What Was Meant To Be, page 5
I’ve never known Jacob to lie to me so I’m sure that he was thinking all of these things way back when, but what’s the point of telling me all of this now?
“So, what’s all this now? You thought I’d wait around for you to stop being scared of my dad? Whose… and if you repeat this I’ll deny it, ass you could kick by the way if he threw the first punch.”
He chuckles. “I’ll take it to the grave.” He reaches up to touch me but not before asking me with his eyes if it’s okay. I hate that I don’t move and the gentle brush of his knuckles across my cheek sends a shiver through me. “I just… I thought I’d have more time.”
“More time for what?” I whisper.
“For a second chance with you.”
His words are sobering and I’m grateful for the moment of clarity. “Jacob.” I shake my head. “You’re saying all the right things but… you’re only here because you heard I’m getting married. Where was this energy a year ago? Hell, six months ago? You’re treating this like it’s a game or about the chase, and it’s not. It’s my life.”
“It’s not a game. Not the chase. None of this was a game. I couldn’t… I wasn’t able to come back before.”
I cross my hands in front of my chest. “You have a phone. Why didn’t you call?”
“Like I said I just… I thought I’d have more time. I wasn’t expecting you to meet someone and get engaged in the three fucking years I was gone, Whitney,” he says as he moves away from me and begins to pace the room. “I thought about you every day for three years. At first, I believed I was doing the right thing. That you would move on and meet someone and that it was the best thing for you. I was too old and we had too much history and it just wouldn’t work out. But after a while… I couldn’t get over you Whitney, and there’s a reason for that.”
“So, what you’re mad that I didn’t… wait for you? You broke up with me, and I was supposed to take that as you just needing time? What kind of ridiculous fuckboy logic is that?” I interrupt because I refuse to take responsibility for something I didn’t have a say in to begin with.
“Whitney…” He stops pacing and stands in front of me again putting both of his hands on my bare shoulders. “Don’t marry him.”
I push him off and shake my head. “You’re unbelievable.”
“You don’t love him, Whitney. Not the way you loved me. Love me.”
He thinks I still love him? “Seriously? My God. Were you always this arrogant?”
“Only when I’m sure about something.” His nostrils flare. “Whitney, I feel like our time is limited in here,” he says, referring to my bedroom. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
Bad idea. “Nope.” Don’t ask again. I don’t know how many times I can keep saying no.
“Please.”
“I’m engaged.”
That must strike a nerve because he balls his hands into fists and a scowl finds his perfect face. “You think I give a fuck? You could be married with three kids, and you’d still belong to me.” Fury courses through me and I push past him finally having enough of this conversation. “I’m done being patient with you about this,” he snaps, just as I reach for the doorknob. “You’re going to listen to what I have to say before you make the biggest fucking mistake of your life.”
I turn around prepared to let him have it. I’m furious that he thinks that he can disappear from my life and just come back into it like nothing’s changed. Like I haven’t changed. Demanding me to listen to him? The fuck? “You know what, Jacob? You’re right. I am different. I’ve moved on and I am not interested in whatever this is anymore. I met someone. I’m happy. And while what we had was great and fun, it’s not who I am anymore. You don’t just get to come back into my life and fuck it all up just because you’re unhappy. It’s over, Jacob.”
I don’t give him a chance to respond before I’m out of the door and moving down the stairs and out the front door within seconds.
Well, that could have gone better. I rub a hand over my forehead as I watch her from her bedroom window. She’s pacing the driveway, assumedly waiting for her Uber while she looks down at her phone. I don’t see Chloe or Mason, so I wonder if she’s just trying to escape without anyone asking questions which leads me to believe she’s probably going home. Not sure where she lives though. I watch from the window until a car arrives and she hops in before it drives off.
I head downstairs in an effort to find Chloe or maybe something that will give me an inkling as to where she lives. I curse myself for stooping this low but I know the best way to figure out where she lives. “Miche, I want to send Whitney and her fiancé something, can you give me her address? I meant to get it, but I can’t find her… did she leave?”
“Without saying anything? I doubt it!” Michelle says as she hops up from the table where her and a group of people are playing cards. “But yes, let me grab it. Her and Parker live not far from here.”
She lives WITH that fucker? Jesus Christ. At least he’s out of town.
She jots it down on a piece of paper before handing it to me and I nod. I feel like shit for lying to Michelle but I just… I need more time. I know this makes me an asshole, but I can’t let her go that easily.
“Thanks, Miche. I’m probably going to head out though.”
“So soon?”
“Yeah, I’m still exhausted from the trip. But I think I’m coming over to watch the game with Kev tomorrow.”
“Oh, good!” She kisses my cheek. “See you!” She waves me off before going back to the table of people that had been shouting for her to come back ever since she got up.
