Page 102 of Obsessed with the Heartbreaker

“Not to mention thesoundsfrom your bedroom.”

“Do you know what it’s like to get a hard-on from two guys fucking when you’re straight?! I’m questioning things! And it’s your fault!”

I put a hand over my eyes. Thinking hurt my head at this point.

Another guy suddenly said, “Well, if Antonydidlie, then that’s not so good either.”

The words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. “He was trying to help me, okay? He didn’t do anythingwrong.”

The kitchen was silent.

Maddox decided to step forward and take control of this shitshow. “Everyone out, now. I have this.”

They all started filing out of the room, but not without one of the guys calling out,“Go get your boyfriend, King! Get him back!”

They thought they lived in a rom-com, these guys.

I didn’t know how I could stand them.

Two people were left in the room, though. Adam was still watching me, jaw tight, as if he was trying to come up with a way to convince me of what he wanted me to do, which…would be definitely hard to achieve, since I was the most stubborn fucker ever.

The other person was Maddox, though, and if anyone here had a chance at getting through to me, it was him.

Mad gave Adam a look, and they had a momentary silent conversation—which made me wonder when these two had suddenly become telepathic with one another—and finally, Adam gave him a stilted nod and left.

Once alone, my best friend’s attention felt even more oppressive than when I’d been surrounded by the group.

“Don’t give me the talk, Mad, I don’t want to hear it.” I went to the fridge, not because I was hungry but to entertain myself,dosomething instead of squirming under my best friend’s all-seeing eyes.

“I’m not going to give you the talk. I just want to know what happened.” He crossed the room until he was by my side, closing the fridge and preventing all the food in it from going bad just because I was having a small mental breakdown.

“What happened was that I faced the music. I finally opened my eyes, realized having Antony with me in this deal was a big mistake, and cut things short as cleanly as possible.”

Maddox stared at me.

“Sometimes I wonder whether a slap to the face would make you realize just what sort of bullshit comes out of your mouth, Hen.” Brushing his hands over his face, exasperated already, he took in a deep breath. “Just—In whatworlddo you think that was cutting things cleanly?”

“Shouldn’t you be happy? You were suspicious of Antony from the beginning. You wanted me to get my revenge. Now it’s done.” I started pacing, trying to calm myself down.

“That wasn’t revenge, Henry. That was pure self-torture.” He took hold of my shoulders, making me face him. “Now, you’re going to tell meexactlywhat happened, and why you thought breaking up with your boyfriend like that was a good thing.”

I wanted to shove him away from me. I wanted to scream until the windows shattered and I wanted to cry until my eyes bled.

Then I told him.

About the conversation I’d overheard. About how Antony had helped me actually choose for myself what I wanted to do even when he should have been doing the opposite. About not allowing him to explain.

And about how my father had told me three years ago to stay away from him, because he was never going to be for me.

“You know that’s just a bunch of crap, though, don’t you?”

“He was right.” I looked away, unable to meet his eyes.

“Oh, so he was right about that but not about everything else? Don’t you always ignore him and give him the finger by doing whatever the hell you want?”

“But hewasright. About everything. I’m a mess and I’m nothing like he wanted me to be. And Antony deserves nothing but the best, and I’m not that. I’ll just ruin everything eventually, and he’ll realize he can do so much better than me, and what will I do?”

Lie on the floor, heartbroken. That was what.

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