Epov
It had been three years. Three roller-coaster, up and down, push and pull years. We were currently in the middle of what felt like a massive down swing, but I couldn't be sure – sometimes the things that I thought were bad were good for her, and when I thought something was good, it turned out to be disastrous. I frowned when her voice, sharp with aggravation (what else was new?), penetrated my thoughts.
"Edward, were you even listening to me?" She demanded, smacking the table with her open palm. I watched as some of the liquid sloshed out of my glass, and I sighed.
"Sorry," I breathed, pushing my glasses back up on the bridge of my nose – a habit that I knew she loathed, since she loathed my glasses. I had taken to wearing them more than my contacts lately, just to provoke her. "You were saying?"
"Jesus, Edward," she swore, rolling her eyes and turning her face away from me.
"What?" I took a long pull from my glass of water. I watched as she downed the rest of her chardonnay and turned her eyes back to me. I braced myself for whatever she was about to say – and I was sure it wouldn't be good, judging on the way her eyes narrowed.
"I just sat here and told you that I'm leaving you, and you weren't even paying attention." I stared at her silently for a minute, wrapping my head around her words. Well… so much for being in the middle of the down swing – we'd hit the bottom. "Really? You have nothing at all to say? You look mildly bored."
"What'd you expect, Tanya?" I managed finally. "Did you expect me to collapse in tears and beg you not to go?" When her lip curled up into a sneer, I realized that probably had been what she wanted. She wasn't going to get that from me – she hadn't broken me yet.
"I should've known you wouldn't even care," she remarked acidly, reaching for her purse. She grabbed it and stood. "I'm going to stay with a friend for a while. I'll call and let you know when I'm coming to get my things."
I didn't say anything else, and I refused to look when she walked away with a huff. I wondered if the word 'friend' was code for 'lover.' Not that it bothered me at all – I'd suspected for several months now that someone else had been warming her bed, since I hadn't laid a hand on her in nearly six months. She rarely slept at home, only returning for a fresh set of clothes every morning before heading out to work. When she actually deigned to return home in the evenings, I'd made sure that I was scarce. If I didn't spend any time around her, we didn't argue. I hated confrontations – hated the inevitable fights that followed her return home from work to find me relaxing on the sofa.
I waved the waiter over and ordered a beer from their tap, a luxury I hadn't indulged in for nearly two years. Tanya didn't like the smell of the drink, and claimed she didn't like to taste it on me when she kissed me, so I'd stopped drinking it. I don't know why I hadn't started drinking it again when she'd put a stop to our intimate relationship – I suppose I was still holding out some hope at that point. Then again, I hadn't kissed her for months before we'd stopped having sex.
As I enjoyed my first sip of beer in two years, I realized that I should probably be crying, or raging, or something. Any kind of emotion would probably have been more proper than the mixture of emptiness and mild relief that I felt. My wife of two and a half years had just upped and walked away, with basically no excuse whatsoever. I found that I didn't really care. I did wonder vaguely if she'd want the condo – god knows I didn't want it; I hadn't wanted it when we'd moved in.
Perhaps my emotions would fare better if I had a plan? I wasn't sure. The thought suddenly struck me, however, that I was free – not just free of a wife, but also free of the person who'd forbidden me to spend time with my friends, and had kept me away from my beloved parents. I whipped out my cell phone and dialed.
"Dude!" my brother always sounded drunk. I smiled broadly. I hadn't spoken to Emmett in almost a year because of Tanya. "Is everything okay? You're not dying, are you?"
"Emmett," I laughed, taking a quick drink of the beer in front of me. I wasn't sure how to phrase it, so I just blurted it out. "I'm a free man!" There was a brief silence that left me feeling confused. "Emmett?"
"You didn't … you didn't do anything, did you, Edward?" he asked hesitantly. I took a long pull from my glass and rolled my eyes before answering him.
"Nope, just sat here and watched her trampy ass walk away."
"Well, hot damn!" he exclaimed. I felt my face crack into a grin as he yelled. "Where the hell are you at? It's time to celebrate!"
"I'm at the Gray Goose," I said, reaching for the beer. "And I've already started without you."
"Hang on – I'm gonna call Jasper and we'll be there in ten."
It seemed like I'd been sitting there for hours when someone finally slid into the booth across from me. I looked up and saw my brother and my best friend both staring expectantly at me, shit-eating grins on both of their faces, and I felt my mouth turn up in an answering smile.
"It's been too damned long," Jasper said, waving the waitress over.
"That bitch is really gone? For good this time?" Emmett clarified. This had happened more than once. Tanya always ran hot and cold, and she'd left me a number of times only to come back days later. The last time she'd left me was the last time I'd been allowed to see my brother – she stated that I needed to stay away from him because he was such a bad influence on me, and that I was a different person around him. Different person, I wasn't so sure about – happier person, definitely.
