Sunlight lit up the whole room. I thought I was dying. My eyes were hurting from the brightness of the sun shining in the room. My body ached and my clothes were too tight. My head was pounding. I slowly opened my eyes. The room didn’t look familiar to me. Where the hell was I? I stood up and found the door. Quietly I snuck out.

“Good morning sunshine!” Howie greeted me in the hallway.

“You’re too loud and too perky. Why am I at your house?”

“Let’s go get some coffee and I will tell you.” I followed Howie to the kitchen. He whistled a happy tune all the way down the stairs. I wanted to kill him. I must have had one to many drinks last night. I didn’t even want to think about it.

“Good morning.” Jordan, Howie’s wife was doing the dishes.

“Hey.” Howie poured himself a cup of coffee and made me some tea.

“Do you remember anything about last night?”

“I know that Nick’s was making out with some chick. I had a few shots.”

“You ended up drunk. I wouldn’t let you go home. There was no way; you should have been home alone. You kind of broke down.” I was so embarrassed. Why did I let myself get out of control?

“Howie I hope you don’t think bad of me.”

“Ashton, you’re my little sister. You’re going through a bad time. Give Nick some time. He’ll realize that he made a mistake.”

“I’ve known Nick for a long time and this is out of character for him. I think the dye went to his brain.” Jordan said and gave me a hug.

“Does Nick know that you aren’t supporting his action?”

“Nick has been staying away from the people who are close to you. He knows we all think he’s making a mistake.”

-------------------------------------

Nick was flipping through the television channels. Nothing was on, but his mind wasn’t on TV anyway. He couldn’t help thinking about last night at Tabu. He didn’t expect his wife to be at the nightclub. He didn’t actually see her at Tabu. He guessed that was a good thing.  This wasn’t his first date with Chelsey. They had met through a mutual friend and had gone out the week before. Chelsey was nice, but he knew she wasn’t girlfriend material. After they left Tabu, he brought Chelsey back to the condo. The sex was good, but nothing incredible. Not like it had been with Ashton. He was getting depressed by the whole situation. He needed to take his mind off of his life. He decided to call Brian.

“Hello, Frack.”

“Hey, B’rok. How’s Atlanta?”

“Hot. I’ve been busy with the girls. Karah and Tarah are playing softball this summer. I’ve been watching them play. Sarah is taking golf lessons. She’s getting good. I think she could beat you.”

“Ha ha ha, Bri. You are so funny.” I didn’t think a ten year old could beat me at golf. At least I hoped not. “You talk to any of the other guys lately”

“I talked to Kevin yesterday. Jackson and Rachey are doing well. Jackson’s being helping Kevin with the horses. Rachel’s been swimming and visiting with my mom.”

“Oh. I’m glad the kids are having fun. I miss them.”

“I know Nick. It’s got to be hard. The sooner you work things out with Ashy, the sooner your kids will be home. Have you tried working it out?”

“Kind of. Ashton and I met last week to talk. It was awkward. I started dating again.” My stomach started to growl. So I walked into the kitchen to make something to eat.

“You are? Don’t you think it’s too early to start dating? You aren’t even divorced.”

“No I don’t. I’m ready to be with someone else.”

“Who is she?”

“Chelsey.”

“Chelsey Newport?” Brian groaned.

“Yes, what’s wrong with that?” I took fruit out of the fridge.

Nothing Nick, but she’s not your type.”

“What’s my type?” Nick asked curiously.

“Smart, caring, down to earth. A woman that is pretty but not slutty. Someone named Ashton.” He had to throw that last comment out.

“I wouldn’t go there. Ashton isn’t that sweet and innocent. I heard she looked pretty slutty last night at the club. Alex didn’t even recognize her last night and was grinding all over her.”

“Nick, are you jealous? I’m sure she looked hot, not slutty. You sound pretty upset about it. You’re dating Chesley and getting a divorce. I don’t think you should be worrying about Ashton’s clothing.” Brian was getting annoyed by Nick’s comments. He was being a jerk.

“I’m not jealous at all. I didn’t even see her last night.”

“What were you busy doing?”

“It was more like who I was busy with.” Nick snickered.

“Eww….tell me, you did not do the nasty with Chelsey.

“Fine. Brian, I didn’t do the nasty with Chesley.”

“You are a sick and twisted man. I’m going to keep my mouth shut. I really don’t agree with the situation you made Nick. You’re my best friend, but Ashton’s my cousin. I can’t and won’t take sides, but it’s getting really hard not to.” As Brian continued to yammer, Nick heard his phone beep. He had a text message and chose to ignore it.

“If that’s how it is Bri, I understand. Your cousin means the world to you. I know that I have been an ass to her these last few months. I’m trying to make things better, but our marriage is over. I’m moving on. I’m going to try to not talk about it with you. I don’t want to put you in a tough spot.” His phone beeped again with another text message. He assumed it was Chesley and ignored it. “I got to go. Talk to you soon.” Nick placed his phone on the counter and walked out of the room.

His phone beeped again. What was wrong with Chelsey? She was getting annoying. It beeped again. Nick got annoyed and grabbed his phone. He looked at his message and it read HELP ME!!!!!!!. It was from Ashton. He looked at the rest of the text messages. All of them were from her. Nick started to panic. He quickly started typing a message back to her.