Emerald Isle

Hello again. This was a story I uploaded during my last time on this site but I don't think it was up very long before I deleted my profile and everything. I think this is the last of my old stories. Anything else uploaded going forward will be brand spanking new.

Hope you enjoy the tale.

*****

"Half day, Nate?"

"Yeah. Heading home to surprise the other half."

"Oh, any reason why?"

"Nah. Just figured a weekend away might do us some good."

"Well, enjoy yourself."

I smiled as I walked out of the office, though it disappeared as soon as I was in the clear. Yes, I was heading home to surprise my other half, though not in the way I'd just said. I'd been suspicious for a few weeks if not months that something was going on. I didn't have much in the way of hard evidence, but I'd always learned to trust my gut, and my gut was telling me she was doing the dirty on me.

Sliding behind the wheel of my car, I sent her a text message, asking if she wanted to meet up for lunch. She replied rather quickly, saying she was busy. As usual, though, she said she loved me and wished me a good day. I headed to the nearest mall to grab myself a bite to eat, turning over in my mind all the little things that had led to me believing she was doing the dirty.

The only thing I couldn't figure out was who she may be doing the dirty with. There were a number of possibilities. A colleague at work. Maybe her boss. One of her male friends. I didn't really know who. I was just left feeling very uneasy about the whole thing. I hated thinking the way I did, wondering if I was just being paranoid, then I'd feel guilty about not trusting her.

But I had to be sure.

I had my first piece of evidence when I pulled up outside my house. I call it my house, as although my girlfriend lived with me, the house was in my name only, having bought it a couple of years ago. It's a long story and something I'll explain later. Parked in the driveway was her car. My heart froze when I recognised the car parked behind hers.

"Anyone but him," I muttered.

I drove on, parking at the end of the block. On the walk back towards the house, I tried to think of how often I'd seen them together. It didn't make any sense as they'd never been particularly friendly. As quietly as possible, I opened the front door, effectively sneaking into my own house. My heart stopped when I heard noise from upstairs. I recognised her voice immediately.

The second voice was that of my best friend.

Now I was angry. Not only was my girlfriend clearly cheating, but my supposed best friend was involved. So that was two relationships of mine ruined in an instant. I wandered outside to my shed, as I knew immediately what I was going to do. I enjoyed a game or two of golf every now and then, and kept a bag of clubs. I was ready to grab one when I finally stopped and thought about it.

My best friend, well, soon to be ex-best friend, was actually doing me a favour. I'd been suspicious of her for a while. Why should I get angry? Everything could be resolved rather simply. I kick her out of the house and both of them out of my life. It would actually be a relief that it was all over.

Leaving the golf club where it was, I walked back inside and up the stairs. It sounded like they were still fucking, the door to the bedroom wide open. I stopped before I could see anything, took a deep breath, then strode in.

"Okay, Nick, you can stop fucking my girlfriend now."

She screamed while Nick almost shit himself as he leapt off my girlfriend, falling onto the floor on the side of the bed. I grabbed a pile of male clothes, clearly not mine as I was at least three inches taller and ten kilos heavier than Nick, and threw him the clothes.

"Put those on."

"Nate..."

I glanced at my soon to be ex-girlfriend then looked at my watch. "You have half an hour to get dressed, pack your shit and get out. But for the moment, you can shut the fuck up." I looked back at Nick, who was busy putting on his underwear and jeans, and clapped my hands for emphasis. "Hurry up, Nick. I don't have all day."

"Nate, wait..."

"Don't, Nick. I really wouldn't say a thing. I'm remaining calm at the moment, because to be honest, you've done me a real favour here. But don't say another thing, otherwise I'll throw you down the fucking stairs."

He was still putting on his shirt as he walked by, slipping on his shoes as I followed him downstairs. Following him outside, he stopped a few paces from his car and turned to face me. I'll admit, he looked incredibly guilty, though I didn't buy it for a second.

"Nate..."

"She was my girlfriend, you dead shit cunt."

"She came onto me!"

