Page 53 of My Debacle with De Lorenzo

I told her I didn’t mean it in the way she took it and she still refused to listen. Scott was right about women. It doesn’t matter how many times you apologize; they’ll still give you shit. But I was wrong in how I handled the entire situation. I hurt her, which is the last thing I wanted to do, so I have to make this right. I wait patiently outside the bathroom, and she emerges at 7:22.

“Bella.”

She ignores me and continues her quick strides down the corridor. I double-up my steps to catch up with her, gripping her arm to bring her to a halt before she goes further down. We still have a bit of privacy to talk here, but it doesn’t seem like she wants to talk at all. Irritated amber eyes immediately meet mine, and she looks at me like I’ve got a goddamn nerve to be touching her.

She tugs her arm free from my grip. “What do you want?”

It takes just those four words to make me realize I don’t like seeing this side of her. “Why are you ignoring me?”

“Oh, yes, of course. I’m sorry. How thoughtless of me. I forgot you probably want your ten minutes.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Alright, what do you want to talk about?”

I sneer. We’re only twenty seconds into this conversation and I already have to tamper down my annoyance. “Don’t do that to me. I said I was sorry.”

“And I accepted your apology.”

“Then why are you still blowing this out of proportion? What are you trying to achieve? You wanna torture me? Make me suffer?”

“Oh, De Lorenzo, do you think that’s what this is about?” She offers me that question like a present gift-wrapped in sarcasm with a little bow of sardonic laughter. I don’t take the bait, so she answers it for me. “No, I’m not trying to make you suffer. I don’t have time for childish antics. This is me cutting you out of my life.”

Those words rip into me with brutal force. Yeah, I really don’t like seeing this side of her. “Wow. You know, I’ve heard guys say some pretty awful shit to you. I’ve seen them treat you so badly and you take all of that without even batting an eyelid. And I mess up once by saying the wrong thing—which, by the way, you’ve gone and twisted into something I didn’t mean at all—but I mess uponceand you’re ready to cut me out of your life.”

“Yeah, those guys didn’t string me along under the guise of friendship. They made it very clear what they were using me for.”

“I’m not using you! Did I say the wrong thing? Yes. But you’re being so irrational even after I’ve apologized profusely, even after I told you how much this means to me, and how I don’t want to lose this.”

She shrugs her indifference. “Thisbeing your precious ten minutes?”

“No!” I gesture between the two of us. “This. Us...You. I don’t want to lose you over something so stupid.”

She’s quiet for a long time, staring at me in silence. Part of me starts to think I might have gotten through to her, but then that sardonic smile curves on her lips again. “Ah, I see what you did there. That was very slick. I almost fell for it, too. You’re trying to reel me in with mixed messages again. Not gonna work this time. I’m not?”

“Hey, sexy.”

I didn’t even notice David approaching us until he slides his arm around her. I watch him pull her closer and all I can do is grit my teeth and mentally count to ten as my volatility levels rise.

“Hi, David,” she greets sweetly.

“Are we still on for tonight? I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“Seven is perfect. I’ll see you tonight.”

“I can’t wait.” He winks at her, then walks away.

“Please tell me you’re not going with that sleazebag,” I say as soon as we’re alone again.

“You just heard me tell him that I’ll see him tonight. Of course, I’m going with him.”

“Bella, I’m asking you...beggingyou to not go anywhere with that guy. He’s a creep and that comment he made the other day about picking you up in a mini-van tells you exactly how he wants the night to end.”

“I know what he wants. What makes you think I don’t want to give it to him?”

I’m trying...I am trying my level best to remain calm, but she keeps poking, stabbing me with these comments. Just the thought of that asshole putting his hands on her...

The bursts of adrenaline pumping through me are causing my palms to sting. I exhale a slow breath to steady my trembling hands because I’m about to blow a fuse.

“I gotta say, De Lorenzo, it’s quite refreshing to interact with a guy who knows what he wants from me. None of this back-and-forth nonsense. We can just get right to it.”

She must have found my instruction manual because she’s figured out how to pushallmy buttons. My fist unwittingly slams against the wall beside me. “So, you’ll screw another guy just to get back at me? You know what that is? Fucking level eight crazy!”

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