Page 59 of Protecting Bianca

I wasn’t sure if that was any better, but I didn’t want to imagine the alternative.

“No, Bianca. It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it?”

“We’re ten minutes away from my place. Let me get us there so I can explain everything to you.”

“I don’t want to go to your place, Jager. Don’t you get that? I want to go home.”

He swore softly under his breath. “Yeah. I get that.” Then he checked his rearview mirror and swerved to the right. A car honked, and a man shouted at us as he drove past.

Jager pulled into the back of some commercial building. I should have been more scared than I was, but I was too angry to be scared. “What are you doing?”

He undid his seatbelt and turned to face me. “I want to explain what happened.”

“How are you going to explain that you’ve been lying to me for two years?” I seethed. My chest rose and fell with each labored breath. “That you’ve misled, deceived, and mocked me by pretending to be someone else while I poured my heart out to you? I thought you were a friend, my best friend, but you are a fraud.”

My voice cracked, and I pressed my lips together. I was so angry I could smash the window next to me with my bare hand.

“You were my best friend, too. I couldn’t wait until I logged on and talked to you. You were the best part of my day.”

I scoffed. He was unbelievable. “How could you sit there and tell me these things?”

“Because they’re the truth. And I also didn’t know it was you I was chatting with until recently. I confirmed it when I saw you at the bar with John.”

Oh my God. Why hadn’t I thought about that? Did I believe it was just a coincidence that I had met him there? I was such an idiot. I dropped my head into my hands, humiliated. “I don’t believe this.”

“I couldn’t believe it myself. All this time that I wished I could talk to you, wishing you were still in my life, and I didn’t even know it was you.”

He reached for my hand, but I pulled away. I wasn’t ready for his touch. Although his voice sounded sincere, how did I know I could trust him? He’d been keeping this secret admittedly for days. He could’ve been lying this whole time. “Why didn’t you say something as soon as you figured it out?”

“I wanted to. I did. I even tried a couple of times, but chickened out because you were finally letting me in. This morning, I knew I couldn’t hold off any longer, but then Khan called, and I had to go. Then, I wanted to do it earlier, but I wanted to buy you clothes first.”

I shook my head. “Stop.”

He ran his hands over his face and slammed his head back onto the headrest.

“I swear, Bumblebee. I was going to tell you.”

“If you weren’t trying to hide who you were, why use a woman’s name like Ruby Tuesday?

He smiled, but not widely, but enough that I knew it was sincere. “Ruby Tuesday was my mom’s favorite Rolling Stones song.”

The Rolling Stones. Why would he choose—oh, fuck. Mick Jagger was the lead singer.

I tore off my bun and ran my fingers through my hair. “I’m fucking pissed, Jager. You should have said something right away. I feel like such an idiot.”

“You shouldn’t. You were amazing. Youareamazing. I loved talking to SnowWhite87. Our conversations made my life bearable. I felt less alone. I felt heard.”

His words were like a balm to my ego, and the sincerity behind them was undeniable. “I looked forward to our chats, too. You were my best friend.”

He turned his head to stare at me. His brown eyes glistened under the sunroof. “I can still be your best friend. But I want to be more than that.”

I bit my bottom lip. My whole world had been turned upside down. Ruby was a lie. She wasn’t a stranger. She was the person who had broken my heart. How could fate be so cruel?

“How could this happen?” I said aloud.

“I don’t know. But it felt right, though. Despite everything that happened, we still found each other.”

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