Heartless: Episode 3

1.

DANIEL

I watched as Elizabeth all but ran up the street, the opposite direction from where I was waiting for her. What the hell was going on?

I started chasing after her, my heart in my fucking throat the whole time as I screamed her name. Ben yelled at me to stop, his footsteps echoing close behind each one of mine.

“Daniel, stop!” he shouted one last time before I felt a pull one my arm. I stopped running and turned to face him, my concern and anger growing.

“What happened? Where is she going?” I growled at Ben.

His grip only tightened, and I gave him one last warning before I completely lost my shit on him.

“What the fuck, Ben? What did you say to her? Let me go before I knock your teeth in.”

He tried to contain me, but I flexed both arms before thrashing them back and then down, forcing his grip to loosen. I shoved him, breaking completely free, and he stumbled before trying to regain his balance. He took a shaky step toward me, and I squeezed my right hand into a fist before clocking him square in the jaw. My knuckles throbbed immediately, but I shook it off.

Ben’s head flew to the side, and he quickly snapped it back to meet my anger-filled gaze. He charged at me, his face seething, but his over-the-top emotions made him an easy opponent. He stepped toward me with his head down, clearly aiming for my chest, like he was a fucking bull. I stopped him mid-stride with a knee to his ribs. A guttural oomph sound escaped as he lowered himself to the pavement, his hand now holding onto his stomach area.

“I’ll put you in the fucking ground if you don’t knock it off and tell me what the hell is going on—right now.”

He glanced up, his eyes wincing in pain. “Why are you cheating on my sister?”

That’s what this shit is about? “I’m not cheating on your sister.”

He made a girlish grunt sound and I fought back the urge to hit him again. “I just saw you with my own eyes, Daniel. What the hell, man?” He pushed up from the ground and rose to his feet.

“I’m not cheating on your sister,” I reiterated. “I ended things with her days ago—right after I met Elizabeth, actually.”

“You broke up with my sister for Elizabeth?”

“Ben, I know this won’t be easy for you to hear,” I paused, knowing that they had a close relationship, “but your sister was never my girlfriend. We were never exclusively dating.”

Ben growled as his hand balled into a fist. I dodged the punch and pinched between his neck and shoulder, bringing him down to the ground again.

“Stop fucking trying to hit me. Be pissed, but I never lied to Kate—ever. She knew what it was the whole time.”

“Which was what? Some sort of booty call that lasted two years?”

“Yes,” I answered honestly. “But she knew that. Damn it, Ben, I’m telling you the truth. She always knew. Right from the start.”

“You had to know that she was in love with you.” He moved to sit down on top of a knee-high brick wall, his hand palming his jaw.

I followed suit. “I swear to you that I didn’t. I would never have guessed it was anything more to her than it was to me.”