Page 4 of Craving Paradise

“We do. That’s why we came. We don’t want to bail you out of jail later,” Alex adds.

Maybe they’re right.

We continue in silence toward William’s home, my fists clenching with every mile we drive. Still no texts from Hazel, and it’s been three hours. The thought that she truly doesn’t care about me is sobering. I don’t understand what I did for her to not love me. Was I not a good boyfriend? Did I not give her the world? Was I bad in bed? Does William fuck better than I do?

We pull up out in front of William’s terrace, and I jump out of the car with my friends hot on my heels.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Alex advises.

“Nothing that can fuck up your life,” Alistair adds.

Alistair understands the level of hurt I’m feeling because his asshole of a brother has done this to him many times, fucking his girlfriends behind his back. I know I’ll eventually get over the betrayal but not today.

My fist banging on William’s front door is loud, making it shudder under the weight of my anger.

“Be calm,” Alex whispers behind me.

Moments later, William opens the door, and his face falls in surprise.

“Boys, what are you doing here?” He looks between us before landing on me with a frown, genuinely confused at the scenario.

“You motherfucking bastard,” I yell as I launch myself at my former best friend. “How could you?” I scream as my fists lay into him.

“Fuck, Jasper,” Will curses as he tries to defend himself from my fury, but I don’t let up until someone grabs me and hauls me off his sorry fucking ass.

“Enough,” Ali orders as he holds me back.

“It will never be enough. He needs to pay for ruining my life,” I scream at William.

“Ruining your life?” William questions as he tries to get up off his floor. His face has turned from hiding the pain of my fists to his flesh to anger. “You ruined my life by stealing the woman I love.”

Will’s anger catches me off guard. “We were kids. I told you I didn’t know you two were anything. She sure as hell said nothing.”

“All you cared about was getting laid,” Will bites back.

“I was seventeen, of course, that’s what I was thinking about, but then we fell in love. Five years we’ve been together. That’s a long time to waste on just getting laid.” I try to free myself from Alistair’s hold, but his fingers grip me tighter. “We were moving in together. We were building a life. I proposed, for fuck’s sake.”

William stills upon hearing that.

“We’ve spent the entire time in Paris screwing each other’s brains out. She lied when she told you she used her period as an excuse.”

William’s face falls. “Bullshit. I don’t believe you.”

“She’s playing you. I saw the messages. All the excuses she gave you were because we were having fun,” I spit back at him. He can fucking feel what it’s like to have the woman you love betray you like that.

“But she said no to your proposal, didn’t she?” William asks.

I don’t answer. Then the fucker smiles, and I try to launch myself at him. Fucking Alistair holds me back again.

“How long have you been fucking her behind my back?”

William looks up at me and smiles as if he’s won the fucking lottery. “A while.”

What the hell does that mean? A while. One year? One month? One week? The entire fucking time?

“Tell him, you miserable fucker. You owe him that.” Alistair sneers behind me.

William looks between the three of us, and I can see him calculating how much he’s willing to tell me.

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