~ Shola’s POV ~
I f-__-ked up.
Abbey was pissed at me and Mary has been avoiding me as if I had a plague. And when the three of us did run into each other, she’d be as quiet as a mouse. While Abbey would be $h00ting me pointed looks over her shoulder, wanting me to apologize to her.
Each time I opened my mouth to speak to her, she’d walk away. Despite being prideful, I acknowledged I was wrong. Abbey calling me out on my bullshit was a bit of an eye-opener. I was an @zz, prideful @zz for treating Mary differently.
No matter if she was married or not. Truth is, despite having so few interactions with her, she wouldn’t leave my mind. No matter how hard I tried. Trust me, I’ve tried very hard.
From the moment we met in that club, I wanted her. When we saw each other again at that little shop, it felt like a blessing from God. A second chance to get her into my bed, except she wasn’t falling for my charm.
Other women I have dealt with would have begged me to f_ck them in their car at a given chance, but Mary was different. She walked away from me instead of walking with me.
Strange.
Admittedly, it made the woman even more attractive. Well, before I found out who she really was. d@mn, the shock I felt when I saw both her and Abbey at the pool nearly had me stuttering.
Finding out she was the woman my friend had been seeing was more upsetting than I thought it would be. Not because he was with her and I got a delicious eye view of her Břě@šťs, but because she was married. If only she weren’t married.
So I got mad, pissed at the fact that she was a cheater who clearly was playing with Abbey’s feelings. There’s no way a married woman would be cheating on her husband for love. No, I didn’t believe that.
Millions of thoughts scattered in my brain, but one really stood out. She was going to break Abbey’s heart, and I’d have to pick up the pieces like he did for me once upon a time.
Anyway, from then on I decided that I’d rid my feelings for Mary. I mean, it’s not like I actually wanted a relationship with her. At least that’s what I attempted to tell myself, so I would no longer think of her; how she smelled, so sweet, her white teeth when she smiled, or the way she challenged me.
d@mn, seeing the spark in her eyes the night we met had my d!ck hardening. Not thinking about her had proved harder than I thought it would be. And when Abbey would come home constantly talking of the women he was growing more attached to, feelings began to stir.
Soon enough, I was beginning to feel bothered, not bothered, I mean jealous. I was d@mn jealous and I h@ťěd it. Why would I feel that way when I had only interacted with her thrice? Why was Mary stuck in my mind? And why the hell did she even get married? If she wasn’t, I would…no, no, I shouldn’t entertain the thought. I wouldn’t.
So for the next few months after seeing her and Abbey be intimate, I didn’t.
Then one night I had no choice but to think of her. I had just come back from a night of hooking up with some women after drinking at the club. It wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be, so I was exhausted. But that quickly changed when I saw Abbey running around in a hurry, panicking. To say I was alarmed would be an understatement.
When he mentioned he had to pick up Mary in a storm, anger didn’t seep into me. I was concerned and worried about her safety. As much as I wanted to tag along, I didn’t earn that right. Letting Abbey leave by himself, I paced the floor waiting for the two to appear.
Later, when they entered the apartment, seeing her look so fragile had my heart thudding out of my chest. Fear gripped me for a moment.
Did someone hurt her? Touch her? I’d ki|| them if they did! But I didn’t have time to ponder on that because Abbey asked for help which was exactly what I did for the rest of the night and the days that followed. The night she came was the hardest. She was shivering, coughing in her sleep, and so d@mn cold.
I could see the fear in Abbey’s eyes as we undressed her before placing her in a warm bath. For once in my life, my eyes didn’t drift to her body. Both of us kept our eyes from staring too long and touching too much. When we dressed her in clothes fresh from danger, we layered her with blankets. That night I prayed she would get better while also praying that she wouldn’t think I was a creep for bathing her.
The late morning that followed, I was the one who suggested we call a doctor. Mary was getting worse, much worse. Abbey listened and not even two hours later, the doctor appeared, telling us how severe her cold flu was. Also, she was lucky Abbey had shown up when he did, otherwise, she most likely would have caught pneumonia.
What had anger boiling in my stomach was when the doctor pointed out marks on her arm, showing us that someone manhandled her. Who could that devil be?
Aside from that, the doctor told us what we needed to do to cure her flu. From then on, we tried our best to do that. When we woke up, my first thought was to see her, but I knew it would be awkward, so I decided to check on her while she was asleep, trying not to come across as a peeping tom.
Honestly, I was worried about her in the process; giving her medicine, and bottled water at night. d@mn, I even gave her foot rubs which I’ve never done.
Before I knew it, with Abbey’s help and I, her fever and flu were gone.
Deciding to keep my distance, I left the two to be themselves. Truth is, I didn’t want her to feel overwhelmed by my presence since we left off on a bad note which was one hundred percent my fault, I’ll admit.