The Wives of Beverly Row 3: Lust Has a New Address by Abby Weeks Page A

How was that even possible? Trudy was her mother’s age. She could imagine having to fend off girls from her high school, especially seniors, but having to fight to keep her boyfriend away from a middle-aged woman who was old enough to be his mother? That was too much!
    As soon as she got home she ran up the stairs to her bedroom and tried to call him. There was no answer. Of course there was no answer. Why the hell would there be an answer? She was only his girlfriend. He was only her first real love, the first boy she’d ever been intimate with in her life, and now he was cheating on her! She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. She’d spent her entire childhood vowing never to become her mother, now here she was, just sixteen years old, and the boy she’d chosen to go out with was already trying to get one over on her. How did women ever tolerate men?
    One thing was for certain, he wasn’t going to get away with this. Not on her watch!

XI
    W HEN BECKY WOKE UP THE next morning she was determined to do something. She wasn’t going to be like her mother who had spent years letting the man she loved get away with infidelity. She took a quick shower, got dressed, grabbed an apple from the kitchen counter and went straight over to Kyle’s house. It was still an hour before they needed to leave for school and she knew she’d catch him getting ready. She wasn’t taking any risks that he’d try to avoid her.
    “Oh, Becky!” Veronica said when she answered the door.
    “Good morning Mrs. Roycroft. Is Kyle here?”
    Veronica looked a little confused that she was there so early but she let her in and told her Kyle was still in his room. Becky didn’t even knock when she got upstairs. She just walked straight into Kyle’s room and announced her presence.
    “Becky!” Kyle said, a little startled. He was still in his boxers and was standing at the door to his bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. He finished brushing and rinsed his mouth and then came back out.
    “You’re here early,” he said. He came over to kiss her but she stopped him.
    “What’s going on?” she said. She wasn’t going to get sidetracked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Something’s going on between you and Trudy Luxton. I know it. I saw you going over to her place last night. You’ve been going over there every chance you get.”
    “No I haven’t.”
    “Don’t lie to me Kyle. I’m not your wife. I’m your friend. We shouldn’t be keeping things from each other. Not yet. Not at this stage of our relationship.”
    Kyle sighed. He sat down on the bed. Becky looked at him. He looked troubled, like he had something difficult to tell her. She knew then that she was right. The pain of it was outweighed by the satisfaction she got from having discovered the truth. Even more important than having a boyfriend was her ability to maintain her self-respect, and for Becky that meant not letting any man, no matter how perfect, cheat on her. She went over and sat down next to him.
    “Just tell me everything,” she said. “It’s not the end of the world. We’re just kids.”
    He looked up at her, into her eyes. “You’re so smart,” he said.
    She nodded. She was still waiting for him to spill the beans.
    “I’ve been a complete jerk,” Kyle said. “I cheated on you with Trudy. You’re right.”
    Becky said nothing. Even if she’d wanted to hear the truth, it still hurt.
    “I didn’t want to cheat on you,” Kyle said. “I didn’t have any intention of doing anything with any other girl in the world. I really didn’t.”
    “But it happened anyway.”
    “Becky. When you and I got intimate, when we did the things we did together, I was so happy I felt like I could have floated away into the clouds.”
    “Then why did you cheat?”
    “I don’t know, Becky. I honestly don’t. I have such strong feelings for you. I’m so attracted to you. There isn’t a girl in our school I’d rather date than