Page 81 of Don't Make Me Beg
“—And you have the nerve to ask me if I slept with him? Do you hear yourself right now?”
“All right, look, I get it. It’s none of my business…” He holds up his hands. “And I realize I may have gone about things in the wrong way… But I fucked up and then I panicked…”
It’s the closest thing to an apology I’ve ever heard from this man. Too bad that ship has already sailed.
I lift a brow, curious where he’s going with this.
“I miss you, Scout.” He looks up to meet my eyes and I swear he almost looks sincere. “We’re good together, and you know it.” He takes a step closer and grabs my hand, placing it on his chest. “You and me, we make sense.”
“Are you done? Because I need to get back—” I try to pull my hand away but he holds it tighter.
“Just… take the rest of the Summer and get this out of your system…And know that I’ll be waiting on you when you get back.”
Anger and irritation bubble up as I glare into his impossibly clear blue eyes, not a hint of shadow or guilt to be found. Why is it so hard for everyone to see the real me? If they really love me like they say they do, or did anyway, why can’t they see that I’ve been walking around as a shell of myself?
I know it’s my fault for telling them what they want to hear, for playing the part so well, but that was only after I’d spent years screaming for them to see the real me. But if they loved me, wouldn’t they be able to see it was just a mask?
Luka always has…
I don’t know what’s worse… That they couldn’t tell… or that they didn’t care. Either way, it sucks knowing my happiness comes after whatever version of me that makes them the most comfortable. Well, I’m tired of being afraid of making them uncomfortable. Maybe Luka’s right, maybe it’s time for me to be a little more selfish.
“I think you should leave,” I tell him, my voice quiet because for some reason it’s all I can muster. But at least it’s a start.
Jimmy’s eyes widen for just a moment before his face shifts back to a neutral expression. He clearly wasn’t expecting me to stand up to him. “Yeah… okay…” He looks a little discouraged, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turns to leave. I just stand there caught between the sting of guilt and the stubborn pull of pride.
“Hey Scout?” He calls over his shoulder.
“Yeah?”
“Try to keep an open mind about it, okay?”
I’m not sure how to respond to that so I just say, “Yeah… Okay…” I don’t wait for him to round the corner before I make my way back to the mural. And luck must be on my side now because for the first time all day, there’s no audience in sight.
“Finally,” I breathe as I pick up my paintbrush and all my problems begin to fade away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Luka
I replay the video footage for about the hundredth time, my body fuming at the sight of Scout talking to that prick. The way he stared at her ass as she led him around the corner to the alley to be alone. The way he smiled at her like he knew a secret, flashing her his dimples.
Is it creepy that I hacked into my brother’s security camera to spy on her? Maybe… But my intention was only to make sure she was safe since I knew she’d be stubborn about that fucking ladder.
But then I saw the way her face lit up when she started working, the way she looked like she’d fallen into a trance, and she seemed to come alive right there in front of me. I’ve never had the opportunity to really watch her paint before and seeing it like a fly on the wall gave me a whole new insight into her.
Of course, then all the spectators decided to show up—no doubt commenting and questioning everything she was doing. I figured my watching wasn’t really spying at all. I was simply doing it from the comfort of my own home, with the ability tozoom in and replay the video if I wanted to get a better view. Which I’d only done to make sure she’d gotten all the paint she accidentally dripped when she bent down to wipe it off the ladder. Again, that was for hersafety.
And when her douchebag ex showed up, I felt my fucking stomach drop like I’d been hurled face first down a roller coaster. My whole body seized up, and my palms began to sweat as I leaned in, trying to read their lips. Of all things to skimp on, Jett really had to go with a security camera that didn’t have a microphone. I could kill him for being such a cheap ass.
I expected Scout to shoo him away… or tell him to get lost… or at least talk to him in front of the other witnesses. But rather than any of that, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away around the corner, out of view of Jett’s other stupid fucking camera that is even worse than the other one with the picture all pixelated and fuzzy.
I could barely make out Jimmy, but Scout was out of the frame, so I had to try to read his body language to figure out what they were saying.
I know I have no business feeling this possessive over her. Scout’s not my real wife. She’s barely even my friend. But after everything she has told me about him and knowing how selfish of a prick he has to be not to prioritize her pleasure, tells me more than enough about his character.
And he doesn’t even deserve to breathe the same air as her, much less put his hands on her.
My blood is boiling, and I’m seeing red all over again. So much for my attempt at distracting myself. After a long day spent tormenting myself with this stupid video footage, it’d taken all my restraint not to drive over there and demand she tell me what that prick wanted. And why she needed to pull him away privately to tell him she was too busy to talk.
