Page 8 of If You Could Only Feel
I snatched her up by her arm and yanked her towards me. She was drunk and unsteady on her heels, so she fell into me easily. “Care to repeat that?” I growled in barely controlled anger.
I don’t know if it was liquid courage or outright disregard for her safety, but she didn’t back down, even though my rage was evident all over my face. “Ido notanswer to you, Gabriel,” she repeated. “We’re friends at the best of times, so don’t go thinking you have any say over my life outside having your dick out.”
I dropped my hand from her arm and took two giant steps away from her. Anger unlike anything I have ever felt was simmering in the core of my being and snaking out to consume every part of my body. The only thing I could hope for was that she was drunk off her ass, because if she wasn’t…
If she wasn’t, this wasn’t good. For me.
I took a couple of deep breaths before I trusted myself to speak. “What were you doing tonight?”
Justice lifted her chin, but I could see the tremor in her bottom lip. She pulled her shoulders back and straightened her spine before saying, “Enjoying a girls’ night out with Beatrice.”
“Is that all?” I asked. “Just a night of innocent drinking and drunken gossiping?”
Her eyes shot sideways and the avoidance in her gaze was like a punch in the gut, and I knew her next words were going to gut me. “It…it started out that way, but…” she trailed off.
“Look at me, Justice.” When she didn’t comply, I made it clear it wasn’t a request. “I said fucking look at me!” Her blue eyes found my greens ones again and I asked, “But then what?”
She was struggling to get the words out, but when she did, it took me a second to process what she was saying because…
“I ended up meeting a really nice guy named Nathaniel and we have a date tomorrow night.”
What the actual fuck?
She met a nice guy named Nathaniel, and they were going on a date tomorrow night?
She met a fucking asshole named Nathaniel, and she was going out on a fucking date with him?
Jealousy was burning me from the inside out. It felt like acid was flowing through my veins, corroding my ability to feel. I didn’t want to do it, but I asked the one question I didn’t really want the answer to. “And how many other guys have you dated since we’ve been together?”
Her reply floored me.
Justice started laughing, and it wasn’t a happy, joyful laugh. No. It sounded bitter and cold to my ears. It soundedsad.“Since we’ve been together?”she asked incredulously. She shook her head, and I’d never see her look so despondent. “We’re not together, Gabriel,” she stated solemnly. “Hell, we’re not even friends with benefits,” she went on. “We fuck, Gabe. We fuck at your convenience and when you’re in the mood for comfortable pussy and don’t want to put in work for someone different. What the fuck do you care how many other guys I’ve dated?”
There were too many emotions battling inside my body for me to be able to identify one and hold on to it. There were so many things wrong with what she just said, I didn’t know where to start. I decided to go with the one thing I wanted to know the most. “Are you going to really go out on a date tomorrow night?”
She shook her head and said the one thing I never thought I’d hear from her. “I think you should go, Gabriel,” she said, quietly. “I know it’s rather late, but I’m sure you could find a hotel room or something. Even go stay at your parents, maybe.”
My head fell back and the hollow laugh that rumbled from my throat echoed throughout the room. I looked back over at her and I couldn’t believe this was happening. “Because of Nathaniel?”
“Yes,” she answered.
Wow.
And the hits just keep on coming.
I wanted to tear the place apart, but instead, I asked, “You’re kicking me out for a guy you just met tonight? Seriously, Justice?”
I could see the fight leave her, and I wasn’t sure which version of Drunk Justice I liked least. We’ve never fought before and I wasn’t really sure how to go about fixing this when all I wanted to do was piss a circle around her, warding off any competition.
She walked over to the couch, dropped down, and looking up at me said, “No. I’m not asking you to leave for a guy I just met, Gabriel. I’m asking you to leave for a chance to date a guy who could turn out to be The One, you know?”
No.
No, I didn’t know.
Chapter 5
Justice~
