Piercing Hatred | ✔️

49

~Knox's POV~

"So," Gabriela said as she entered the kitchen the next afternoon, causing me to look up from the sandwich I was making myself. I frowned and cocked a brow expectantly for her to continue speaking, turning my attention back to my food.

"What's going on with you and that girl?" She asked, and I glanced at her, pinning her with my gaze. "That girl is my girlfriend, and her name is Flora." I told her, but I was well aware of the fact that she already knew both of those things. I wasn't sure what had changed exactly, but Gabriela had gone from being not so much of a nuisance to have here to being utterly irritating within just the last week. It wasn't the fact that she went out partying all the time—no, it was the way she acted when she was here.

I couldn't tell if it was just my imagination, but I was beginning to think that she felt some kind of possessiveness towards me. It wasn't like I wanted to address her odd occasional looks or touches on my arm, so I was instead deciding to either ignore her entirely or play dumb.

"Girlfriend?" Gabriela asked with poorly disguised distaste, pursing her lips. "Is that really a good idea, Knox? I mean, how well do you even know this girl?" She said, placing her hands on her hips. The sheer irony within the truth of the question almost made me laugh. I turned and faced her, holding my plate. "Pretty well, considering I've known her almost half my life." I responded bluntly, not bothering to explain further before I walked around her to leave.

As I left, I noticed the slacking of her jaw in shock and hid a smile, glad to have shut her up.

Luckily for me, she didn't try to follow me when I headed into my room, leaving me to eat in peace. However, not so luckily for me, that no longer seemed to apply when I entered the living room again after having eaten.

Gabriela looked up and rose from the couch, following behind me when she realized I had no intentions of acknowledging her. I set my empty paper plate in the trash and frowned when I felt her take hold of my elbow, turning me around to see the frown on her face. There was a furrow between her brow and a pout on her lips that made me cringe away a little. "You don't have to settle for her, you know." She said, catching me off guard.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise and I stared at her, more than a little baffled. "What?" I scoffed, shrugging her hand off my arm.

She frowned and stepped closer, once again attempting to grab my arm. "You don't have to settle. I mean, I'm sure you remember what it was like when we were together. We were so good, weren't we?" She said. I was utterly floored by the audacity of her and ended up just staring at her, wondering what the hell I shad ever seen in her. Right now, I wasn't sure at all how I used to like her, let alone be in love with her.

"Don't tell me you don't at least miss the sex," Gabriela pouted, trailing her fingertips over my forearm. Disgusted, I smacked her hand away and pushed her back, putting some much needed distance between us. "I don't miss anything about you and I being together, Gabriela. In fact, I was happy with you no longer being in my life."

Her eyes widened as if she couldn't believe the words I was saying and she gaped up at me. "I'm not sure what you think you've been doing this past week or so, but I'm done with it. I have no interest in you, romantically or otherwise, and I want you to be out of my apartment by tomorrow afternoon." I said bluntly, feeling a little bit miffed.

I moved around her, not having anything else to say, and ignored as she called after me in protest.

I slammed my bedroom door shut and locked it, feeling an odd mixture of anger and also relief. The fact that she was so blatantly disrespectful of my relationship with Flora and that she was trying to convince me to sleep with her was where I had drawn the line. She had been pushing it this entire past week and perhaps didn't realize how close I was to kicking her out.

But, oh well. At least I didn't have to worry about when I could see my own damn girlfriend anymore. I flopped into bed, smiling a little at that.

**

"Come on, Knox." Gabriela pleaded as she stood by the couch the next afternoon, surrounded by a few packed suitcases. "I don't have anywhere to go. Seriously, I won't do anything again. You can't be this irrational."

I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest. "You're not my responsibility anymore, Gabriela. If you can't even have basic respect for me and my relationship, why the hell would I let you stay in my place?" I retorted, opening up the front door and holding it open for her. "Now get the hell out." I demanded, pointing a thumb towards the open door. She looked at me for a moment, as if expecting that I'd suddenly change my mind, and I held her gaze to let her know I wasn't fucking around. I'd had enough.

She sighed and reluctantly grabbed all her bags, shooting me a glare as she passed through the threshold. I merely gave her a fake smile when she was stood outside my apartment, before slamming the door in her face.

A sigh of relief left me as I turned and walked down the hallway towards my room, rolling my shoulders. I entered my dimly lit bedroom and heard the chirp of my phone as the screen lit with a call from Flora.

Not hesitating to answer it, I plopped into bed and stretched an arm behind my head with a groan. Silence flooded through the line for a second. "That's not the greeting I was expecting." Flora teased, letting out a soft laugh.

I smiled slightly at the sound of her voice, the tension leaving my body as I leaned into the pillows. "Sorry, doll." I chuckled, getting comfortable. "What'd you call for? We usually never call this early." I mentioned. She hummed softly into the phone before replying. "Ah, well, I just heard what sounded like arguing in the hallway. I just wanted to call, see if everything is okay." She explained, causing me to smile slightly.

"Ah, that..." I muttered, hesitating. I'd assured Flora time and time again that having Gabriela live with me wasn't going to be a big deal, that she wasn't a concern, and then this happened. "I ended up kicking Gabriela out last night, but she was trying to convince me to let her stay, so I had to basically usher her out the front door myself." I told her.

Flora paused, taking in my words. "You kicked her out?" She gasped, sounding stunned by the news. "Why? I thought you said you didn't want to do that." She asked, confusion leaking into her voice.

"At first I didn't. She's been...getting on my nerves a bit lately." I said vaguely, looking up at the ceiling as I bit on the inside of my lip. "Last night she basically said I was settling for you, and then poorly attempted to seduce me, so I kicked her out." I muttered, not really wanting to recall it.

"Seduce you?!" Flora practically squawked into her end of the phone, the sudden change causing me to fight a smile. "Poorly, yes." I reminded her. She huffed, sounding annoyed at the idea. "You'd better have thought it was done poorly." She grumbled, only earning a chuckle from me. I couldn't help but to find her incredibly obvious jealousy cute.

"I want you to come over." I told her softly, and she paused, quieting her nonsensical grumbling. "Now?" She asked. "Mhm. The front door is probably still unlocked, even. I think I forgot it." I realized, smiling when she quietly scolded me for having done so. "I'll be over in just a minute." She said, hesitating for a moment to allow a brief silence to pass. "I love you." She squeaked.

And then, as if flustered by her own words, she hung up without waiting for a response.