Page 259 of The Tempted

“Oh my God,” I whispered, lifting my hand to my mouth to cover the gasp that escaped but I couldn’t hide my tears as realization set in.

“Reina…” he whispered, stepping closer.

“You were there,” I cried, dropping my hand. “You saw the fire…you knew!”

He shook his head.

“Not at first, not then. I didn’t know until that first night I came to Dee’s. I had no idea you existed,” he admitted.

“You knew all along. You knew everything,” I whispered in shock.

“I knew you were his girlfriend. I knew you were with him in that fire, that you were hospitalized but that’s it. Bianci convinced me to go to you, to grill you for information. He made me think that you could give me closure or maybe I could give you some. But one fucking look at you and I couldn’t do it. You wouldn’t even look at me, Reina. For fuck’s sake you took five weeks to tell me your name and by that time it wasn’t about Danny, it was all about you. It didn’t matter you were his, the instant you looked up at me and told me your name you weren’t his anymore because you were mine,” he shouted. “Look at me, Reina,” he pleaded. “Yeah, I thought you were some high-class bitch and yeah, I planned on using you to get information on Danny but that shit faded away. It faded real fucking quick,” he said, reaching for me but I quickly moved away from him.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t fucking look at me that way either,” I yelled through my tears.

“What way? Tell me how I’m looking at you,” he ordered.

“Like you’re losing everything,” I sneered.

“Sure, as fuck feels like I am when you look at me the way you are,” he growled.

“Fuck you, Jack,” I said, wiping my cheeks with the backs of my hands. “I never thought I’d be able to be with someone. I lived in hell since the fire and then you come charging into my life and I felt things I had never felt in my entire life. Your friend was right, you gave me closure, but you gave me a shitload of deceit too,” I struggled, trying to get my head together. “I opened up to you,” I whispered.

“You gave me your scars, Sunshine,” he reminded me.

“I never gave you my scars, Jack. You manipulated them out of me,” I said.

“Reina, I didn’t know the extent of your injuries,” he said, his voice sounding defeated.

“I saw you staring at the picture of me and Danny on my refrigerator,” I accused. “Why didn’t you tell me then? Why did you wait for me to fall in love with you?” I cried out, my body shaking uncontrollably. “Don’t answer that. I know why. You’re a greedy bastard who loves control. Most of the time you’re so out of control that when you have a little piece of it you don’t know what the fuck to do with it.”

“That’s enough,” he shouted.

“What’s the matter Jack? You’re so accustomed to lies you don’t like to hear the truth?”

“I said enough,” he warned. “Now, you got a right to be mad, Reina...”

“Mad? You think I’mmadat you? Jack, I hate you right now. In just a few words you went from being the guy who stole my heart to the guy who robbed my past. You made a fool out of me. You tricked me into thinking what we had was real,” I said.

“Oh, it’s real,” he assured me.

“Reality isn’t built on lies,” I replied.

“Reina, I’m losing my patience so you need to listen, and listen good,” he stressed. “Now you can be mad at me, you can hate me, but you said yourself you love me. You gave me your word you’d stick it out with me.”

“That’s before I knew you were a lying sack of shit,” I hissed.

“Your word, Reina,” he shouted.

I laughed in his face.

“You’re not serious, are you? Fuck you, I lied!”

He grabbed my arms, his eyes narrowing as he glared at me.

“Don’t go against your fucking word, Reina, because as God as my witness I’ll never go against mine. I told you I don’t let anything good slip through my fingers, not anymore, and you can bet your fucking sweet ass I’m not letting you out of my life. Now I’ll say it again, you can be mad, I gave you a lot to wrap your head around so I’ll give you time to process it. Don’t like it, but I fucking want you in my life so I’ll deal with it. I’m not letting go, know that, understand it and when you fucking forget it, I’ll make you remember it,” he vowed.

“What other lies are there?” I asked, as the tears streamed down my cheeks. I hated myself more than I ever felt ashamed of my scars. I hated that I loved Jack Parrish. I hated that I cried. I hated that he lied. But more than that, I hated that he looked so distraught because I still wanted to be the one who took away his pain. How stupid was I? The pain of his lies gutted me and all I wanted to do was heal him.

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