Page 101 of Promise and Punishment

“What’s happening?” he asked but recoiled as Mila shrieked in my direction.

“Don’t follow me!” she screamed, barging through our bedroom door, immediately lifting her suitcase.

“I have to!” I shouted, pulling the suitcase away, “I can’t just let you leave. You deserve better, and you weren’t supposed to see that.”

“That?” She turned to me, using a sweater as a whip, slapping me in the arm until she got closer, replacing it with her fist. “I trusted you! You made me believe everything was ok. And I believed that!”

She punched my arm, her soft blows beginning to sting as I latched onto her wrist.

“I know!” I growled, pushing her against the bed as we tumbled over, clothes scattered and all. “You have to stop hitting me. I need you to listen.”

She turned her cheek, pulling me away, using every bit of her force to shove me off. I’d never get physical with her, but the way she yanked a photo off the wall had me on guard.

“You don’t get to ask anything from me,” she warned, her final declaration met as she smashed the frame against the floor, sending the entire room into a deafening silence.

Unlike Gemma, Mila was not afraid to stare in my eyes, her rage completely un-avoidant, challenging me to speak. We just stared, our chests heaving, our teeth clenched.

“You have every right to be mad.” I pointed to myself, “But you and me, we always knew this was a risk. I knew you needed information on Alex Rivers… and that’s why we got close.”

“No!” She held out her hand, her finger shaking on its own accord. “You always thought that. Yes, this was supposed to be fun, this was supposed to be new, but when the hell did I ever agree to being disrespected?”

She pinned me into a corner, shouting the undeniable truth I couldn’t avoid. There was no excusing what I did, and owning it was all that I could do before she began to burst into tears.

“And what was the goal?” she returned, my eyes redirected to the corner of the room, “To bring me to your home? To meet your parents? You’re as dumb as you are good looking, and that’s saying a whole hell of a lot.” She yanked the suitcase back into her possession, tossing loose clothes and unfolded sweaters into its shell.

“I couldn’t just leave you in the city. You had no place to go.”

Mila laughed, until she cackled, her wide eyes exploding into an epiphany. “Oh my god! You actually think you did me a favor?”

“No. That’s not what I meant.”

“Yes, it is. Tell me right now that what I saw downstairs was an accident… that you weren’t planning that all along?”

“Not like that Mila, I’d never intentionally hurt anyone.” I argued, as she swiped a scoop of banana taffy off her nightstand and onto the floor, reaching for her belongings.

“That’s the problem with you, Parker. You never mean to do anything wrong, you’re just cursed to do it,” she slipped a shirt over her sports bra, yanking her ponytail through the hole, “but you’ve caused more problems than you ever created solutions. And as much as I hate Gemma for doing what she did, I hate more that you led her to believe that she was anything more than what you always claimed. So congratulations… you’ve fooled two girls who are in love with you.” She pouted, casually, hopelessly, blurting out a truth that almost caused me to stumble.

“You love me?” I whispered, confused by the rhetoric we always told each other, of the illusion I sold myself. This was supposed to be painless, this was supposed to be a fling, and as much as I forced it to be more, I knew it was never going to be anything else.

“Yes,” she admitted sternly, sniffing, “I do. And despite what happened, I can’t say that it changes how I feel. So whatever your intentions were, just know how it affects others, because you have just acquired a shit storm of problems.” She zipped up her bag, slamming it on the floor.

I stood in the doorway, knowing that just across the hall Gemma was packing up, she was probably about to leave at any moment. As awful as I was, I couldn’t let Gemma or Mila see each other again, or allow whatever that encounter would look like to happen. I remained adamant about what was just said.

“What problems?” I cocked my head.

Mila rolled her eyes at me, making me feel even more like a naive child than she already did.

“Like the one out in L.A. right now,” she scoffed. “You think, for one second, that Alex Rivers is going to let you take Gemma from him?” she asked, honestly expecting an answer.

This really took me back, the outsider’s perspective that Alex could ever be a threat to me and Gemma, only validated everything I ever feared. Did Mila really feel that way, even after she knew what I was capable of?

“Don’t think of that…” I shook my head, hating the direction she steered us towards.

“Oh, I will. Because that man will kill you, Parker. Let him find out what you just did, and see what happens. Because the truth is, you should be worried, just like how Gemma should be worried about me.” She began to wheel her bag in my direction, but not before I could step forward, blocking her path. Man or woman, I’d never let anyone make such a claim.

“What the hell did you just say?” I warned, triggered by her undisguised threat.

“You think you’re the only one with big feelings, Parker, that only you can defend someone you love? I can’t let her just kiss you… I can’t letherdo that to us.” She bit into her own lip, her eyes glossing into a heartbreaking red.

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