Chapter 146: Once a Cheater, Always a Cheater
Moana
I hoped that Edrick wasn’t too upset with me or jealous. After all, I did just reveal to him that I had conceived our child with him on the very night that my ex-boyfriend and I broke up, which would certainly seem like rebounding. I felt my voice shaking a bit as I told him what happened, but at the same time, it felt better to get things out in the air.
And, much to my surprise, Edrick didn’t say anything about the fact that I slept with him on the same night that Sam and I broke up. In fact, he seemed entirely focused on Sam’s transgressions. It really made me realize that Edrick was on my side above all else, and it made me feel safe with him.
“I’ll take care of it,” Edrick said. His voice was low and stern, and even though I felt better after telling him everything, I instantly became worried that I was about to cause a scene after all.
“I-I don’t want to cause a scene,” I began, but Edrick waved his hand for me to stop. With his arm still wrapped firmly around my shoulders, he steered me away from Sam and in another direction, which took me by surprise. I had thought that he was going to march up to Sam and confront him with me, but he didn’t.
In fact, he was heading toward someone else entirely.
Mia.
She was standing by herself when we walked up to her. She was talking on the phone, but when she saw us coming and saw the look on Edrick’s face, she quickly hung up.
“What’s up?” she asked, swirling her mimosa around in her glass. “You two look like you just had war flashbacks.”
“I have a proposition for you,” Edrick said as he stopped in front of her. “Are you interested?”
Mia raised an eyebrow. So did I; in fact, I was utterly confused. What was Edrick getting at?
“Um, that depends on the offer,” she said slowly. “What is it?”
Edrick let out a wry chuckle before glancing over his shoulder at Sam again. He lowered his voice so no one could overhear us, then flashed Mia a mischievous smile.
“See that guy over there? The one with the tall blonde?” he asked, nodding his head subtly toward Sam and his new girlfriend. Mia casually glanced over at Sam, looking him up and down, then looked back at Edrick and nodded.
“Yeah. What about him?”
“He’s a cheater,” he said. “And he just threatened Moana. If you can make him betray his new girlfriend, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
Mia slowly sipped her mimosa, her eyes narrowing as she thought hard about Edrick’s proposition. Meanwhile, I was still too stunned to talk. This wasn’t what I had in mind when I decided to tell Edrick about what Sam did to me. I just wanted him to know about the situation so it could be handled in case Sam tried to expose the lie that I was Ella’s biological mother. I didn’t tell Edrick in the hopes that he would get revenge for me.
Finally, Mia shrugged. “Sure. I want a new sports car, though. A red one.”
Edrick nodded and folded his arms across his chest. “Whatever you want. If you can expose him for the asshole that he really is, I’ll go to the car dealership with you and buy you a dozen cars if you want.”
Mia chuckled, then knocked back the rest of her mimosa and shoved the empty glass into Edrick’s hands. “One is enough,” she said, patting him on the shoulder with a grin. “But I’ll tell you what… If I get this done in thirty minutes — and I will — you two had better invite me to your wedding.”
I couldn’t help but blush. Edrick said nothing, but nodded. It seemed that Mia wasn’t even aware that our relationship was fake, and I couldn’t tell if Edrick simply didn’t want to tell her the truth right now or if it was something else.
Regardless, I was about to open my mouth to tell Mia not to go, but it was too late. She was already on her way over toward Sam. I watched with wide eyes and a slack jaw as she let down her long, black hair, then stopped at the bar for another mimosa and began to saunter up to Sam.
“Edrick, isn’t this too far?” I asked, turning to face him. “I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble. I was just worried that he would expose everything.”
Edrick merely shrugged. “People always follow the same pattern,” he said matter-of-factly. “Once a cheater, always a cheater. Maybe this will teach him a little lesson.”
I was still shocked. This mischievous side of Edrick was entirely new to me, but it was becoming more and more abundant lately. And I couldn’t help but admit to myself that it was something that I was attracted to… And Sam did deserve to learn a lesson for being a cheater. Not just a cheater, but a jerk who said such horrible things to me when I was the one who found him cheating, especially after everything I had done for him during our relationship.
“Come on,” Edrick said, taking my hand and flashing me a smile. “You look hungry.”
Admittedly, I was. And although I could have stood there and waited for the outcome of Mia’s plan all morning, I was starting to feel nauseous from the hunger, so Edrick and I made our way over to the buffet. I couldn’t help but blush as he stuck close to me, our shoulders touching the entire time we picked out our food. We sat down at a table beneath a tree and waited for Mia’s big reveal. It was like brunch and a show. I ate some fruit and yogurt with a deliciously frothy coffee prepared by the barista that was there, and if I pretended that nothing had happened with Sam, it did feel like it was just a nice picnic in the park beneath a beautiful willow tree.
But, like clockwork, not even fifteen minutes had passed before we heard screaming.
“Ugh! I can’t believe you!” a female voice shouted. “You’re a cheater!”
Edrick and I glanced at each other, flashing each other a quick smile, before we suddenly got up and made our way over to where Mia, Sam, and Sam’s new girlfriend were standing. A small crowd had formed around them.
“Baby, it’s not what it—”
Suddenly, before Sam could finish, his new girlfriend slapped him hard across the face.
The crowd erupted into a wave of gasps and mutters. Sam’s face instantly turned red, both from the hard slap and the embarrassment, while his tall blonde girlfriend towered over him in his heels.
Neither of them said anything for a few moments. Sam just stood there, holding his face in shock.
And meanwhile, Mia just stood off to the side. She was leaning against a tree, standing in the shade with her arms folded across her chest. She wasn’t even trying to help in the slightest.
When Mia’s eyes met mine and Edrick’s, she winked subtly. And I knew that she had done it.
