Taking the Edge Off – Part 2

‘A little bruised,’ Michael admitted sorely. He meant emotionally, despite things coming to blows between he and a long trusted friend of his that the little bitch had turned against him. The fight didn’t last any more than five punches. And it didn’t matter that Stevie walked away unscathed. He’d learn when she would play him off against some other idiot. Soon enough…

‘But it wasn’t because of us,’ he explained. ‘It was because that bitch Eva tried to manipulate me. She tried? She succeeded. She’s ruined everything. I thought I was just paranoid at first, but…’

‘Go on,’ Karen encouraged with a gentle pat of the hand against the back of his own.

‘I don’t know how to say this without going back “there” and I know we don’t want to go back “there”,’ he stressed. So she encouraged him anyway, because better out than in. They had gone that far so at least they knew the directions.

‘All the time I was with her, I was trying to replace you and I knew I couldn’t. How can I even begin to replace my own mom, and with a cheating slut like her? It messed with my head. And then all I wanted was you, because I couldn’t compare and I’ve basically been going out of my mind ever since.’