Page 51 of Not Falling for the Forward
“Ha. Like you have any ground to stand on with your past.” He rears back as if I have slapped him. Good. Keep pushing him away.
“No,” he says, grasping my hand again. “We have had this discussion. I have given you no reason to think that I would step out on you. You either trust me, or you don’t.”
“I don’t, and I won’t.” I glare at him. He glares right back.
“We’ll see,” he says, folding his arms.
I’m over this conversation. What doesn’t he get? I won’t ever let anyone in like that again. I’m done. With an exasperated sigh I climb out of the car, slamming the door on the way out.
I throw my bag on the couch and fall face first into the cushions and let out a frustrated scream. Stupid man. He is the only person that can frustrate me this much.
I sit with my head buried in the cushion for a while just thinking. He’ll be gone now. That’s for the best. He was getting too close, worming his way through the walls I had only just built up again.
Why couldn’t he have just been exactly what I was expecting. An obnoxious fuck boy that just wanted to have his way with me and move on. That’s all I wanted. That’s all I can handle right now. The calling to see if I had eaten and had my caffeine fix for the day, the way his eyes soften when he looks at me, the way he listens to my problems and doesn’t try to solve everything, he just lets me whine. These are all things I can’t deal with right now. All things I should not be seeing from this man, because it will all just end in disaster. These are all things he was not supposed to be capable of. All things I didn’t want him for.
Thank God it’s done now. Before it went any further.
Sighing, I lift my head and notice the room is illuminated oddly. I didn’t turn any lights on when I entered the house and it’s dark outside, so it should be dark in here. I stand and make my way towards the window, where the lights seem to be coming from. Jack’s car is still sitting in the driveway. I have been brooding for a good twenty minutes, has he sat there all this time?
I sigh and make my way to the door. He must have seen me roaming in the house, because he meets me there. Him outside, me leaning against the frame on the inside.
“Have you calmed down now?” he asks, a small smirk on his face.
“You didn’t leave,” I say in answer.
“I wasn’t leaving whilst you were mad at me.” He shrugs.
“You stayed?”
“I told you.” A small smile tilts his lips, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter twenty-three
Jack
“So, Jack. A few months ago, we saw you at Josh Hardacre’s wedding and it’s recently been announced that he and his wife are expecting. When will we see you settle down?” Beth, my favourite reporter, on my screen asks.
I haven’t interviewed with her since the anniversary of my accident, but she has reached out a few times off the record to see how I am. Turns out she had some serious mental health struggles following a particularly difficult birth of her third child and she couldn’t have been more understanding. It just goes to show, you really don’t know what people are going through.
I scratch the back of my neck and plaster on my biggest press smile. “Yeah, I saw they announced that. I’m over the moon for them.” I continue to grin at my screen, this time it is more genuine. I know Josh and his wife were trying for a long time before they finally got blessed with this news.
“And the other part if that question…?” Beth prompts.
I try and be playful with my reply. The truth couldn’t be more complicated if we tried.‘Well Beth, there’s this woman, who I think I am falling for. But she only wants to use me as a rebound to get over her cheating ex. Thanks for asking.’
I stick with attempting to avoid. “Ha, can’t get away with avoiding that question, no?”
I want the wife, the kids, the dog. I want to stress about what car seat is safest and struggle to put a pram together whilst holding a baby in one arm. I want to get up early every Sunday morning to take my child to football practice. I want to come home and cook dinner for my wife. I want to make love to the same woman for the rest of my life. For a long time, I didn’t know who that woman would be. Only now I seem to have found her, she won’t let me in.
“Just tell me if you’re still single and on the market. Our readers will want to know that,” she asks, pushing further.
I pause for a minute, wondering what Emily would want me to say in this situation. I don’t want to disrespect her by outright denying I am with someone. As much as our argument sucked last week, we haven’t said we’re not together anymore. I would be upset if she still told people she was on the market. Even if I am just a ‘rebound’, we’re still ‘rebounding’ exclusively.
I know that if I confirm I am seeing someone the press won’t leave me alone until they find out who it is. They will wait outside the gates to my apartment block and follow me until they know exactly who I am seeing. I already know that would freak Emily out enough for her to end this thing for good. I am only just clinging on to her now. A media storm would kill the whole thing in an instant.
I say the only thing I can think of to bide us time. “Well, you and your readers will have to come back for another interview to find that out!” I give my best cocky smile and add in a wink for good measure.
We both laugh but I can see the disappointment in Beth’s eyes, like she has just missed out on a huge exclusive.
