Page 67 of Make Me Sin (Bad Habit 2)
I wave it off. “He’s just upset. I’d feel the same way if the situation were reversed. We went from being happy one day to me calling him the wrong name and broken up the next without ever really talking about what happened.”
The waiter arrives with Grace’s drink. She sends him a smile that leaves him starry-eyed, and guzzles it. When she sets it back down on the table she looks straight at me and says, “You were never happy with him, Chloe. You were content. It’s not the same thing.”
I drop my gaze to the soup. Softly, I say, “I know. And it’s only in the past few days I’ve really understood the difference.”
Grace groans. “You are seriously killing me.”
“Grace,” says Kat sternly, “you warned me away from Nico at the beginning of our relationship, remember? And we turned out fine.”
“Yes, but Nico doesn’t have a mafia don’s rap sheet and a harem of paid escorts that, if lined up, would circle the globe five times over.”
Kat gives her a look. “Close enough.”
“And he was crazy about you from day one. A.J. and Chloe hated each other on sight.”
“I never hated him. I was just hurt by how much of a jerk he always was to me. And now I’m pretty sure he was doing that to keep me at arms’ length.” I finally raise my gaze and look at them. “To protect me.”
Grace blinks. “Wait. You think all his assholeyness was because he was trying to protect you?”
I nod.
“From what?”
“From him.”
There’s a long silence as my friends process that. Finally, Grace says, “There’s a hell of a lot you’re not telling us.”
“There’s a lot I don’t know.”
Kat reaches across the table and takes my hand. “I know this might sound hypocritical coming from me after all I went through to be with Nico, but I’m saying it again: please be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“That’s the thing.” I clear my throat, give her hand a squeeze, sit back in my chair. “I’m pretty sure I will. Especially since he flat out told me he’d hurt me. But I don’t care. I still want him.”
Grace’s stare slices a hole through my head. “This is crazy. You’re volunteering to get hurt? Do you hear yourself right now? You’re too smart to sign up for that, Chloe!”
She’s really pissed. Her face has flushed, her eyes glitter. I know it’s because she loves me. And I know she’ll be there for me at the tail end of whatever sad story I’m about to create for myself by falling for a man who’s told me in no uncertain terms he’s bad news.
“I love you guys,” I say softly. “And I know you love me. So what I’m going to need from you is a soft place to fall if and when this thing with A.J. goes sideways. Because I can already tell it’s going to hurt like hell.”
Kat and Grace look at each other in silence while I finish the rest of my soup.
When the knock comes on my front door just before ten, I’m ready. I’ve got the whole speech rehearsed.
What I’m not prepared for is the state Eric’s in when he arrives.
He reeks of beer. His face is grim and unshaven. His eyes are bloodshot, and the look in them is anything but friendly. My nerves instantly slam into high alert.
Without a word, he pushes past me into the apartment. Alarmed, I watch as he paces circles around the living room. I close the door and go and stand with my arms crossed over my chest in the kitchen, watching him.
“Eric. What are you doing?”
“I know you’re going to tell me it’s over. I could tell by the tone of your voice on the phone.” He laughs without humor. “I already knew anyway. I knew it was over the first time that piece of shit’s name left your lips.”
Hearing him call A.J. that makes me so angry I want to grab a plate from the cabinet and hurl it at his head. But that would be foolish, along with nonproductive. All I really want right now is for him to leave without making a scene. “I can see this isn’t going to be a mature discussion. Why don’t we just try not to say anything nasty, say our good-byes, and call it a night.”
He stops pacing and looks at me with such burning anger, I take a step back, hand at my throat.
“You want a mature discussion, Chloe? Okay, how about this: break it off with him and get back together with me, or I’ll make it my personal mission to ruin his life.”
