Deeper

45 | Blind

And once he did, guilt and sympathy was all over his face. "Dude, I'm sorry. But there's something you need to know," he said and suddenly started to pace around. "Shit. How am I gonna do this?" Funny guy was now talking to himself.

I frowned. Well then? Stop beating around the bush and just tell me.

He faced me again and took a deep breath. "OK. I was wrong to keep this stuff away from you for months, but I thought..." He let out a sigh, not knowing how to speak. "I knew that things would get awful, so I was waiting for the right time to do so. And I once thought that I could do it when Jake left for his intern..."

His words only made me wonder more about what the hell he was talking about.

He looked at me carefully, as if he was in some kind of trouble. "It happened exactly eight months ago when we just finished our celebration of winning the game at Jake's house," he said quietly, like he was afraid that I would explode in a matter of time.

Of course, I remembered that time. It was when Camilla broke up with me. Through phone call.

"You weren't there, you know it. You had to do research out of town," he said, reminding me again. "I was about to leave when I noticed that I didn't have my car keys. So I went back into the house, and..." he faltered. "I heard something from the hallway to the bedrooms."

"I know it was wrong of me to eavesdrop, but the voice was too familiar to be ignored," he continued as he handed me his phone, making my frown grow even deeper. "I think you should see this." His last sentence was barely a whisper.

Slowly, I took his phone. Something about the air made me feel like a weight pressed on my chest, robbing me of breath. I played the video, and my eyes widened in shock.

My hand shook as I held the phone, looking at the most unbelievable scene before my eyes. There in the hallway toward his bedroom, Jake was kissing Camila, holding a bottle of champagne in his hand while they slowly proceeded toward his room.

"Jake," Camila plead, and she seemed unable to stop him kissing her that she kissed him back instead. I felt sick in my stomach. My mind started to go crazy, and I was losing it.

"Wait till I show you what we can do in my bed, you beautiful as fuck," Jake rasped between kisses, and Camila moaned. He brought her into his room and shut the door.

My hand was shaking so hard that I dropped Austin's phone.

"I didn't plan to record it. I just impulsively did it, and Goddammit, my hand was also shaking the entire time," Austin said, frustration evident in his voice. "She was there, the entire night. Jake must have hidden her in one of the bedrooms."

I didn't think that I could hear more about this. This couldn't be real.

"When Jake left for the intern, I thought it was the right time to finally tell you this," Austin kept going. "But then, Melanie happened to you. And I'd never seen you so happy, man. I had to refrain myself from telling you, because this would ruin everything."

I felt that my blood was getting boiled even more with every second passing by. My fists were clenched tight on my sides, preventing me to bulldoze everything that caught my sight.

"But then, she came to me. Camila came here," Austin said, and I snapped my head toward him, my body still shaking with rage.

What did he just say?

"Camila visited me," he whispered. "She...she was devastated. She--" Austin couldn't continue his words, but the menacing look in my eyes forced him to do so. "She's pregnant. With Jake's child."

I felt that my world stopped. Darkness enveloped me, ripping my soul.

"She said she was trapped," Austin rasped. "She was drunk because of Jake, and she was forced --"

"Stop it!" I roared. Fuck. "Just, stop it." My voice was shaking uncontrollably.

That son of a bitch.

I could still hear my best friend's words echoing in my ear, loud and clear.

"Look, Vaughn. I'll be leaving for my intern in Texas soon," Jake said as we stood in the patio at the back of his house. "Can you look out for Melanie while I'm not around?"

"Yeah, sure." I smirked. "Don't worry about her."

Jake had betrayed me. He'd stabbed me behind my back. He'd played with my woman. He'd made her fucking pregnant. He'd ruined her future.

But what did I do?

I'd kept my promise to my best friend. I took care of his sister. I protected her.

I-- I fell in love with her. I cherished her.

My eyes stung, and I could feel them getting wet. But I couldn't see anything. I could only see red.

Something at the back of my mind spoke, trying to pull me out of the darkness. Something about Melanie.

Melanie. Home. Melanie...

But I couldn't continue it. I really couldn't see anything at all. My vision was getting blurred. And all I could see was red.