AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I fell for you the first moment I saw you,” he says, making my head spin andhurt. This is exactly what I wanted to hear from his dad, not from him. “The second I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the one for me. I knew, even if it didn’t make sense, even if there were so many obstacles in our way, that I…” He pauses, emotion entering his voice. It’s so wrong. “I loved you. I knew that, no matter what—”
“No,” I interrupt. “No, James. I’m sorry. I don’t feel the same.”
“You haven’t given me a chance…”
“What’s going on?” Lexi jogs over, shooting me a look, silently asking if I need help. She joins us, turning to look at James. “What are you saying to her, James?”
“Nothing that has anything to do with you,” he scowls. “Can’t a man declare his undying love in peace?”
“You don’t even go here,” Lexi snaps, meaning the college. “This is graduating to straight-up stalker territory.”
“I can’t help if it if I feel this way,” James said.
“You’ll have to try,” I say, “because it’s never going to work. It simply isn’t.”
Lexi looks at me, frowning tightly. I know what she’s thinking without even having to ask. She’s wondering if I’ve told him about my relationship with his dad, but obviously, I haven’t done that. I wouldn’t do it without Fletcher’s blessing.
“Anything else?” Lexi says, glaring at James.
“Don’t look at me like that,” James snaps. “This isn’t the gym now.”
“Jesus, James,” Lexi replies. “I beat you in sparringonce,and now you have to throw a temper tantrum for the rest of all time. You’ve pulled your stunt. Now, is there anything else?”
He grits his teeth, then shakes his head and turns away. “Nah, I’m good… for now.”
“Please don’t send me any moregifts,” I call after him as he turns and swaggers away.
Lexi places her hand on my arm, squeezing gently. “Are you good?”
“I just wish he’d leave me alone,” I whisper. “If I’m going to have a relationship with Fletcher, how the heck will it work? I can’t be James’ stepmom if he feels this way.”
“Whoa, stepmom?” Lexi asks. “Seems to me like you’re thinking way too far ahead.”
“Well, I don’t care!” I snap, hearing gunfire in my mind, remembering the barking, the haze of bullets, and the certainty I would die. “That’s how I feel and how Fletcher feels, too.”
“He’s said that, has he?” Lexi says, a challenge in her voice. “That he wants to get married one day?”
“No,” I admit.
The truth is, Lexi’s response is probably the right one. If I told Fletcher about the wedding bells ringing in my thoughts, he’d leave me unless he feels the same. Unless all that talk about what a good mother I’ll make was aboutus, not just some hypothetical.
“Come on.” Lexi squeezes my arm gently. “Let’s finish our food.”
“No way. I’m not going back in there. Not today.”
“Sam…”
“I mean it,” I snap. “It’s too awkward.”
She sighs. “Okay, fair enough. What should we do instead?”
“No way. You’ve got class. I’m not ruiningyoureducation, too. I’ll be okay, honestly.”
“Are you sure?” she asks, frowning.
No, I’m not. I don’t know if anything is going to be okay. If it isn’t the bullets firing in my memory, it’s the doubt firing in my soul. “Yes,” I tell her.
Once she’s gone, I walk to the bus stop, replaying the confrontation with James. He said everything I wish Fletcher would: He knew when he first saw me. He loves me, even if it didn’t make sense, but it’s coming from the wrong Jacobson.
