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“The parasite.” I smile. “That is the nickname my best friend Ellie gave John years ago. It is fitting, as you now know, he is very difficult to get rid of.”
Laughter erupts among us. “We’ve all got crazy ex stories, Lucy, but I think this one wins the award for the worst,” Mia says, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“I, unfortunately, will accept that award.” I stand to take an obnoxious bow.
Hannah, always the kindest in our group, changes the subject to something unknown to her that Mia and I have been trying to find a natural way to bring up. “Don’t forget we will still need fancy dresses for New Year’s Eve. The snow has deprived us of our shopping days before we leave to visit our families. Since we don’t plan to get back until the thirtieth, I’m not sure if that will give us enough time to shop.”
“We could each plan to shop while we are at our next destinations, then come back to show off what we find,” Mia suggests.
Perfect, Mia. “Yes, that way, we don’t have to panic about finding the perfect dresses at the last minute, and we could plan to go to the salon on the thirtieth and get manicures and pedicures. New nails for the New Year,” I suggest.
“Oh, that sounds fun,” Hannah agrees. This is almost too easy. “But I’m still worried about finding the rightdress. I was thinking maybe we should order a couple online, in addition to your idea, Mia, just to be safe.”
Mia and I both agree.
“Have them delivered here so they will arrive while you’re gone and ready for you when you get back,” I suggest.
“Yes, let’s do that now. We still have time before dinner,” Mia suggests, and we each pull out our phones and begin our online shopping for the perfect New Year’s Eve dresses. Mia and I fabricate how dressy we are planning to look to make sure Hannah looks radiant on her big night.
Thirty-Two
HENRY
Lucy leavesto find the girls, smirking up at me from the bottom step. I never had a favorite step before, but I sure do now. We may not have said it or anything close to it, but I am certain what’s happening between us is real. She is mine.
And certainly not his.
I remain in the hallway for a moment to cool my anger. In any other scenario, I wouldn’t allow this man to share the same air as Lucy, let alone continue to undermine her like this. Every instinct I have tells me to throw this guy out of my home this instant and let him fend for himself, free to die in the cold for all I care.
I should just walk away. I trust her to handle this, but it’s killing me to stand by and not defend her. The need to protect her from an asshole like him,assholes like I am, or was until she came into my life, grows stronger every time he opens his mouth.
I move closer to the door but still try to convincemyself I don’t need to intervene. Then I hear him on the other side. “Hey baby, I miss you so much.”
The last strand of restraint I have snaps—I grab the door handle and barge into the room. “Call her back,” I say as he takes me in with shock across his face.
“I’ll call you right back. Something just came up.” He hangs up with looks up at me. “What the fuck, man? You could knock.”
I laugh under my breath, how dense could this guy be? “We need to talk,” I tell him, standing tall in front of him with my fists clenched at my sides. “No, Actually, I’m going to talk, and you are going to listen, very closely.”
John laughs and stands up to face me but leaves an adequate distance between us. “If you’re worried about Lucy and I going back to London together… I can’t really blame you. It’s nothing you did wrong, but when two people are meant to be together. Nothing can change that.”
I want to grab him by the shirt and throw him up against the wall,but Lucy would be upset if you did.And this guy would surely put on a show after it. Instead, I take a step closer to him and deepen my voice. “From this point on, if you find yourself in Lucy’s company, I expect you to be respectful to my partner. That includes hearing her when she tells you she is no longer interested. I overheard your phone call. Does that woman know you are in another country trying to win back your ex-girlfriend?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, old man. At the end of the day, no one has ever compared to Lucy, I’m here for her and she will understand that once I can get heralone and talk some sense into her.” He tries to get out of my reach but fails as I move closer, backing him into a corner. Before he can make a scene, I deliver my final warning.
“If I hear that you have made one step out of line with her tomorrow, I will come to London and remove you from this country myself.” He rolls his eyes at me but doesn’t argue. “Do you understand?’
“Sure,” he says as I take a step back, allowing him a path to sit on his bed. He picks up his phone and begins ignoring me. There’s no use staying any longer with this immature man. Leaving I slam the door behind me. Needing to work out this angry energy, I head to my personal gym in the basement. Thirty minutes or so with the punching bag ought to work.
The alarm sounds on my phone, and I remove the gloves from my hands. I take a few drinks from my water bottle as I head to my bedroom. The workout did help to get out some of my aggression, but I know I won’t feel completely at ease until all of this is settled. I head directly for the shower, and choose to leave the bathroom door ajar on the off chance Lucy may find her way up here.
With each passing hour, it’s becoming more and more difficult to suppress my feelings for her. It’s a particular form of torture to sleep next to a woman and not be able to express my feelings both verbally and physically.
That is, if she has changed her mind about only being interested in fictional men.I think she has…
Thinking back to our kiss on the steps, when I hadencouraged her to jump me next time. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. What if that put too much pressure on her? It was also poor planning on my part, knowing that if she does make a move, my restraint will completely disintegrate.
She deserves better.
