Page 64 of Quake
“No.” She shook her head, her ponytail swishing from side to side.
“Fuck,” I said, running my hand over my face. “You’re really starting to scare me.” I reached out for her again, but she pulled back.
“I can’t do this anymore,” she said.
Her words slammed into me, and my knees almost buckled. The wind was completely knocked out of me, and it took a moment to catch my breath. She had just blown in and knocked me for six. Just like that. Out of nowhere.
“What?” I asked, my heart thumping a mile a minute. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t want to see you anymore,” she stated.
“Where is this coming from?” Had I moved too soon in asking her to submit to my father’s whims to meet her? “Let’s sit down and talk about this.”
She shook her head harder and wrapped her arms around her middle. It was her unconscious way of shielding herself, and seeing her revert to old tendencies caused my panic to deepen.
“Jules, look at me,” I demanded, not believing her for a second.
Her entire demeanor had changed practically overnight, which made me believe something had happened. Something bad. Her reaction couldn’t have been triggered by my father’s rude interrogation on Saturday. It was shitty but causing her to break up with me? I didn’t believe it. Something else was in play.
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” I said, closing the space between us. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Caleb, please. Don’t make this any harder than it already is.”
“How?” I demanded, my temper beginning to fray. “All I’ve done is support you. I’ve never asked any questions, never demanded you tell me what happened to you. But this…this isn’t you. It’s coming out of nowhere.”
“How do you know?” she cried, finally looking at me. Tears welled in her eyes, and I froze. All I saw was blind fear.
“Do you think I haven’t paid any attention this whole time?” I exclaimed. “I see you, Juliette.I see you.”
“No, you don’t see anything. You can never understand. I can’t be with you anymore, Caleb. I should never have let it get this far.”
I grabbed her arm, desperate to stop her from leaving. “Don’t, Jules.Don’t.”
“Let me go!” She wrenched herself away, stumbling backward.
She shielded herself from me, and I instantly regretted touching her like that. “Jules…”
“Why won’t you just leave it be?” she cried. “I’ve made my choice.”
“You have? Or has someone made it for you?”
“Your father offered me fifty thousand dollars to leave you,” she shouted, tears streaming down her face. “And I said no!”
“What the fuck? I don’t believe you,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s fucking crazy. Why would my dad offer you money? I can’t even…”
“You deserve to know the truth about him,” she went on, ignoring me. “Because when I walk through that door, I’m not coming back. I know you don’t understand, but I have others I need to protect. It’s not just about me.”
She was damn right about one thing. I didn’t understand at all.
“Juliette, stop.”
“I’m not leaving because of him,” she said. “I never took a single cent from that man.”
“Then why?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. The only woman I’d ever cared about had just torn my heart from my chest, the heart I never knew existed, and had shit all over it. “Why, Jules?”
She shook her head and backed away.
