Page 103 of Dirty Rock

I hated every fucking second of it, despite the jealousy I’d felt watching her with Joshua. I couldn’t do it to her. I just… couldn’t.

I didn’t have to think about my next move. I carefully pushed Molly away, and I took a step back to create some distance. Without complaint or protest, Molly slipped back into her seat and offered me a wink before she picked her glass up again.

“Did she see it?” she asked quietly.

“She saw it.” I cleared my throat awkwardly.

“And?”

I looked back up at Jules who was handing her glass over to Big D. She quickly turned on her feet and headed away from the gang towards the back of the bar.

“She’s walking away.”

“Which direction?”

“I dunno. The toilets, maybe.”

“Now’s your cue, doll. Go get her.” Molly gave me the side-eye. “She’s going there to either cry or scream. The truth is waiting for you. Whatever she’s feeling, now’s the time to find out. Go and grab your girl.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. Pride or not, I wanted to find out what the fucking truth was. This messing around and not knowing was killing me. My feet moved without instruction, and before could think about it, I was jogging through the small crowd of people, chasing Julia Speed like my life depended on it.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“Jules!”

I pushed past people, not caring if they were calling for my attention or giving me the eye. I didn’t care if they were man, woman, or beast. If they were in my way, I soon got them out of it.

When I turned the corner, I saw my girl taking a left, following a sign that declared the toilets were that way.I ran after her, skidding around the bend like a fucking mad man only to catch up to her and grab her by the elbow.

“Get off,” she hissed, shrugging me away, but I held on tight and spun her around. The look she wore killed me, but I swallowed my own pain because this fucking mattered. She mattered.

“No. We’re doing this.”

“Screw you.”

“Any time, any place, anywhere.”

“Arrogantfuck,” she whispered.

“You’re not getting out of this. We need to talk.”

“Why? So you can make me feel even shittier?”

“Me?” I snapped. “Fuck, you’re the one all over crooner boy out there, with his slimy smile and roamingmotherfucking hands.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She frowned, scrunching her face up in disgust as she tugged against my hold on her.

“He’s all over you like a poisonous snake, and you can’t even see it. Or maybe you don’t want to see it.”

I always thought I’d have to convince any woman I got with that I’d be faithful—for them to not get suspicious or paranoid about the attention I received. It turned out I was the one who needed reassuring—the one crippled with jealousy I couldn’t tame.

“You’re crazy. This whole thing is crazy. It’s over, Rhett.”

“You don’t get to decide how this ends.”

“And you do? Jesus, you’re such an arrogant arsehole.”

“You made me what I am, baby. Enjoy the fruits of your labour.”

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