"And you still fucked her! Ever heard of a little word called 'no'? Or, hell, if you'd told me she was a fucking slut, I'd have kicked her to the kerb ages ago. Instead, I come home to find out my best friend is fucking my girlfriend, and I really don't want to know for how long. I knew she was cheating, but I never thought it would have been you. As far as I'm concerned, you're both dead to me. Twenty years of friendship ended because you wanted some pussy." He didn't move, so I gestured behind him. "Just get in your car and go, Nick. I don't want to see you again." He took a step forward and I balled my fists. "Don't even think about it. You won't win and I don't want to go down for an aggravated assault charge because of that worthless cunt upstairs. You made this choice, Nick. You can now live with it."

"And Lucy?"

"Will be leaving in approximately twenty-five minutes. Don't even think I'm giving you the satisfaction of leaving together. Leave. Now. Whatever you do after that is none of my business."

"We never wanted..."

"What, for me to find out? That just makes you sound even worse. So you wanted to fuck my girlfriend but secretly cuckold me at the same time? Well, fuck you too."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but he finally deflated, turning and getting into his car. I watched him reverse out of the driveway before I finally wandered back inside. Heading upstairs, I couldn't hear much, expecting to hear slamming of drawers and doors. Instead, I found Lucy on the edge of the bed in floods of tears.

"Can we talk about..."

I laughed at her. "You're kidding right? I've just caught you fucking my best friend. That's two relationships of mine you've just ruined in the space a few seconds. So, no, we cannot talk about it." I looked at my watch. "You now have twenty-three minutes. I would suggest you get a wriggle on."

She started to sob harder, but if she thought that was going to work, she was going to be incredibly disappointed.

"You now have twenty-one minutes, Lucy. Your crocodile tears won't work on me. I'll call your parents to come get you if you're incapable of driving."

"No!"

"Well, you'd better get packing because you will be leaving in a very short time."

"Where do I go?"

"I don't care. You ceased to be my problem once I walked in on you fucking my best friend."

"You weren't meant to be home yet!"

"And that's better because...?" I folded my arms and waited for a response. As none appeared forthcoming, I continued. "Not only were you cheating on me, but you chose to do it with my best friend. You're both worthless cunts." I looked at my watch. "Twenty minutes. As I said, you'd better get a wriggle on because I will drag your sorry arse out of my house if you're not ready to go. And you can stop the waterworks. You're only crying because you got found out. I don't believe for a second you're feeling even a little bit guilty. I've had my doubts about this entire relationship for a while. I can only thank you for proving those one hundred percent right."

She looked at me in silence, pleading with her eyes, though she kept her mouth shut. I just glared back at her. With ten minutes to go, she finally relented and started packing some of her things, though she still sobbed, hoping I may show a little compassion. More fool her.

Once she'd packed a bag, I escorted her downstairs to the front door. "Keys."

"What if..."

"You can knock if or when you come get the rest of your shit. But I'm not letting you keep keys to my house. So hand them over." She took two keys off her keyring. "Any others?" She shook her head. I opened the door and gestured outside. "Very well."

She stepped outside and turned back to look at me. "I'm..."

"Save it, Lucy. Don't want to hear whatever you've got to say. Certainly don't want to hear an apology, because you don't really mean it. What I do want is your car off my property and you out of my life." I closed the door. She was probably expecting me to slam it. Instead, I gently closed and locked it, walking to the front window to see her walk towards her car. She got in, dumping the bag on the passenger seat, before she reversed and her car disappeared.

I sat on the couch and sighed with relief, feeling more disappointed rather than upset. I certainly wasn't going to cry over her. Sure, we'd been together three years, and we may have lived together for the past few months, but it had never looked like getting more serious than that. I wasn't really thinking of putting a ring on her finger, and was always careful about getting her accidentally pregnant. As for my best friend, that was more upsetting, the fact a man I thought I could have trusted with my life would stab me in the back like that.

Wandering upstairs, I started packing the rest of her stuff into plastic bags, dumping them in one of the spare bedrooms, also moving all her stuff that seemed to take up half my bathroom. I found it all rather cathartic, rewarding myself with a glass of bourbon as I ordered in some food from a local restaurant and flicked on the TV.

Halfway through a movie later that night, my phone started to ring, looking at the screen, seeing my sister's name. Half of me didn't particularly want to answer but I never ignored my sister. "Hiya, Lisa," I managed to state somewhat cheerfully.

