Lines of Betrayal

He leant in and kissed his wife. “Please change your mind. Don’t go, stay here. We could go back to bed.” He hinted seductively.
She smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and playing with his hair. “Sounds tempting but you know I have to go. We have to warn him.”
“So send Chris on his own. You stay here. The city’s not safe for you, and I worry about you going there, no matter how important this is.”
“You know he won’t believe Chris. Don’t worry, Chris will take care of me.” She removed the locket from around her neck and fastened it around his. “This way you’ll have a part of me with you. I have to go or it’ll be too late and we won’t get there before nightfall.”
He kissed her and nodded. “I love you.”
“I love you.” She stepped away from him and walked off a little way.
He motioned Chris to him. “Take care of her. If you don’t I’ll kill you.”
“Don’t worry, she’ll be safe with me, you don‘t even need to ask. And do you really think I’m scared of your threats of death? See you in a few days.” Chris joked. He shook hands with him and walked away to join her. They walked away from the farm and towards the city.

***

“How long is it now since you’ve been back to the city? I‘ve lost track,” Chris asked her as they entered sector 10. They had been silent for the majority of their journey.
“Oh, years. Years before the virus.”
“After Jaden died?”
“Yeah. Things fell apart for me after that. I loved living on the farm, it was such a change from the city. I’ve always loved that the farm was near the sea. Haven‘t you?”
“I guess so. Well, now’s your chance to face your past. Time to see him.” They looked at each other and then headed inside.

***

She swam into the land of waking to find herself lying on a soft bed in a room she could not recognise. Her head ached. She sat up to find a guy with blue hair looking at her. “Who are you? Where am I? Where’s Chris?”
He stood and walked to the bed, perching himself on the edge of it. “Please be calm Priestess. All is well. You are safe. My name is Luke, you are at the Chosen’s sanctuary in sector 15. I do not know who Chris is.”
“The guy I was with.”
“Ah. He ran off when we rescued you.”
“Rescued me? What do you mean rescued me? From what?”
“The non believers, the evil Mallrats. One of your power and belief in Zoot should be protected from the non believers.”
“Who told you I believe in Zoot?”
“The Guardian.” He looked at her confusedly. “You do not believe in Zoot?”
“I want to see the Guardian. Now.” She demanded.

***

He stood at the front door staring out into the open space around the farm. In the distance he saw a figure. A moving figure. Moving fast. He walked towards it as he recognised it.
“Chris?” He called out. “Chris, what are you doing here?” Chris slumped to his knees as he reached him. “Chris, where is she?”
“They got her. I tried to stop them, I really did but there were too many of them. They ambushed us as we reached the door. There were so many of them, twenty, maybe thirty of them. They knocked her unconscious and dragged her away. I tried to follow them but they saw me and I had to leg it. I thought coming back here was the best thing, that you’d know what to do.”
He nodded at Chris, motioning for one of the others to take him inside. He took one of the girls aside. “Louise, gather some of the others. I want Chris to be rested by tomorrow and then we all move tomorrow.”
“Of course. Where are we going?”
“The city. We need to see the Mallrats. We leave at first light.”

