Chapter 1 Riley's Encounter

• RILEY'S POV
• I stood at the front of the door, my heart hammering against its ribcage. I knew I was making a mistake coming back especially after all the lies. After the disrespect. I knew that a genuine apology was not enough to make things better between us. Yet, I stood rooted to the ground knocking on the door.
• “Hey,” he said after opening up the door, his beautiful smile gracing my sight.
• “I wasn't expecting you,” he said nervously as he tried arranging his messy room.
• “Of course. This mess would've been non-existent if you were.”
• “Damn, I've missed your smart mouth,” he said as he pulled me into a hug. I didn't object, I just found myself surrendering.
• I guess I've missed this too. I've missed this a lot.
• And even if he wasn't perfect, even if I knew he wasn't what I needed, I convinced myself at the moment that he was what I wanted and that was all that truly mattered.
• I broke out of the hug, meeting his gaze. He brushed my hair behind my ears, his eyes focused on my lips. I knew what was going through his mind and I wanted it too. So just like that, I forgave my verbally abusive boyfriend; Jake, for the one thousandth time and we made out in his pigsty of an apartment.
• I woke up to find Jake out of bed. I heard the sound of running water and assumed he was in the bathroom. The room was cleaned up and I found myself smiling. I was about to head into the kitchen to find something edible when his phone started ringing. At first, I made it none of my business till I looked at the caller ID. A bile rose up in my throat as my eyes fixed on the phone.
• “I've been asking you who's calling,” Jake said as he came out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist.
• I looked at his eyes and I felt twice stupid for coming over, for coming back to him and I felt my skin crawl as I thought of what I just did with him.
• “Riley, are you okay?”
• He slowly picked up his phone.
• “Geez, Riley it's not what you think.”
• “Really? It ain't what I think? The same goddamn Mia that caused our first fight? The one you cheated on me with? The one you claimed to block?” I screamed already hyper ventilating.
• I paused and watched his face fall. That was enough to answer my question. He was cheating again with her! The same bitch that took so much from us! The same Mia that shook the foundation of our relationship.
• “You're still talking to her? You're so unbelievable!”
• “So what? You stopped talking to me! You pushed me to her! You and your stupid attitude and silly tantrums!”
• “Of course Jake, put the blame on me. You've never taken responsibility for your actions!”
• “Stop acting like a child! So what if we had a few fucks?”
• “Few fucks?” I felt the bile rise in my throat again and suddenly I felt my head spin.
• “You're so disgusting Jake.”
• “You didn't think so when I was thrusting in you did you bitch?”
• I didn't know when my palm connected with his cheeks.
• I picked up my bag and stepped outside. I didn't want him to see me cry. So I sat outside his doorstep and cried my eyes out and even when I left, he didn't make any attempt to run after me.
• My heart skipped multiple beats as I realised how much of a fool I'd been.
• I remember how it ended the first time, how he denied, pretended, made me seem paranoid for months only to discover I wasn't exaggerating, that my head wasn't making up stuff and my suspicions, correct. He made me look stupid for defending him in front of the girls and when his lies finally caught up with him, he tried to shift the blame to me, claiming that I didn't give him enough attention and time.
• And when I refused to forgive him, he started calling me all sorts of names, accusing me of the same crime he was guilty of. When the blame game wasn't working, he started pleading, doing everything he could to win me back.
• I got up, wiped off my tears and knew we were done for good. There was no going back.
• My stomach rumbled and I laughed to myself. I looked at my phone and deleted his digits to prevent any sorta communication between us.
• I got into the cab as I texted the girls informing them about my breakup and to a point, it felt like there was this huge burden lifted from my shoulders.
• I wanted to scream, to do something, to do anything but I sat and looked out of the window.
• I'd made up my mind to never return to Jake and for the first time, I knew I was sticking to that decision.
• I got home and found no one in the house, so I made my way to my room. I walked inside only to find Selena and Jay seated on my bed. I made my way to them and cried whilst enveloping them in a hug.
• “So it's finally over?” Jay asked, looking at me quizzically.
• I nodded.
• “And you're never going back? You've got to promise,” Selena added.
• “He's been in contact with Mia. They've been texting all this time!”
• “Fuck that n1gga! Do you need us smashing his car?”
• “No violence Jay, no violence. This is a new chapter of my life and I promise to prioritise myself and my happiness over everything.”
• “With that said, we will party tonight!!!” Selena screamed at the top of her voice.
• “No clubs! I don't wanna go to a club.”
• “Don't be a killjoy Riley. You're back on the market okay, we gotta have some fun,” Selene said excitedly.
• I laughed it off remembering the reaction on Philip’s face the last time something like this happened.
• He wasn't going to be okay with it but I knew it wasn't going to stop me.
• A wonderful way to mark the beginning of a new era.