I scan the room and don’t see Trey or Chloe or even Mason making me wonder if Whitney won’t be alone for much longer. I’m in my car in minutes and I put their address in my GPS and I’m grateful to see that they don’t live far. I arrive in less than fifteen minutes and I see that the lights are on inside. Part of me wants to call because I had no interest in setting foot in a house that Whitney shares with another man. But she probably wouldn’t answer and I find myself at war with what to do.
I get out of the car, wishing like hell I knew what I was going to say. I’m annoyed all over again that she lives here with him as I walk up the pathway to their house. The house doesn’t suit Whitney at all. It’s not particularly small, but it just doesn’t look like her. She always talked about having a red brick house with large bay windows and a porch and a gray stone terrace in the back. I’m fairly certain I still have the pictures saved in my phone of one she found on Pinterest she’d sent me for “inspiration.” While this house was nice, it didn’t have any of those things making me believe that she’d just moved in with him. I’m almost to the door when she opens it and storms out, her wavy chestnut hair flowing behind her like she’s a model on a runway. She was still in that sexy jumpsuit that showcased her tits and a gorgeous tan but she’d kicked off her heels and was currently barefoot. Immediately my eyes dart to the ground to make sure she doesn’t step on anything.
“Can you not take a hint? How did you even figure out where I lived?” I shoot her a look as if to say do you think it was hard? “Of course, one of my freaking parents. Don’t you feel like shit obtaining information about me under false pretenses?”
“No.” I rub a hand behind my neck. “Well, yes. Can I come in?” I ask against my prior judgment of not wanting to go inside.
She tucks a hair behind her ear and if I wonder if she’s nervous. “Inside my house I share with my fiancé? No.”
“So, you want to do this outside in front of your neighbors?” I raise an eyebrow at her.
Her eyes dart between all the houses surrounding hers before turning back to me. “No, I want you to leave.”
I ignore her request. “Tell me about him. About this Parker. What makes him so special that you’re not willing to even hear me out? Because there was a time you told me you’d never love anyone like you loved me. That there could never be anyone else.” There were so many nights she’d whisper into my skin after just making love that she would only ever love me. That I was it for her. Her soulmate. The love of her life.
I’d told her the same.
“And then you left me!!” she screams and she curses herself before looking around and I don’t see anyone outside but it doesn’t mean they aren’t looking from their windows. “I don’t want you to come in. I…” She bites her lip. “We have cameras.”
I nod, slightly annoyed but also pleased that at least that means she’s safe while she’s here alone. “Can we go somewhere and talk then?”
“Jacob… us being alone… I just…,” she continues to stumble over her words. “I hate that you’re pushing this so much and forcing me to have to say it.”
Well at least she’s not indifferent toward me. This I could work with. “So, you don’t trust yourself with me. Doesn’t that mean something to you?”
“That I’ve had a few drinks and it makes me horny and okay, my body still remembers you? Sure.” I shrug. “People make mistakes while they’re under the influence of alcohol or hormones all the time, it doesn’t mean they want to be with that person. I’m not interested in fucking up my whole life for one night. I don’t want to put myself in a compromising situation to do something I’ll regret.”
“It wouldn’t just be one night, Whitney. It could never just be one night.”
“My mind and my heart beg to differ. I am over you. So yes, it would be one night that I’d regret and be forced to live with the guilt of potentially cheating on my fiancé? No. I don’t want that.”
“Are you trying to convince yourself? Or me?”
“Are you kidding me?” She storms past me and goes toward her car. “I can’t continue to have this conversation with you on my front lawn. If you’re refusing to leave, then we can go somewhere to talk.” She looks so gorgeous in this moment. Angry, her cheeks flushed and her hair slightly bigger, my guess from playing with it like she used to do when she’s nervous.
“I am not letting you drive, get over here,” I tell her, motioning toward my car parked in front of their house.
“What!”
“You’ve had more than a few shots and you don’t even realize that you don’t have shoes on,” I say, pointing to her bare feet. “Do not make me tell you again. You are not driving. Now get over here.”
“I am not getting in your car.”
“Then I guess we aren’t leaving.” We stare at each other for a second before her phone begins to ring in her hands.
She looks visibly panicked at the name on her screen before taking a deep breath. “I haven’t done anything.” She shrugs as if talking to the person on the phone already and not to herself. “Hi baby.”
The word stings and I realize that it’s her fiancé. A term of endearment she’d used for me once upon a time is now being said to another man. She looks up at me and narrows her eyes visibly annoyed.
“Seriously? It’s Jacob, he’s a friend of my parents.”
I raise an eyebrow at her. He’s figured out I’m here already? Her eyes look toward the door and assumedly she realizes that the door camera ratted her out. She tries to hide the fact that she rolls her eyes but I catch it and I wonder if this situation of him questioning her is a frequent occurrence.
“Now suddenly you care where Chloe is?” she jokes. “She’s on her way over. He’s my Godfather and he’s been in Mexico for the past three years and just got back. He wanted to make sure I got back from my parent’s okay since Chloe stayed a little longer. I took an Uber home by myself.”