***

“So, you’re the Guardian. Why am I here? What do you want with me?”
“To protect you. To worship you and to know the divine word of Zoot from you. He chose you specifically to be special to him, to know Zoot’s word.”
“So you, Blondie, think I’m special to Zoot.”
“I know you are, I saw it for myself.”
Her eyes widened and her voice caught in her throat. “Who else have you told?”
“No one. They all think that you are a High Priestess. There are many here who would use the knowledge of your truth against the belief of the great and mighty Zoot.”
“So you are pure of heart? Zoot has chosen you to watch over me?”
He beamed at her. “Yes, yes, that’s it. I knew you of all people would understand. You would understand my cause and the faith that Zoot has placed within me to keep one as chosen and as sacred as you safe from the evils of the non believers.”
“Yeah, right, exactly. So, let me get this straight, you are chosen by the great and powerful Zoot to protect me?”
“Yes, you are sent to guide us in the true teachings of Zoot. It is you alone who know the true teachings of the great one.”
“Then I’m sacred to you, right?” He nodded. “Then, I get anything I want?”
“Within reason, yes.”
“Then I want to go for a walk.”
“A walk? Why?” He asked suspiciously.
“Come off it. I live on a farm. All of these walls are making me claustrophobic. It’s too built up, too constricted. I need air, I need space.”
He nodded at her and clicked his fingers, causing a guard to come into the room. “Take the Priestess for a walk. Protect her at all costs, she must be protected, do you understand me.” The guard nodded. He waited for her to join him but she didn’t move.
“Guardian, I wanted Luke to join me. I trust him to protect me. Surely I would be a better judge of who can protect me then you.”
He looked pensive for a moment and then nodded. “Of course, whatever you think is best.” He turned to the guard. “Go and fetch Luke.” The guard left and Luke returned a few moments later. “You will escort the Priestess on her walk. Protect her at all costs, Zoot is testing you to protect her.”
“Yes Guardian. Zoot be praised. Priestess, I am ready when you are.” She nodded and walked out of the room. He trailed behind her, terrified of what the Guardian would do if something were to happen to the Priestess.

***

“Jay! Wait, I want to talk to you.” Jay turned around to face him.
“What do you want? You have everything you came here for. What could you possibly say to me?”
“That I’m sorry. I never meant for anyone to get hurt, I just wanted to come back. Surely you can understand that.”
“I do understand that. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it does it?”
“No.”
“So why don’t you go back to your room and play happy families with Amber and your son, Bray, and leave me in peace to get on with my life. Do us all a favour.”
Jay walked off out of the Mall and didn’t look back. Bray began to walk up the stairs when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see a group of people behind him and he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw who was in leadership.
“Zoot.” Bray gasped.
“No, Martin. And you and I, brother dearest, need to talk.”
“About?” Bray asked suspiciously.
“Amongst other things, Jenny.”
“What about Jenny? I haven’t seen her in years.”
“I have. I saw her a few days ago. In fact, I sent her to you to warn you that the Chosen are back. And they have her.”
“Why her? What could they possibly want with her? Me and her broke up years ago, everyone knows that.”
Martin laughed at him. “You didn’t even get her messages before she was taken. Nice going Chris.”
“Sorry,” Chris said sheepishly. “But I kind of thought you of all people would have wanted to know what happened to Jenny.”
“Point taken.” He turned back to Bray. “It’s not because of you that they’ve taken her. It’s because of me. She’s my wife, and personally speaking I’d kind of like her back. And I thought you might be able to help me with that. You and those do-gooders called the Mallrats.”

***

Luke walked with her to a park she had once played in as a small child. “You really think the Guardian knows what he’s doing?”
“I have to trust in him, he is the link to Zoot.”
She stopped Luke in his tracks. “Luke, if you help me I promise you that you will be close to Zoot in ways the Guardian could never be. I swear it.”
“Priestess, I can’t. I can’t disobey the Guardian, not like this.”
“You don’t know why the Guardian wants me so bad, he doesn’t know that I have allies in the city. You’re both none the wiser. Just look the other way, just for a minute. I’m fast, you can say that you were ambushed by the non believers. He’ll never know that you helped me.”
“I’m sorry Priestess, but I can’t do that.”
“Oh but I think you can Luke.” Luke turned around to find that the Mallrats were surrounding them. “What is this?”
“This is me demonstrating an ambush. What took you guys so long?” She joked with Bray. She walked forward and hugged him. “Good to see you again.”
“You too. We would have been here sooner but you know him, he’s a bit long winded with his explanations.”
“Yeah, I do know him. Nice to see another friendly face here. Bray, you remember my brother Chris right?”
“Right.” Bray said as she hugged Chris. “Let’s go home.”

