Chapter 39
NARRATOR
Antonella glanced discreetly at the driver focused on traffic, his profile easy on the eyes. Her friend had always been a pleasant guy.
Ben tilted his head to the side, and his lips formed a gentle smile. She smiled back and lowered her gaze, shifting it to the car window.
The invitation to dinner had come at the perfect time.
It was as if her friend knew it was time for her to have a moment of peace. Ben had been a perfect gentleman from the moment he picked her up at the mansion until that moment when he drove her back. He had always managed to draw good laughs out of her.
The guy was casual but elegant, dark jeans and a navy-blue dress shirt that, from the fit, was Armani, she guessed.
Ella had also allowed herself to dress for the occasion.
The Prada dress, rose quartz, fell to a hand’s breadth above her knees.
It wasn’t tight or too loose. The V-neckline displayed her breasts, still swollen from pregnancy.
Her feet wore high heels for the first time in so long.
Ben parked the car in front of the mansion and turned off the engine.
“We’re here.”
Ella unbuckled her seat belt.
“I had a really good time. Dinner was delicious.”
“They make a very good roast.”
“Don’t even mention it. I think I ate more than I should have.”
They shared a small laugh.
“I need to go in.”
Ben motioned for Ella to stay in her seat, then got out quickly, rounded the vehicle, opened the door for her, and offered his hand.
“Thank you for tonight. I needed to get out of here for a little while.”
Ben gave her a gallant look.
“The pleasure was all mine, Ella.” His tone, warmer than usual, made her smile and lower her eyes, embarrassed. His fingers touched her chin, forcing her to look at him.
“You’ve been wonderful to me,” Ella said, trying to be kind and close the night before the atmosphere grew stranger than it already was.
Ben fixed his eyes on hers, intense and deep.
Ella felt a strange sensation low in her stomach. She did not like that shift in the atmosphere at all, or the closeness.
“You make me want to be good…”
Ben took another step forward, and she took one back, but the vehicle behind her kept her from escaping.
He moved his fingers, gathering a rebellious strand of hair behind her ear, his thumb brushing her cheek in a tender caress before holding her face between his large hands. She froze, caught by surprise.
“…For you.”
Ben kissed her.
***
Thor felt his entire body tense, then crack. Jealous rage smoked through his veins, traveled up his spine, and crackled in his brain as he watched his former employee and once-trusted man kiss his woman through his bedroom window.
Fuck, Ella was no longer his woman, but she felt that way to him, and fuck everything else.
How could she do that?
Leave her son at home to go fuck another man. Not only that, she was with Ben. The son of a bitch no longer worked for him, but he still owed him some respect. Fuck. She was the mother of his son. They were fucking going to get married if she hadn’t fooled him one more fucking time.
Thor watched the couple below with his jaw clenched and his teeth grinding.
His chest was hammered by pain and beastly jealousy.
His arms were tense at his sides, his fists clenched, longing to unload his rage on his rival’s face.
And then drag her by the hair back to the safety of the mansion walls.
Ella didn’t pull away. She stayed and received the kiss while his wounded heart was lashed again. She loved hurting him.
Breathing heavily, the man forced himself away from the window, bringing his hands to his hair and pulling it. He felt nothing but rage and a bleeding chest.
The bitch couldn’t do this to him. He was suffering because he didn’t have her, because despite everything, he still loved her, while she was kissing another man.
Thor closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to control himself.
The scene below flashed in his mind.
Jealousy built scenes of the two traitors in his mind.
And to think that…
He shook his head, furious with himself, his fist crashing against the dresser.
His chest ached, feeding his wrath. All the unhappiness and pain he felt were Antonella’s fault. She had no decency. Worse, she didn’t even have respect for her son.
Antonella owed him no explanations. They were separated, reason told him. But he felt betrayed, his hurt heart demanded an explanation, and Thor knew it was madness. Still, she lived under his roof and with his son. She at least had the obligation to respect him. If not him, then Lucca.
How long had they laughed at him?
Thor wanted to roar.
Fuck. He was going to kill her, because bitch or not, she was his. Only his.
***
The kiss didn’t last. Still motionless from the initial shock, Antonella waited for the until-then friend to realize she wasn’t returning it and pull away.
