This woman.
“Ignore my heart, baby,” I manage to say through the wreckage of my voice. “Ignore it.”
She leans back, just enough to meet my eyes. “I can’t ignore what holds mine.”
And I fucking lose it all over again. Because I know what she means. She’s accepted that I hold her heart.
But she just can’t seem to believe that she holds mine, too.
TWENTY-NINE
Cece
I smile blandly as I recall last night, my knuckles paling as I grip the steering wheel harder.
Our first fight.
It started off as yet another day I intended to spend in silence. There wasn’t much I could do whenever Levi’s pleadings would fall on my deaf ears.
I had no answers to give him. Especially after that disaster of a gala that he forced me to attend last week.
According to our PR consultants, it worked—albeit barely. The gossip outlets thought otherwise. Our curated charade was just that. A charade. And they didn’t miss our desperate attempt to sway public opinion.
I’m starting to actually believe that Levi wants to remove the clause for Iris. But then, she isn’t even here. He’d have to fly to LA to make his case, I guess.
??????
“Oh, don’t give me that lame explanation,” I snarled at him. My brain was muddled by what he’d told me. That he would step down and get voted back in so he could get rid of the clause.
“You and I both know you’re doing it to get out of this sham arrangement!”
He flinched violently at my words. His voice dulled when he spoke next, not meeting my eyes. “You… you really believe that?”
I laughed in his face. “What other reason is there? You expect me to believe you’re doing this to prove your love or something? Really?”
“I thought you understood that,” he hisses, eyes flaring with barely contained rage.
I do. But—
“I understand that I’ve told you I’d stick around. That I’ll fucking marry you so you can keep this damn presidency.”
I ended on a shout. But he simply grabbed the whiskey glass from my hand and chugged it in one massive gulp.
“I know the situation I’ve created. But you’re letting those gossip columns get to you, Cece,” he said softly. Always fucking softly. “If you’d just try to think logically, you’d see—”
“Logically?” I shrieked. “Logic failed me, Levi.Youfailed me. You blindsided me twice.Twice!Then proceeded to get caught during your little rendezvous, reminiscing about your days when you were in love with her. And I’m still here, aren’t I?”
I stepped closer to him, our breaths nearly mingling, but there was no affection there. Not from me. “Tell me how I’m not logical when I’m offering you a wedding so you can remain the president? Tell me how I’m being ridiculous when I’mobeying your plans for PR stunts? All while… all while you’re hell bent on removing the reason I fucking exist in your life in the first place!”
??????
75 km/hr.
87 km/hr.
I’m aware it’s a highway. And I’m not even one of the fastest vehicles on the road.
Irritation swells up rapidly when a fucking Ford zips past my car.