Part Two

“Jenny, can I talk to you?”
“Sure. What’s on your mind Jack?” Jack sat down opposite her at the table in the café.
“I was wondering if maybe you could give me some advice. On relationships.”
She smiled at him. “Is this about the fights you and Ellie have been having?” He nodded. “Well, maybe, you just need to let this run its course. Every relationship has its bad patches.”
“It’s not just that. We broke up. She’s left me, she’s left me for Luke.”
“Oh boy, that’s a biggie huh? Ok, I can sympathise with your situation Jack, and I can understand why you would want some advice, but I don’t quite know what you want me to say.”
“Huh?”
“Well, Jack, if you were devastated and asking me how to win her back and make it all alright again, then I’d be able to give you the how to guide of romance. But the thing is, Jack, you don’t seem to be very down about the break up. So what can I help you with?”
“Chris.”
“I should have known. So, what has my idiot of a brother done now. Did he help Luke win Ellie?”
“No, no, it’s not like that. I just, well, I wondered what his persuasion is?”
“Persuasion? You mean his sexual preference?” He nodded. “Well, lets just say that he doesn’t go in for the female experience.”
“He’s gay?” She nodded. “I didn’t know.”
“You know Jack, you seem very relieved by that news. Could I be sensing a small attraction to my brother?”
“No! No!” He paused. “Maybe. It’s just, when I’m with him, everything else seems to disappear.”
“You like him?”
“Maybe. Would that be such a bad thing?”
“No. It wouldn’t be a bad thing. Just be sure that it is what you want. Please don’t toy with my brother.”
“I won’t. Just don’t tell anyone yet. I don’t know how I feel yet. Just out of curiosity, is there any news on the Guardian?”
“Some, all bad. Trust me Jack, you don’t want to know what we’ve heard.”
“Will you and your group be returning to your farm?”
“Honestly, Jack, I don’t know. At the moment it looks as though we could be here for a while.”
“You don’t sound too happy about that.”
She looked uncomfortable. “I haven’t been back to the city in a long time. I’ve become accustomed to the open spaces, the clean air, to waking up each morning with the sound of the sea in my ears. I guess I’m just a bit homesick.”
He nodded. “I can understand that. Um, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why did the Guardian want you so badly if he wasn’t going to come after you?”
“Do you really think that he would take on Zoot? You really think that he would take on Bray or Lex or any of the Mallrats to get to me?”
“I think that he would try if he really believed in Zoot. If he really believed in Zoot and his cause than he would be tearing this place down to get to you. To you and Brady and Trudy.”
“Oh he does believe it. He believes it whole heartedly. That’s the problem.”
“I don’t understand.”
She took a deep breath. “The Guardian wants to live here, with us. He wants to serve Zoot. And with that he wants to work for my husband and the Mallrats”
“Oh. Right. Can I ask you something?”
“You just did but you may ask other things.”
“Why did you marry Zoot?”
“I didn’t, I married Martin, there’s a difference.” Jack looked sceptical, so she decided to explain. “Me and Martin grew up together. We lived next door to each other. Bray always thought I was the little friend of his little brother. Me and Martin practically lived in my tree house. We were the best of friends, practically inseparable. When I was eleven my mother sent me to live with my grandmother in the country. I stayed there for about two years. Me and Martin were still inseparable. We wrote, we phoned, he even came and stayed with me some weekends. When I came back to the city he convinced his parents to throw a party. So they did and we were there. Bray turned up late, he’d been out playing basketball. He’s always looked at me like I was a kid. That night he looked at me completely different. When he had last seen me I was short and flat chested and just his little brothers friend. At the party I was wearing a red dress, and I had a woman’s body instead of a child’s. He had never looked at me like that. We started dating two weeks later. Two months later, we slept together.”
“You and Bray?”
“What about me?”
Bray walked into the café and sat down with Jack and Jenny.
“Jack finds it hard to believe that you and I dated once.”
“Oh, that story. Well, it’s true. We dated and now we don’t. Now she’s married to my brother.”
“Right, so can I continue with the story?”
“Sure.”
“Well, we had slept together. A few weeks later, I missed my period. I found out I was pregnant and my parents hit the roof. My mom was a religious freak, said that I was a sinner and I was going straight to hell. My dad was a politician, said that I had brought shame upon the family and that I was no longer his daughter. So I packed up my stuff and I moved next door. I moved into Bray’s room and carried on with my life. I still went to school, even though I was called names and I was looked down on by all of my friends and their parents. The teachers were cool, except my math teacher. He hated me anyway, so when I got pregnant he really laid into me. He made my life a hell. Six months into the pregnancy, things screwed up. I was sitting in math class, and suddenly it felt like my insides had exploded. My waters had broken. Some of the girls helped me to the office, one of them went to get Bray. We went to the hospital but there was nothing they could do, four hours later, there he was, this tiny little boy. His name was Jaden. He spent three months in the NICU. Then, just as he was supposed to come home, they convinced me to go home for a night. So I did. Three am we got a call. Meningitis. By the time we got back he was back on a ventilator. There was nothing they could do, he was brain damaged. We turned off the machines and buried him.”
“So you two broke up over your sons death?”
“You could say that. Jaden was the only thing that was really keeping us together. At the funeral I had a nervous breakdown. My father decided that I should go and live in the country with my grandmother. Then she died and the rest is history.”
“How did you end up with Martin?”
“He washed up on the shore near the farm. He was all burnt. I took care of him and as he got better, we got closer. I’ll bet you can guess the rest.”
“Yeah. Well, I should be going. See you two later.” Jack walked away and returned to his room.
Bray looked at Jenny. “Are you happy with him?”
“Yeah, I am. I love him, Bray, and he loves me.”
“Where is he?”
“Spending time with Brady. I should go, I have things to do.” She got up and walked away towards her room.
“Jenny,” Bray called out to her. “Do you want the Chosen here?”
“Personally, it makes no difference to me either way. If they’re here, then it’s safety in numbers and they would listen to us. If they don’t then they’re a threat to everything we have here. Personally, I think that it would be safer to have them here.”
He nodded and she walked away.