"Hiya, Nate."

"What's up?"

"Simple question to start with. What the hell happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"A little thing called social media, Nate. Facebook is blowing up!"

"What's the ex-girlfriend saying?"

"Ah, so you have split up. Is that right?"

"Yeah. I caught her fucking Nick."

She was quiet for a few seconds. "I'll be over in ten minutes." She could walk to my house if she really wanted to.

"You don't have to. I'm fine."

"I want to hear your side of the story."

"What has Lucy written?"

"Nothing much. Just that you kicked her out of her home. And her relationship status changed to 'It's Complicated'."

"It ain't fucking complicated. She's single!" I heard a door slam in the background and I knew my sister was already on her way. "I'll see you in a few minutes, Lisa."

Sure enough, there was a knock at the door five minutes later, opening it to reveal my sister. She stood about 5'7, with brunette hair to her shoulders, that she often wore in a ponytail, with ocean blue eyes, a cute little nose and dimples whenever she smiled. Not that she was smiling at the moment. In fact, she looked concerned rather than upset.

She immediately stepped forward and wrapped me in a hug, feeling her rather bountiful breasts press into my chest. My little sister wasn't rake thin. She had curves, though I know she looked after herself. "I never liked her!" she exclaimed quietly.

I couldn't help chuckle. "Guess I should learn to listen to my little sister. Sorry for being an asshole and so dismissive of your opinion."

She pulled her head back and smiled. "I've been saying that you should always listen to me since I was a little girl, Nathan."

"Nate."

"It's Nathan when you're being told off. How often have I been proven right, particularly when it comes to women?" Then she rested her head on my chest again. "I am sorry, though. Want to talk about it?"

"Sure. Want a drink?" I asked, breaking the hug.

"Whatever you're drinking will be fine."

"Bourbon?"

"If you've got some cola, then yeah, that'll be great."

As Lisa took a seat on the couch, I poured us a couple of drinks, grabbed a bag of crisps from the cupboard, putting those in a bowl, before wandering back into the living room, my sister having made herself at home already, shoes on the floor, feet curled underneath her. She smiled at me as I placed the bowl on the table before handing her a drink.

I sat down and necked half the glass, making a contented sound as I placed the glass on a coaster.

"So, what happened?"

I started with a shrug. "I'd been suspicious of her for a while. Last few months, not long after she moved in, to be completely honest. Just little things that suggested she wasn't being entirely honest in return."

"Were you growing distant?"

I shrugged again. "A little. Sex had dropped off, but I thought that just happened over the course of a relationship, fucking once, twice or three times a day to that many times a week. Obviously she just didn't want to have sex with me."

"Well, she's obviously an idiot."

"Huh?"

"Come on, Nate. I might be your sister, but you're a good looking, intelligent and caring guy. She never appreciated what you had to offer."

I'm sure some of you are thinking 'My brother or sister would never say anything like that to me!' Lisa and I had always been close when growing up, despite the three-year age gap between us. And we were even closer nowadays once our parents left. When Lisa hit 18, she left the family homestead for university while the parents almost immediately sold up and moved to Australia. Upon selling the house, and making bank considering the house was in London, they gave Lisa and I one hundred thousand pounds each, kept the rest and moved halfway across the world to Perth. Primarily, it was for Mum and her health problems, but we both knew the parents also wanted out of the UK in general. That left my sister and I on our own. She lived with me during her time at university before she bought her own terraced house only a few streets away. She'd lived alone since buying it two years ago.

"So, I'm good looking, am I?" I retorted, unable to hide the smirk.

The look she gave made me burst into laughter. "Don't let your ego get too big, smartarse. But, yes, you are an excellent specimen. Tall, but not stupidly tall. Look after yourself, but not ridiculously jacked. And you have lovely blue eyes."

I actually blushed at that last one. "Flirt."

My sister just smirked as she took a sip of her drink. "Figured you could do with a confidence boost after walking into what you did earlier."

"Quite frankly, that's water under the bridge already. Losing her is no big deal. That relationship wasn't going to end in wedding bells and the pitter patter of tiny feet. It's the lost friendship with Nick that hurts. Never would have thought a mate could do that to me."

