Page 94 of Let Me Say It Again

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I contemplated whether I should text or call her. If I called her, would she even pick up? A text was easier. She could still ignore it, but at least I would’ve said what I had to say, and she could figure out what she wanted to do from there.

Reddington:I want to be with you, Jade. You’re it for me.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to tease you. I wasn’t saying that, so I deleted it as quickly as I typed it.

This was Jade we were talking about. I needed to say something that was going to fire her up, something that would make her want to respond. Not run in the opposite direction.

Reddington:You still wearing your ring?

That one I sent.

I leaned my elbows on my knees, calling forward the image of her standing beside me, her back going rigid, her body growing tense, and her smile wobbly as Mark had approached us. She had known that he’d overheard, but it wasn’t about getting caught that upset her. No, I knew my girl, and what bothered her was that she thought that meant she’d lost the potential for an investment for my company.

She cared.

It didn’t matter what lies she wanted to feed herself. She cared a lot.

Probably more than she cared to admit.

Finally, three dots appeared.

I silently prayed they disappeared because that meant she was overthinking things for my benefit. Not a good thing, of course, but a good sign because it meant she didn’t want this to be over. She wanted what I wanted but was too afraid to speak up. Go figure, because she never had a problem saying what was on her mind before, but with this she decided to shut the fuck up.

Jade:Don’t worry, I didn’t pawn it. When do you want me to drop it off?

She couldn’t honestly think I gave a shit about the ring. The only thing I cared about was that it stayed on her finger where it belonged. As for her dropping it off, I think we both knew she didn’t need to do that, which meant she wanted to see me. I could work with this.

Reddington:Stop by whenever you want.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Jade

How appropriate thatit was raining. Even the sky felt pity for me.

Well, screw the sky and anyone else who wanted to tell me how sorry they were for me or would give me shit advice likehe’s just one man, and there will be others.

I knew there would be others. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that.

What I doubted was that I would meet anyone like Red, and by that I meant someone who actually made me feel like I wasn’t all alone. Someone who made me feel like I had someone in this great, big, lonely world.

I knew I had my newfound family, but that wasn’t the same thing, and we all knew it. My sisters were great, and I didn’t know what I would do without them now that I had them in my life. I supposed you could say I’d become somewhat attached to those lovable weirdos. But it was nice to let my walls down a bit—okay, so Red sort of forced them down, basically took a sledgehammer to them, but still—and let a man in. The only problem was that I didn’t get the guy in the end, and now I had no one to blame but myself.

Someone had once told me that you knew you met your person when you started to see them in your future. When you’d think about going to see a movie with them, only the movie wouldn’t be playing in theaters for months. When you’d think about a new restaurant opening in the city and couldn’t think of a single person you’d want to go with besides them.

In every scenario, in every future event, Red was the only one I wanted right by my side.

Boy, was I a fool.

I was a fool to ever let things get this far.

I’d done it before, and you’d think a girl would have learned her lesson. Apparently not. Apparently, I was stupider than I cared to acknowledge.

No more, though.

Being Red’s fake fiancée was nothing more than a job. And now the job was done.

Only, it didn’t feel that way when we were sleeping together.

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