***

“Chris, can I sit with you?”
“Sure Jack. What have you been up to today?”
“Oh nothing much, just tweaking the water filter and the wind turbine. You?” Jack answered and asked as he sat down next to Chris.
“Just a meeting with the Guardian.”
“He still going on about living here?”
Chris looked worriedly at Jack. “Yeah he is, and the worst part of it is, Jenny agrees with it. She thinks that if he’s here, if they’re here, they’re not a threat and it’d be safety in numbers.”
“You’re kidding?”
“I wish I was. Martin also agrees with her, and Slade, and Ebony. Bray and Amber may also be coming round to the idea.”
“If it happens, if they come here, will you leave?”
“I don’t know. There’s nothing really keeping me here. Oh, Jack, I’m sorry, that was tactless. Mom always told me my mouth would get me in trouble one day.”
Jack looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Ellie. The break up.”
“Oh right, that! No, I’m over that.”
“Wow, you move fast.”
“It was bad for a while between us anyway, and I’ve kind of fallen for someone else.”
Chris smiled at him. “Really? Well, Jack you are a dark horse. Well, who is it?”
“Well… I…” Jack stammered before leaning in and kissing Chris. They lost themselves in the kiss, pulling at each other as the kiss deepened. Jack pulled away and shot to his feet. “Oh God, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry, I have to go now.” Jack walked away to his bedroom while Chris sat there stunned.

***
Six months had past since Jenny, Martin, and Chris had come into the lives of the Mallrats. The rest of the farm dwellers had chosen to return to the farm. There were very few changes to the lives of the Mallrats but the changes were significant enough to alter them forever.
Jack and Chris had entered into a relationship together, a development that was met with nothing but surprise and happiness. For the first time in his life, Chris felt truly settled and content to stay in one place, with one person. The only thing that he was really surprised by was the fact that he and Jack hadn’t slept together yet.
Chris walked into Jack’s room to find the computer geek slumped over his computer asleep. He smiled and walked up to him, running his hand slowly up and down Jack’s spine. Jack awoke and smiled up at him. He pulled Chris in for a slow kiss, one that both guys greatly appreciated.
Chris pulled away. “How about I cook us dinner tonight? A romantic dinner for two.”
Jack smiled. “Sounds great. Your place?”
“Yep, eight. Don’t be late,” he warned as he kissed Jack again and walked out of the room.
The other major change that had happened to the Mallrats was that the Chosen had moved in and were under the Mallrats control.
Martin had become a tribe leader, and he and Jenny were expecting their first child.

