Love Hurts

It had been a few days since his last night spent with Jacob, but Paul was still reeling from his confession. Jacob had finally, finally confessed to loving him. He hadn’t thought that his lover would ever accept it, however painfully obvious it was, but he had, and Paul couldn’t be anymore grateful. Jacob still wanted to be with Emma, which pained Paul, but he knew the time would come when Emma revealed her true self to Jacob and get caught in her endless web of lies.

When the door slowly opened to his bedroom, Paul had expected to find Jacob waiting. Instead, it was Emma. Just as she was about to close the door, Paul said, “Don’t bother shutting it, because you’re leaving right now.” The last person he wanted to see was Emma, and although that was always the case, now was especially a bad time. He wanted to bask in the good vibes Jacob had filled him with, and he knew Emma would only fight her hardest to tear all of that hard work down and make it crumble until Paul was seething with rage.

“I don’t have time for your attitude, Paul,” she chimed with the same little smile that he knew she’d fooled Jacob with countless times before. This had stopped her from closing the door, though, as she turned and made a bee-line straight for him. “I was looking everywhere for Jacob last night,” she snapped, grabbing Paul by the face. “And I come by your room to find you two…”

“Fucking?” Paul finished her sentence for her, a devious grin on his face despite the painful grip Emma had on his jaw. “Yeah, and I bet you also heard him moaning my name—”

Slap. Paul hadn’t expected the hard smack across his face when Emma released her death grip, but he wasn’t exactly surprised. Anger shot through him as his large hand grasped her throat and clamped tightly around the pale skin. “Do it, choke me,” Emma managed with a weak voice. “Let Jacob see the bruises you put on me. I bet you he won’t be so willing to let you fuck him, then.”

Paul released his grip on Emma and narrowed his eyes at her. The manipulative bitch was right—he couldn’t hurt her, because she would run and tattle to Jacob. She’d play the innocent card and let a few fake tears build up, a sniffle here and there as she told Jacob what a big, bad man Paul had been to her. He rolled his eyes at how easily Jacob would fall for the sob story.

“That’s exactly right, Paul,” she whispered with a knowing grin as she nodded her head. She could see right through Paul’s internal conflict, was soaking up how trapped he was. “So I suggest you stay away from Jacob if you even want to keep your little friendship with him.”

“I won’t stay away from Jacob,” Paul barked back, leering over Emma as he growled. “You can’t make me.”

“Oh?” She asked, grasping Paul’s wrist and raising his fingers to her face. Before he could pull away, she’d taken his nails and forced three claw marks into her cheeks. He snapped his hand back and stared down at her in horror as blood gathered at the fresh marks. “Then I’ll just have to make him stay away from you. Won’t I?”

Their hateful gazes lingered a while longer because Emma turned on her heel and stormed out of his room. Paul felt panic set in as he looked at his hand, at the small amount of blood under his nails from where Emma had caused harmed to herself. He wanted to run to Jacob and tell him everything before Emma had a chance to, but he knew it was futile. Jacob would believe Emma over him any day—he had all this time, hadn’t he? Paul heaved a sigh of defeat and ran his hands through his hair before retreating to the bathroom, wishing to scrub his hands until they were numb.