“Why did you do that?”
“I couldn’t help it. You’re so beautiful and…”
“Don’t do it again, please. We’re friends.” She stepped away from the car and from the man. “I’d hate to have to cut off our friendship because of a misunderstanding, Ben.”
Ben lifted his hand, trying to touch her, and she flinched from the contact.
“Antonella, I…”
“I’m not stupid, Ben. I already imagined that… Anyway, I didn’t think it would come to this. I like you, and I value our friendship, but I have no ulterior motives in our relationship. Don’t confuse things.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t say I regret it,” he said roughly, with a nervous laugh. “I thought about it all through dinner.”
The seriousness made some of the softness in his expression fade.
“Listen, I think I should go inside and we should stop seeing each other…”
“No.” He stopped in front of her, alarmed. “Please forgive me. I admit I crossed the line. I’ll behave. I don’t want you to pull away.”
“Ben, listen, I can’t return your feelings because… I love someone else. And even if there were no him, the last thing I want to think about is getting involved with anyone.”
“I understand. Just don’t pull away.”
Ella looked at the man for a long moment.
“I truly appreciate your friendship and everything you’ve done for me. You’ve been a safe harbor for me, so essential I can’t put it into words. But if this, in any way, is going to interfere with our friendship, it’s better that we step away.”
He ran a hand through his hair, nervous.
“I know. Forgive me for the kiss. Let’s forget this, yes?”
“Can you forget what happened here and go on as if nothing happened?”
Ben nodded and smiled, but he didn’t fully convince her.
“I’m a grown man. I know how to separate things. Just don’t pull away, okay?”
“I don’t know… I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Don’t worry about me. Like I said, I’m a grown man and I know how to separate things. I want your friendship, but I can’t, and I don’t want to, force you to accept anything more… Forgive me. I lost my head. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“All right. I have to go in… Thank you for dinner.”
Ella didn’t linger over the goodbye. She was shaken by what had just happened.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known about her friend’s intentions.
She suspected, but she hadn’t wanted to see the reality and ruin a friendship she valued so much.
That was what feelings did when they got in the middle of a relationship.
And besides, she already had too much to worry about to have to manage her relationship with a friend in love without hurting him in the process.
He was a grown man and knew how to separate things, she reminded herself.
Ella hoped that was true.
On the way to her room, she checked her phone again.
Nothing. Pietra had disappeared since leaving her at the café four days ago, and Josie seemed to have vanished too.
No messages and no calls from either of them.
She entered the room and went to the closet.
She was counting on Jason’s address. She had hopes he might give her something.
But then Josie seemed to have forgotten her and was unreachable.
Ella left the closet and entered the bedroom, tying the printed silk robe, still distracted by what had just happened, when the bedroom door was flung open abruptly and slammed shut the same way.
Ella had no time to react.
Thor walked to her like a demon and plundered her mouth, crushing his lips against hers. Hard and merciless. A firm hand gripped her hair, the careless pull causing pain, and she parted her lips on a moan, but his tongue was faster, pushing inside, his voracious mouth drinking down her sound.
He suffocated her with his kiss, stealing her air and her ability to reason. The powerful arm around her kept her captive while Thor demanded.
“Kiss me, fuck,” he ordered harshly against her swollen lips.
The demand shook her mind out of its stupor, but again she couldn’t react.
His lips took hers once more. Her hands lifted, certain she would push him away and slap him for his nerve, but they went straight over his hard chest and tangled in his hair.
She pulled him down, and he went, with a rough, satisfied groan when Ella began to kiss him back with the same furious passion he gave her.
The young woman’s lips swallowed his tongue and bit.
He squeezed her tighter, his larger body urging hers backward until her back hit the wall.
And then everything turned into a chaos of hands and mouths, with desperation, rage, hurt, longing, passion.
“Is he better than me?” Thor demanded, dragging his mouth to her neck while his skilled hands worked between them.
Ella could feel her heart swelling, joy growing, but beside it anger also appeared, and both raced for dominance.
“What? What are…”
Thor fixed his gaze on her. “Don’t lie to me! I saw you…” His teeth bit beneath her ear. “Hell, I saw you letting that son of a bitch kiss you… I want to kill you.”
Ah, so that was it!