Page 90 of Fighting For You
I hadn’t let myself sink down into the fear she might not return my feelings—I’d lived with the unrequited reality of my love for her for nearly a decade, so I could handle that. Anything shy of the hate she seemed to feel for so long.
Now, we had repaired something broken between us. We had hammered through the walls we’d built and miraculously let each other in. We were stronger now, on this side of the rebuild.
“Now that’s what I like to see!” Kenny’s voice invaded the moment.
I briefly plotted murder as Jess pulled away and chuckled, her dark eyes shining back at mine.
“Go away, Barbie.” He would be able to hear the displeasure in my voice, though whether that would do anything, I couldn’t say.
“Nah. Don’t think I will,” the little twerp said with no small amount of joy in his tone.
Jess bit her lip like she might laugh, and a flood of wanting and love washed through me.
“Damn, you’re beautiful,” I said, because now, finally, I could.
Her grin lit the space between us, and she reached up, sliding a hand along the beard at my jaw. “You are, too.”
Even if Kenny was still watching, I dropped my head to steal another kiss. I had a feeling that if she let me, I wouldn’t ever stop telling her she was beautiful, that I loved her, or taking this liberty.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Jess
Islept better than I had in months at least and probably more like years and woke feeling… well, freakingamazing.
Watching Kurt threaten Jude shifted something fundamental inside me. Or, more like, it cemented a realization I’d been slowly but surely moving toward.
Kurt hadn’t left me because I was leavable. Kurt had left me because he was a garbage human and couldn’t handle being honest. And while I believed in the innate value and dignity of every human, I also believed that when a person persists in choosing to harm others, they lose the right to the benefit of the doubt.
So when Kurt held out his weapon and pointed it at Jude, a man he used to call his best friend, it clicked. I no longer had to give him the benefit of the doubt like I’d been trying to do since seeing him again. Even though he’d pissedme off and been rude to me, some hopeful little voice in my head said I needed to admit he might’ve changed, at least to some degree, in the last few years. I certainly had, so who was I to say he was excluded from the possibility?
If he had, it was only for the worse. Because if he was now the kind of man who would stand by while young women were being harassed and assaulted, then he’d gotten worse… or he’d hidden just how awful he’d always been.
As I moved through the day with Jack, the antsyneedto see Jude gave me a shot of energy. Or maybe that was the sound, delicious sleep I’d had knowing Kurt was getting what he’d chosen after all this time.
Boy, bye.
“I’m going to miss Silverton,” Jack said, straightening his jacket as we descended in the elevator on the way to the cocktail hour of the final festival event.
“I think it’ll miss you,” I said, meaning it. He seemed to fit in here, and he had so many friends already settled in our small town. “Have you ever considered living here? At least part of the year?”
“Julian’s been trying to get me to move here since he first did. I keep taking shoots at far-flung locations and I guess…” His gaze went distant, like he’d gone somewhere else entirely in his mind… “I guess when I move here, I want to feel like I can be settled for a while.”
Interesting.
Get ready, ladies of Silverton! Hollywood’s heartthrob is thinking about settling down in our beloved little town.
“Makes sense.” I held out a hand, a little sad to be saying goodbye. He was a good guy. “It’s been a pleasure.”
He grasped my hand and shook firmly, then released. “Likewise. Thanks for being low key. And best of luckwith… everything. I hope you find great love and happiness.”
See? This guy. Sincere, kind, easy on the eyes… a good egg. “Thank you. I hope the same for you.”
We entered the ballroom then, the room already buzzing with conversation and energy. The festival had gotten incredible press, several of the movies that premiered receiving rave reviews, and the town had flourished. The drama from last night and Anthony Pollusk’s arrest had already been splashed across the news, but as more and more actresses came out and spoke about their experiences, the stories hadn’t been focused on it happening here in Silverton, but that it’d gone on so long and so many had been affected.
Bruce gave me a nod and ushered Jack away, officially relieving me of my duties for the night, and for the festival.
I suspected we’d have a skeleton crew at the office for the next few weeks while everyone recovered. I couldn’t wait to sleep in and have a real weekend soon… hopefully spent with Jude.
