Page 70 of Rush
“Dude, she spoke to the world.” He nodded at the magazine. “Do yourself a favor and read it. Maybe it’ll help you make your decision.”
“What decision?” I murmured, suddenly turning quiet.
“Whether you want to forgive enough to admit you love her.”
“I can’t… I have to stay focused for the fight.” I glanced at the magazine, hating myself for being tempted.
“Do what you like, mate,” Ash said, crossing the room. Opening the door, he said, “I’ll be outside waiting. Either way, I’m here.”
Alone, on the precipice of a life-changing event, another had presented itself. In true Jade fashion, it was dramatic, over the top, and completely in my face.
Picking up the magazine, I started to read. Maybe I was looking for some of my own punishment, or maybe I was searching for a miracle, I didn’t know. All I was certain of was the fact she’d splashed her life over the pages of a national newspaper.
For what end?
High school wasa difficult time for Jade.
“It wasn’t all roses and sunshine,” she says. “A lot of people assumed because I went to a private school, I was just as rich as they were. No one worried about money, but I did.”
A scholarship kid, Jade spent her time studying and working part-time at the local fast-food joint to save money so she could keep up with the friends she’d made among the well-to-do kids. A habit she later admits to carrying over into adulthood.
Money and status, it seems, is the raison d’être of her generation. Work more, be more, have more. It’s a vicious cycle of eat or be eaten while looking runway ready doing it.
One cannot spend their entire high school career without coming across the quintessential mean girl and her crew. Like an episode of the hit teen show Gossip Girl, schemes and manipulation abounded in her life.
Scanningthe rest of the article, I narrowed my eyes as I read the true story of Jade Forsyth. A side of her was appearing that I’d never seen before. Not then and not even now.
The full story of her and Hunter—the beginning, middle, and end—was laid bare. Then how he’d treated her in the wake of their break up. How he’d withheld her money and in turn had sent her out onto the street with nothing.
Then after detailing our bucket list adventures and our night together, the downward spiral she called her karma. She believed she was getting what she deserved. It didn’t matter if she was conscious of her actions or not. This was her retribution, and from the ashes, maybe she could become the person I’d seen below the surface. This was her chance at being real.
I didn’t know what to think.
She’d been fired from her job after scaling back her overtime in an attempt to turn her life around. The career she’d sacrificed everything for had blown up in her face…all because she wanted to have something outside of the grind.
Her best friend, Margaret—who’d never really been her friend in the first place—had betrayed her over and over. The same friend who’d sent a photo of her sleeping in Hunter’s car to every media outlet and publishing house in the country.
Jade truly had no one in her corner fighting for her.
Her life had snowballed from the moment she’d caught Hunter fucking another woman…and she’d lost everything.
And after all that humiliation and heartbreak, she’d owned up to her mistakes, calling it what it was. She’d been shallow, selfish, and manipulative, and she was sorry.
This wasn’t a love story, but what came after the end, maybe it could be.
And there, right at the end, was a note from Jade herself. A postscript, a message, and reading it tore me apart.
There wasone shining light in my journey of self-discovery, a man who put his own life on hold to show me I was worth more than the sum of all my mistakes. Despite the way I’d treated him all those years ago, he still wanted to help me. There was no agenda, scheme, or manipulation. He was completely and utterly real.
He was the man who showed me I could be more even as I tore his heart out in my own ignorance.
I don’t want my job back. I don’t even want my money or closet full of designer clothes. I definitely don’t want that twenty-thousand-dollar Tiffany engagement ring. I don’t want that life.
All I want is an AUFC fighter named Ryan Harper to know I love him, and that I would do anything to show him I’m worthy of his heart in return.
Ryan, I’m truly sorry. I should’ve been fighting for you from the beginning. For you and no one else.
I will always love you. My first, true love.
