Page 13 of Forgive You

“Maybe, it’s a hot delivery boy.” Trouble is written all over her cheeks.

“I haven’t ordered anything.” I head to the front door, making the rookie mistake of not glancing through the peephole, and pull it open with one firm swing.

My fingers tense around the phone, dangling beside my thigh while my lips part in a desperate attempt to keep breathing. Silver-gray eyes find me with a sharp and calculated stare, a sense of unease and vulnerability washing over me like a bucket of ice on a hot summer day.

“What the hell,” I mumble, blinking over and over.

I’m imagining shit, right? There is no way he hopped on a plane and is standing in front of my apartment that I tried so hard to keep from him.

“Hey, babe.” Jacob’s smooth, slimy voice jolts all my senses into high alert.

Shit, he’s real.

“What are you doing here?” I manage to croak out over the pounding pulse in my ears.

“Jules?” Kayla’s faint voice sounds hollow from below my waist. “What’s going on?”

In a wave of common sense, I lift my phone, never losing eye contact with the eerie man in front of me.

“Kayl, I’m gonna have to call you back,” I tell her, as a wide, unsettling smirk travels onto Jacob’s face.

“What? Why?”

His smooth jaw is freshly shaven, like always, his skin glowing from some kind of moisturizer. Unlike Jason, Jacob takes his appearance up a notch, always looking sleek with not one meticulous hair out of place.

Today is no different.

“Because the devil just showed up.”

4

“Ican’t believe I have to pretend to like you for the next two hours.” I store my lip balm back into my black clutch while my high heels click on the marble floor in a pace that’s meant to lose my ex-boyfriend along the way.

If only I was that lucky.

The bastard expands his stride, his hand falling to my lower back while his breath withers over my neck. “Lighten up, Jules. It’s a party.”

“Don’t fucking call me that.” I grit out the words, subtly taking a step to the left to force his hand to fall from my body.

I don’t want to be touched by him ever again. I want him to get the fuck out of my life and never return. But the man keeps coming back like a fucking cockroach. I moved to the other side of the country, yet he’s still here. Fucking up my night and messing with my head.

I hate him.

We walk into the venue, my gold dress glittering against the lighting, and I glance around the luxurious ballroom. Soft pink and gold drapes decorate the room, with an open bar on eachside of the large space. Servers stroll around the room, dressed in formal wear and a tray of canapes up in the air.

My boss, Edward, talks to a few of the guests, and I kill my speed to a quick halt when he lifts his arm in a short wave.

How the hell am I going to introduce Jacob?

What the hell will Jason think?

My insides burn like they’ve been tossed into an oven. Jason is gonna take this as proof that Jacob and I are still together. That I’m still trapped underneath his spell, when it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Trapped underneath his grasp?Unfortunately.

Bound by his spell?Not a fucking chance.

I was nervous but excited for tonight. The guest list holds some big names in the industry, and I was looking forward to getting to know them. But now that I have my dickhead of an ex-boyfriend following me around like a stray dog as my plus one, I want to run back to my comfy couch.

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