Song ~ So What, Pink

I gasped as I was pulled from the water. Air rushed into my lungs as the world began to refocus. I could not recall how I ended up in the water. My last memories were of being in my living room. After hearing unfamiliar footsteps, I turned to see a large figure dressed in black.

Then, there was nothing.

For a moment, the world paused as I stared at my saviour. He was soaked from head to toe. Shadows hid his features, hunched over as he dragged me from the water. Giving this man a saviour status might be premature. He could be my killer. Who was he? Could I trust him? That did not make sense. A killer would not save their victim. Given the situation, it was understandable, but it spoke loudly to me. He was not my attacker.

My legs collapsed, and the stranger helped me, pulling me to the muddy shoreline. Water came rushing up, and as I pushed my unknown saviour aside, I fell to my hands and knees, letting my body purge the water.

Darkness lingered, but I had to fight it. Slowly, I crawled away from the water, fearful that I'd black out and take more water in. My stomach rolled, preparing for another violent expulsion. Nothing came up, which I was grateful for. Once was bad enough and I didn't need another to make the thumping in my head worse.

"Dani," he said softly, trying to help me up.

"How?" I rasped.

"That would be me."

Frowning, I looked at the low brick wall where my work colleague, Jasper, was seated. Stretched back and leaning on one hand, Jasper watched me with what appeared to be cautious optimism.

"Jas?"

A wary smirk filled his fair face, and the cold wind tousled the wavy brown hair away. With over-the-top enthusiasm, he flicked his scarf over his shoulder.

"Your knight in woollen armour with his trusty blue stead."

I tried to find humour as I looked at his blue scooter. He loved that thing even if we mercilessly teased him for riding along the road at a snail's pace.

The minor amusement didn't last. Memories of being attacked in my home returned. The large figure dressed in black, presumably male but unknown. I knew it wasn't Jas or my unnamed saviour. The attacker was a behemoth, and neither matched his frame.

The way he walked to me with determination. There was no fear, just a plan. With one backhanded swipe, my masked attacker knocked me out. I was unconscious until now. Dragged out of the river and faced Mister Broody, who was staring at me.

"I don't understand," I whispered sadly.

"I know, honey. It's been a rough night, but just let Roman help you out of the water."

Warily, I looked at the man. Strands of black hair fell into the piercing blue eyes that hadn't left me. He offered a begrudging smile as he took hold of my arm.

Accepting his help was necessary. My legs wobbled with weakness, and the thump in my head had become a fog trying to disorientate me.

Roman eased me to the wall next to Jasper.

"What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story, one that I'd love to tell you at the site of what should have been your watery grave, but I'd rather not get caught by the cops."

"Someone was in my house."

"Yeah," Jas said with a heavy sigh. "We'll get into that as well."

Helping me onto my feet, Jasper took me to his scooter.

"How was your birthday dinner with the asshole?"

My husband booked a private table in an expensive seafood restaurant for my birthday. He said it was just the two of us, but to my surprise, Noah invited his friend Jack and work colleague Steve. Noah also invited Bella and Marnie, which I found a little strange, considering I hardly knew them. To be fair, I didn't know Jack or Steve either. Noah always kept his work and home life separate. There was never a function I needed to attend, never attending a party to keep him company. All I knew was that Noah was a junior lawyer in his father's firm. The rest of it was a mystery.

Bella worked at the information counter at the museum where I worked. That was six months ago, and she'd only lasted a couple of weeks before she quit due to stress. I'd spent time on the front desk, filling in for someone when they were unexpectedly sick. It was not a stressful environment. The worst was the occasional screaming toddler, which was pretty standard, even if the museum wasn't aimed at their age range.

As for Marnie, she was our neighbour who lived five doors down. She moved out three years ago. It was like Noah trying to find the most obscure people to invite to my birthday dinner.

The only connection I currently had to these women was social media. We were still friends, but I didn't actively converse with them. Occasionally, I might like a post, but that was rare.

Noah could have invited my work colleagues. I regularly saw them outside of work, more so when Noah went away for the work weekend retreats. I talked about my work friends all the time. If Noah paid better attention to my social media habits, he would have seen that I liked and commented on their posts constantly. My camera roll was filled with images of the trio of terror, as I called them. Jasper, Lucy, and Tatum. Even beyond the three of them, there was a wider circle of people I got on well with that he could have invited.

There were so many better options than what Noah had made, and it left me feeling as if I meant nothing. It was supposed to be my birthday, yet it didn't feel like it. Nothing about tonight made sense.

I shrugged in response. My mind was so hazy that I struggled with my thoughts.

"Did Noah invite you to dinner?"

Jasper snorted a laugh. "Nope."

"What about Lucy or Tatum?"

"No, he didn't invite them either."

I didn't know what to think about that. There was an easy answer, yet Noah went in the opposite direction. Answers would come to me. I knew I wasn't about to let this go quickly.

"So, the dinner?"

"It was fine until he tried to put me in hospital."

Jasper and Roman exchanged glances. I rolled my eyes.

"Nothing like that. It was just a mix-up with the birthday cake. It had a jam filling."

Jas scoffed at me, probably stating that I was naïve. He said it all the time.

"Dani's highly allergic to a preservative commonly found in jam. So allergic that if not given medical attention quickly, she could die."

I didn't miss the sarcastic tone in Jasper's voice. Roman nodded, offering nothing as he climbed onto his motorcycle.

"She's also highly delusional, which hopefully, now that Noah's tried to have her whacked, Dani will open her eyes and see the truth about her life."

