Love My Friends with Benefits

He'd bit me right where my wound was. It hurt like hell, and it was probably bleeding.

I trembled in pain and exclaimed, "You b*stard!"

"I've never claimed to be a saint."

Leonard looked up, a trace of blood on his lips. The dim lights made him look slightly devilish yet domineering. He let me go and said, "Queena, I have the upper hand. I can end our deal at any time, but what about you?"

I really wanted to be tough and tell him that I could, too.

However, I swallowed the words that were right on the tip of my tongue.

Phoebe and Gail were plotting something against me, and Bell hated my guts. I had to stay as far away from the Jones family as possible at a time like this.

Bell had been furious earlier, but he hadn't explicitly said that he wouldn't be seeing Grandma anymore. The Jones family had to continue pretending to be a loving family in front of Leonard.

I couldn't take the risk. I was nothing but a normal human being and I knew how important it was to stay alive.

After thinking things over for a long time, I silently turned to leave.

I could see from the reflection on the elevator doors that Leonard had a lit cigarette between his fingers.

He didn't take a drag of it. He just watched me silently, making me feel uncomfortable.

The elevator was finally here. I hurried into it, almost fleeing.

Behind me, Leonard said faintly, "I won't be visiting your grandmother from today onwards."

I didn't have the time or mood to dissect his words.

Just because Leonard wouldn't visit Grandma, it didn't mean that he wouldn't see Bell and his family. I didn't know what he wanted to express.

...

When I got home, I threw my bag onto the floor and flopped onto the bed.

As I lay on the bed, I felt so blissful that I almost moaned. I wanted to stretch. Unexpectedly, the moment I stretched out an arm, pain shot through my shoulder.

I screeched and my face twisted with pain. I slowly turned to look at my shoulder. The blood had already dried on my shoulder, making my clothes stick to the wound.

I hissed painfully and ripped my clothes off.

It was better to suffer through a short moment of pain than to prolong it.

The pain almost smothered me. My hatred and disgust, or perhaps even fear of Leonard deepened.

The old me had been upset over him ending things with me and I had been unwilling for him to be with Phoebe. However, the new me wished for nothing more.

How things could change in an instant.

My phone suddenly started ringing.

I suppressed the pain and answered it. "Hello?"

Aunt Nancy sounded joyful. "Queena, your father said that he won't be coming anymore!"

I was taken aback. "Huh?"

"Bell told me to hire a caretaker," Aunt Nancy explained. "He said that he'd be busy with work and wouldn't be visiting your grandmother anymore. You can come to see her every day!" Bell was busy? What a joke.

I sneered and exposed Bell's lie immediately. "Is it because Leonard said that he wouldn't be visiting Grandma anymore?"

Since Leonard wouldn't be visiting Grandma, there was no need for Bell to put on a show.

"How'd you know about that?" Aunt Nancy's tone changed immediately.

Sh*t!

I slapped a hand over my mouth as regret washed over me.

I'd been so delighted that I'd blurted out the things that Leonard told me!

"Queena, I told you about this before." Aunt Nancy said seriously, "Never, ever owe someone a favour. You'll never pay it off. Do you know what Leonard Nell is like? How dare you ask him for a favour?" Aunt Nancy hit the nail right on the head. It made my eyes twitch ominously, but I still said, "I... I don't owe anyone anything."

"That's impossible." Aunt Nancy didn't believe me at all. "If you don't owe Leonard a favour, how could you have shown up so coincidentally yesterday and today?"

I tried to think of something to explain my appearance the day before and on this day.

I was struck by an idea and said, "If I had an agreement with Leonard, I wouldn't have gotten into such a close shave with Bell today, right? Anyway, he's Phoebe's fiancé. Why would I beg him for anything?"

This sounded rather reasonable.

Aunt Nancy believed it, but she was still doubtful. "Is that so?"

I nodded immediately. "Of course."

I had to use all of my wits to rid Aunt Nancy of all her suspicion.

Even so, before hanging up, she still gave me a warning. "Queena, Leonard Nell is not a simple character. Bell and his family might want to latch onto him because of his money, but I don't care about them. Don't do something stupid, Queena."

"Alright, I know," I agreed obediently.

After hanging up, I felt like I'd barely made it out alive.

Unexpectedly, my phone started to ring again.

I sighed. It looked like Aunt Nancy was really concerned about me.

"Hello?"

I answered the phone, resigning myself to my fate.

On the other end of the line, Leonard's deep voice rang out. "Who were you on the phone with, even going to the extent of ignoring my call?"

I could tell that he wasn't too happy. However, I didn't need to beg him for anything anymore.

I took a deep breath and blurted out as quickly as I could, "Leonard, you're right. From today onwards, our deal is off. I won't see you anymore, and you should leave me alone as well. Bye!" After that, I hung up without waiting for a response.

I wanted to laugh at the thought of Leonard's current expression.

He was so haughty and arrogant that he never would've expected that a woman would turn him down, particularly a woman that he looked down upon.

However, I couldn't just stay at home.

I had no idea how Leonard managed to break into my house each time. I'd be done for if he were to come to settle the score with me.

I packed up some clothes and got ready to hide out at May's place. I'd just stepped out of the house when my phone started to ring again.

I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that Leonard was calling me.

He just refused to let things go.

I curled my lip and rejected his call before blocking his number. After some thought, I blocked the other number that he'd used to call me earlier.

I didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore.

I was afraid that Leonard would be able to track me down, so I didn't even drive. I took a taxi to May's place.

The sky was just starting to turn dark when I met up with May outside her place. She'd just gotten off work and dragged me to a restaurant that was apparently delicious for dinner. When our food was served, I found that I couldn't stand the overwhelming flavours.

I gasped and downed a glass of ice-cold water. I asked May, "How can you like something like this?"

May deliberately threw me a flirtatious glance and said teasingly, "Oh, you. You know how they say that a pregnant woman's appetite changes dramatically."000