Starter Wife (The Jilted Wives Club Book 1) by Bethany Lopez (a court of thorns and roses ebook free TXT) 📕

Starter Wife

The Jilted Wives Club, Book 1

Bethany Lopez

Starter Wife

Copyright 2021 Bethany Lopez

Published April 2021

eBook ISBN - 978-1-954655-02-7

Cover Design by Allison Martin

Editing by Red Road Editing / Kristina Circelli

Ebook Formatting by Bethany Lopez

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please don’t participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Created with Vellum

To anyone who’s ever had to start over…

Contents

1. Whitney

2. Luca

3. Whitney

4. Luca

5. Whitney

6. Luca

7. Whitney

8. Luca

9. Whitney

10. Luca

11. Whitney

12. Luca

13. Whitney

14. Luca

15. Whitney

16. Luca

17. Whitney

18. Luca

19. Whitney

20. Luca

21. Whitney

22. Luca

23. Whitney

24. Luca

25. Whitney

26. Luca

27. Whitney

28. Luca

29. Whitney

30. Luca

31. Whitney

32. Luca

33. Whitney

34. Luca

35. Whitney

36. Luca

37. Whitney

38. Luca

Epilogue

Untitled

Trophy Wife

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Bethany Lopez

One

Whitney

“And then I found out he was cheating on me and I couldn’t believe it … I mean, he’d left his wife for me. It just doesn’t make any sense. He’s such an asshole.”

“Now, Amber, you know we need to refrain from the negative talk.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes, but it was a serious struggle as I sat in the hard plastic seat with one hand holding a Styrofoam cup filled with day-old coffee and the other itching for my cell phone.

My therapist had recommended this group to me.

“Whitney,” she’d said. “I think you’d benefit from being around women who are going through exactly what you are …so you can see you’re not alone. Sharing your story would be beneficial for you, and them.”

I liked and trusted my therapist, so I’d given it a shot, but it hadn’t taken five minutes before I realized she’d really missed the mark with this one.

No negative talk.

No bashing your ex.

No threats against your ex, or their new significant others.

No self-flagellation.

Those were the rules…

The twenty-something currently talking couldn’t be further away from like me if she tried. The only thing we had in common was a cheating ex, but hell, I was pretty sure I had that in common with eighty percent of the population. That didn’t mean I wanted to spend an hour listening to them whine, with nothing to show for it but a sore ass and the taste of bitter coffee.

Not wanting to be rude, but needing to escape as quickly as possible, I slowly leaned down to pick up my purse, then eased out of my chair and started toward the back of the room where the table with refreshments was set up.

They had stale donuts to go with the coffee.

Hoping the leader of the group would think I was going for a refill, or maybe to the bathroom, I exited the room without looking back. When the door closed behind me, I let out a sigh of relief and turned to walk toward the exit.

“Couldn’t take it either, huh?”

I stopped, startled, and looked to the right to see two women sitting on a bench against the wall. The first had long, straight black hair and the most brilliant blue eyes I’d ever seen, while the other was small with the body of a bombshell and a smile that lit up the place.

I looked around briefly, and since I was the only other person there, deduced whoever had spoken had been speaking to me.

“Were you in the group?” I asked, throwing my thumb over my shoulder to indicate the door I’d just exited.

“Yeah, for about two seconds,” the raven-haired beauty said as she stood up, stretching well above my five-foot, six-inch frame. “Then I ran screaming from the room, knocking over blondie in my need to escape.”

With a giggle, the other woman stood up and reached out a hand.

“I’m Summer and this gorgeous Amazon is Margo.”

I accepted her hand, shaking it briefly before replying, “Whitney.”

“Recently divorced I assume,” Margo said dryly.

“Guilty.”

“Once Margo picked me up off the floor, we decided to ditch this place and start our own group. Wanna join?” Summer asked sweetly.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I replied, thinking there was no way I could handle more of what I’d just endured inside.

“There’s going to be alcohol,” Margo said, piquing my interest.

“And junk food,” Summer added, a hopeful expression on her face.

“And you can be as negative as you want. I’ll even help you plan any revenge fantasies you may have.”

I grinned at that. I could see myself really liking Margo.

“I can commit to one drink and we’ll see from there.”

“This is going to be so much fun,” Summer cooed, almost causing me to back out right then.

“There’s a place down the block, Campanella’s. They’ve got a great happy hour and it’s mostly an after-work crowd,” Margo said as she checked her phone. “We should at least be able to get two rounds in before it’s over.”

“Perfect,” I said, and headed to the door.

Once we were all outside, we turned our feet toward Campanella’s.

“So, how long have you two known each other?” I asked, pulling my