Page 53 of From Us, Forever

I laughed. “We are not talking about him, are we, girl?”

Woof. Woof.

Jay rolled his eyes and swooped her up from my lap, which made her go into an excited barking frenzy that got louder when he set her down.

She whined but, upon seeing her bowl full, ignored him and ran to scarf down her meal.

The smile never left my face when he dropped next to me, leaning his head on my shoulder as he enclosed his heavy arms around my waist under the blankets.

“Aren’t you eating?” I asked, taking in a bite and immediately moaning at the hit of fresh tomatoes, cheese, and chicken.

“I’ll eat later,” he mumbled.

I frowned. “You haven’t had anything since morning. You need to eat.”

“No. This is nice.” His eyelashes touched the tops of his cheeks as his eyes lulled closed.

“You’re being a child,” I muttered. Forking in a big bite, I fed it to him. “Eat this.”

Without even opening his eyes, he ate it, and we spent the next few minutes just like that, one bite for him and me until we polished off our plates.

“Jay, this movie is so boring,” I complained halfway through the film we put on after dinner. It was almost an hour in, and the two main characters hadn’t even met. “Like, do you seethis? What was the director thinking? How are they going to fall in love if they haven’t even seen each other? Who cares about their backstories?”

A frustrated sigh left my lips when the female main character started arguing about something. When no reply came, I tilted my chin to peer at Jay. He was staring holes into the ceiling with his brows furrowed, his index finger tapping wildly on his thigh.

I shook his shoulder that I was lying on, trying to pull him out of his deep thoughts. “Jay, are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

“Hmm.”

“That’s not an answer.”

He gave me a side-eye with a smile dancing on his face. “What’s the problem now?”

“What were you thinking about?” I asked, ignoring his question. My heart started to pick up a beat as worry swum through my gut, thinking the worst. In our story, anything was possible.

“Just a melody that’s been stuck in my head.” He traced a soft thumb on my cheek.

A whoosh of relief swept away the tension from my body.

His smile deepened. “What is it that you were complaining about?”

“The movie.” I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. I don’t want to watch it anymore.”

“Okay,” he replied, his eyes still latched on mine. The glowing glint in them made my heart all mushy.

A blush sneaked its way up my cheeks, and I quickly darted my eyes to the lone thread unraveling from the edge of theblanket. “Is the outside world still saying crappy things about me?” I asked in a desolate whisper.

It was tempting to read the countless comments and articles written about me.

All degrading lies and baseless rumors.

Since Jay had put out a statement that none of it was true and that I had been his girlfriend for years, his fans had been coming to my defense, which I never expected.

It was overwhelming that a bunch of strangers were defending my honor. But it still didn’t stop the media from tearing me down.

I felt him still from my question. “Have you been reading them? I told you not to.”

“I haven’t. I’m just asking.”

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