Page 136 of Now and Forever

When she falls by my side, I look at her hand. I see a ring shaped like a daisy, and, furious, I scream, “You touched him, you bitch? Did you touch Eric?”

She smiles with malice.

“You both liked it at the time, right?”

Her confirmation leaves me without words. I’ll kill her! I give her a slap and then another in front of the horrified face of a woman who’s just going into the stalls. Betta gets up off the floor, and though she’s taller than I am, I’m much quicker and more agile, so when she tries to escape, I throw her against the wall, trapping her against it.

“How dare you touch him?” I scream.

Betta screams when I twist her arm, and, suddenly, Eric grabs me and separates me from her. “For God’s sake, Jude! What are you doing?”

With a ruffled look on her face and reproach in her eyes, Betta shrieks, “Your girlfriend attacked me.”

“You bitch. You attacked me first.”

“Liar!” Looking at Eric, she murmurs, “Darling, don’t believe her. I was in the restroom, and she came in and ...”

“Shut up, Betta!” Eric exclaims, furious.

“‘Darling’? Did you call him ‘darling’?” I yell, pulling away from Eric’s arms. “Don’t call him ‘darling,’ bitch!”

Eric holds me back again.

“Don’t play her game. Look at me, Jude. Look at me.”

“How dare you touch us? How dare you come close to him? To us?”

“This is a public place, honey. It’s not exclusive to Eric and you.”

“Betta, enough!” shouts Eric, not understanding what we’re talking about.

I’m going to kill her.

A furious Eric tries to calm me down. He pays no attention to Betta until she says, “This is the second time she’s attacked me. What’s wrong with her? Is she an animal?”

That gets Eric’s attention.

“The second time?”

“Yes. At Anita’s store. Marta, your sister, was there, and she attacked me too. The two of them came after me and hit me and ...”

“You did what?” Eric asks, enraged.

Ashamed to admit it, especially given how he’s looking at me, I answer, “Yes. She deserved it. It was her fault you and I broke up and ...”

Eric lets go of me and raises his hands to his head.

“For God’s sake, Judith! We’re adults. How could you do something like that?”

Shocked by how he’s taking it, I stare at him and seethe.

“Whoever messes with me gets what they deserve. And this bitch messed with me.”

Alerted to what’s going on, Frida rushes to the restroom. When she sees Betta, she doesn’t think twice. She slaps her.

“Bitch! What are you doing here?” she yells.

Betta looks around. There’s no one to help her.

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