As Jack and Chris finished their dinner and finally moved towards the bed, Jenny walked through the silent space of the Mall, checking on security. She stood outside her room and looked down onto the statue below, lost in her own thoughts until a movement behind it caught her attention.
Martin and Trudy walked into the light cast by the fairy lights. Jenny secluded herself behind one of the pillars as Martin grabbed Trudy by the arm.
“Listen to me! Please,” he begged her. She stopped and turned to look at him. “Don’t do this, please, just give it a bit longer.”
“How long am I supposed to give it Martin? Because no matter how long I give it, this will still be wrong!”
“How can it be wrong when it feels so right?”
“Martin, you’re married! She’s carrying your child! We can’t do this!”
“It wasn’t a problem until she got pregnant. Trudy, I love you.”
Jenny felt her dinner turn over in her stomach. Her mouth dropped open and a silent tear rolled down her cheek.
“Martin, it doesn’t matter. You’re married to her.”
“But I don’t want her! Not the way I want you. I don’t love her, not the way I love you. I don’t want her to get hurt but if that’s what it takes for us to be together, then so be it.”
Trudy wavered and leaned in, kissing him, pressing herself against him as she wound her arms around his neck, his arms holding her tight. As Trudy pressed herself against Jenny’s husband, Jenny doubled over in pain as her lower stomach pulled itself to pieces. She walked to the bathroom and threw up before she realised she was bleeding.

