Chapter 23
After accidentally overhearing a fight between Eric and Josie, I was deeply shaken, but also beyond furious at him for using our friendship to hurt her.
J wasn’t in any condition to go out to lunch with me, as we’d previously planned, so I left her at her building and let her know I wouldn’t mind if she wanted to take some time to sort things out with Eric.
Our friendship was for life. She didn’t like it, but she understood my point.
I didn’t like it either, but I didn’t want her at a crossroads where she had to choose between the guy she loved and me.
This was a difficult situation, one in which, if I were in her place, I would send that piece of trash straight to hell if Thor so much as dreamed of making me choose.
Josie wasn’t me, though. And I couldn’t demand that she act like me either.
Besides, now, after being bitten hard by the love bug, I understood her well.
I’d die for Thor. The mere thought of being without him made me sick.
But I’d also die for my two best friends.
Several minutes later, the loft door opened, and a distraught Eric appeared before me. I almost felt sorry for him. But then I remembered why I was there.
“What are you doing here?”
I didn’t wait for the idiot to invite me in and made my way inside, stopping in the middle of his living room. My scornful gaze fell on him.
“I came here to tell you to your face what an idiot, son of a bitch, miserable, cretinous, despicable, sleazy, dimwitted, lowlife, cowardly, cynical, rotten, moronic, useless, knuckle-dragging, numbskulled, brainless, sneaky… Did I already say presumptuous? Ridiculous, sucker, arrogant, blockheaded, manipulative asshole you are!”
He shut the door with a bang and stared at me in surprise.
“Are you insane?”
“Ah, yes! I forgot stupid and moron. Bastard is also on the list, among others I can’t remember right now, but later I can do you the kindness of sending you the complete list to see if at least that way you grow up a little.
And with a little luck, and if your brain is bigger than a pea, maybe then you’ll start acting like the grown man you pretend to be. ”
“How dare you come into my house and insult me?”
“The same way you dared to come to my house and say whatever you wanted about me to J. By the way, I keep wondering what the hell she saw in you. Not even from miles away do you resemble the prince in shining armor she deserves.”
For a moment I thought I saw an explosion of fury in his icy gaze, but then his features were a heap of nothing frozen in marble.
Eric looked me in the eyes arrogantly. “I always ask myself the same question. What Thor saw in you, an immature, irresponsible, unscrupulous little girl, when he had a real woman beside him.”
“Maybe the same thing J saw in you?”
“You are not welcome here, Antonella,” he said, going to the bar and serving himself a drink. “I suggest you leave and never come back.”
“Don’t waste your breath threatening me.”
“What do you want?” he bit out, angry.
I decided it was better to swallow my acidic sarcasm and focus. I took a deep breath and concentrated on the common sense that was lost somewhere inside me.
“I don’t know why you hate me so much.” He drank everything in his glass, then set it down.
“I never did anything to you to earn your hatred. Which leaves me only the unfortunate episode of the pregnancy, which, by the way, has nothing to do with you. After all, the child is mine and Thor’s.
The couple is Antonella and Heithor. Not a throuple with you.
And it’s to him, Heithor, only him, that I owe any explanation…
I don’t know what damn shit you’re thinking that makes you believe you have the right to feel offended by something that has nothing to do with you… ”
“Thor is my brother, Antonella.”
My name had never sounded so barbed and filthy before.
“Great. Then start by opening your eyes and seeing who your little friend really is before judging me without knowing me. And as for your unfortunate comments, why don’t you ask Thor directly whether I’m doing him harm?
Do that. Ask him if I’m forcing him to stay with me.
Too pathetic, don’t you think? What would you think if Thor acted like you?
Treating you like some weak, feeble thing? ”
“I have no interest in knowing you any more than I already do.”
“So arrogant, aren’t you? But anyway, I didn’t come here to argue with you, and I don’t have the patience for it.
I only came here to tell you that you’re being a complete idiot with Josie.
She’s an incredible girl who doesn’t deserve what you’re doing to her.
You’re putting the woman you claim to love at a crossroads. ”
“That is none of your business.”
“You made it my business when you put me in the middle of the shit you’re doing. And just like you, Mr. Paragon of Virtue, I also take care of my own. Josie is more than a best friend to me. She’s my sister.”
He straightened his posture, his eyes calculating.
“Then prove it. Prove you want what’s best for her and stay away. End this before we hurt each other. Do us that favor, and I’ll take back what I said. Give me proof that you really aren’t as bad as you appear to be.”
I laughed, or rather, I roared with laughter, and I laughed with pleasure.
“And since when do I have to prove anything to you? What happened? Did your two brain cells go on vacation today? Or did they die? You’re so concerned with hating me that you don’t realize how much you’re making Josie suffer. Beautiful love you have, isn’t it?”
“Get out!”
“Who do you think you are to play judge and judge people however you see fit? You’re a paragon of perfection, aren’t you?
” I laughed scornfully and walked to the door.
“And I’m leaving not because you’re asking politely, but because I can’t look at that face of yours anymore without feeling sorry for you.
You’re not even worthy of my hatred. Only pity for being such a moron. ”
I opened the door but stopped, looking at him over my shoulder.
“Oh, you know this little girl here, the irresponsible, immature one without an ounce of scruples? This girl here, the well of evil, has never stooped to playing the role that you, the Mr. Paragon of Virtue and Good Manners, are playing. I never put her, and I never would put her, in the position you’re putting her in.
Because even without any scruples, I love her, and I know she loves you, unfortunately.
Though after what you said to me, I’m seriously considering the possibility…
Would she choose you, the one who is being a perfect idiot and making her suffer, because you love her?
Or me, the one she has known longer and who has always been with her, despite the ups and downs?
Friendship is forever, Eric. Lovers come and go.
Would you like it if she did to you what you’re doing, putting you at a crossroads like this?
Making you choose between her and Norah?
” His mask slipped for a brief instant. “Focus on making her happy, and maybe being happy in the process, instead of trying to own the world and stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.
And if you can’t do that, it’s a sign you really don’t deserve a single strand of her hair…
And, oh, don’t worry, because Thor and I are wonderfully fine living our lives. ”
I slammed the door so hard I was surprised it didn’t hit me in the back.