Page 52 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

“So, now this state is lousy, huh?”

Ryan came up between us. “Hey, take it outside.”

“I'm far from finished, dude, and I want to finish in front ofeveryone,” Gabe insisted. He tossed his beer in the trash and grabbed another. “I'm ready to destroy you like she destroyed me.”

“You're such an exhibitionist, Gabe. Why wouldn't you want to take it outside? It's almost like you want to ruin Ryan's party.”

“You act like such a victim. You keep running around, talking about how Clara hurt you in this or that way whenyou'rethe one that actually hurt her.”

“You're just saying that so when word gets back to her, it sounds like you're defending her.”

He scoffed. “Iamdefending her. She deserves that much. She deserves more than you.”

Ryan stepped back, mortified. It seemed like he didn't know exactly what to do. And I didn't blame him.

But I also couldn't stop myself from pressing on.

“I don't see why you need to defend her. You should try defending yourself.”

Gabe laughed. “And why would I do that? Do I need your permission to do that?”

“You're the one who betrayed me by seeking out Clara in the first place.”

“Clara isn't property! You can't claim her if you left her!”

“I didn't say she was property!”

He drew close and swigged his beer before continuing, “There's no way in hell she would have waited for you. You would have had her waiting for three years!”

“You don't know that for sure. You don't know what she would have done.”

“I know exactly what she would have done—she would have dumped you within the first year after realizing you weren't coming back.”

I groaned. “You're just drunk, Gabe. Get over it!”

“You get over it!”

“I'm not doing this with you anymore. You're being ridiculous, man. You're ruining everything right now for Ryan.”

“You're just trying to get the focus away from you. How about Clara's birthday? Did you ever apologize for ditching her birthday for your job?”

“How do you even know about that? And I didn't ditch her!”

“She told me all about it on our third date. She told meeverything, man. There's nothing you can hide from me.”

I shook my head. “You're a real piece of work. Maybe you should have been a lawyer instead of whatever crappy job you're doing now.”

“I see you've run out of material, buddy. Now, you're attacking my job. What else do you want to tear down about me?”

“How about all the gawking and coveting from the past? We could always drag that right out since you're willing to drag out my history.”

“Dude, you must have been imagining things. Clara and I were just friends back then.”

I arched my eyebrow curiously. “Oh, really? Is that why you always invited her to parties?”

“That's what high school kids do—we invite people to parties and we party hardy. What's wrong with that, Levon?”

“I don't know, man. It was pretty shady.”

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