50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Torn: Chapter Seventy

    Destiny flushed the toilet, exited the bathroom stall, and walked towards the sink. She hurriedly lathered her hands up with floral scented soap and washed her hands, eager to get out of the bathroom before Bernice finished using the stall. As she was drying off her hands with paper towels, a toilet flushed and one of the bathroom stall doors opened.

    Bernice stepped out of the stall, met Destiny's gaze, and moved towards the sink.

    Destiny balled up the damp paper towels and tossed them in the garbage receptacle. Her heels clicked over the small square tiles as she walked to the bathroom door.

    "I love him," Bernice said, flipping up the water faucet lever.

    Destiny's hand froze on the door handle.

    "We've never been in a relationship, him and I. For years, I've known him. For years, we have had this...mutual understanding that we were nothing more than friends with benefits." Bernice proceeded to wash her hands. "It was a one-sided friendship. He needed me more than I needed him. He called me whenever he was feeling lonely, or whenever he needed a plus-one for an event. Lately, he has called on me whenever he was having trouble with you. Whether it was...trying to deny to himself that he loved you, or trying to make you jealous."

    "But you love him?" Destiny asked, turning to face her.

    Bernice shrugged. "After years of getting to know the complicated man that he is, I've grown to love him very much. There's no other man in the world like him. There might be a man here or there who makes a joke that is similar to his sense of humor. Or maybe there is a man who might remind you of him a little. There have been men like that in my life. They are the men I tend to gravitate to. I can't have Aubrey, since he doesn't love me back. I can't have him completely. But there are men who have just a few of his traits. On some nights, that's enough. Sometimes I can fool myself into thinking that I'll find someone like him, someone who loves me. But...deep down, I know that I'm not going to come across another man like Aubrey Graham. No such man exists. Aubrey broke the mold."

    "Then why do you continue to answer his calls?" Destiny asked her flat-out. "If you know he doesn't love you, why do you stay in touch with him? Why does he stay in touch with you, knowing-"

    "How it makes you feel?" Bernice asked smoothly.

    Destiny swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. "Yes."

    Bernice dried her hands off and reviewed her reflection in the mirror. "You shouldn't take offense to the fact that he keeps in touch with me."

    "Well, I do."

    "He and I have cared for each other over a long period of time," Bernice told her. "What he felt for me was the closest he could bring himself to loving someone. It wasn't quite love, but it was close. We've helped each other through some tough times. I'm guessing that when he feels...sad or lonely, it's normal for him to reach out to me. So that's what he does. It's habitual."

    "And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

    "I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what is going on with the two of you," Bernice said slowly. "But whatever is going on, his feelings were hurt. He is hurting. That is why he's acting out. That is why he's trying to make you jealous. He loves you more than I've seen him love anyone, with the exception of his own family. You did something to hurt him, and he doesn't know how to handle that, so he's...lashing out at you. Trying to make you feel as hurt as he is."

    "If he can't handle what's going on, then he should have never pushed me to do this in the first place," Destiny muttered. She opened the door and left Bernice standing in the bathroom.