Page 35 of Scorned Obsession

“Blueberry soda.” It was her comfort drink.

“I’m out of it in the fridge, but I’ll get it at the bodega.”

I might have exited the room too quickly. Talk about comfort zones. I hated getting in between women's drama, but I had a nagging feeling about leaving Bianca with Griselda. I was almost at the elevators when I remembered I didn’t have my wallet. I already racked up a bill with the bodega owner since I’d been busy. Might as well settle it.

When I returned to the condo, I heard raised voices.

Shit.

“Why won’t you just die or disappear!” Griselda screamed.

What the fuck?

I slowly closed the door and stealthily moved to the bedroom.

“Oh, believe me, losing my virginity was like dying,” Bianca shouted back.

Griselda scoffed. “Oh, spare me. It always hurts the first time.”

“I know.”

“But what do you do? You call Sandro to pick you up the second you lose your virginity. Just because I told you he likes experienced women and not virgins, you think simply losing it will make him finally notice you as a woman? It takes more than that, little girl.”

Bianca didn’t answer, but I’d heard enough.

I stepped into the room, clenching my fists to keep from throttling Griselda. Women and children were a no go for me, but I had the oddest desire to make an exception. “Get out of here, Griselda.”

She whipped around. “Sandro…”

“Get out! Before I toss you out the window.”

She gasped and quickly left the condo. I slammed the door and returned to the room. Bianca was sitting on my bed and seemed to have shrunk into the smallest version of herself.

But it wasn’t that she was afraid of me. I think it was more from the humiliation that I’d heard.

“Oh, baby.” I was torn between my fury at Griselda and my heart breaking at the price of what my friendship with Bianca had caused her. Of course I recognized hero worship. I couldn’t say I didn’t like it. I enjoyed doting on her, but I was ashamed that it was when it suited me and I missed the memo that Bianca was now a young woman. Her crush on me was no longer innocent and had repercussions.

“I want to go home,” she mumbled.

“No.”

“Sandro.” She averted her gaze to stare at the headboard. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Funny, I didn’t want to talk about it either when it came to feelings, but I was all over it when seeking retribution. “I want a name.”

“No.”

“Fine. I’ll find another way.” And I would have it before noon.

“Don’t hurt him,” she said, still talking to the headboard. “It was consensual. I was just too embarrassed to stop him. I wanted to get it over with.”

I didn’t know how to talk her through the horrible experience, but she needed to know one thing. “Sunlight, look at me.”

She huffed and met my eyes. They were big and luminous, and I’d never seen them more steeped in despair. She lost something tonight. Something precious that she should have given to a man who cherished her.

“I don’t know much about these things,” I admitted. “About a girl’s first time, but this much I know…don’t ever be afraid to say no. No means no. Got me? Anything else is rape.”

She didn’t say a word, but nodded.

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