Shane stood on guard as I leaned my arm against the wall and exhaled. I felt physically sick. I couldn't even be sure that Angie knew but that encounter made it more possible. How could I have been so stupid? Head into town? Expect no one will recognise me? And expect that my martial affair could go on unpunished? It was bound to happen. I just didn't want it to. Now what was I going to do? It's over.

"Are you okay?" he asked for the fourth time.

"No," I hissed, pulling away from the wall as I sighed. "That was my best friend in there! Did you even see the way she was acting? It's like she knew. Like she's been watching us all night!"

"You can't know that. She would have said something earlier, Rose," he justified, stepping forward as he attempted to console me. I nudged him off as I began stalking down the pavement. Shane followed in pursuit.

"You don't know her like I do. Knowing Angie, she's been watching. Making sure she's right before she pounces on the situation. She'll probably throw it all on me, then she tell Nick and things will all just go to shit," I argued, ignoring the responsibility of crossing a road properly as I walked out dangerously.

"Rose!" Shane yelled grabbing my arm and yanking me back as a car sped past blowing its horn. "God! You nearly run yourself over. Will you just stop and think for a moment?" He lectured, desperately clinging onto me as I froze in his arms.

Tears were brimming in my eyes. "Shane, she's got to know! She has to know about us! We were out in public for-goodness-sake!"

"But we didn't kiss! Rose, look! There's nothing at this moment to suggest she knows. You just need to calm down and take a deep breath. If anything, you'll know more about the situation when she pops in tomorrow. Then you'll know the facts. But don't automatically start thinking she knows without evidence...and if she does, we'll sort it...I promise," he said, caressing his thumb over my cheek.

"How?" I muttered glumly. "How? My marriage will be over. Angie probably hates me and somehow this will be all leaked somehow onto my career. And then it's all over."

Shane brought me closer into him as he held my head and muttered words of endearments. I closed my eyes, fear bubbling in the pits of my stomach.

"I promise, we'll work it out."

***

Shane had dropped me off outside my driveway after I pleaded to just return home. Sex wasn't even on the table tonight. And he knew that. We both did. I couldn't face intimacy. Not tonight. Not when everything was up in the air. Not when my entire life could be hanging on a thread.

I opened the front door. The chorus of laughter echoed through the halls. My feet followed, curious to whatever I was hearing. It was more startling when I found Nick, his feet kicked up on the coffee table, whiskey in his hand conferring with Regina. She was sat on the adjacent three seater sofa, swirling wine around the rim of her glass as she laughed heartily. I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at. Part of me envied how Nick was making another woman laugh. How another woman was looking at him as if he were offering the world. It felt like a dagger at that point was jabbing my internal organs.

Nick glanced over to me, smiling from ear to ear. "Hey, hun. You're back. How was it? Plenty of attention did you get?" he asked, patting the arm of the chair to usher me over. I slowly moved forward, ignoring Regina's intrusion as she spoke trying to obtain my attention. Nick perhaps took my ignorance as plain accidental, as he responded to introduce Regina's presence towards me. "Rose, this is Regina. I think you've probably met a couple times at my many company parties. The bar closed early so we came back for some drinks," he explained, grabbing my hand and then caressing his thumb affectionally across the surface of skin.

---"Yeah, your husband was just telling me one of his many funny tales," she interjected, offering another pleasant smile towards me as I sat rigidly upright on the arm of the chair. Nick's arm snaked around my waist reassuring my perhaps paranoid demeanour. To be perfectly honest, I didn't care who this woman was, or what her intentions were for Nick, I just wanted her out. I needed to be alone with Nick. I just needed him. My guilt was speaking.

"So, how was it?" Nick playfully nudged me.

I felt a shiver snake down my back as I swallowed a distasteful amount of saliva down the back of my dry throat. Regina remained where she was, briefly looking down into her glass to appear politely disengaged from the conversation but the brief glimpse here and there told me otherwise. In my head, I was shamefully picking at her, trying to understand what she had that if Nick was ever a cheat, could take fancy to. Was it her red dark cherry curls? Her dainty appearance? Her annoying but infectious laugh? It was silly what I was doing. I knew deep down I was trying to shift the responsibility of my own horrid actions to produce a fabricated lie where the possibility of Nick cheating was alive. But I knew Nick, I knew that he wouldn't dare. Unlike me. I also knew that I was jealous, jealous of this Regina's perhaps innocence. Someone who wouldn't dare cheat on her husband. Unlike me.

"It...was okay. I found it exhausting, that's all," I replied, hoping my hint at fatigue would cause this Regina to flee from our nest. Nick chuckled rubbing his hand up and down my back comfortingly. "Tired, love? You should go put on your pyjamas and go to bed then," he suggested, not making any demands of his own to suggest Regina should be leaving. She remained comfortable on the sofa, leg propped over the other, swirling the red wine around the glass as she attempted to inconspicuously observe.

"What...about  you?" I hinted at.

"Oh. I'll be up later. I was just about to tell Regina about my trip to Hong Kong," he said, failing to catch the bait. Instead, he pecked my hand before returning his full attention to Regina and continuing his tales of adventure. I remained mute, feeling like litter being abandoned on the side of the road as I listened in. I chose to remain there, selfishly intruding on their conversation. My hands went for Nick's drink, he awkwardly laughed as I knocked it completely back feeling the heavy taste fulfil the pit of my stomach.

"Woah, there hun," Nick warned, a series of anxious laughs following as he tried to take the bottle of whiskey from my hand. I had found it within the drink cabinet and was now on the journey of refiling my glass for the fourth time. My attention ignored Nick as I knocked back some more knowing even the tiniest amounts of whiskey would have me spinning. "Come on we should get you to bed," he offered, resting his hand on my back to usher me on.