Martin walked towards the stairs after spending the night with Trudy. He had risen early and pretended to be doing guard duty to his brother, before making his move to lie to his wife once more. Suddenly, he felt his head collide with something hard and he reeled back, gripping the banister as he realised his wife was throwing his clothes over the balcony at him.
“Jenny, what are you doing?” he asked as the Guardian walked out of his room to see what was going on. Many of the other Mallrats had joined him by the time Martin had reached the top of the stairs and Jenny had walked out of the bedroom.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Having a clear out,” she stated calmly.
He laughed. “But this is all my stuff. You may not want it but I do.”
“Then take it.”
“Jenny, baby, what’s going on? Why are you getting rid of my stuff?”
“Because this is now my room. Why don’t you take it to her?” she snapped at him. Realisation dawned on him.
“Jenny, lets talk about this in private.”
“Why? So you can make excuses and no one has to hear what you’ve done? No, I don’t think so. Why don’t we ask the Guardian what he thinks of what you’ve done? Do you think he’ll still think that ‘Zoot’ is love after he hears it?”
“Jenny please,” he begged as he went to hold her arms. She pushed him away from her.
“Don’t touch me!”
“OK, I get that.”
“How could you? How could you do this to me?” she asked as tears started to fall.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“Oh, right, because you don’t love me, not like you love her, and you don’t want me, not like you want her. I saw you. Would you have told me?”
He stood there silently as the Mallrats and the Chosen looked on.
“What, no pretty lies to fob me off with? No denials?”
“Jenny? What’s going on?” Ebony asked as she and Slade joined the group around the warring couple.
Chris and Jack emerged from Chris’s bedroom just in time to hear. “My husband has been having an affair. He’s been sleeping with Trudy.”
Jack, Lex and Slade had to restrain Chris as he lunged for Martin. Trudy emerged from her bedroom to face the angry mob. Jenny noticed she was standing there first.
“Was he good? Was it worth it?” she screamed at Trudy.
“Jenny, I am so…”
“Don’t you dare apologise to me! Sorry? Sorry?! You’re not sorry, you have no remorse for what you’ve done. You have what you wanted! You have him, he’s all yours, I won‘t fight you!” Jenny interrupted.
Martin approached Jenny. “What about the baby? We’re going to have a baby, you can’t deny me my child.”
She looked at him, her eyes hollow. “What baby? Oh, that baby. I lost that baby, last night, when I saw the two of you together. So now I don’t even have that to keep you. Not that I’d want you of course, you’re tainted goods now. Well, I’m one to talk aren’t I? Your brothers spoils. No wonder you want her.”
“Jenny, it wasn’t like that, it isn’t like that,” he tried to interject, to reason with her.
“I don’t care. How long?”
“What?”
“How long have you been having an affair?”
“Jenny…”
“Just tell me how fucking long?!!” she yelled.
“Five months.” Martin and Trudy hung their heads in shame as Chris made a fresh attempt to get to Martin.
Jenny stood there in shock for a moment. “Five months,” she whispered. “Oh my God, I’m so stupid. I should have seen it.”
“Jenny, we never meant to hurt you, never,” Trudy piped in.
Jenny ignored her. She looked at Martin. “You know the worst part of this? It’s not that I’m loosing my husband, or that I’ve been betrayed, or lied to, or even loosing my baby. The worst part of this is, I’ve just lost my best friend.”
Martin felt his heart break at the realisation that he hadn’t just hurt his wife, he had lost his best friend. This was the girl he had known his whole life, the girl he knew everything about. “Jenny, I am so sorry.”
She looked at him. “You know what? For the first time in my life, I don’t believe a single word that comes out of your mouth. I don’t trust you.”
She turned around and walked away, walking towards ‘her’ room. Martin ran after her and grabbed her by the arm, the same way he had done with Trudy last night. “Jenny, please, listen to me.”
She turned around and began to fight his hands. “No! I don’t want to listen to anything you have to say! I gave you everything, heart body and soul. I gave you everything I had to give. And you took it all, and just threw it away, like I meant nothing. I hate you! I hate you and I hope I never have to see you again!” she screamed at him, tears running down her face. She struck out and slapped him around the face, catching his eye, he reeled backwards and let her go. She walked away to her room, slamming the door behind her.
Martin turned to the Guardian and the Chosen standing behind him. “Guardian, get some of your men to move my things to Trudy’s room.”
“No.”
“What?”
The Guardian smiled at him. “As you can see, the Chosen aren’t what they used to be, and this half a dozen men and women are the only ones true to the cause. The only thing is, we don’t follow you anymore. The more we have seen of you, the less we see you as God-like. We no longer follow you, we follow her. She is the true leader, the true mighty one. She is wise and kind and enlightened and pure. She is pure and innocent, and you have wronged her.”
“This can’t be happening. You follow me, you came here to follow me!”
“At her command. She decided we needed to be brought into the love and guidance of the Mallrats. She has treated us with humility and kindness. She always asks us to do things, she never orders us. You treat us like your own personal slaves, she treats us like her friends. Like I said, we follow her.”
Martin looked around furiously at the Mallrats and realised they were all on her side. He stormed down the stairs, gathering his stuff as he went and retreated to Trudy’s room, the two of them locking themselves away from scolding eyes.
The Guardian, still in his pyjamas, walked to Jenny’s room and let himself in, closing the door behind him. She took one look at him and collapsed into his arms. He held her as she cried herself to sleep, her wedding ring clutched tightly in her hand.

