Page 20 of Maddest Temptation

I stared at the ceiling and sighed.

“Yeah, just getting out.”

I flushed the toilet and took my time washing my hands. When I opened the door, my best friend was planted on the other side, both hands on her hips.

She knew. Damn it, Antoine.

Marie didn’t say a word, but none were needed, the way she was looking at me spoke volumes. I bypassed her and headed toward the living room to find that her brother was gone. So, he’d dropped the bomb, shit hit the fan, and I had to deal with it.

Marie followed me into the room, took a seat on the couch, and crossed her legs. I did the same, ready for the interrogation to begin. Instead of waiting, I blurted out the truth.

“I used.”

“I know, Antoine told me, said you were bat shit crazy.” She didn’t sound sad or judgmental, but I could see that damned pity in her eyes. I hated that worst of all. “What happened? You were doing so well, Frankie.”

Yeah. Then life happened. “I needed some reprieve.”

Marie nodded as if she understood but she didn’t; she couldn’t begin to understand what it meant to need an escape from your life. To run away if only for a fleeting moment. To be someone else.

“I’m glad you left your apartment, but you should have taken baby steps.”

I fisted my hands and dug my nails into the palms of my hands. Fighting with Marie right now was the last thing I wanted. “It was once.”

She arched her brows slightly and gave me that knowing look that said she knew it wasn’t just once. “Remember what we talked about, when you feel the need to use, call me.”

But if I had called Marie, she would have told me not to use, and that was the last thing I needed that night. Taking baby steps hadn’t worked out. “Doesn’t really matter,” I said in contempt. “It was the last stash I had and now it’s gone. Can we move on from this subject?”

Marie opened her mouth ready to argue back but nodded. “As you wish.”

Twisting my hair and bringing it forward, I kept my gaze on my dog who rested at my feet. I wasn’t ready to meet Marie’s gaze yet and it bothered me that we were back to this. Her always worrying, always suspicious that I was doing something wrong, or possibly dangerous. Marie was going to have a heart attack if she knew I had been arrested. That’s why I wasn’t going to tell her that.

“I’m trying, Marie,” I confessed as I looked at the palm of my hands, more specifically at the indents from my nails. “I really am.”

She stood up and came to sit beside me and wrapped her arm around me bringing me in for a side hug. I rested my head on her shoulder and inhaled her patchouli perfume. It was so her, so comforting.

“I’m sorry if this is going to sound terrible,” she began, “but I am glad Paolo is dead.”

I swallowed hard and kept quiet.

“He was horrible to you.”

“He wasn’t the only one to blame.” I didn’t know why I was defending him, but it was the truth. Paolo hadn’t broken me entirely, there had been cracks in my armor before I even married him.

“I know, your father is an ass, too.”

I couldn’t help myself, I chuckled. Ass was a nice way to put it.

“I should probably tell you something.” I sat up straighter and patted my clothes, all to keep from looking at her. Marie sat patiently waiting for whatever I had to say. I worked the words in my head searching for the best way to tell her. “My father has found me another husband.”

“W-what!” Her eyes widened. “Can he do that?”

I nodded. Donato could do anything he pleased and there was no one who could stop him.

“But you told me a widow has a year to mourn her husband’s passing.”

I shrugged. “Outfit laws work differently for my father; he bends them to his will when he pleases.”

Marie didn’t speak for a long while, then said, “Do you know him?”

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