Excess by Kate Stewart

Author:Kate Stewart [Stewart, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: 2017-05-22T05:00:00+00:00

“Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.”

― Chuck Klosterman

§§

Devin

“Handle this or I’ll do it for you.” The phone went dead in my ear, and I rolled my eyes.

Another day, another threat.

At least I’d won the majority of the war with Eileen, a situation I would never get myself into again. These days I was less the predator of the rich and unassuming and more of an unwilling puppet.

I’d let it go too far, especially with Nina.

Another unanswered text let me know it was time to let her go. I couldn’t force her to listen and she damn sure wouldn’t forgive me. Pride was not a factor in this. I had no choice but to try to get her to keep her word and sell the land back to me. Now more than ever, the risk was high, and it was only a matter of time before she would be pushed into the fire.

It couldn’t happen. I wouldn’t let it happen.

Did I expect her to forgive me? The tragedy was, she would never know that I loved her. That I still love her, that I would always love her.

I’d been a coward, and I’d lost the girl. I was paying penance.

Eileen had come into my office guns blazing and threatened me with every available source at her fingertips when she discovered my affair. My career, my reputation would all be disintegrated in hours. I had no choice but to take her seriously and play along. The result was a visit from a jaded and hurt Nina a month later.

“Devin, good to see you. How’s the family?” She walked past me, her speech rehearsed.

“I should have told you,” I said, mentally nailing my feet where I stood to keep from going to her. A thousand times I’d picked up my phone, a thousand times I’d put it back down. I had no excuse. And the one I had would not be the one she wanted to hear.

In this fucked up scenario, I should have been apologizing to my wife, not my mistress.

“Yes, you should have, but that’s not why I’m here.” Her voice cracked. She was trying so damn hard, and I saw it in the way she carried herself. I’d hurt her. I’d hurt myself. It was for the best. Eileen was unpredictable. If she’d gone far enough to take off her clothes and pose for Nina, she meant business. I hadn’t seen her naked in years.

Manipulative, conniving cunt.

She knew I was in love with her, and looking at Nina in front of me, I knew it had never been more true.

“Okay, why are you here?”

“This.” She pointed to a piece of property on a single sheet of paper she’d pulled from her purse. “I want to purchase it for my mother. I need to know if it’s a sound investment.”

“You could have emailed,” I countered as false hope spread through my chest.

“I should have,” she said weakly. She stood and walked over to my office window in a daze.

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