Disbelief filled me. It could not be true that Noah was behind this. He loved me.

"You cannot be serious."

"Why do you think I'm here?" Jas said in a dry tone. "Come on. We've got something to show you."

"I don't know you at all, do I, Jas?"

He smiled at me, giving a vague shrug.

"I've kept secrets. I'm happy to tell you now that you're on the other side of this life."

"What do you mean?"

Jasper gestured to the wet path that surrounded me and led to the embankment that had gouges in the mud.

"You're supposed to be dead, Dani. Noah thinks you are no longer in this world, and he's off living his best life."

I frowned, wondering what my husband was doing. Eager to find out, I climbed on the back of the scooter.

When we reached the mysterious destination, my clothes were partially dry. Jasper's scooter wasn't fast, but it was enough to blow dry my clothes. I wasn't dripping water everywhere now, but my clothes were still damp. It wasn't good on such a cold night and I wanted to get indoors to warm up.

Jasper gave me an uneasy smile as we stood next to his scooter. Taking my hands, he took a deep breath in.

"I wanted to tell you, but there are rules to my life that you'll understand soon enough. When you kept asking me about the insurance policy, I became really worried. It didn't help that you weren't listening to me when I said I believed Noah had dark intentions. You always looked at him with love in your eyes. I talked about it with Roman, and we agreed that watching you was ideal, which I know that you're thinking it sounds stalkerish,"

"Because it is stalkerish," Roman interrupted.

Jas scowled at him. Roman shrugged and returned to his disinterested mood as he leaned against the brick wall. In the darkness, we were almost hidden. I could see their outlines and muted lines of their features thanks to the nearby streetlight.

"But the reasons will come. It has a lot more to do with Noah than you. Trust me?"

"Jas, I've always trusted you."

"Good. Don't hate me because I know the truth. I tried to drop subtle hints, but you weren't listening. Come on."

With our pinkie fingers linked, Jasper led me down the back alley of a row of terraced houses. Quietly, he moved a trash can next to the one that was already under the window. He helped me up while whispering to be careful and remain quiet, no matter what.

My heart was thudding so hard that I thought I might pass out. Jasper climbed onto the other trash can and joined me in the horrid view of my husband. He was completely naked, screwing Bella. Steve and Jack were also in the room, having sex with Marnie.

Everything was a lie, and now the reasons for Bella and Marnie being at my birthday dinner made sense. They were probably laughing at me behind my back.

My legs became weak. Slowly, I eased myself down, shakily accepting assistance from Roman. He gave me a sympathetic smile, which was sweet but not helpful. Jas flicked his head and we returned to the scooter and the bike.

Leaning on the brick wall, I wiped away the tears.

"Was he trying to put me into hospital so that he could do that instead?"

Jasper shrugged one shoulder.

"Dunno, but probably not. He would have had the hitman ready to go, so I'd be more inclined to think he was hoping for an argument that resulted in him giving you space."

Tears slid down my cheeks as my stomach rolled. Given the night I'd had, upending the contents of my stomach wasn't unreasonable. I had to calm myself down. Otherwise, I'd be sick. So, I drew in a deep breath and clawed my way through the fog of grief.

"How long?"

"For what? How long have we known, or how long has your husband been cheating on you?"

"Both."

"A while. Like I said, I tried to tell you. I didn't think that Noah would have been a part of it because of reasons you'll find out later, but we think this might have been going on for a lot longer than we know. Roman told me that he saw you and Noah. He mentioned it to me in passing because of a totally different reason. He'd never seen what you looked like, and I said it couldn't have been you because I knew you were at work all day."

"He was all over her. Slobbering like a horny teenager with his hand up her shirt in a coffee shop."

"Great," I muttered.

"Yeah, so after that, we did a little surveillance. When he surfaced, either Bella or Marnie were with him."

"Why were you home alone?"

I shrugged, wiping more tears away. More would follow in time. I think that I was suffering shock at the moment. Give me a few more hours with my thoughts for company, and I'm sure I'll be a blubbering mess.

"After the cake debacle, I just wanted to be alone. Noah took me home, collected his overnight bag, and said he'd be home Sunday night. I'm such an idiot. He's with Bella and Marnie all the time, isn't he?"

Jasper looked at Roman, who gave a disinterested shrug. He seemed somewhat aloof with his indifference and silence.

"Not quite. We'll get into it later."

Yeah, always with the later. Jasper was turning out to be a vastly different person, and it made me wonder if I failed to notice things about him, too.

"Now what?"

Jasper offered a soft smile.

"Whatever you want. You're dead to the world, and we can offer you a path to something grand."

I couldn't go home. At least, I didn't think I could. A dark thought filled my mind as I lifted from the brick wall, I smiled.

"We can talk about that grand life later, but I have a question. How long do you think he'll be there?"

"Well, I assume all night because he would be establishing an alibi. What are you planning?"

Roman looked at Jasper, smirking. It was almost like he could read my mind.

This was not how I expected my birthday to end. As we drew closer to midnight, I thought about the events of tonight and my life. My husband was not in my future, but the two in front of me, they could be. In what form, I don't know, but I could see that they would always be around to help me if I needed it.

I looked at Jasper and Roman, my friend and a stranger. They knew more about my life than what I did, which had to be the craziest thing ever. It wasn't the issue I faced. No, that would be my killer husband.

What was I planning? I smiled at Roman.

"Revenge. I want my things, and I want to make Noah's life hell."