"Absolutely," I said, raising my empty beer glass in a salute. Jasper snorted.
"Thank fuck," he said, shaking his head. Emmett grinned at the waitress who approached our table. "I don't know if I ever told you or not, Edward, but I fucking hated that bitch."
I laughed.
"A round of Heinekens for me and my friends," Emmett said, grinning. "And keep 'em coming – we're making up for lost time!" The waitress, a decent looking redhead with a too-short skirt, batted her eyelashes and smiled.
"Sure thing." Emmett watched her walk away, blatantly ogling her ass. I laughed again. Some things never changed.
"Ten bucks says I get her number before our third round," he said, turning to me and Jasper. Jasper rolled his eyes, but nodded.
"You're on – but remember that our boy here is back on the market – I have a feeling that he's gonna get lucky tonight."
"If I did, it'd be the first time in almost a year," I muttered, glancing away from them.
"Holy shit, dude!" Emmett thundered. "Seriously? Tanya's a raging bitch, but she was always pretty open about the bedroom. She doesn't seem like someone who'd go without for long."
"She didn't," was all I said, watching as the waitress returned and placed our drinks on the table. She smiled and licked her lips as she straightened up.
"Do you guys need anything else right now?"
"No thanks," Jasper said, giving her a polite – but dismissive- smile. I picked up my beer bottle and frowned when I glanced down. I picked up the napkin my drink had been on and snorted, turning it around to show Emmett.
"Her name is Victoria," I said, arching an eyebrow and throwing the napkin with the phone number on it at him. Jasper threw his head back and laughed. Emmett frowned and lifted his beer bottle, too. Sure enough, her name and number were scribbled on his napkin. He reached over and lifted Jasper's bottle, only to find the exact same thing.
"Fuck," he muttered dejectedly. "What, does she have a stack of these waiting behind the bar, or something?"
"Probably," Jasper laughed, sliding a ten dollar bill over to my brother. "But technically, you still won your bet." Emmett brightened a little bit at this, and pocketed the money.
"Hell yeah, I did."
"Edward, are you sure you're okay?" Jasper finally asked after we'd downed … I don't know, a lot of beers.
"Shit, is this the part of the night where you get all mushy?" Emmett asked, waving his hand at the waitress to indicate that we needed more alcohol. "I'm not drunk enough yet for that kind of shit."
"Shut the hell up, man," Jasper said, though there was no heat behind his words. "It's just… you were with her for three years, and in the beginning I remember you guys were really into each other. I just wanted to know if you maybe wanted to talk about it?" he asked uncertainly.
"When the fuck did you turn into a woman?" Emmett wondered aloud, turning to look at our friend. I laughed – hard and long. It felt great. "Do you have a vagina now, too?"
"Fuck you," Jasper laughed, shoving Emmett. It didn't do much – my brother was a pretty big guy.
"Save that shit for the little woman," Emmett said, smiling as he chugged half of his new beer in one drink. I looked over at Jasper, whose face was red.
"You have a new woman?" I asked, surprised. Jasper surprised me with the shit-eating grin that was so big it threatened to split his face in half.
"Alice," he confirmed. "Fan-fucking-tastic woman. Amazing, in every sense of the word. This woman – there's no words," he gushed. Emmett laughed.
"There's no one woman on the face of the earth that's worth giving up the possibility of all the rest of 'em," Emmett argued. He gestured towards me with his half-empty beer. "Eddie here is proof of that. He gave up everything for three years for that bitch, and what does he have now to show for it? A broken heart, that's what. She could've at least put out for him, and she wouldn't even fuckin' do that!"
"My heart's not broken, Em," I corrected him, my head feeling light. "I would've had to be in love with her for her leaving to have broken my heart."
"Fuck that bitch whore," Emmett swore, shaking his head at me. I laughed. He liked to cuss when he wasn't drunk, but it got worse when he had some alcohol in him. "She tried to take my brother away from me." I stopped laughing and frowned.
"I'm sorry, man. I should've stood up to her more. I'll never ditch you for a woman again," I promised, holding up my beer. He nodded and tapped his bottle against mine, and then we both drank.
"Shit," Jasper breathed, looking down at his watch. He stood on shaky feet. "I need to go – Ali is spending the night. It's been real."
"Pussy whipped," Emmett stage-whispered to me. I laughed. Jasper sighed.
"You just wait, fucker. The love of a good woman is gonna get you when you least expect it – and I'm going to be there, laughing my balls off at you."
"What balls?" Emmett asked. "Obviously Alice already took 'em!" I guffawed and nearly spit my beer out. Jasper glared at Emmett for a minute, and then his expression melted into a lazy smile.
"Mark my words. You'll get yours. See you around, boys." With a wave, he was gone on unsteady feet.