Page 75 of Big & Bossy

“He lied to you,” he said, each word careful, composed, and pointed. “Fucking hell.”

I didn’t know what to think, didn’t know how to comprehend it. Either of them could have been lying, either of them could have been keeping secrets from me. But there was the overarching issue of Jack being distant the last few weeks, of him keeping things from me, of him not fucking saying that he loved me back.

“Mandy.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’ve been distant,” I breathed, dropping his hand and taking a step back from him. This was too much to handle here, now, surrounded by people. “You’re hiding things again.”

The pause he gave made me question everything he’d said to me, every word he’d uttered. “Even if I am,” he started, his gaze meeting mine, “you shouldn’t concern yourself with it.”

I could feel my heart breaking in my chest. It felt like fire, bubbling up from deep down, ten years of weight on top of it. It consumed my chest within the span of a second. “You don’t love me, do you?”

His mouth formed a hard line, but he said nothing.

The fire spread, climbing up my neck, down my arms. The backs of my eyes burned, threatening to start the waterworks to cool myself down. I stepped away from him, needing the space, the distance, the time that he’d stolen from me. “I can’t do this,” I breathed.

“Mandy—”

“No,” I said, my voice cracking. “I’m done.”

Chapter 35

Jackson

Ifollowed her in an instant.

I wasn’t letting her walk away, not this time. Not when I had a say, not when I was present and could do something about it. I jogged toward her, catching her hand as she stepped out the doors of the grand office space. She turned, her eyes filled with flames, and before she could say a word to me, I pulled her into the private office that branched from the hallway.

Shutting the door behind me, I leaned against it, blocking her exit. “Talk to me.”

Her nostrils flared, her fisted hands twitching to fight me. The knee-length emerald-green dress she had on did nothing for her if she was trying to look dangerous. “Let me out, Jack.”

“I’ll let you out when you actually have a conversation with me instead of running away,” I hissed, taking one step toward her. “If you have something to say, say it. Don’t bite your tongue.”

“I have too much to say to you, Jack. That’s the problem.” She crossed her arms over her chest, a tiny, angry tear breaking free. She wiped it away with a flick of her finger. “I don’t have the time to say it all.”

“You do. We’re alone. I have nowhere to be.”

“You have interviews to do,” she said, an irritated laugh escaping from her. “You have a lot of work to do, apparently.”

“Fuck the interviews. Fuck work,” I seethed. My body had a mind of its own when it came to her, gravitating toward her, taking another step closer. “If you genuinely think that’s more important than this moment right here, right now, then I don’t know what to tell you, Mandy.”

I could see every part of her go tense at my words. “It’s sure seemed more important for the last month.”

“It isn’t.” Another step toward her and she retreated again. “It never has been. Do you think that’s been an active choice I’ve made? Do you genuinely believe for one second, that I would rather have spent my time fucking working?”

“How else am I supposed to take that?” She snapped, her arms flying out, taking up more space. “That’s all the information I’ve been given, Jackson. Work. Work. Work. Beat up Harry. Don’t say you love me. That’s all you’ve been doing.”

I’d realized how she’d picked up on that back in the grand office space, but I didn’t know how to explain that away. I wanted to say it to her, wanted to mumble it over and over against her fucking skin, but I couldn’t. Not when everything was on the line, not when it could cost her her life, not when my affection for her that had never for a second gone away put her in harm’s way. “I just… I need you to trust me. That’s all I’m asking for, Mandy. Just trust me, please.”

She cackled as she turned around, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. I watched as she glanced around the mostly empty office, bare except for the necessities. It hadn’t been assigned to anyone yet. “I’m all out of trust for you, Jack.”

I could feel the air leaving my lungs. “Don’t say that.”

“Do you want me to lie?”

“No, never, but please. There has to be some left. Just trust that I’m doing what I have to.”

“Tell me what’s going on and I’ll consider it,” she said, one shoulder lifting as she looked back at me. “Give me a good reason for snapping and breaking Harry’s nose. Give me a reason that you’ve built me up just to tear me back down again.” I winced, her words almost parroting those from Harry’s mouth before I’d let my knuckles collide with his face. I wanted to tell her, desperately, but if this stupid fucking threat was real, I couldn’t drag her into it. Not until we got to the bottom of it, not until we got that CCTV back from the library. It had been hell waiting for it, and I couldn’t let this happen, not when we were so close— “Yeah, I didn’t think you would.”

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