The Husband Beside Me(69)

A runner came right after and dropped off the meatballs.

“You’ll like them.” I smiled as I put meatballs on a white small plate and placed it in front of him.

“They’re huge,” he stated, looking down at his plate.

“Yeah, I know. You’re used to fine dining with small, elegant portions made to look like art. Here you eat like everyone one else,” I joked.

I cut into the first meatball; faint aromas of herbs and spices hit my nose. My mouth watered anticipating the first bite. To say that I scoffed the whole meatball down would have been understatement. Daimon sat across from me watching in horror.

“Remind me that blow jobs are out of the question,” he said, shaking his head, but the ass was grinning.

“I'm hungry, you ass,” I said, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

“Okay then. That’s fine. I'm still scared of you though,” he said warily, through his smile.

“Screw you, Daimon.” I pushed my plate to the side, angry at his behavior.

“No, it’s true, Addie. Had I known you ate like that I might have not fallen in love with you,” he teased. “If I remember correctly, you didn’t eat like that in high school.”

“Of course not. You made me feel anxious. I was too tense to eat. You sat across from me taunting me,” I said sadly, not wanting to remember that.

“Look, Addie—”

“And here’s your pizza,” the waiter interrupted and placed the pizza in the middle of the table.

“Thanks.” I faintly smiled at the waiter.

“Do you guys need anything else?” he asked.

“No, it’s all good.” I began cutting up the slices of pizza and placing it on our plates.

“Addie…”

“Don’t! Not today at least,” I said under my breath.

“I didn’t know what they were doing to you in high school. I mean I stopped most of it before it happened,” he said regretfully.

It was true; he did. Every time someone tried to pick on me and didn’t see Daimon, he shelled out some heavy bullying to that person. But what he didn’t know was he couldn’t protect me all the time. To them, I was the one way to get back at him and all the shit he did. I was his personal play toy and no matter how much I hated the limelight, no matter how much I didn’t want any attention, it wouldn’t stop.

“Addie just tell me how bad it was,” he asked.

I hung my head low, annoyed that today of all days he had to bring up things I didn’t want to remember or deal with. I’d just been accepted into a great university and I had a chance to advance my life, yet Daimon wanted to talk about high school and all the shit that happened.

“It was stupid shit, like ripping up my gym clothes or not being able to find my books. Sometimes, they would pour spoiled milk in my locker ruining everything that was inside. The guys would follow me around school taunting me until I would be cornered. Somehow, Darren was always there to make sure nothing worse ever happened. Look, Daimon, I don’t want to talk about this today. Today, I was moving forward away from that Addie. I realize you might need to know, but I think I deserve today to be about me getting in NYU,” I murmured, picking at my pizza.

“Fucking horse shit,” he spat out. “I just can’t stand the idea of Darren always being there for you the way you needed.”

“Darren to me was only a friend. A very good friend, but I never once saw him any other way,” I admitted.

“Yeah, sure he was. Anyway, let’s try this pizza you say is the best in the city.” Daimon ended the conversation and began eating his slice.

“Daimon… about Darren…”

“This is good pizza.” He bit into the tomato, cheese and basil pizza.

“Yeah, I guess it is. Daimon?”

“Darren wants you,” he said, putting his slice down and wiping his fingers with the paper napkin.

“God, please not this again,” I muttered under my breath.

“I know it’s wrong for me to act this way. I know it’s selfish of me to keep you to myself. But what if you see Darren once and realize you made a mistake. What if you realize your life can be better with him? I'm a fucking prick; you’ve told me numerous times. I know. Darren is like the white knight and I can’t fucking win,” he hissed.

“Darren is and will always be my friend. You, you are different,” I said, trying to reassure him.

“Yeah, bad different,” he said coldly.

“You made me face my past and gave me a push for a better future. Okay, the way you did it wasn’t the most conventional, but you’re the only one who I feel like I can be myself with. With Darren, there’s this invisible line that I feel like I can never cross,” I said calmly.