Slap

"What the fuck, Ethan?" Brandon asked, after he heard about what happened at the party.

"That was a fucking mess, Bran. I mean, Gwen is always involved in everything that goes wrong. Why?"

Ethan was drinking again, but after he took a sip, Brandon just took it from his hand.

"Enough! You don't know how you act after a few drinks, and you know that!"

They were in a bar, near Ethan's house. He was very happy with his own words to Gwen, but then, he felt shity. Ok, he practically called her a slut. That was mean and rude and… no words. He wanted her and it was what pained him the most. He didn't know he liked to be with her so much until he didn't have her anymore. In the beginning, it was not so difficult, because he was too angry. Then, he felt he needed her and took it as loneliness. He tried to go out with others, but he never did anything except have a few drinks and chat.

When she came back to his life, he started to have more and more dreams about her. About them. He remembered he had said 'I love you' to her and it embarrassed and angried him. He knew it was probably because his friends kept saying that he liked her that he said that when drunk. But he didn't like her, right? And he didn't care about her with others. He just felt betrayed with Lestrange because the guy was his archenemy! 'You cheated on her, even though you don't recall it, first', his inner voice said and he frowned.

"Ethan Lennox!" Janet's voice startled him and when he looked to the right, he saw a very infuriated woman walking, no, not walking, striding, to him.

"Janet?' He asked and next thing, her hand collided with his face, in a hard slap. The sound of it made people around them silent, watching the scene in astonishment. "What the…?"

"How dare you do that to Gwen, huh?" She was furious. In his drunken state, Ethan saw her with red eyes and flaming hair. Like a damn demon, ready to devour him.

"... the fuck, woman?" He asked, his hand on his cheek.

"Ah, Miss Hudson, I th-" Brandon tried to say but Janet gave him a stare that shut him immediately.

"You hurt her, you insulted her! How could you tell her you loved her just to get back at her? SHe did nothing to deserve it!"

"You don't know anything!" Ethan said loudly.

"Ah, I know enough. You were a jerk while married to her, you cheated on her, you impregnated another woman, and when she is back in this city, you go after her just to humiliate and embarrass her!" She took one step more in his direction with a menacing stare. "Listen very well, Ethan: you might be rich and influential, but so am I. I can ruin your company. Stay the fuck away from Gwen or you'll answer to me!"

With that, she turned around and left, holding her bag in her hand. People didn't dare to be on her way, deviating from her.

Ethan was not used to being humiliated, especially in public like that. Janet's fingertips were still visible and burning on his left cheek.He got deaf for a few seconds after the hit. Brandon was looking in the direction to where Janet went and sat down on his chair.

"She is hot! I had never been this close to her before." He said and looked at Ethan. "Now, what have you done, Ethan?"

"Wait a minute, you're already blaming me?" What kind of friend was Brandon?

"I know you. You are here drinking and I thought it was because of the party, but as I suspected, you came here out of guilt."

"Guilt?" Ethan laughed. "Guilt of what? SHe wanted to fuck and I let her have a taste." He shrugged and tried to reach out for his glass of alcohol, but Brandon didn't let him have it.

"Don't lie. What did you do?"

Ethan rolled his eyes. Brandon was too good at reading people.

"Fine!" He answered and sighed. "You know that Darla got pregnant and lost the baby, right? So, Gwen was the culprit. I didn't have proof and when I went after her, she had already fled from the country. After she came back here, I told her to fuck off, but she refused. Then, after the party, I went to her house, said 'I love you', and we slept together. This morning I went to her house and she rejected me. I confirmed that I just wanted sex. And left. That 's it."

Brandon was looking at him, perplexed. Ethan had spoken like a drunk man, but clear enough to be understandable.

"You played with her feelings. You broke her heart again, to get revenge." He asked slowly and Ethan nodded. "Do you have proof now that Gwen was the one indulcing Darla's miscariage?"

"Well, Darla told me."

"Darla… you took her words as true without further investigation? What the fuck, Ethan?"

Brandon was abroad when the 'Darla situation' took place and he was not working in the city, yet.

"Why would she lie?"

"Why?" He asked, astonished. "Maybe because she wanted to end your marriage? YOu're smart and so dumb, at the same time." Brandon was going to look into it.

*FLASHBACK*

Janet was uneasy after she left Gwen with Ethan. Yes he left the apartment earlier and he had a smug face, all happy. But Gwen said they did nothing but sleep. The way he was acting seemed weird and she felt bad for leaving Gwen behind, alone with that man.

"Oh, shit!" She closed her car's door and before she could reach Gwen's building, she saw Ethan leaving with a grin. Janet frowned and fastened her pace. "Gwen?" She asked and when she entered the apartment, her friend was on the floor, crying.

"Jan?" Gwen asked when she raised her eyes and Janet held her tight.

"Baby, what happened?"

"He… he…" And Gwen told Janet everything.

"That fucking bastard!" Janet raged. "I'll kill him, I'll kill him!"

"Stay with me, please." Gwen said and Janet nodded. They stayed in bed for the rest of the day and when it was already evening, Janet made sure that Gwen was sleeping and then, she went to look for Ethan. She knew what bar normally people like him used to go to. She was not surprised by him there.

*END OF FLASHBACK*