Page 73 of Somebody's Watching Me
Chapter 18
She buried her head under a pillow, hiding like a coward. Her behavior downstairs at breakfast had been horrible, but she didn’t care. The little skip of happiness in her heart whenever Liam said he was sticking to her around the clock had sent her spiraling. It wasn’t right. No matter how much she loved him, it was over.
Some things just weren’t meant to be.
Since neither Samuel nor Evie had come up to give her a lecture, she assumed they must have gone home with the girls. Liam had said he wanted them to stay on a strict lockdown since Holden and Izzy were now delayed as they were functioning as his eyes and ears with the Zanmi arrests. Klausen was gone too, bouncing between each district along with them.
The doorknob jiggled like someone was trying to get in, but it was locked, with Simone having the only key. And when she next heard said key being used, she groaned, knowing only one person on earth brave enough to steal it.
“Why are you being such an asshole?”
“Uh, hello.” Jamison lifted the pillow off her face with a whoosh to glare at Selah through her messy hair. She’d been wallowing in atroll-like state for a few hours and didn’t want to see anyone. “Attempted kidnappee here. Why can’t people show a little sympathy?”
She dropped the pillow again. But Selah never let people hide, especially his family. Like a giant tree cut at its base, he collapsed on top of her with a thud.
“Get off me!” she shouted, unable to breathe. Selah was enormous, all muscle and towering height. “Are you trying to kill me?”
He shimmied to lie next to her, knocking the pillow away. “No, I’m trying to talk to you, but I can’t do that if you won’t listen.”
“I don’t want to listen.”
“That’s nothing new.”
She punched his shoulder and lay on her back next to him. “Go on and lecture me.”
“He’s trying to help.”
“He’s trying to drive me insane.”
Selah stretched his arms in the air, opening and closing his fists. “You know what? Let’s not talk about him. Let’s talk about you.”
“And here we go.”
“Spill it. Beginning to end. Go.”
Selah might be the easiest going Fairweather, but he was as headstrong as the rest of them. If she didn’t do as he asked, it would only prolong the nagging.
“It started with my wine pity party…”
She went through the whole thing. Beginning to end, like he asked.
“It felt good to have him here when you woke up, didn’t it?” Selah asked when she finished.
Keeping her expression blank, she admitted the truth. “It did.”
“Are you sorry you still love him?”
“It’s impossible for me not to love him, and not because we were together for so long. We’re connected, you know? He’s the other part of me.”
Selah rolled his head to look at her, and she knew it was coming. The question all of them wanted answered. “Then why?” He shifted the rest of his gigantic body in her direction. “No one understands why you broke things off, and don’t say kids because that love you have for him is so fierce that the rest of it means nothing. I know because I recognize it. Sammy and Evie recognize it. Dad does, too. We’re all lucky enough to know the feeling, but we also know that, children or not, we would never have given the other half of us up. Ever.”
She remained on her back, gazing at the chandelier. “Some things just aren’t meant to be,” she whispered, repeating the words now scarred on her soul. “And that’s us.”
Selah chuckled, deep and hearty. “Congratulations. You are now the biggest Fairweather idiot, Jamison.”
“You’re really losing your touch with these big brother moments, you know?”
“No, I’m serious. Sammy held the title for a long time since he spent years torturing himself over Evie, but now that prestigious award goes to you. We should get you a trophy.” He dodged the fist aimed at his shoulder. “I mean, since we had to return all those wedding gifts, you should at least have something.”
