Chapter 22

“I deserved it,” Cassidy said, quickly standing up and pulling Terra into the room and shutting the door.

Terra was obviously confused and hesitant about getting dragged into things, but also concerned as she looked over at me on the bed. “What the fuck is going on?” she asked again.

“Tell her,” Cattie said to Cassidy.

“Early in our relationship I cheated on Robbie hundreds of times with other girls,” Cassidy said, trying to keep her voice steady but failing as she sobbed at the word ‘hundreds.’ As she continued her words picked up speed as she tried to get it all out. “I told him on the way here, and we came to an agreement and I thought everything was going to be alright but all of a sudden he came down here and we found him curled up in the bathroom and Cattie says he’s in shock and it’s all my fault and I’m fucking awful and I don’t deserve him or anyone and I hate myself and he should hate me too but he doesn’t and I don’t know what to doooo...” She broke down into sobbing again. “I tried so hard to make it up to him,” she said between her chest heaving. “But I had to tell him before we got married.”

“Jesus fuck,” Cattie said. “You told him today!?”

Cassidy just nodded.

“Well, now I get the slap,” Terra said, still wide-eyed and trying to figure out her bearings in the conversation.

“Cassidy, you told Robbie today?” Cattie repeated. “Of course he’s not fucking OK. You ripped his heart out and immediately brought him somewhere he couldn’t show his emotions and had to hide everything inside. He bottled it up for you, to spare you. And you asked him to do things that he’s probably only fantasized about - flirt with other girls. Sleep with other girls. All while he’s trying to process you doing that exact same thing behind his back and lying about it. Do you not realize how fucked that is?”

“Yes!” Cassidy yelled, then punched the wall of the cabin. “Fuck!” she shouted in pain, but even while she held her hand she turned back to the other two girls. “I had to tell him. I thought starting here would be a good idea because you told me how horny a bunch of the single girls got last year. I thought giving him a kickstart to sleeping with other women here, surrounded by beautiful women, was part of my apology. And I kept wanting to tell him, but I was terrified, and then it was this morning and he was packing the stuff in the truck, and I couldn’t tell him, and then we were driving out of Vegas and I couldn’t tell him, and then we were in the middle of the desert and I was out of time and I told him and it was horrible but he didn’t hate me. He didn’t turn us around. He wouldn’t hit me.”

Cattie closed her eyes and took deep breaths, clearly still angry with her friend, but instead of saying anything she came over to me on the bed and sat down, stroking my hair. I still didn’t feel like I was in my own body, couldn’t respond. Couldn’t tell her it was true, that I’d accepted it. I wasn’t feeling much of anything.

“Robbie needs rest, and water and food,” Cattie said calmly. “Terra, could you go grab some water from the fridge, and a burger from upstairs? Just plain. And please don’t tell anyone what’s going on.”