Free GettingEven by April Vine

Chapter One
     
    Alan wrestled the wrinkled newspaper from my desperate
clutch. Sleek biceps flexed under his black t-shirt as he squashed the sum of
my misery and chucked it into the bin in the corner of my kitchen. Did he
really think my despair could be disposed of that easily?
    Well, he was wrong. The dismal headline Diamond Heiress
Katrina Stelberg to Wed Cape Town Businessman Danny Munro was already
etched into my brain and served as a constant reminder of my spectacular
inadequacies, of which there were many.
    Each word of the article pierced my heart as if they were
throwing stars. Did I really think one hundred and two blowjobs later Danny
would fall in love with me? And might I add that I swallowed all one hundred
and two times and he reciprocated zero times? How deluded could I have been?
    I zoomed in on a cupcake, one of many teasing delights centering
my kitchen table, bought to appease my sorry ass by creating a comforting layer
to cushion my sorrows.
    “Oh no.” Ridge uncurled my fingers from the mini-cake and
catapulted it into the bin, the gooey, chocolaty topping splattering onto the
balled-up tabloid.
    My gaze whipped between the two men overshadowing my little
kitchen with all their brawn. My head still spun in confusion every time I
looked at my neighbors. How Alan Sanders and Ridge Cox became my best friends
in the whole world mystified me on a daily basis. We made for an unusual trio,
Alan, Ridge and I. They, the epitome of male beauty and me…well, the epitome of
dull. Now didn’t they realize they were seriously ruining a very extravagantly
planned pity party?
    I deserved to wallow, didn’t I? The man I loved was marrying
someone else. Someone whose father owned diamond mines, someone who was
charming, sophisticated, blue-eyed and fair-haired. Me, on the other hand… I
lacked personal charm, social rank, riches and beauty. Full marks to me for being
delusional. Did I really think he’d fall for someone like me, his secretary’s
assistant, whether I swallowed or not?
    Ridge’s powerful and calloused hands grasped my arms, picked
me up from my chair and stared straight into my eyes. “Tough love, kiddo, and
it starts now. You’re intelligent, you’re sexy, you’re funny, you’re beautiful.
Don’t look at me like that. It’s true.”
    Clearly, I wasn’t the only one deluded. Maybe no-nonsense,
luxury-car mechanic Ridge hadn’t noticed my drab, mousy-brown hair, split and
frazzled at the ends, my unexpressive eyes, my tiny eyelashes, my
too-thick-for-my-face lips or my long dangly arms, my skinny second toe
overtaking my big toe, my crooked feet, my crooked knees. He’d known me for
going on forever now, so how misguided could he be?
    “It’s time to do you over. And ‘no’ is not an option,” Ridge
said. I wasn’t getting any surgery done, if that’s what they meant about a
do-over. Or should I?
    Alan picked me out of Ridge’s hold and turned me around to
face him. He soothed my cheek with his soft artist hands. “Yes, we’re going to
strip away your shield.”
    “Uncover the real you,” Ridged said as he reclaimed me.
    “Peel away all your inhibitions.” Back to Alan I went.
    “What you’re doing is making me dizzy.” I wobbled a bit.
Man, I needed an éclair or nine.
    “We’re going to expose you for the beauty you are.” Ridge
softened his tone as he faced me. His intense topaz eyes warmed my cold skin
like a slow-rising sun.
    “Sara, listen to us. Just knowing that you knelt before him
and his damn dick time and time again and he didn’t even touch you back makes
me see red.” Yes, Alan, made himself quite clear about what color he saw when
it came to Danny and me.
    “Do you know what it felt like for us to see this guy take
advantage of you? I wanted to rip his gut out.” And Ridge made it quite clear
what he wanted to do with Danny’s gut.
    “It was a couple of times only,” I lied. Was I still
protecting Danny? How sickening of me.
    “Bullshit. We