Just when I thought I was going to tease him, have fun trying to seduce him, the bitch goes and kisses him. She looked at me, I saw it. It was deliberate, she wanted me to see it, that witch. What came as a surprise though, was the fact that it actually hurt me. I felt the sharp pain like a dagger through my heart, it fucking hurt me to see him kissing another woman. That was the first time ever. One thing is knowing about his Don Juan fame, another completely different thing is seeing it with my own eyes.

My heart races, my breathing quickens and there's the knot in my throat strangling me. I feel my eyes pooling with tears about to fall, if I blink, they'll roll down my face, so I fight it. I decide it's better to run off to the ladies' room to shed the inevitable tears in privacy. I won't give his woman that satisfaction, the taste of my tears, the victory they represent.

As I rush away from the scene, I bump into someone. I look up and instantly recognize the friendly smile.

"Oh my God! Anna! It's you! I thought you were not coming. Long time no see!" She just wouldn't stop speaking, until she took in the misery on my facial expression. "Now wait, what's happened?" She takes a look around and sees what I've seen. It was Kitty. I told her unnecessarily what was bugging me. Before I knew it, Emma was also there. Both of them all over me, they always helped me out with Remy related drama. I guess it always makes them feel like they are better, useful friends.

"The bitch! If I were you, I'd go there, sit on his lap, throw my arms around his neck and ask him how he's been." Emma said.

"No, don't do that! He'll feel like his worth your time, and he isn't." Kitty expressed her disapproval of Emma's antics. "I bet it hurts that he has moved on and brought his new lady along to our gala, but come on, Anna. You're free to kiss anyone here tonight. Show him how much fun it is not having to carry his dead weight around. The burden it was, your love for him." She continued. I'm not quite sure I agree with her, we had fun times.

"Badmouthing him won't help, Kitty. It never did. If anything, it will make her even the more attracted to him." Emma offered. "Besides, he's got a cute piece of ass. I don't blame her."

"Guys, you're not helping." I said. But the truth is they were, their bitching at least made my urge to cry to go away. It was entertaining and it definitely got me distracted. I managed to swerve our conversation to less polemic topics, champagne found us and we were sipping happily from our flutes of bubbly, I was pinching the stem between my index finger and thumb, very ladylike. I was feeling proud of myself and my nonchalance after almost breaking down in tears minutes earlier. But the show I had put up was to be short-lived as he approached us. Uninvited, unannounced.

"Good evening, ladies." He said, all charm and swagger, he snaked an arm around my waist and kissed me lightly on my cheek. He greeted the other ladies with kisses on their cheeks as well, but kept one hand steady on my waist all the while.

"Hi, Gambit." Kitty said uninterested, I whispered a little 'Hi'.

"So your owner let you out of your leash for you to go and have a quick pee?" Emma asked him with a raised eyebrow. I spit out the drink and almost choked laughing, letting all my façade of indifference go to waste. He responded to her question as he always reacts to anything, flashing his lopsided smirk.

"You could say that, blondie."

"It's all right, Emma. She's marked her territory already, there's nothing to worry about." I said, referring to her kissing him earlier, he didn't make any questions and understood what I was talking about.

"If Alex Summers was any wiser, he'd do the same. You look hot tonight, chére." He said, letting me know he knew about my escapades with Alex. Who told him? I can't say I'm sure but I have my guesses. I bet Logan did, so he'd keep Remy well away from me. He too was one of my friends who thought my relationship with Remy was toxic.

"Gosh, the sexual tension between the two of you is unbearable. I'm off." Emma said as she left us behind, Kitty followed her. Emma was not finished though, she turned around and added.

"And by the way, you two are both thinking of the same night of sex you had in Remy's place. Isn't that cute?" Emma has such acid sense of humour. Sometimes I love this about her, right now I hate it. Remy looked at me and chuckled, confirming he was indeed thinking about it. I felt my cheeks burning up, denouncing me. I hate it that I blush so easily.

"So chére, after our last encounter, I called you a thousand times and you never picked up. I take it that you're mad at me." I sighed heavily. "Now after what Emma said, I'm confused. Are you?" He held my chin with a finger which I promptly slapped away.

"Oh shut up, Remy!" I said rolling my eyes at him, turning to leave as well. He was faster than me and held my arm. I cursed under my breath, he came closer, too close for my comfort. Our eyes locked, and he said he only wanted to apologize for what he had said back inside Red Skull's bank vault.

"I could have anyone mad at me, chére, but you." I looked away and he held my face so I couldn't avoid his eyes, our lips almost touching. "I guess you know now why I did it. I'm trying, chére, don't deny me that. I'm moving on. We both know we should've done that long ago." At the moment I realized that we were almost panting the two of us and our breathing was in the same pace and rhythm. He then gave me the ex-lover speech, he'll always care for me and shit then left me alone, only to go to her again.

After that, it wouldn't take a mathematician to guess the party went downhill for me. I woke up next morning in a bed that was not mine, wearing some male's tee and boxers. I look around and see the dress I'd been wearing the night before hanging on a chair, my shoes placed neatly on the floor, my panties, yes, my panties nicely folded on seat of the same chair. It looked off, definitely not like someone sexed me up and took advantage of my heartbreak.

"Hey, pretty. Are you alright?" Phew! It was Bobby. Remember how I told you a girl should have a fuck buddy? Erase that, the best thing a girl could do for herself is to have a best gay friend.

