AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What else was this if not a transaction?” He gets off his stool and paces across the room, muscles coiled and tight. “And why is that such a bad thing? We both needed something from each other, and we set limits. We’re two adults who walked into this with our eyes open.”
“Then tell me this means nothing to younow.All I’m asking for is the truth.” I lick my lips, my heart pounding so hard it feels like there’s a bongo competition in my chest. But I won’t back down now. I need to know.
“Do you even think it’s possible to love someone in less than two weeks?” He tosses his hands in the air. “That’s ridiculous. It’s Hollywood bullshit.”
Maybe so. It’s quick and I can’t explain it. Can I call it love? I’m not sure. But I know true feeling when I see it. I know potential when I see it. I know a future when I see it.
And I see all of that with Daniel.
“I never said theLword,” I say quietly. “Yousaid that.”
He looks at me and I see it then—fear. He’s shown me his hand, because I didn’t even bring love into the equation and yet that word was already in his head. It fills my heart with hope. I wasn’t wrong, thereissomething between us.
“It’s mutual attraction and nothing more,” he says stubbornly. “I like you, we had fun together and we solved a few problems. Today you’ll get that job and move on with your life and that will be it. That’s all it ever was.”
Even though I knew it was coming, the words still sting. It hurts even more knowing that he’s lying to me, and to himself. That he’s using these words to hurt me because he doesn’t want to deal with what’s really here.
“I never asked you to make this ring on my finger mean something real. But don’t reduce what we shared to a lie,” I say, turning the sapphire around and around. “You’re better than that.”
The muscles in his jaw twitch. “You don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“I know a good man when I see one.”
“Then maybe you should get your eyes checked.”
“You can try to downplay what we shared as much as you want, but that won’t change how I feel about it. You can’t take it away from me.”
“There’s no point letting this drag on. I don’t want to hurt you, Ava.” He raked a hand through his hair, but his face was closed off. His dark eyes emotionless. “I should never have pulled you into this in the first place. I’ve been trying so fucking hard to put up this perfect image and to battle all the lies and the accusations and I’m sick of it.”
Despite my frustration that he’s pulling away, my heart bleeds for him. “You’re not that person. You’re not your father.”
“And you’re not your mother, Ava. Don’t settle. Find a man who can give you what you want, who can give you all of him, because it’s what you deserve. But I’m not that person.”
That’s when I feel it—a slicing sensation, like someone is dragging a blade across my heart.Swish.Then an awful gut-clenching. The hollow, yawning ache. It’s so much more physical than I thought it would be—so much more real. Not a metaphorical pain, but real, visceral pain.
He’s right. I can’t be like her.
“Can’t you admit it, Daniel? Admit what you feel even if you don’t want to act on it.” I know I need to let this go. It’s over. Even if we have to go on playing for the cameras a little while longer, sharing his bed—his life—that’sover.
He stares at me for a long moment, like time has frozen him into a perfect replica of a man. “I have to get to work.”
I nod, my heart slowly breaking in two.
“It might be best if you head back to your place for the next few days. I’m sure you need to pack anyway. I’ll have my assistant get in touch about setting you up in one of the Cielo apartments, and we can figure out a lease agreement later.”
Lease agreement. His assistant will call me. Packing my things.
“For what it’s worth,” I say, staring him dead in the eye as I tug the ring off my finger, “I could have loved you, and I’m not afraid to admit that.”
Before he has a chance to respond, I place the ring onto the kitchen counter. Then I turn and head into the room I haven’t slept in since those first few nights. I need to get out of here and collect myself before this interview. Today, I start building my new life. A life where I don’t settle and I keep fighting for what I want, even if the man I want most in the world can’t admit out loud what we share.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Daniel
Three weeks later...
EVERSINCEAVAwalked out of my apartment, I’ve been in a fog. And by fog, I mean a state where I have lost interest in all things that previously gave me pleasure—eating, drinking, negotiating deals, seeing my team achieve great things. I’m reaching into my bag of fucks and coming up empty.
