Chapter Eighteen

May’s POV

Nicholas turned in the direction of the voice and beamed when he saw his best friend on his doorstep, waiting for him with his hand wide out.

He walked towards him and they both shook hands and hugged like brothers as I watched in bewilderment not fathoming the fact that Nicholas was still friends with his guy.

The scene before me tore down the little respect that I have for Nicholas. If he’s still friends with this fucker, that means nothing has changed about him.

“What are you doing around here?” Nicholas asked him excitedly.

“Can’t I decide to see my best friend no more? It was a last-minute decision actually. I’m purchasing a property in this town and I remembered that you stay here especially during Christmas, so I decided to try my luck and see if you’ll be around”

“That’s great buddy. That’s nice”

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for hours. The Queen refused to let me in without an approval from you”

“I’ve been out but it’s really cool to see you again”

They hugged again, probably happy about their stupid fucked up reunion while I remained angry, fuming at seeing this devil again.

“Introduce me to the young lady, Nicholas” He pushed.

“She’s someone you know. Look closely” Nicholas said.

After studying my face for seconds, his eyes went wide upon recognizing me finally.

“May”

“Gabriel,” I said through gritted teeth. He should be thanking his stars that I do not possess a gun at this moment. I swear that I would’ve put a bullet in his head.

“I didn’t know you guys are still together”

“No, we’re not together” I replied. “I was just unfortunate enough to meet him again” Nicholas turned to me, his jaw clenched, angry at what I just said.

“I thought I saw you both almost….”

“Almost what?” I laughed bitterly. “Whatever you saw was just a problem of yours, it’s nothing real”

Recovering from the shock of what I just said, Gabriel cleared his throat and said, “I didn’t see you again since high school, I even though you’ve probably gotten married and popped two kids out by now”

“Nah! I couldn’t because I never had the chance to recover from what happened back then” I said pointing between me and him, making him feel uncomfortable and guilt-tripped.

“I don’t understand you, May. What do you mean by what happened back then, I thought…?” Before Nicholas could finish his words, Gabriel interrupted.

“I guess she’s just messing around, Nicholas. You look good by the way, May. It’s so nice to finally see you” He spread his arms wide, trying to hug me.

Instead of hugging him, I laughed bitterly.

“I would rather go hug an electrocuted wire rather than hug you” I moved closer to him and whispered in his ear, “May you rot in hell forever, Serpent”

Nicholas watched the exchange in bewilderment, confused at whatever was going on. I knew secrets, secrets tangled with my scars, secrets that could turn Gabriel into the animal that he was and no matter how many times I try to open my mouth and tell someone, I was never able to do it.

I walked away from the two of them, opened the door leading to the house, and went straight to the kitchen to apologize to Bella.

“Hey Bella”

“Hey sunshine, I’m so sorry for the troubles that my car caused you” She immediately held my hand.

“It’s okay Bella. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll find a way to pick it up from the street and fix it, I’m so sorry I left your car out there”

“Don’t say that, silly girl. I have a brother who is a mechanic. He’ll pick it up and fix it by morning, don’t bother about that” she waved my idea off.

“If you say so, Bella. Goodnight”

“Goodnight Darling”

I turned back as I got to the door leading out of the kitchen to ask Bella if a favor that I seriously needed.

“Is there a spare room here that I can use for the main time?”

“Why? Is everything okay between you and prince Nicholas?”

“Yeah, everything is fine. I just need my space, that’s all”

“Ooh! That’s no problem. I’ll fix a room by tomorrow and let you know”

“Thank you”

We repeated the goodnight greetings and I walked into the room that I was sharing with Nicholas. I got to where my luggage was supposed to be, and I couldn’t find it.

So, I sat on the bed waiting for Nicholas to get back so I could ask him about its whereabouts. I turned on the TV and watched the news as Baltimore experienced its first snowfall today and several other cities.

The door suddenly opened, and it revealed Nicholas walking in. Immediately he got in, he locked the door and I frowned at his action.

“Where are my bags?” I asked.

“They’re in my closet, I told Bella to clear out a space for you there” he replied “Okay” Exhausted, I stood up from the bed, ready to take a shower and sleep, when Nicholas suddenly held my hand.

“What happened downstairs?”

“What do you mean?” I replied, feigning ignorance.

“What was that between you and Gabriel?” He asked.

I folded my hands against my chest, observed him for a minute, and tried to find out why he’s acting as if he didn’t know.

“You don’t know what happened between me and Gabriel,” I asked.

“If it’s about you fucking him right behind my back when we were still dating, then forget it, we’re adults, we need to move past that level”

I smiled, “You know one funny thing is that even though you think I cheated on you with Gabriel, you’re still close friends with him while you hate me more than the most despicable thing on earth” I challenged.

“Why are you trying to act innocent, May? You forced yourself on him. He told me about it and don’t you dare try to deny it”

“And you believed him. You believed him without hearing my side of the story and you told me back then that you loved me and still, you trusted your friend enough to tag me a slut and a bitch in front of those who loved me, do you even know what that did to me? Do you?” I screamed, my voice higher than usual.

“It doesn’t matter. Wherever the story was coming from doesn’t matter. All that mattered was what I saw”

“You know nothing, Nicholas… You know...”

Tears dropped from my eyes before I could finish what I wanted to say. Now I understand why Nicholas hates me for what happened, why he broke my heart and made me feel so hateful about myself. It was obvious that he had been lied to and him believing that lie only made me hate him more than ever.

Angrily, I picked up my phone and began walking into the bathroom, before I could open its door, Nicholas pulled me back into his body.

“Fuck off, Aslam. Fuck off me! I hate you. I fucking hate you and you better tell Gabriel to watch his back while he stays in town” I threatened after removing myself from Nicholas and walked into the bathroom.

Without removing my clothes, I stepped into the shower and turned it on. The tears didn’t reach my face as water mixed with it; I began scrubbing my body hard with my hand as the water ran down my body.

When reality dawned that I couldn’t wash what had happened away, I rested my body against the wall, slid to the floor, and cried, cried more than when I lost my parents when I was just ten years old.