"Headache." I admitted simply. "Don't remember much. Enlighten me."

He then went on to tell me last night's odyssey. Of all the embarrassing things I did, the worst for him was that I threw myself on the pool, clothes and all.

"Anna, that's not how you treat a Gucci dress, sweetie. I couldn't find it in me to have it tumble dried. I dried your undies though. It's ready for you if you want it." And he went on, saying he didn't know why I even bothered to wear undies if they were such a teeny tiny little piece of cloth. "Now tell me, I know this has something to do with Remy. What was it this time? Was it his girlfriend that got you out of control?" I told him all about it, our last encounter, my feelings, what he said to me at the party, her kissing him for me to see, drop to the floor and die with jealousy, everything. The greatest thing about Bobby is that he listens avidly to every little thing I say, pays close attention to every single detail and he never judges me.

"Anna, I get it. You still love him, hell, I know that for some fucked up reason you just don't know how to get over that guy. But seriously, I know he's hot, and hey, I mean it, if he as much as snapped his fingers at me, I'd be on my fours waiting for him to fuck me senseless. BUT, girl, he's not the only man in the world! There's gotta be someone else who can turn you on, who can work for you." And there we go again, back to square one. I'm suddenly feeling very tired, tired of discussing Remy. I tell Bobby about Alex and he goes like. "Alex? Seriously? What the fuck were you thinking?"

I want to bury my head in the sand by this point. Thankfully, Bobby is such an insightful friend and instead of pressing the matter against me, he offers to spend the day with me. He's such a great friend. We had a lot of fun, flirting away during lunch. He got himself a couple of telephone numbers while I was still sulking over Remy kissing another woman in front of me. In the evening, we enjoyed a couple of comedy movies that made wonders for my mood.

Before saying goodbye, I took a good look at my best friend and think of how I never told him about my miscarriage. The memory of my baby keeps popping in my head lately, it's gonna be his five-year death anniversary and perhaps it would be nice to have someone accompany me to his grave this year.

"What is it, Anna?" He asks me sensing I'm somewhere else, lost in my thoughts. And I, I completely my resolution to tell him about it. Yeah, I guess I'll just go alone again this year.

-O-

We go back home after another couple of hours enduring his mutant friends and his ex around. When he waved goodbye at them all from a distance, I saw the look on her face, and also registered the sadness in his eyes. No, it was not sadness, I guess he felt ashamed, or guilty for having a life away from them all, a life with me.

When we entered the apartment, he practically lunged at me, taking my clothes off, pinning me against the wall, he kissed my neck up and down as if his life depended on it. He whispered into my ear in a husky voice: "You don't know the effect you have on me." And that's when I wondered if he was talking to me, Joelle or to Rogue, his ex. I pulled his face away from me, pulling him by his hair and demanded he said my name.

"Say my name!" I remembered shouting at his face. "Say my name, Remy."

"Joelle! Your name is Joelle! What's got into you?" He asks with a frown, his hands, which were very busy up to that moment, fall on his sides. I decide I have to take matters into my hands now that I hurt his feelings, so I grabbed his wrists and pushed him roughly against the wall, pressing my lips against his and pinning his hips against the wall. After a few seconds he yanked his wrists free from my grasp and then grabbed onto my shoulders and his lips, oh those lips, are once again moving against mine with a need, or a want, desperation maybe, I'm not sure of at this point, and it surpasses anything I've ever felt. My hands grab his face and I deepen the kiss. I don't want it to end. His tongue explores my mouth and his hand grabbed my left leg, wrapping it around his hip, making my dress bunch at my waist. We stay like this for a few more moments, our lips never parting. I'm stuck between the wall and him. He's warm and solid and I can't stop touching him, his chest, his abs, his back, his arms, his lips are everywhere, on my neck, my chest, they move fast and yet agonizingly slow. Then he trails his lips down my neck to my shoulders, moving the strap to my dress and my bra to the side. I started pulling at his shirt, untucking it from his pants and then begin unbuttoning it. He looks glorious all groomed like that. We should go to galas every day so I get to see him smoking hot and elegant like that more often. After the last of his buttons is loose I pushed his shirt off and my heart skipped at the sight of his bare chest. I should be used to it by now, but it still has a wow effect on me. I push even closer to him and trail my hands down his body, getting to his belt, and I quickly undo it. His breathing is heavy and I finally pull it off, throwing it to the side. Before I can go any further he grabs my arm and drags me down the hall to his room. It's mostly bare, a table on each side of his bed, which lies in the middle, white sheets still unmade from our loving session before the party. He shoved me through the doorway and closes it behind him. He then spins me around, backing me further into his room, and closer to his bed.

As we make love, I smile in victory. Hell yeah, he's making love to me, not to her.

-O-

I put Joelle to sleep, in the best way I can. As she sleeps soundly, I get up and go to the balcony for a cigarette. I think about everything that happened that night, and inevitably, my mind takes me back to Anna, beautiful Anna in that dress that took my breath away. I take another drag at my cigarette and I decide I have to see her again. Not today or tomorrow, I don't know when, but I gotta see her again soon. Just because.

-0-0-0

Thank you all for reading, especially to those who have favorited/followed the story. You guys keep me going.

Any thoughts on this chapter? I enjoyed writing gay Bobby quite a lot.