

  Brianna went to bed that night with a huge smile on her face. She had achieved an important career milestone by securing the lead in a prestigious Broadway musical, and she had also, for the first time in her life, found love. And it had all happened in a matter of a couple of weeks.

  Maybe God doesn’t hate me after all.

  With that thought and with a huge smile on her face, Brianna closed her eyes and drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep. That night, she had sweet dreams. Gone were the nightmares that used to keep her up at night. She was finally starting to get over all the horrific things that happened to her in Montana seven years earlier. And she had only one person to thank for that: the gorgeous and adorable Abigail Slone.

  Chapter III

  Back in Montana, Kyle couldn’t sleep, so he spent most of that night sitting in front of his laptop and obsessively refreshing his browser to see if the location of Abby’s phone had changed. Kyle saw Abby did not leave her apartment that night, but he still couldn’t stop staring at the computer screen like a hawk.

  He still couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Abby was cheating on him. He still didn’t know for sure, but he had a gut feeling that she was. He could hear it in her voice, in the easiness with which she was lying to him.

  Kyle gazed away from the computer screen and his eyes landed on a portable hard drive sitting next to his laptop. The hard drive contained videos and photos from when Abby was a child. When Kyle was in Michigan the day before, Abby’s parents had given him hours of video footage and dozens of photos. Kyle was going to include those pictures and videos in a montage he was making for Abby. The montage was going to be part of his marriage proposal extravaganza.

  Kyle picked up the purple thumb drive and held it between his fingers. He felt as if fate was playing a cruel joke on him. He thought he was going to spend those days at home catching up with family and friends and preparing one of the most epic marriage proposals the world had ever seen. Instead, he was spending those days held up in his bedroom, chugging beer and spying on his girlfriend.

  Overcome with blinding rage, Kyle shot to his feet with the hard drive in his hand. He walked over to the open window, and without giving it a second thought, hurled the thumb drive into the warm, summer night. There wasn’t going to be a proposal anymore. There wasn’t going to be a wedding. There wasn’t going to be a happily ever after for him or Abby. Kyle felt like such an idiot and wondered how long Abby’s affair had been going on. He racked his brain trying to figure out if the guy Abby was cheating with was someone he knew but couldn’t come up with a single suspect.

  Even though it was clear that Abby was not going to leave her apartment that night, Kyle continued to stare at the green dot on the computer screen while compulsively hitting refresh.

  Just before dawn broke, Kyle had consumed all the beer in the house, but the location of Abby’s phone had not changed. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, Kyle decided to shut his computer down and go to bed. With his clothes and shoes still on, he collapsed on his bed and fell asleep instantly.

  Kyle got no more than a couple of hours of sleep that morning. As soon as he woke, he was back sitting in front of his computer, spying on his girlfriend. He did not see anything out of the ordinary that morning. Abby went to work at the bookstore and stayed there until noon when she went to a nearby café a couple of blocks away. She then returned to the bookstore and stayed there until the end of her shift.

  Kyle had cancelled plans to hang out with some high school friends that day just so he could spy on Abby. When his cousins and his mother asked him why he was spending the whole day locked up in his room, Kyle told everyone he was not feeling well. Kyle’s mother was growing more and more concerned with her son’s behavior. She tried again to get him to open up, but Kyle refused to tell her anything. Eventually, everyone left him alone.

  Kyle didn’t leave his bedroom that day, not even to eat. His mother had to bring the food to his room. He took a small break from spying on Abby to take a quick shower, and afterwards was back in front of his laptop refreshing the screen obsessively. In a matter of a few hours, Kyle had gone from being a rational, happy, twenty-one-year-old college student, to being an obsessive stalker with bags under his eyes who reeked of alcohol. His descent into madness had begun.

  That evening, when Kyle saw Abby return to the apartment after her shift at the bookstore, Kyle picked up his phone and texted her.

  Hey. What are you doing tonight?

  Abby replied immediately. Nothing. I’m going to stay in and do some laundry, watch a movie.

  Kyle doubted Abby was going to spend the night just doing laundry, so he kept tracking her phone. About an hour after they exchanged those texts, Abby’s phone began to move. Just like Kyle had suspected, Abby was not going to spend that night alone. She was going to spend it with her lover. Kyle seethed with anger as he refreshed the phone tracking program and saw the green dot on the screen travel uptown.

  With nostrils flaring, Kyle leaned forward on his chair. He white-knuckled his computer desk with one hand while his other hand clicked the mouse repeatedly to refresh the screen. His cold, hard eyes stared at the computer screen and followed the green dot until it stopped somewhere in Midtown Manhattan.

  Kyle pulled up the satellite image of the building where Abby’s phone had stopped at and saw it was a residential apartment building. Kyle did
not know anyone who lived there. Like someone desperately trying to wake up from a horrible nightmare, Kyle kept rubbing his eyes and running his hands through his hair. He wished there was a way he could teleport himself to that building in Midtown Manhattan so he could pummel the face of the asshole who was fucking his girlfriend.

  But there was nothing he could do until he got back to New York. That night, Kyle had no choice but to quench his thirst for revenge with a lot of warm beer while counting the seconds until he was back in the big apple.

  As he clicked the mouse compulsively to refresh the screen, Kyle began to feel paralyzing hatred for the woman he once thought was the love of his life and the future mother of his children. What hurt Kyle the most about the whole thing was the fact that he had been the perfect boyfriend to Abby. He was faithful, attentive, romantic and respectful. And how does Abby repay him? By getting in bed with another man while he is out of town.

  There was no way he was going to forgive or forget her betrayal. Kyle was certain of that. He was also certain that Abby and the guy she was fucking were going to be sorry they ever decided to make a fool out of him. Kyle was known for holding grudges, and he was not going to rest until Abby paid for deceiving and humiliating him. As for the lover, Kyle didn’t care if it landed him in prison, he was going to pulverize that guy’s face for messing with the wrong guy’s girlfriend.

  ****

  Back in New York, Brianna was putting the final touches on the Italian dinner she had just prepared. The special dinner was for Abby who had texted Brianna from a cab a few minutes earlier to say she was a few blocks away. After her rehearsals for the musical, Brianna spent that day making sure the apartment looked impeccable and the food looked and tasted delicious. She wanted that night to be perfect. That was going to be hers and Abby’s first official date.