I shook my head. "I'll think I'll stay." I poured myself another glass. My hands were shaking a little.

Nick remained silent whilst Regina remained attempts. "Rose---"

----"Mrs Stanton," I corrected her, ignoring her then as I knocked some more back.

"Mrs Stanton, maybe you should slow down on---"

---"Excuse me," I hissed, standing up tall and trying to not wobble. "I'll do what I like. Who are you to fucking tell—"

---"Rose!" Nick snapped, apologising to Regina as he guarded her as she got up and made her way out of the living room. I could him saying he was sorry for my behaviour and that I wasn't normally like this. Then I could hear her profusely saying it was okay. She took no offence. I could have barfed at how ridiculously corny she sounded, how irksomely sweet and dainty she was trying so hard to be. Bitch.

Then the front door shut and there was a few seconds of silence before Nick stormed in the room. "What the hell are you playing at, Rose?" he demanded, snatching the glass and bottle from my hands. I was feeling a little dizzy, a little off my toes as I staggered to try to get them back.

"That was so un-called for. You embarrassed me. And you've embarrassed yourself," he said, almost spitting disgust as he stalked out the room. I tried to follow, tried to protest back but the bile rushed at the back of my throat and I immediately vomited the contents onto the carpet floor.

Nick rushed back in, shaking his head as he quickly grabbed and tugged my hair into a ponytail and guided me towards the waste-bin. "Look what you've done," he grumbled, still looking after me as he rubbed my back as I rejected the whiskey into the bin. I felt like shit. "Ah, Rose," he sighed, stroking back strands of hair from my face. "What's got into you lately? You just seem to be doing silly shit like this."

I wanted to listen. I wanted to tell him everything. But my attention was entirely invested to the spew leaving my mouth.

***

I woke up to the sound of the doorbell and a series of knocks from the front door downstairs. My head was pounding a little as I attempted to force myself to sit up. I couldn't remember a bit of last night. I wasn't even sure how I managed to get to bed and dress myself into my pyjamas.

My legs swung out of the bed as I made attempts at answering the beckoning call.

"I'm coming. I'm coming," I grouchy replied as I hopped off the last step. I unlocked the door, regretting opening it as I met Angie standing there. She offered a weak smile before sliding inside and heading into the living room. That sight had instantly woken me up, I was more than the moments before because the replacement of my heart thudding faster than lighting hitting the ground had me alert. I softly closed the front door behind me before shamefully heading into the room where I was about to be interrogated.

"You look like shit," Angie stated, "I presume Nick's at work?"

I didn't say a word as I grabbed a grey fleece found lounging on the floor and put it on.

"I think you know what I'm about to say and I'm hoping every word of it is false, Rose," she continued to speak, watching me intensely as I slowly sat down into single seater. "I care too much Rose so that's why it's hurting to even think this and say it." She paused perhaps hoping I would jump in defend myself but I felt too broken to even begin to. I knew it was coming. Perhaps now, was more than a better time to just have it all in the open. Face my punishment. But would I speak the truth?

"Rose, last night I'm hoping I'm just seeing things but...you were alone with Shane. And I know Nick wasn't there. So, please just tell me I'm over-looking into things and you're not cheating on Nick with him," she explained, worry creased within her forehead as she rested her hands on the ends of her knees. "I don't want to think you're a cheat but things between you and Nick haven't been the same and you know it. All this worry about your sex life I just think that was your worry over your marriage. Please, just be honest with me," she added, desperately trying to have some sort of answer from me after I'd sat there saying not a single word.

"I honestly...cannot believe you would think that," I mumbled, looking to the floor and feeling number as ever. Guilt was talking.

"Well, help a girl out here, Rose. You were with your neighbour. I'd seen you two---"

---"What you saw," I snapped, sitting up. "Was just two people hanging out. In fact, phone up Nick---"

"---What why?"

"Because, Nick knows I'd agreed to go out with Shane for his company's annual party. Then Shane offered just some drinks up the bar. That's all, Angie," I lied, feeling like my soul was being run by some evil entity trying to worm its way into control and support my situation. "We weren't having a fling behind Nick's back," I added.

Angie fell quiet for a second before she piped up. "Well, what about Nick? You said he was there. You guys had just eaten."

I reworked the situation in my mind. "Well, I lied!" I snapped, startling Angie a little. "I said that because, yeah, the occurrence didn't exactly look good. But honestly, we were just having drinks. I-I-I...know it looks bad going for drinks with some other guy but I was annoyed. Maybe, jealous. Nick was meeting up with Regina from work. It just annoyed me because...he wouldn't call it off. I didn't even want to go out last night. I—"

"---I believe you," Angie interjected softly, "God, I'm sorry I accused you—"

---"It's fine, Ang," I cut in, feeling completely disgusted in myself. "But you're right. Things between me and Nick haven't been the same. I'm feeling low lately. And getting jealous over silly things," I added, waving my hand about. "I just like I'm not as...there anymore. That happy place where me and Nick were in. So, the whole situation about sex, babies and whatnot is...my marriage," I explained, feeling like some truth had been spoken. I was still wicked about keeping my affair at bay. I was a terrible person.

Angie offered a sympathetic smile before standing up and embracing me as I sat there, blinking over her shoulder feeling terrible. "Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry. And this with your marriage? You should have just told me. It's important. God, I knew something was up and now it makes sense. But you gotta talk to me. Okay?"

I nodded. Completely numb.

"I know."

It was scary how wicked I could be.

Thank you for reading! So, what do you think of Rose now? Y'know, not every Wattpad character you'll like. And like I mentioned before, Rose is a bit of anti-hero. Let's just see where her story is going to take her..... If you enjoyed please VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE! And please let me know if you're enjoying the story so far! Your feed back is most welcome!

VAMP