Page 37 of A Love So Wrong
Gideon laughed and stepped forward, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "It's ok, trust me, I do not care if you see me naked."
Stiffly, Jade followed him back to the truck, but her mind was reeling. She knew he was just trying to reassure her, but Jade couldn't seem to make herself take it that way. He didn't care the same way she would have if the situation had been reversed. Gideon didn't look at her the way she looked at him, she knew that for certain now. His protective and sometimes possessive nature for her was not the same secret unnamed feeling she had for him. Staring up at the roof of her bunk that night, Jade closed her eyes tight as tears threatened to spill. She needed to get real and let go of this silly dream she let herself concoct at some point in their journey. They would always be siblings. Gideon wasn't one day going to wake up in their future home together and come to her room and admit that he loved her. There would be no smiles and kisses over a sunny breakfast table, nor children with sandy-brown curls running in the yard. That was just a secret, hopeful illusion, and that's all it would ever be.
~*~
Something was off. Gideon couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he knew in his bones something was definitely off.
They were about an hour outside of Las Vegas right now. The sun was up, and it was beautiful out. He had woken up feeling like a million dollars. Last night in the shower, he had caught glimpses of Jade's frozen expression as she watched him bathe. It felt as if it took God himself to keep his dick from rising to the attention, but somehow, he managed it. Gideon felt like a god under her gaze. All the hard work on his body, in his opinion, finally paid off in that one moment. Her flustered attitude felt like cool water to a dying man as Gideon soaked it all in.
So how did he go from feeling like a million dollars to feeling like loose change? As soon as Jade woke up, he could sense something was amiss. That sparkle that stayed in her eyes, seemingly just for him, that glittering look that kept him alive was gone. In its place there was something hollow and fake. Her smile looked like her normal one, but Gideon could see that it never quite reached her eyes. Her chipper good morning wasn't filled with the buttery warmth it usually contained, instead, it felt brittle. But the most frustrating thing was that the farce was well crafted. Gideon could not find one single thing to call her out on to force her into a corner to make her tell him what the fuck was going on, and he tried heaven help him. Every time he asked her if she was ok, or did she sleep all right, all he got was that fucking bland smile and brittle response.
Was it his dick?! Did seeing his dick cause all of this?
Scrubbing a hand over his face in agitation, he forced himself to pay attention to the road.
A chime from his phone went off. The phone was sitting in one of the lower cubby holes between their seats.
"Can you look at that?" he asked. It was probably a notification for tomorrow's shipment in Vegas. Since they had just dropped off their last trailer in Boulder City, Nevada, they were riding free for the moment.
Picking up his phone, Jade tapped the screen and read the message aloud. "Cindy Dorthenger says she misses your sexy buns," Jade repeated merrily.
Gideon nearly choked. Glancing at her, his heart dropped, and anger began to simmer at Jade's too cheery expression.
"Did you want me to reply back or anything?" she asked helpfully.
Normally, Gideon couldn’t even look at another girl without Jade sulking or running off to pout. Any other time she probably would have deleted the message or tried to block the girl. He loved those moments of petty jealousy. It was pathetic, yes, he knew that, but for fuck's sake, they were all he had.
Gideon could feel his temperature rise, and his hands go clammy around the steering wheel's grip. Don't get angry, he told himself over and over again.
"No," he grumbled. And then a petty part of himself added. "I'll reply to her later," he lied.
He held his breath as he stared at the traffic ahead of him, waiting and hoping for her response. Dear God, let her respond like normal. He rather soothe jealousy any day than deal with indifference.
"Ok," she replied brightly, setting down his phone.
Dear God, just kill him then and there. Breaking the truck, as other's slowed down in front of him, he turned to Jade hotly, unable to keep this pretense up any longer.
"What the fuck, Jade? What the hell-"
Jade pointed out the window suddenly, her face a mask of horror. "Gideon look out!" she cried.
He did not see the large cement block sitting in the middle of the lane in time.
