Page 20 of Big & Bossy

Mandy’s eyes went glassy as she stared up at me. I hated this. I didn’t want her to have to deal with any of it, even if it meant something positive for me. “I can’t do this, Jack.”

“Okay. What do you suggest instead?” I asked softly, resisting the urge to drag my fingers up her arms and take her face in my hands. I knew there wasn’t another option, and I knew she’d come to that realization sooner or later. But she had to do it on her own. She had to make the choice for herself.

“I… I…” Mandy stammered, her heart hammering so hard in her chest that I could feel each pulse in her arms. “I don’t know. I’d prefer this hadn’t happened in the first place.”

“I know,” I sighed, holding eye contact with her, watching as the tears welled up. She didn’t blink, didn’t want them to fall. “Unfortunately, J.B. Tech hasn’t invented a time machine yet, so that’s not in the cards. But this option, this unfortunately shitty option, is the best we have right now. It’s the best thing for both of us. I don’t like it either.”

“I hate it,” she snapped, the anger seeping back into her, the softness she’d shown me for a millisecond disappearing. “I hate you.”

The words hit me like a bullet to the chest. I recoiled, releasing her arms. “You hate me?”

“Of course I hate you,” she choked, rubbing at her eyes and forcing the tears to retreat. “I don’t want to spend another goddamn minute in your presence, let alone be your fiancée. I’d rather jump off Bear Peak.”

I didn’t want to get angry with her. I wanted to help her, to make her feel better, but if she was going to attack me I was going to argue right back. “You’d rather kill yourself than spend time with me?” I laughed, the anger in my blood beginning to boil. “Fine. Let’s take a drive, princess. Bear Peak isn’t far.”

Her eyes widened with rage, and I could see the little blood vessels getting larger in the whites. “Fuck you,” she spat, taking a step toward me. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you? Out of your hair, out of the press, dead in the middle of Rocky Mountain National Park?—”

“You think I want that?” I was livid. I leaned in closer, our faces just inches apart, our breaths mingling. “I am trying to help you. Neither of us can change what’s already happened, but this is the only way forward.”

“I’m not doing it.” She grabbed her coffee from the table, stepping with one foot toward the door. I grabbed her, stopping her and pulling her closer. Again, she didn’t fight me.

“Listen to me,” I snarled, each word dripping with a venom I didn’t want to have to use on her. She’d given me no choice. “It’s better to lay with the devil you know than the fucking sharks that will come for you if you don’t. They will consume you alive, do you hear me? You might hate me now, but you’ll hate yourself even more if you invite the hell they will force on you.”

“Let go of me?—”

“Listen and I’ll let go,” I said sternly, loosening my grip just a hair. She could’ve wriggled free at any time if she wanted to. “You’ve never experienced what they can do. If I were you, princess, I’d be careful how I talked to the one person who can get you through this nightmare—me.”

Her bottom lip trembled again either with rage or frustration. It melted my heart, but I held my gaze, my sternness. She needed to understand. These were not schoolyard bullies we were talking about. This shit could get really nasty, really quickly.

She opened her mouth, and from the look in her eyes I could tell that whatever she wanted to say was far harsher than anything she’d already said, but lucky for both of us she shut it again. “I’ll think about it,” she mumbled, tearing herself away from me and stepping out the door.

Chapter 10

Mandy

My house had never been so loud.

Camera shutters, knocks, my doorbell going off every five minutes. The sound of people mingling or shouting, faces appearing outside my windows. I’d closed every blind, blocked them off with every curtain, turned on music louder than I could stand, and still they swarmed, yelling my name, shouting questions that I had no intention of answering.

I was furious. I hadn’t stopped shaking since the meeting this morning. Jackson had called me multiple times, and each time, I’d sent him to voicemail. I refused to save his number in my phone; I had unintentionally started to remember more of his number with every call he made. But I’d never tell him that.

I didn’t care about his promises, he was the reason I was in this position to begin with and I’d be damned if I bowed to him now, even if he did show me a smidgen of kindness when the panic set in. I hated myself for bending to it so easily at the time—I will not allow myself to be so vulnerable again.

My phone rang beside me, this time lighting up with a familiar face and name instead of Jackson.

Mom.

“Hi,” I answered, my voice betraying me already and cracking on the only word I could manage.

“I’m outside,” Mom said. I could hear the camera shutters and talking through the speaker. “Can you let me in? I’ve brought you some groceries and other things I thought you might need seeing as you’re stuck inside.”

I chuckled as I wiped my nose. “Yeah,” I said, “Of course I’ll let you in. Don’t talk to them.”

“I would never.”

I hung up the phone and made my way to the front, the din from outside getting louder with each step away from my bedroom. As soon as I swung open the door, men and women from everywhere began to lunge toward it. Some with cameras, some with microphones, venomous words spilling from their mouths. In the middle of it all, Mom stood strong, groceries in hand and a smile on her face.

I grabbed her and quickly pulled her inside, slamming the door in their faces and locking it.

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