He cheated i chose two firefighters novel Chapter 71

Scar’s POV

Dear Diary

Dinner stayed cute right up until it didn’t.

***

“Mama Cici!” Natalie cried, throwing herself into the older woman’s arms.

“My little Nikki,” Mama Cici cooed, hugging her tight. “How are you, sweetheart?”

“I’m good! I’m moving to Florida, and I met this amazing guy. He’s a firefighter.”

Mama Cici’s eyes brightened. “Well, would you look at that–first you, then my Scar. You girls and your firefighters.” She glanced past Natalie, taking all of us in. “And who are these gorgeous ladies? Are you all dating firefighters too?”

“Mama Cici, these are our friends from Florida,” I said, stepping in. “Maren, Maisie, and Summer.”

“We’re together,” Summer said with a shrug and a grin, “but we might add a boyfriend soon.”

“Oh!” Mama Cici laughed. “Like Scar and her two handsome men. Maybe I need to take myself down

to Florida.”

The girls cracked up.

Maren pulled out her phone. “My boyfriend’s a model. Want to see?”

“Oh, my,” Mama Cici breathed, leaning closer. “He’s… delicious. Big, tattoos–Lord.” She fanned herself

like she needed air.

“Mama Cici, you’re such a good surprise,” Maisie said.

“I know,” Summer added. “I thought you’d be more…”

“Uptight?” Mama Cici supplied smoothly. “Please. Gareth and I had a very busy sex life. Adventurous

too.”

“Then what happened with Brennan?” I blurted.

The second the words left my mouth, I slapped a hand over it. My eyes went huge.

Mama Cici lifted a brow. “From the sound of that, my son is the prudish one.”

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“You could say that twice,” Maisie muttered, snorting.

“Alright,” I cut in, trying to steer us back. “We are not doing the Brennan–bashing thing tonight. Let’s eat. I’ve got wine.”

I led us into the dining area.

We started with spinach–and–artichoke dip, scooped straight out of a sourdough bread bowl, and then Mama Cici set down steak fajitas with every topping you could want. Plates emptied fast. Conversation flowed even faster.

We talked about our men, and Maisie and Summer leaned hard into Mama Cici’s advice about Daxter

and his so–called friends.

“I say go for it,” Mama Cici told them. “You’re young. Have fun. And who knows? Maybe you stumble into the one.” She nodded toward me. “Look at Scar. If she had stayed with Brennan, she never would have met her firefighters. And the way she talks about them? They might be her forever.”

“Mama Cici,” I said carefully, “you’ve got it wrong. We barely know each other. We’re just… figuring it

out.”

“Honey, you glow when their names come up,” she said, gentle but firm. “Your cheeks get pink, your

eyes get bright, and you smile like they’re the center of your world. I think they are. Don’t throw this

away because you’re scared. Let yourself feel it. Let yourself choose it.”

“But what if they do what Brennan did?” I heard myself ask. “What if they cheat?”

“I don’t see that happening,” Summer said. “Jace and Milo look at you like you’re the finish line.”

Natalie nodded. Maren nodded. Maisie too.

“I want to,” I admitted, voice tight. “I want to give them everything. I trust them. I just… don’t always

trust me.” I swallowed. “Sometimes I compare them to Brennan, and I hate that I do. But even when I

do, Jace and Milo still win. Every time.”

“There’s your answer,” Mama Cici said softly. “I’ve never seen you this alive. Not even with Brennan. Open your heart, Scar.”

I nodded and sniffled. “I love you, Mama Cici.”

“I love you too, Scar girl,” she said, then clapped her hands like the mood needed a reset. “Now-

dominoes?”

“Yes!” Natalie shrieked. “I love dominoes. You bitches are about to lose.”

We played.

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Natalie demolished us three games in a row. The wine had us giggly and loose, and the table got loud

In that cozy, reckless way. Maren started telling a story about Gavin and his spectacular cock, and

Summer, Maisie, and I nodded like we’d taken meeting minutes.

Mama Cici stared at us, eyes wide. “You’ve all had sex with this young man?”

“Not me,” Natalie sighed dramatically. “I wish. Then I could contribute.”

“Well,” Maren said, bold as ever, “you can always join. I’ve been dying for a threesome. Gavin acts hesitant, but I think he’s scared I’d like the girl more.” She rolled her eyes. “I keep telling him that’s not happening. But I also haven’t told him I’m completely, stupidly in love with him. I’m terrified. He’s obsessed with me, he tells me I’m everything, but he’s never actually said love. And I don’t know if I want to be the first one to say it.”

“Yes,” I breathed, feeling it hit right in the chest. “That. That’s exactly it.” I looked at her. “Have you

been hurt before, Maren?”

“Yeah,” she said, and her voice shifted. “My cousin took my boyfriend in high school. Long–time boyfriend–since eighth grade.” She swallowed, then pushed on. “After Homecoming, I found her

giving him a bl–w job in the parking lot.”

Natalie’s mouth fell open.

Maren kept going anyway. “I haven’t spoken to either of them since. It’s been six years. We were juniors when it happened. I transferred for senior year because I couldn’t handle seeing them every

day.”

“I get it,” I said quietly. “It’s why I left here.”

From there, the conversation slid into all the ways heartbreak can carve you up.

Mama Cici talked about Gareth dying and how the first two years after had wrecked her. She said she had found it nearly impossible to get out of bed. Her sister had come to help with Brennan. Then one morning she’d woken up and realized she had to move through life again–not because she felt better, but because Brennan needed her to function. She didn’t want her grief to break him.

“And yet,” she added bitterly, “with how he talks about single mothers, I suppose some kind of damage

happened anyway.”

“You can’t put that on yourself,” I told her. “As Brain got older, he decided he needed to rescue anyone he labeled helpless–even when they weren’t. Especially single moms.” My throat tightened. “When I told him he could have treated me differently, he called me selfish. He called me a bitch.”

I stared at my hands like they could keep me steady.

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“That hurt,” I continued, voice shaking, “but what hurt most—besides the cheating–was how he neglected me. He made me feel like I was a burden. He stopped caring for our home. He stopped touching me, stopped looking at me like I mattered. And it was always Ever and Sloane first. Every time. Eight months of him choosing them over me.”

He Cheated, I Chose Two Firefightere

Chapter 72