Page 102 of Mark

“Can we talk for a minute?” he asks.

I scan the hallway, expecting to see Esther since she’s never far away from him. “Where’s Esther?”

“She’s lying down until we are due to meet up with the others.”

“Why are you here?”

He sighs, his lips twisting in annoyance. “Can you invite me inside?”

“No.”

There is no way I’m going to be verbally abused over this. And I will be if Esther finds out he was here without a chaperone. She’s made a point of never leaving us alone, and thinking back, I think the last time we were was the night we broke up.

He presses his hand to my stomach, pushing me back. “Hey!” I snap. “Get out.”

“No, we are going to talk. I think you owe me that with all the shit you are pulling.”

He walks further into the room, making himself at home as he sits down on the end of the unmade bed. I arch an eyebrow, wondering if I should tell him that it was only fifteen hours ago I got fucked good and proper there.

I close the door and retake the seat near the dresser. “Please, enlighten me on whatshitI’ve pulled.”

His thick, dark eyebrows rise. “Hurting your sister. Trying to come between us. Being so determined to hurt me the way I hurt you. Do you want me to go on?”

I splutter out a laugh at the audacity. “Are you drunk?”

His eyes narrow. “So you’re saying you aren’t hurting your sister; that you aren’t trying to come between us?”

“No. If my presence makes her feel that way, that’s not my problem,” I reply.

“You are hurting her. She is so kind, and has such a gentle heart, and you are breaking it.”

I arch an eyebrow. “Me? Really?”

“Yes. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. She will be the first to admit she’s been acting out of character since arriving on the cruise, but I don’t think it’s by choice. I think you’ve pushed her too far and she’s reacting. I don’t blame her. There’s only so much a person can take.”

“I will agree that she’s been acting out of character, but I won’t agree it’s been since I arrived. Because that is what you’re getting at. I’ve come to realise Esther has two sides to her. She has the one that is all smiles and sunshine, and the other is snarling and condescending. She just hid the second side behind the first. I used to think she was the nice one too. I even described her that way. But she’s shown her true colours the past few weeks and it’s made me revaluate our entire life. Or our life until you. I remember all the times she would make offhanded comments but said them in a way so they almost sounded like a compliment. I remember all the times she would talk me out of wearing an outfit. I thought it was because she was being honest. Now, I just think she didn’t want me to outshine her. It’s not my fault you are just now seeing it.”

He curls his lip up at me, like what I said offends him. “God, you are so full of yourself. Do you seriously think Esther is the jealous one here? She’s hurting, Freya. She isn’t jealous. Jesus, do you not care about her at all?”

“Let me ask you something: when you were fucking Esther, did she ever put up a fight? Did she ever remind you or herself that I was your girlfriend? Didshecare?”

“We never—”

I hold up my hand, stopping him. “Don’t insult me by lying. You were fucking each other whilst you were still crawling into bed with me. Did you ever think of what it would do to me?”

“It wasn’t about you,” he snaps.

I lean back, smirking. “Right,” I mutter.

He scrubs a hand down his face. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I don’t care how you meant it. It doesn’t matter to me anymore.”

“Come on; like I am meant to believe that,” he scoffs. “You treat your sister like shit because I chose her.”

“It’s not about who you chose,” I snort. “You really do put yourself on a high pedestal. It was the betrayal. How would you feel if I slept with your brother, then announced I was with him after we broke up?”

“This is different.”

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