Page 8 of Forgive You

Our eyes stay locked, as he’s trying to stare me into submission.

How did we get here?

“I’m just a fucking girl, Jason.” There’s sadness in my words that’s slowly poisoning all my organs. This was never how this was supposed to go. “If I have the ability to ruin your life, you really need to reevaluate your priorities.”

Hurt flashes through the lividness in his eyes, cutting deep into my damaged heart.

There! That’s what I’ve been looking for. His hurt is my hope.

He still cares. It’s small. It’s tucked deep. But that little fragment of hurt says it all.

That’s how badly I fucked him up.

“No, you’re not just a girl. Not to me.” He pauses, unspoken emotion clear in every shade of his gaze until they shift back to darkness in the blink of an eye. “I don’t want you here. Gofuckinghome.” He’s almost pleading as he pulls the back of his neck. “You’re a realtor, for God’s sake.”

I shake my head. “Not anymore.”

Jacob made sure of that.

“Why? Why, Jules?” He takes three long strides back into the bathroom until I can count the few freckles on his nose, doing my best to breathe as I swallow the pain away that comes from my nickname rolling off his lips.

“Why the fuck are you here? Just to piss me off some more? To push the knife a little deeper into my back?”

Hyper aware of how close his body is next to mine, I grip the sink to keep myself from leaning in and soaking in his warmth. I want to wrap my arms around him and disappear into his toned arms. I want to rest my head against his heartbeat and let it settle me into a state of relaxation I haven’t felt since the last time he embraced me.

But his nasty glare keeps me grounded.

“Don’t flatter yourself. They offered me a job, and I took it.” It was a lifeline I needed to get the hell out of Braeden, North Carolina, our hometown, as fast as fucking lightning.

The escape I needed to take a breath and figure out my next move without Jacob popping up like a Jack-in-the-Box whenever he wanted.

“And Jacob let you?”

No. But I was gone before he knew it, and considering he technically wanted me out of the picture anyway, his stalking has reduced to texts. Which I can easily ignore.

I lift my chin a little more, praying he will read between the lines if he just tamed his ornery attitude for two seconds. “Your brother doesn’t control me.”

“No, he just owns you.”

“Nobodyowns me,” I bite back, though that feels like a lie.

My mind is owned by one Spencer brother, my heart at the mercy of the other. I’m not just fucked.I’m doomed.God must be playing a fucking trick on me.

His eyes stay connected with mine, as if my words are slowly sinking in, and for just another moment, I think I see him.

The man who will bend over backwards to deliver his best friend, Hunter, to the love of his life. The man who will fly his mother to her favorite restaurant in New York for her birthday. The boy who would bring me a single pink rose when I was sad because he knows pink makes me happy.

But it’s gone before I can blink.

Dammit.

“Drop Ford.” His tone is menacing, rippling a shiver down my spine before he turns his back on me. “I mean it, or I’ll go to Edward myself.”

What-fucking-ever.

“You’ll only make a fool out of yourself.”

“Excuse me?” Jason spins back around, his eyes wide and sinister, but after experiencing the energy he’s pulling me into, I trust he won’t actually hurt me and I can handle his unsettling glare.

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