Page 4 of Playing For Keeps
“I was going to leave D.C., I knew he would come after me, I just didn’t expect it to be so soon. I also didn’t think he would send a hitman. I thought the man was just a corrupt asshole but it turns out he’s also a murdering asshole. I can’t predict the future, Thomas,” Selena says.
Becoming offensive is her default mode. She hates feeling powerless. She thinks she can do anything on her own. I’m just glad she’s safe.
“Obviously you need to hide out for a while. I propose you stay here,” I say. She wants to protest but Thomas cuts her off.
“He’s right, Selena. You won’t find a better-protected house than this mansion. Ritchie’s skills have ensured that it’s impenetrable. You should stay here until we can find out just who Evan Ross is. And how powerful he is as well.”
The fight immediately dies out of her and she nods. She always did like Thomas the most out of all of us. I think it has to do with the fact that Thomas always seemed so much older and wiser. Thomas does carry a lot of weight and wisdom but what Selena doesn’t realize is that I’ve grown more mature over the years as well. Now, I want answers to my questions. She’s going to be living here which means she can’t ignore me anymore. I think it's time we hashed out our issues. For both our sakes.
After she finishes briefing us about everything, I show her to the room she’s going to be staying in.
“Please tell me I won’t have to see you every day,” she says as we climb a flight of stairs.
I ignore the statement.
“Why did you call me for help?” I ask instead.
She hesitates before answering.
“I had no one else to call,” she tells me.
All I hear is that there’s no man in her life. I exhale softly. I was worried she had moved on. Guess she was too busy trying to save the world to do that.
“You’re safe now.”
She nods but I can tell she’s still tense. This incident must have shaken her up a lot.
“I have a house elsewhere. You won’t have to see too much of me,” I say to her. It’s a lie. I plan to spend a lot of time here over the next few days. We reach the room she’s supposed to be staying in.
“Joseph,” she says softly. “I don’t want to fight with you. So please don’t talk to me.”
She’s basically pleading. She’s right. We have a tendency to handle conflict in an unhealthy manner, basically through yelling. I can tell she doesn’t want to go back to that. But we’re older now and wiser. We can do better. I know we can.
All I have to do now is to get the only woman I’ve ever loved to open up to me. It’s a hard task but I rarely ever lose. Except when it comes to her. I lost once. Never again. Fate did not bring her to me only for me to lose her again.
Chapter 3
(Selena)
______
Joseph lied to me. I’ve been at the Reagents headquarters for 3 days and I see him all the time. I’m making breakfast and he’s in the kitchen with me. I try to watch a movie and he’s there. I just want to enjoy a few days without worry but he’s really stressing me out. I know what his goal is. He wants to rile me up so that I end up talking to him. I would rather kick him in the balls. Conversations with Joseph are counterproductive. I’m too stubborn to back down and he gets distracted by other things pretty easily. At the end of it all, we yell at each other and we don’t reach a consensus. I’m not going back there with him. It was hard enough five years ago.
Still, sometimes I find myself staring at him and wondering. Is that really the man I was married to for 5 years? Joseph and I married young. We thought we had this epic, all-consuming love that could withstand anything. We thought wrong. Although the day he proposed to me still remains the happiest day of my life.
“You’ll burn a hole in him at this rate,” someone says from behind me. I whip around and it’s Thomas.
“Hey old man,” I tease with a small smile. Out of all of them, Thomas is the only one that’s starting to look his age. It’s not necessarily in a bad way. His brown hair is thinning and there are a few grey strands. He also has a few wrinkles on his forehead. All this doesn’t make him look any less handsome though.
Thomas ignores my words and nudges his head towards Joseph. We both watch his combat training with Ritchie. Joseph has always been a good fighter. He’s muscular and large. When we first started dating, he used to do push-ups with me on his back. He looks like a lion but he actually has a really soft personality. It’s one of the reasons I fell for him. He’s the calm to my storm or at least he was. Until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“You two need to talk,” Thomas says. I glare at him.
“Talking won’t do shit, Thomas.”
“Selena, I’ve watched Joseph beat himself up over your divorce for years. He doesn’t know why it happened. He hasn’t been able to move on.”
“What if I don’t want him to move on?” I ask quietly. Thomas studies me. He looks at me like he’s trying to figure me out.
