Tanner and Esme

Chapter 1 (Tanner): What Had I Done?

What had I done? 

I stepped back from Mindy and zipped up my pants, turning my back to her as I tucked in my shirt.

"That was always inevitable," she said in a voice that I used to find sultry but now just made my skin crawl. Mindy rose leisurely to her feet, swiping her tongue at the corner of her mouth, then following that up with her hand. "We never should have broken up. You obviously feel the same."

I didn't say anything and right now I didn't feel anything but disgusted with myself.

"Maybe you can return the favor and see if I taste as good as you remember. You certainly did."What had I done?

I closed my eyes as I thought of the messages she'd been sending me all week.

I can't forget the feel of your lips on mine when you walked me to my car last weekend.

Seeing you at your brother's showed me that we do still have that amazing chemistry between us.

I wish I'd never insisted on that temporary break in college. Then you wouldn't have gotten that girl knocked up and you wouldn't have felt obligated to marry her. And we'd still be together living an amazing life, not the one you feel trapped in.

I want more, Tanner. And I know you do, too. I could tell you aren't happy with that girl you married.

You don't have to stay stuck in that life. You don't have to live the life you settled for. We both married the wrong people. I got my divorce, now you need to get yours.

I'm in town. I'm stopping by your office tonight at 7. If you're there, I'll know you still want me.

Mindy had been texting me relentlessly since I'd seen her at my brother's house last weekend when I'd stopped by for his impromptu get together since a lot of high school friends were in town at the same time. And that last text Mindy had sent...twenty words of pure temptation.I'd looked at the time. Twenty minutes to seven. God, I wanted to go. But I shouldn't. I shouldn't. 

I had a good, if not exciting, life here. But when I'd kissed Mindy's cheek to say goodbye last weekend, and she'd turned her face so our lips met, we'd both felt that old but not forgotten flair of desire. That goodnight kiss on the cheek had turned into something that could have ignited into something even worse had another guest at my brother's party not come stumbling out of the house right before an Uber pulled up for him. We'd smiled wryly at each other and she got in her car and drove away.

But she hadn't let me forget and had been sending me suggestive texts all week. I felt guilty, but at the same time I also felt as if an old wrong was being righted. Mindy had been devastated when I told her I was getting married to Esme, the girl I'd gotten pregnant while Mindy and I'd been on our break.

Seeing Mindy again reminded me of everything I'd walked away from so I could do the right thing. And I was so fucking sick and tired of doing the right thing, of giving up my dreams, of living a life I'd never expected to be living, of watching everyone else get to see their dreams come true while I was tied down with no end in sight. Just once, one last hurrah that I never got...

"Gotta run into the office," I called to my wife as I ran out the door.

Forgetting everything. Games after dinner. Bath time. Reading books. Bedtime snuggles until eight when the little guy would crash. Helping with the dishes and straightening up. Another quiet night on the couch with my pregnant wife. My phone. My wallet.

Those last two items proved to be my destruction.

Esme had brought them to me. She'd seen that I'd forgotten them, so she called our neighbor who ran over to watch our son, and my wife arrived in time to see me zipping up. Tucking in my shirt. In time to see my ex on her knees before she stood up to wipe my cum off her lips.

When I heard a sound at the door of my office, I looked up and saw Esme there, one hand on her stomach, eyes three times their size.

Devastated.