********************************************************************************

“I can’t believe this. I trusted him, I trusted him to take care of her, to protect her. He promised, on their wedding day, he swore to me that he would never hurt her. Now look!” Chris ranted, pacing around Jack’s bedroom.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt her.”
“I don’t care if he meant it or not.” He sat down on the bed defeatedly. Jack sat next to him and waited. “When she got pregnant, my father really hated her. Said she was a disgrace and she’d brought shame upon the family. What she never told you Jack is that when she found out she was pregnant my father kicked her out. She lived with Bray. Martin was always in love with her. Always. Until Trudy. Once he met Trudy, it was like my sister didn’t matter to him anymore. When she said she’d marry him, I tried to change her mind. But she loves him, and she was happy. Who wouldn’t want that for their sister?”
“You do very well. You take care of her. She’ll heal, she’s strong. Just like her big brother.” Chris looked at Jack and smiled before leaning in to kiss him.
“I love you,” he whispered as he pulled away, so low that Jack wasn’t sure if he’d heard it right.
“I love you too,” he whispered back and the two of them smiled before wrapping themselves around each other.

********************************************************************************

Bray paced around the café as the Mallrats tried to comprehend what had just happened.
“So. Opinions?” Ebony asked.
“I think that Martin’s dick has just put us all in a very difficult position,” Slade said as Chris and Jack joined them. They all looked at him waiting for him to elaborate. “Well, on the one hand, we have Jenny, who I’m sure none of us wants to lose. But then we have the situation.”
“What situation?” Jack asked.
“Martin’s a tribe leader. Trudy’s a valued member of this tribe. They both have qualities and skills that we need. Can we really afford to lose two of our members because of a divorce?”
The room fell silent as they all realised the situation they were in. “If Martin leaves, he could restart the Locos. And how many of the Chosen would go with him?” Bray mused.
“None of them.” They all turned as the Guardian entered.
“How is she?” Chris asked.
“Asleep. She’s peaceful for now. Back to the situation. I promise you that none of the Chosen will leave with him. We all follow her. And if he restarts the Locos, do you really think he would even attempt to take her on?”
“Probably not,” Bray said.
“Probably not what?”
They all fell silent as Jenny entered the room. She sat down and looked at Bray expectantly. “Probably not what?”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Slade quickly. “Are you hungry?”
“No. No, I’m not hungry. I just don’t want to be by myself right now.”
Chris fought the urge to yell and lost the battle. “What the fuck are we all walking on eggshells for?! He did the dirty, he should pay! He doesn’t deserve to stay here anymore and neither does that whore he’s down there with! They should both go!”
“I don’t want that,” Jenny said quietly and Chris looked like the sky had suddenly turned bright pink.
“What are you on about? That’s the shock, you don’t know what you’re saying. Jen, listen to me. If he stays here, if they both do, you’ll have to watch them together. You’ll have to see him happy with her. We can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask. If they stay here, we loose nothing from the tribe and he has to live with his guilt. It’s not the best situation but right now it’s what I want. Just because my husband is fucking another woman doesn’t mean that I’m beaten. Chris, I’m not going to break. This isn’t like when Jaden died, I’m not going to have another nervous breakdown. The difference this time is that, this time, I know I didn’t do anything wrong. This is his fault, not mine. And my big brother taught me that you never take the easy way out.”
She stopped and the room went silent. She had made the decision for them.

***

A month passed and life moved on. Martin walked into the café and made to walk straight back out again.
“You don’t have to go just because of me,” Jenny said as she stood up. “I’m leaving anyway.”
She walked out of the room and he stopped her as she walked past him. She looked at him and he immediately let go of her. “I just wanted to give you this back. I know it was your mothers and it means a lot to you,” he said as he pressed her locket into her hand.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “This is for you, Slade and Ebony drew it up for me.” She handed him a piece of paper. “It’s a divorce. I can hardly miss Trudy walking around wearing your grandmothers ring.”
“Jen, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, it just did.”
“Right. Your lips just happened to fall onto hers.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
She sighed. “I know that. I do, really. But it isn’t that simple. You told me you loved me and then you went to her. You told me we’d be together forever and now I have to watch you with her every single day. Do you know what that’s like? To love someone with everything you have and to have to watch him love someone else? To know that he doesn’t love you?”
“I know I hurt you, but I love her.”
“Yeah. And I guess that’s my consolation prize. You left me for love, not just a meaningless fling.”
She walked away from him and he used some good sense not to follow her. Honestly, he still loved her. He always would. But he loved Trudy more.