THE FIGHT

Know when to walk away if it's not worth your time, babe.

***

CHAPTER XXIII

*****

"WHAT THE FUCK is going on here?"

Daniel rolled his eyes, showing in no way that he was affected by Pablo's presence. I, on the other hand, was freaking out.

I had no idea what to do, but I started by hopping off the counter before coming up with the ingenious idea of running away.

Only problem was that the only door that didn't lead outside was right behind Pablo. I tried to walk around him to get to it, but he extended his arm to the side and wrapped it around my waist, stopping me from going anywhere past him as he pushed me back into the kitchen.

"Do you mind explaining?" he asked, looking at me specifically as if it didn't take two to tango. "Are you sleeping with Daniel?"

"No."

"Araceli."

I cringed at the warning tone in Daniel's voice, finding myself in the middle of two testorone-filled men.

With a sigh, I looked to the ground and scuffed my shoes against the tiled floor. "Maybe."

There was a silence in the kitchen after that, and I couldn't help but peak up to gauge Pablo's reaction, only to cringe at the look of absolute disappointment on his face.

"I expected better from you."

"There's nothing wrong with sleeping with people! You yourself know that!" I defended, not seeing why he was so personally offended by our relationship.

"But I expected you to know better than to sleep with your own boss," he said, shaking his head from side to side as he let out a frustrated sigh. "I thought different of you, Araceli. I brought you here to work and make an honest living instead of fucking men for their money like the sluts in the club. Now you're making me think I should've just left you there."

I snapped my gaze up from the floor, feeling a fiery anger burn in my chest as I glared at him. "So what? You think I'm a 'slut' now?"

"You're acting like one!"

"I'm not acting like anything!"

"Yes, you are!" he yelled, his voice rising as I felt my temper rise with it. "You're literally spreading your legs for the man that employed you and pretending you're not doing it for his money."

"And you think you're so high and fucking mighty, don't you?" I seethed, getting right up in his face only for him to grab my face and push me away. I slapped his hand away and shoved his chest. "You're a fucking hypocritical piece of shit. Giving me crap for 'spreading my legs' for my boss and pretending that you're not doing the same fucking thing for Emma."

"What?" Daniel growled from behind us, but I paid him no heed as we continued to argue.

"Who told you that?"

"As if it isn't fucking obvious, moron."

"Watch you're tone with me."

"And you watch your tone with me, idiot." I had successfully pushed him into a wall, making him grab my wrists so I couldn't push him anymore. "What should I call you then? Whore? Since I'm a slut, right? Or should I call you a king because you've got a penis between your legs instead of a vagina?"

"Pablo, what the fuck is she talking about?" Daniel asked from behind me, making Pablo look away from me and meet his eyes.

With a sigh, he shoved me back roughly, making me think I was going to fall as I tripped over my own feet. Instead, my back bumped into Daniel's chest and with a hard glare fixed on me before meeting his eye, Pablo said, "Control your bitch."

"So what? I'm a bitch now too?" I called after him as he walked away. "Come back here, you fucking cunt."

It was just Daniel and I left in the kitchen and I didn't need him to ask me anything before I knew what the next subject of our conversation was going to be about. In an attempt to end it before it started, I quickly made to walk out, but before I could take two steps, Daniel had grabbed onto my hand and spun me around to face him.

Taking me completely by surprise, he got down low and grabbed a hold of my legs before standing back up again, making me flop over his shoulders like a ragdoll.

"Put me down, Daniel," I tried to say in a firm voice, but got no reply back from him. I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he just locked his arm tighter around my legs and made sure I was secure as he walked out of the kitchen and towards his room. "Daniel—"

"You don't want to make me anymore pissed than I already am."

That was the only warning I needed.

I went limp on his shoulder, letting him carry me through the halls and ignoring the lingering looks from the maids who were loitering around. To them, I probably looked like I was getting another punishment again which wouldn't come as much of a surprise.

Daniel walked into his room and locked the door behind him before walking over to the bed and letting me fall onto the soft material. I knew that if the mattress was replaced with floor, I would've suffered some serious head injuries and bone fractures.

I sat up and crawled back only for him to grab my ankle and roughly yank me back towards him. He brought his face in front of mine and stared deeply into my eyes as I almost tore my esophagus gulping down heaps of saliva.

"I'm going to ask you this one time," he began, his voice coming out low as his breath fanned across my face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked."

The worst part was I didn't feel any remorse about my answer. Not before I said it and not after. I didn't wish to take it back. I didn't slap my hand over my mouth and hope to go back in time to will myself to think before I spoke.

I kept up with his intense gaze and didn't back down because I was still angry. Pablo had called me a slut in front of his face numerous times and he couldn't even find it within himself to speak up. But then Emma was suddenly mentioned and then big brother mode was switched on.

Yeah, I called bullshit. If he wanted to know more about their relationship, he could go ask them himself because I swore then and there that I was going to be of no help. He had to be thanking me for the little I did let slip anyway because if it wasn't for me and my big mouth, he would still be as clueless as my pet goldfish, bless his heart.

