Nick didn’t call Alice back all day and waited for her to leave the house before he could go back. As soon as he was past the door, the words he heard she saying started ringing in his mind again and he did all he could to get rid of them.

He ran to his bedroom, grabbed a bag and started packing, but just as he was zipping it, Alice opened the door.

“Hi, baby, you’re finally home!” She noticed the bags and looked puzzled. “What are you doing?”

Nick didn’t expect to talk to her, let alone so soon. He was caught off guard and didn’t know exactly what to do.

“Are you going to travel again? I didn’t know you had to.” She sounded so earnest.

“No, I’m not. I’m just… I…” He was looking for what to say, but there was nothing he wanted to say. He only wanted to be away from her. “I just can’t be here right now. I can’t be with someone who did what you did.” He put his bags on his shoulder and started to leave.

“What are you talking about, Nick?”

“Oh, don’t pretend you’re an angel. You’re not fooling me anymore. I heard you on the phone last night.” He paused for a moment, but she didn’t move. She was in a shock. ‘So, I guess I spared you the trouble of telling me.”

When he was half way down the stairs she ran after him.

“Nick, please, wait! Let’s talk!”

“I have nothing to say to you and as I see, nor do you.” He didn’t stop.

“Let me explain!”

“There’s nothing to explain, Alice. You cheated on me and that’s all I need to know.”

“No, it’s not true. I didn’t cheat on you.” She was crying.

“So, you hooking up with another man is not cheating?” He stopped abruptly and turned to her. “What is it then? No, wait. I don’t wanna know. Do us a favor and do not talk about it anymore.”

“Nick, where are you going?”

“It’s not your business anymore.” He left the house and she sat on the floor in tears. She felt as if the ground under her feet were gone. ‘All I ever do lately is cry’, she thought. She didn’t know what to do and didn’t have the strength to get up and follow him anymore, so she stood there on the ground for a while not even bothering to dry the tears that kept on falling.

Nick marched to the car and threw his bags inside. He sat down, but didn’t turn on the engine. Instead, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to be fighting this battle again. He thought Alice was different from the other girls he’d been with and she wouldn’t hurt him, but she did exactly what all the others did – broke his heart and pretended nothing had happened.

‘When will I ever learn and not trust women again?’ he thought to himself. He opened his eyes, looked far ahead in the distance and started the car. He had nowhere to go, and a lonely hotel room was the last thing he needed now. He needed to have someone to pull him back to reality and keep him from doing anything stupid at the moment. So, he drove straight back to Luke’s place.