Page 69 of The Love Rematch
Then Ethan sits up. He touches his fingers to his nose and pulls them away red. Rage flashes in his eyes. He’s a man possessed. Emily has her arm around him, trying to help, but he doesn’t seem to notice her or seem to care. For the first time since he arrived on set, he finally forgets the cameras are there and the role he’s supposed to be playing. The real Ethan comes out and it’s not pretty. His sneer wipes all evidence of those charming dimples away.
Ethan shrugs out of Emily’s hold, snapping his body away with the sort of force that immediately puts Jake on edge. She shrinks back instinctively. It’s a move Jake saw too many times in his childhood—the innate reaction of fear in a woman he cares about, the attempt to look smaller, to hide in her own skin. Jake clenches his fingers into a fist to physically restrain himself as Ethan jumps to his feet.
Cooper senses the impending disaster and tries to stop Ethan. Frank is already being led out by security. The jig is up. Ethan got the better edit. He should let it go. But he won’t. He can’t. It was too big a blow to his ego. He tries to shirk out of Cooper’s hold, but the cowboy’s grip is firm. Emily comes up behind both of them. She reaches out her hand. The tips of her fingers graze Ethan’s shoulder—Jake is absolutely certain of this. Ethan knows she’s right there. He knows she’s right behind him.
Still, he drives his elbow into Cooper’s gut to force him to let go, and in the process, throws his other elbow high. Emily cries out. Her face whips to the side. She stumbles, holding a hand to her cheek, and drops to the floor.
A second is all it takes.
One second and every wall Jake spent the past seven years building comes crashing down. He doesn’t know he’s moving. He’s not present. He’s not aware. One moment he’s off to the side of the room with the crew, and the next his fist is connecting with Ethan’s face. This time, when Ethan drops, he doesn’t get up.
All at once, the trance shatters. Jake stares at his own hand as if it can’t possibly belong to him, as if the dull pain in his fingers belongs to someone else. The pounding of his heart gets louder and louder, drumming in his ears, drowning out all other sound, until there’s so much pressure in his ears the world becomes silent. He’s transfixed by the red speckles across his knuckles.
I hit someone.
The words land like a waterfall on his head, pounding him into the ground with so much force his knees start to give out. He takes a step to find his balance as his breath comes short. He’s only ever hit one other person in his life, and as that man’s coffin was being lowered into the ground, Jake made a promise to never touch another person in anger again. After seven years of controlling his emotions, of shunning that side of himself, of fighting his every instinct, he finally lost the battle of wills.
He gave in.
He hit someone.
Suddenly his father is there, watching with that smug expression, staggering and drunk, yet somehow superior. A bead of blood leaks from his swollen lip. When he wipes the spot, his hand comes back crimson and he smiles as if that’s exactly what he wanted. Those eerily familiar bright blue eyes freeze Jake to the spot.
I told you, son, he says in a goading tone.I told you. You’re just like me.
“Jake.”
Her tender voice is the only thing that reaches him. It pulls him from the vacuum. Jake looks up, directly into Emily’s golden eyes.
“I’m all right,” she says, despite the bruise already forming on her cheek. It’s the same lie his mother used to tell. “I’m fine.”
Jake can’t stand to look at her—to know she’s seeing him like this. He turns his face to the side as if to hide, and the chaos of the room comes back into full focus. Ethan splayed out on the ground with a medic kneeling over his face. Frank laughing from the side as security forcibly holds him back. Cooper taking Emily by the arm and asking if she’s okay. Fred grinning into his camera. Nina gaping at Jake as if he’s lost his goddamn mind. The crew all staring at him, watching him, doubting him.
He can’t meet their eyes.
He can’t catch his breath.
He can’t stay here.
So he doesn’t. He turns on his heels and walks out of the room without looking back.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
emily
The lookin his eyes before he leaves hollows her out. The urge to follow is so strong she actually takes a step before Cooper gently holds her back.
“Don’t go.”
Emily looks into his caring green eyes and wonders how much he suspects. But there’s no judgment in his expression, just worry.
“It’ll be worse for him if you leave,” Cooper continues softly.
Emily closes her eyes, once again seeing the hurricane brewing in Jake’s gaze, the anger and the hatred and the loathing, all directed at the person who least deserves it—himself. Then she nods. Cooper is right. If she chases after him, it’ll raise questions. It’ll cause more gossip. It’ll put a bigger target on his back. As hard as it is, the best thing to do now is lie low.
Cooper lifts his fingers to her cheek, wincing as he gently touches her skin. “You’ve got a bit of a shiner. Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine.” Emily shrugs. The ache in her cheek is dull compared to the throbbing one in her heart. “I was more shocked than anything. It all happened so fast. I’m not even sure how I got hit.”
