Page 74 of Always Been You

"I said 'K' you just didn't hear me." She stuck her head around the corner from the kitchen and held out a loaf of bread. "I'm gonna make spaghetti for dinner if that's good with you?"

No.

Ethan was not going to let another day pass without saying what needed to be said. He’d put it off too long. There was naughty nurse night two nights ago, and hell, he was human. Then last night, Kade and Ali had stopped by and ended up staying until after eleven. No more excuses, no more distractions. If someone showed up, he wasn’t answering the door and neither was she. And if Jess had another seduction planned, he was going to cut it off before it started.

And he wasn't about to let her cook a meal just so he could tell her to leave.

"We need to talk," he repeated.

"Yeah.” She nodded. “I thought we established I heard you the first time. I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but a lot of people have been trying this new thing where they talk and eat at the same time. I know it sounds crazy, but I was thinking we might just want to try it."

The corners of his lips tilted up, despite everything that he knew was coming. He couldn't help himself around Jess. No matter how bad of a mood he was in, or how much pain, even when she was being a smartass, or especially when she was being a smartass, he was amused by it.

"I don't want to eat. We need to talk."

At the gravity of his tone she stepped out into the back room. "What's wrong? Did your test results come back? Is this a five?"

"A what?" His brow wrinkled.

"A five. On a scale of one to five, how bad is this? One being that you have a hangnail and five being that you have a week to live."

“It’s not health-related. It's about us."

"Oh." Her shoulders visibly dropped with relief and he hadn't even realized that they'd scrunched up to her ears. She let out an exhale and shook her head in slight irritation. "Can't we have the "us" talk over dinner?" She waved the bread in her hand.

"No."

Her head dropped back. "Fine." She returned to the kitchen and when she reappeared, she was no longer toting a loaf of bread.

She was fighting a yawn as she plopped down on the chair across from him. She blinked several times as if she were trying to wake herself up and it was the first time he noticed that there were bags beneath her eyes.

"You're tired."

"Yep." She didn't try and deny it.

"You've been doing too much."

"Yep." Again, she just agreed. "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? Because believe me, my dad has got it covered. I need to rest more. Sleep more. Eat more. Drink more, no wait that was mine."

"Your dad's right."

Her head tilted slightly. "Are you going to get to the part where we talk about us because that pasta is calling my name?"

"We need to break up."

She started to stand. "I know, but like I said, that's going to put me in a very bad light and I need to keep my reputati—”

"I'm serious." He barked.

She froze halfway up and her eyes widened before she sank back down onto the chair. "Okay."

"I appreciate everything you've done for me, but you don't have to. I don't want you to."

"Great, well now that we've got that settled."

"Stop. Jess, listen to me."

This time she stood all the way up. "I am. You said that you appreciate me doing things that I don't have to and you don't want me to do. This is not new information. If anything it's more like a broken record." She pivoted toward the kitchen either intentionally avoiding the conversation or just dismissing it all together.

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