Love My Friends with Benefits novel Chapter 50

At first, Phoebe tried her best to break free. However, her movements gradually became weaker.

I figured that she was probably out of strength.

That was good. At least she wouldn't be able to harm anyone.

I loosened my grip on her hair because I thought she was out of strength. I had barely recovered from my flu and only felt fatigued after that burst of rage.

Suddenly, Phoebe struggled violently!

She caught me off guard and broke free. She ran towards the end of the corridor with her face covered in blood and cried, "Leonard, save me!"

Leonard? Was he here too?

Something felt vaguely amiss, but I couldn't pinpoint it. I shook my head, trying to get rid of my confusion.

Leonard bent down slightly and held Phoebe in his arms.

I couldn't see his expression clearly because his face was in the shadows, but I could hear the rage in his voice. "Queena, have you lost your mind?"

Phoebe curled up in his arms and sobbed pitifully.

They looked like a loving couple.

Nobody would be able to tell that this man would climb into my bed every night.

I felt disgusted at that thought and turned away. I didn't want to have anything to do with them.

At my silence, Leonard became even more infuriated. "Answer me!"

"Leonard, forget it." Phoebe looked up at him, teary-eyed and pitiful. "Queena must be in a bad mood because of Grandma's condition. She just wanted to vent her frustrations. We should be more understanding of her."

Did she say that I just wanted to vent my frustrations?

I saw what she was trying to do. She wanted to make me out to be some evil woman.

I was so disgusted that I could vomit. I looked at Phoebe and laughed coldly. "Do you think that I didn't hear you on the phone, saying what you wanted to do to Grandma?"

"I... I didn't say anything," she said feebly.

...

I didn't want to waste time with her, so I turned to leave. "Don't do anything if you're afraid of getting caught. Phoebe, you'd better pray that every time you get exposed for something, you have an idiot like Leonard to protect you."

After that, I started to walk away.

Suddenly, a figure flashed before me. It was Leonard.

I looked up at him.

His voice was cold and harsh. "Apologise to Phoebe."

I took a step back and my foot came into contact with Phoebe's. I turned back and saw her looking at me pitifully. "Queena, please, don't go. We need to sort this misunderstanding out. I really don't know what you're talking about."

I turned back around.

Leonard was getting closer to me. There were probably less than 10 centimetres between us.

I was sandwiched between them with nowhere to run. I knew that I was in trouble.

I didn't want to give in, though.

"Why should I?" I backed away from them.

I forced myself to calm down.

On the other hand, Leonard seemed to be boiling with rage. He grabbed my wrist and roared, "Queena, didn't your mother ever teach you to apologise when you've done something wrong?"

Did he say that my mother hadn't taught me?

How dare he bring my mother up in front of a mistress's daughter!

Who did he think he was?

My mind went blank. I let out a crazed laugh. "My mother died when I was a child. How could she have taught me anything? Oh, I forgot that to you, I'm nothing compared to Phoebe. I can't even compare to her vixen of a mother, selling her body for some money to spend..."

Leonard let me go, looking a little shocked.

He probably hadn't expected me to air our family's dirty laundry like this.

The more I said, the angrier I became. "Is that what you like, Leonard? If you..."

...

The sound of a crisp slap rang out.

It was so forceful that it sent me staggering backwards. 

Phoebe slowly lowered her hand. She covered her mouth with her free hand and looked at me tearfully.

I was dizzy from her slap and leaned against the wall, trying to regain my balance.

Leonard frowned. "Queena..."

There were emotions in his eyes that I couldn't decipher.

Was it confusion? Reluctance? Or something else?

Phoebe cut him off and said righteously, "Queena, you can say anything you want about me, but you can't insult my mother!"

I wanted to laugh.

How ridiculous. Phoebe hadn't objected to her mother being a homewrecker, and she hadn't objected when Bell and Gail tormented me. Yet here she was, making a stand for such a ludicrous cause.

I didn't want to waste my breath on her. I stood up dizzily, wanting to return the favour.

I raised my hand when I got to Leonard.

He grabbed my hand. "Queena, that's enough."

My skin tingled where his skin met mine.

I wanted to shake him off, but I couldn't. I could only sneer at him. "Why didn't you say anything when she slapped me?"

...

He fell silent and let me go, then stood between me and Phoebe.

The look in his eyes was as firm as could be.

He had never been so protective of me.

"It's fine, Leonard." Phoebe wiped her tears. "You should go. I need to talk to Queena."

Leonard wasn't convinced. "She's really unstable now."

"It's okay, really," Phoebe repeated as she looked him in the eye. "Really. Anyway, I think there's a huge misunderstanding between us."

"Alright, then."

Leonard didn't press the matter and turned to leave.

The moment he was gone, Phoebe's attitude changed.

She grabbed my hair and laughed coldly. "How does it feel? I bet you didn't expect things to turn out like this."

I was hurting all over, especially my face. It hurt so much that I was expressionless. "You set me up."

She laughed manically and pulled her phone out of her bag.

I watched as she pulled up her call records and waved her phone in front of me.

I had a splitting headache and closed my eyes, not wanting to watch her gloat.

She slapped me again. "I want you to take a look!"

My face was already numb. I didn't move.

Phoebe forced my eyelids open.

I couldn't resist and just went along with it.

The call records showed that the last call Phoebe had made was from the night before.

This meant that she hadn't been on the phone with anyone earlier.

I croaked, "You lured me into a trap."

"Of course." She put her phone away and looked at me cockily. "Queena, there's no such thing as coincidences. Did you think that I'd allow you to foil my plans time and time again?"