He chuckled darkly, grabbing my neck with his large hand and applying a small amount of pressure to warn me, I assumed. "I'm not playing, Araceli."

"Neither am I, Daniel. If you want to know what happens in your sister's life, why don't you try actually asking her for once?"

I grabbed both his shoulders and pushed him away, surprise coming over me as he actually took a step back although I knew I had no hand in it.

I didn't linger for long. I instead stood up and headed towards the door, not wanting to be in that tense environment any longer.

"The only reason I'm letting you go right now is because I don't want to hurt you."

I turned around, taking in his tense form and his curled fists. He was facing away from the door, his eyes still on the spot I was in a couple seconds ago.

Instead of feeling the slightest shred of remorse like any sane person would, I let out a loud bitter laugh and turned away. "That's a brilliant job you're doing at not hurting me. Keep it up and see how long I fucking stay."

And then slammed the door shut behind me before I walked away.

***

"Okay, but did Pablo really say that?"

"He did."

"And boss just stood there and let him insult you?"

"He did."

"He belongs to the streets!" Anna suddenly declared, making me let out a snort of laughter.

At that point, I couldn't help but disagree with her words more. I knew she was joking, but it felt like a sin to laugh at something like that. Obviously Daniel was upset because something was happening behind his back that I had full knowledge of, but he didn't. And instead of me to be considerate and helpful for once, I laughed in his face and left him alone.

How could I claim that I loved him when I was so willing to treat him like trash just because I was angry? It's not like it was him who called me a slut, anyway. It was Pablo. And sure, he didn't do anything, but what could I have expected him to do in that situation anyway? The options were limited.

I kept my worries away from Anna, laughing and giggling as if I wasn't feeling like the most massive piece of shit human being in the world.

I couldn't help but think back to Samantha's words as well. I felt insecure and like a prostitute that sold herself for pennies. Even though I didn't like the terms that Daniel and I had left off, I couldn't help but feel like perhaps it would be best if I didn't sneak into his room for a few days. Just until I got my thoughts together.

I subconsciously played with the medallion around my neck, running my thumb over the engravings as Anna and I spoke until she suddenly cut herself off. I looked at her in confusion, wondering why she stopped as she stared at me.

"What? What happened? Why did you stop talking?"

"Why are you wearing boss's necklace?"

I glanced down to what I had been playing with before realisation dawned on me.

There was no way I could safely tell her that Daniel had given it to me without her starting to speculate things that weren't happening. And telling her the truth meant telling her about Vincent and I didn't want to; not yet.

I had finally seemed to be moving on from him. All of his memories being locked in a big, black box in the back of my head. I could barely remember what he looked like and even after the scare on Sunday, the nightmares and hallucinations were lessening. Speaking to someone about it now would only get rid of all of that progress faster than I got to reap the benefits.

"I— He just—"

"Please tell me he gave it to you and you didn't steal that," she said, making me smile softly and nod my head. She let out a relieved breath and wiped the invisible sweat off her forehead. "Phew."

"Don't you have any faith in me?" I pouted jokingly as she looked me up and down.

"Nope! Bitch, you're ratchet."

"Says the one that showered herself in perfume put on the display."

We both burst into a fit of giggles, falling onto opposite sides of her bed as we let them loose when, suddenly, the door opened. I snapped my head up at the intruder, fully intending to see another maid, but being surprised when it was Pablo that peeked in hesitantly.

A scowl fell on my face, but thankfully, Anna spoke up before I could.

"Is there anything you want, Pablo?" she asked respectfully, taking me by surprise. If I was in her position, I would've went off on him.

"I would like to talk to Araceli," he said, keeping eye contact with me even as he spoke to Anna. I rolled my eyes and turned to give her a reassuring smile before getting off the bed and walking towards the door.

He took a step back to let me come out and closed the door before gesturing for me to lead the way. I fixed my uniform before walking towards one of the sliding doors that led into the garden with Pablo nervously following behind me.

*****

Look, look, look. All I'm saying is that I'm a firm believer of 'if pussy can get loose because of dick, dick can get weak because of pussy.'

Yall want slut-shaming? Alright, let's slut-shame.

Anyway, on a much more serious note, this'll be the last week of plenty updates. I'm updating again on Saturday because Thursday's chapter is short, but after that it's just two updates a week.

Don't get me wrong, I want to update more. Man if I could post this whole book right now, I would. But I can't and I think its better to give yall one or two updates a week rather than leave you for like... Two months waiting for a new chapter, you get me?

Like I'll try to update twice, but if I can only get one update out in a week, please just bear with me. It means that was all I was able to write that week but I'll never just leave yall hanging.

This year is really important to me - I'm tryna be the youngest student in med school fuck allat going in through alternative ways shit - and after four years of bullshitting my way through secondary school, I'm finally going to pick myself up.

Like the highest amount of points still isn't enough to make me meet all the requirements for med school so... Hahaha

Anyway... In short, I'll try and update twice, but if I only update once in the coming weeks, please don't be pissed.

I swear, on the breaks and weekends I'm only going to be studying and writing.

Not even sleeping.

Anyway, this is long enough. See yall in the next one.