She Saved Herself for Her Foster Brother, Not Me Chapter 01

She Saved Herself for Her Foster Brother, Not Me Chapter 01 Let’s Call It Quits
For seven years, my girlfriend, Colonel Stella Hayes, wouldn’t let me get anywhere near her. She always said she was waiting for the perfect moment. The most meaningful moment. I gave her that. And I waited. Seven years. The night of our seventh anniversary, she drank more than usual and finally said yes. I had just undone the first button of her shirt and was about to push inside her when her adopted brother called. It was Zach Price on the line. “Stella, I took a hit playing ball. Down there. What if I can never have kids…?” Stella’s face drained of color. She shoved me off like I was nothing, then spun around and slapped me so hard my head snapped to the side. “Ethan Cole! Are you serious right now?! Zach might be losing his manhood, and you’re worried about getting laid?” “Let’s get one thing straight. I give my first time to whoever I want. And Zach is the most important person in my life. I can’t lose him!” She bolted out the door, clothes barely hanging on. By the time I caught up at Lakeside Medical Center, there she was. Stella, the same woman who’d sworn on everything she would save herself for me, straddling Zach and pounding away on top of him like her life depended on it. Zach had his hands clamped around her chest. She was a complete mess between her legs. I was livid. She just rolled her eyes like I was the one being unreasonable. “It’s just a piece of tissue. So what if it tore? I’ll get it fixed later.” Right. Because back then, all I did was try to touch it, and I ended up beaten within an inch of my life. Seven years. Every bit of love I had, I poured into the wrong person. Fine. I’m done giving. She didn’t even try to be quiet. Her moans traveled the whole floor. A crowd gathered outside the room, just eating it up. The looks of pity and ridicule stabbed into my back like needles. I jammed my fists into my pockets, biting down on the rage and shame. Two hours. It took two solid hours before she finally walked out. Her face was flushed. The corner of her mouth was smeared with something thick. Her neck and chest were a mess of hickeys. The silk wedding dress I’d gifted her that morning was bunched around her waist, wrinkled and stained with red streaks. Some guy let out a whistle. The crowd started hollering. “Way to go, Colonel! Zach’s got moves. He had you screaming like a banshee!” Then they turned on me. “Check out Ethan. Seven years of marriage, and one phone call was all it took to bench him.” “Pathetic. He’s not even worthy of licking her boots.” I dropped my eyes to my knee. The one that never healed right. I remembered the three days and nights I had spent kneeling on my parents’ doorstep, until my knees were raw and pouring blood, just to get Stella her shot at the military. I called in every favor my family had to boost her from a nobody army medic to the youngest colonel in the force. Everyone in her circle rode that wave to the top. On our wedding day, Stella dropped to her knees in front of me, tears flooding her eyes, and said, “Ethan, I’m going to spend the rest of my life treating you right. I will never, ever let you down.” And now? On our seventh anniversary? She’s making a public spectacle of me, all for her adopted brother. She caught my eye, walked over, and rose on her toes to plant a kiss on me. But the reek of her made me pull back. Her lips hit nothing. Her face went ice-cold. “Ethan, what’s with the attitude? It’s a hymen. Are you seriously going to throw a tantrum over a hymen?” “Seven years, you never had a problem. Now you’re playing the wounded, devoted husband?” Before she could keep yapping, Zach strolled out without a shirt on, slung his arm around her waist, and slumped against her. “Stella, I’m feeling off again. Would you mind taking another look…” His hand slithered right into her bra and had its way with her. She flinched but didn’t shove him off. Instead, she turned to me and said, in the same tone you’d use with a hired hand, “Ethan, hit the PX and grab five boxes of the biggest condoms they’ve got.” “Zach’s still not fully recovered. I need to run a few more rounds of treatment with him.” “Handle yourself tonight. And if you come back empty-handed, don’t bother hoping for my bed.” I couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. The catcalls and laughter all around me were deafening. Stella walked Zach back into the room and the door slammed shut in my face. My gut churned. There was no way I was sticking around another minute. I turned my back and walked out of that life for good.