Page 5 of Toxic

Dante:Break up with him. Come to my fight this weekend. We'll hang out after.

Several minutes pass as I contemplate whether I should do it or not.

Dante:Bridge, I miss you. I'm sorry.

Me:Okay. I'll come.

Dante:Make sure you break up with him. I mean it. He's not good enough for you.

I don't sleep at all that night. I do what he says, unable to stop myself from wanting him. When the weekend comes, I go to his fight.

He wins. His brothers, along with an entourage of girls, are waiting for him when he comes out of the locker room. They rush up to him, and his eyes meet mine.

"Give me a minute," he says.

My heart drops as he approaches me. I see it in his expression before he leans down and hugs me. "Thanks for coming."

I force myself to reply, "Sure. Congrats."

He smiles, and guilt is all over his face.

"We aren't hanging out, are we?" I ask.

"Something has come up. Can I take a rain check?"

I glance at the girls with his brothers, trying not to cry. I straighten my shoulders. "Sure. No problem."

"Thanks." He gives me another hug, and I feel sick.

For the next few years, I hang on to every twisted part of me that still wants him as mine. Even though he graduates, I still see him at least once a month at parties.

Nothing ever changes. He, Gianni, and Massimo always have girls hanging on them anytime I see them. From time to time, Dante will catch me gazing at him. There are always these moments, a brief encounter where he'll stare at me, giving me his smoldering look, reminding me how we used to be friends and about his broken promises.

When my father insists I get a business degree, I decide the only way I'll escape Dante is to leave town. There's only one place my father will let me go, and that's Chicago because he has an alliance with the O'Malleys. He claims they'll watch over me.

I don't even care where it is as long as it's out of New York and somewhere far away from Dante.

There's nothing I will ever get from him. Holding on to any notion we'll ever be together is setting myself up for a lifetime of unhappiness. I need to forget everything about Dante Marino, except one thing.

He's toxic.

1

Dante

Four Months Later

"Bridget's in town?"I ask my papà, surprised. I shouldn't be. It's a few days before Christmas, but she didn't come home for Thanksgiving. Tully claimed she wanted to study for her upcoming exams, but I wasn't buying it.

She hates me.

The moment I found out she was going to Chicago, I texted her, but she didn't reply. I called her, but she didn't answer or return my calls.

Then she left New York without a goodbye or even a "fuck you."

In the last four months, I've drunk dialed her in the middle of the night too many times to count. I've texted her stupid shit I cringe about the next day. Not once has she responded. It's like I no longer exist.

"Yes. Tully said she arrived yesterday," Papà informs me.

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