It’s not a complete fabrication but the way she twists the story so effortlessly makes me chuckle at the fact that she’ll definitely make an excellent lawyer.
“I’m not sure.” She walks away and I try my best to strain to hear because it sounds like he’s giving her a hard time but I’m not sure for what. The way she shared so easily that I was here, means that this guy probably has no idea who I am or about our previous relationship. I vaguely hear the words ridiculous and trust thrown around and I frown that she’s having to deal with someone who’s so clearly insecure. But I reserve judgment for now because maybe there are things about this relationship that I don’t know. She hangs up the phone with a huff and comes back over.
“I hate when he gets like that.” I can see the irritation on her face and I want to touch her to relax the frown lines on her forehead but I don’t want to make things even more complicated.
“Is he like that… often?”
“It’s like he doesn’t trust me. And… he doesn’t know about you. He has no reason to feel this way.” Her voice is getting more excited as she gets more worked up. “I’ve never even come remotely close to doing anything inappropriate when he’s cheated on me!” She claps a hand over her mouth like she hadn’t just blurted out the truth. Her eyes widen. “I didn’t say that.”
My blood begins to boil. He did fucking what?! I will fucking murder that kid. Aside from still being the most important person in my world and the love of my life, she was also my Goddaughter and I vowed a long time ago to kick the ass of any man that didn’t treat her right. “Yes, the fuck you did.”
“Don’t tell my parents. They will… they already…,” she winces.
“I’m not concerned about Kevin and Michelle right now and neither should you. You need to be concerned about me. I am fucking pissed.” He takes a step toward me. “He did what?”
“It’s not…”
“No, don’t backtrack now. Go get your shoes and get back out here. We need to talk. And if you don’t, I’m coming in the house and you’ll have a harder time explaining that.” My tone is direct and I hope she realizes I am very serious in this moment. She lets out a sigh and I hear a fuck leave her pouty lips as she goes back into the house. She’s back moments later with her heels on and her purse before moving quickly past me toward my Mercedes. She slides in the front seat without even waiting for me to open her car door which pisses me off even more, but I assume she’s just in a hurry to get away from her house and any prying eyes. I follow suit and pull off into the night, going down a few streets and finally pulling out of her neighborhood.
I’ve pulled onto the highway without any real direction or idea as to where I’m taking her. Just keep her talking. “Did I really hurt you that badly that you believe you deserve to take that kind of shit from anyone?”
I notice her tense and snap her gaze toward me. “Not everything is about you, Jacob.”
“No, you’re correct. But your first relationship sets a precedent for how you expect to be treated and the shit you’ll tolerate and the shit you won’t.”
Cars are zooming around us and I regret getting on the freeway when all I want to do is take in her expressions as we have this conversation. There was a time that I could read every one of her looks and I missed being so deeply in tune with her. I take the next exit just as she begins to speak. “You never cheated on me,” she says quietly. “To my knowledge, you never so much as looked at another woman. I was always the only woman you saw.”
“You still are.” The words leave my lips on their own accord.
“Yeah, okay.” She snorts and I frown at the thought that she doesn’t believe me.
“When have I ever lied to you?” I ask her.
“I’m just saying the thought that you haven’t looked at a woman in the past three years you’ve been gone is ridiculous.”
I pull into a parking lot of one of the lounges downtown. I didn’t want to go into one of the loud clubs, but I also wanted another drink and to keep her talking. “And if I haven’t?” Her eyes find mine and for a second, I feel like she’s going to press the issue. She’s going to ask if I dated someone since we’ve been apart, fucked someone, made love to someone, claimed someone the way I did her three years ago. I wonder if she can see the truth all over my face because her face snaps forward and she shakes her head. I get out of the car and this time I make it to her side of the car to open the door before she has a chance to stubbornly do it herself. I offer her my hand and she takes it on instinct before snatching it out of my hand the second she’s standing upright.
“Stop. You can’t…”
“Be a gentleman?” I finish for her because even women I wasn’t in love with would get the same treatment in terms of opening doors.
She licks her lips and my eyes drop to them tracing her full pout that’s coated with a layer of what looks like a tinted lip balm. It’s not bright or vibrant. It doesn’t look glossy, but just slick enough to keep my attention on her mouth. I find myself wondering if it’s flavored and what she’d taste like if I brushed my lips against them.
She begins walking toward the door and I follow behind her, my hands balled into fists as to not touch the small of her back to guide her. We are seated rather quickly given that it’s still on the earlier side of the night and it isn’t too crowded yet. We’re seated in a U-shaped booth with me seated in the center in hopes that she’d sit next to me. She sits on one of the sides and immediately orders a glass of water and a glass of Malbec. I order a Macallan 18 neat, my usual order before turning away from the overly flirtatious waitress. A look of satisfaction floods me when I see the look she’s still giving her long after she’s walked away.
“Jealous?” I ask, trying my best to keep the smug expression off of my face.
She turns to me and her beautiful eyes narrow into slits. “Did she not see me here?”