"Could you ever forgive him?"

I spun the now empty glass in my hand for a few seconds as I thought. "Maybe one day. But the wounds are still raw. If I saw him right now, I'd beat him to death. One day, I may be able to forgive, but I could never forget. And I could never trust him again." I sighed. "To be honest, Lisa, you're the only person I've ever really trusted without hesitation."

She rested a hand on my forearm and smiled. "Thank you, Nate," she whispered.

"It's now late and tomorrow is Saturday. Want to get rip roaring drunk?"

"Yes!"

Before that, I opened my smartphone and left a message on my social media page, explaining exactly what happened that day. Once the message had been submitted, I switched off my phone as I didn't want to hear from anyone else the rest of the night. I have no idea what time we were up to, but I know the bottle of bourbon had been emptied by the time we finished drinking. I went to sleep alone that night, my sister taking the spare bedroom to herself.

Wandering into the kitchen the next morning, I was greeted by the arse of my sister. Well, half her arse, as she was wearing one of my t-shirts and a pair of panties that didn't leave much to the imagination. I did have a good four to five inches on her regarding height, after all, so one of my shirts could almost be considered an extremely short dress. I stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"Breakfast too?"

I watched my sister almost jump out of skin before she glanced in my direction with a smile. "I'm a little hungover, so figured a fry up would soak up the remnants. Hungry?"

"Starving." Then I gestured with my eyes. "Showing a little skin there too, Lisa."

All she did was lift the bottom of my shirt to show her arse in full. "It's not too pale?"

I was half tempted to walk across and smacked it. My sister had curves and her arse was... fantastic. I shook my head of any further sinister thoughts. Instead, I just said, "Nothing wrong with being pale. I'm not exactly bronzed myself." I paused for emphasis. "More colour than you, though." Lisa just stuck her tongue out before focusing on cooking once again. "Coffee?" I asked.

"Tea, please."

"Need any help otherwise?"

"Your little sister is quite capable of cooking her big brother breakfast. So you just plonk your butt on one of the chairs at the table and talk to me at least."

I finished making her tea, something I was never very good at, handing it to her then kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks for making me feel better."

"That's what little sisters are for, Nate."

I sat down and switched on my phone, unsurprised to hear it go off once I unlocked it. I had more than a dozen messages while my social media accounts went nuts. The parents were full of sympathy and promising to call during the day. Other friends had my back completely, which I appreciated, Nick being called every name under the sun. As for the ex-girlfriend, even her parents were sympathetic, simply wishing me well for the future. Of course, Lucy left a message, complaining that I had divulged the truth. All I did was block her from everything in return. There was silence from Nick. I surprised myself by not blocking him. I detested him for the time being but was willing to leave the door open for the future.

"How's work?" I asked, while replying to some of the messages.

"Oh, you know how it is, Nate. Saving the world, one spreadsheet at a time."

Even a deaf person wouldn't have missed the tone. "That bad?"

"I just need to move jobs. I went to university for a degree and I want a job where I feel I'm putting it to good use."

"Ready to quit?"

She shrugged. "Just about. Looking for a reason to walk out. Not like I have to worry about the mortgage, considering I have plenty of savings."

I kept quiet as she started to serve up, deep in thought. Once I had a plate in front of me, and she was sat opposite, I broached the subject in my mind. "Want to go on a holiday?"

"Huh? With you?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"March. I booked to go away with the ex to Dublin. A whole week in Ireland, culminating in celebrating St. Patrick's Day on the Saturday."

She placed the fork she was about to put into her mouth back on the plate. "And you want to take me instead?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not? Plus, if you really want to pack in the job, you can quit, have a short holiday, and then look for work when you get back."

My sister thought about it for all of five seconds. "Okay." Then she got excited. "Okay!" I could only smile as she got up, rounded the table and wrapped me in a tight hug, kissing me on the cheek again. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun, Nate. Where are we staying?" she asked, resuming her seat.

"Well, this might bore you a little bit. It's very close to Dublin. The hotel looks fantastic but there's a golf course attached because, well, you know I like to swing the club every now and then."