He didn’t let me talk. “I love him. You know, I’m in love with him. I can’t do this anymore! He doesn’t deserve it. We were made for each other.” James imitated my voice.
Despite the mocking, he was saying exactly what I was thinking.
“That’s what you wanted to say?”
I nodded with my head bowed.
“Okay.”
He shrugged and turned down his lower lip as if it didn’t involve him.
He turned his back to me and pulled a clean undershirt from his duffel bag.
“Okay? You don’t have anything else to say?”
“Do you want me to ask you to dump him?”
The silence was so deafening that I couldn’t talk.
“Because you know I won’t do that.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not worth it. We’re just having fun, but what’s the deal with all of you?”
At that point I should’ve turned around and left. Instead, I gathered all my good will and forced myself to say something.
“In fact, I didn’t come to ask you for shit. I love Brian.”
James looked at me over his shoulder and sneered, amused. “I’ve never been in love, Ari. But if love for you means fucking me every time you want while you’re still with him, I don’t think you’re on the right path.”
His words destroyed me. I dropped onto the bench because I was getting incredibly dizzy. I put my throbbing head between my hands, and James seemed to be moved to pity by this.
“I’m saying this for you, Ari.”
“I don’t know what to do, everything’s so hard,” I whined.
James sat next to me, clouding my judgment again.
“You should dump him. What’s the point of being a happy couple if he doesn’t even touch you and you only cheat on him?”
“Brian will kill me if he finds out,” I whispered.
James’s smirk gave way to an irritated expression.
“I’ll kill him if he tries to lay a hand on you.”
I looked him in the eyes and couldn’t help but notice the black and blue marks on his symmetrical face.
“Did they kick your ass?” I asked, caressing his cheekbone.
“I’ve had worse,” he murmured unwillingly.
“They hit you that hard?”
“Well, it isn’t . . .” James lowered his head, ruffling his wet hair, blocking my wrist before I could move my hand down to caress his chest.
“You’re not here for that, Ari.”
