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“Look Tiffany, I know you’re her sister, but you’re not Abigail. I am not in a relationship with you, so I don’t think you need to be up in our business.”
Her jaw drops, and she looks at me like I’ve lost of my mind. But it snaps shut, and she begins her retort, but Abigail’s voice interrupts.
“He’s right, Tiff. Let me take care of this,” she whispers to her sister and Tiffany nods and leaves, not withholding her middle finger at me on her way inside her apartment.
“Nice,” I mutter, but then immediately, my eyes fall on to Abigail’s face, her expression worrying the shit out of me. “What’s going on, Abi? You haven’t responded to my messages or called me back.”
“I saw you having your meeting with an attractive blonde, you know, the black and white suit and big boobs.” She cocks an eyebrow at me, and I immediately see where she’s going. Then she says, “This was a few hours after you told me you were going to a lunch meeting, which I, of course, didn’t question.”
Wait. She saw me with Melissa. Oh, shit.
“Okay,” I lift my hands, and sigh. “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not how it looks.”
You’re making this worse by throwing cliché lines, Jaxon!
She rolls her eyes and I hear a snicker from inside, followed by, “Now, isn’t that original?”
I rub my temples and give her a pleading look, but she just purses her lips and crosses her arms.
“I saw her touch your arm… you guys seemed very cozy, Jaxon.”
“Abi,” I say, all intentions of explaining what happened, but she sighs and continues.
“Look, I don’t need to be charmed by you, but having someone by my side who likes me for who I am is what I need. Someone trustworthy.”
The words hit me as if she just slapped me across the cheek. The animosity in her tone grips me and my anger shifts to disappointment.
“Trustworthy?! It’s you who can’t trust me. You’re the one here with trust issues. If you had just listened to me before jumping to conclusionsagain,then you would know it’s all a misunderstanding.”
Her jaw drops, and she glares at me. “I am capable of trusting someone!”
I cross my arms, defending myself because this time, I am not lying, or giving any version of the truth. Unlike what she thinks.
“Okay, then trust me on this. Today I met up with a woman called Melissa–a literary agent.” I pause and notice the surprise in Abigail’s expression. “My mum has been her hairdresser for many years, and she offered to work with mebefore, but I had Greg. I met up with her and see where it would lead, so that is why you saw us together. That was the meeting I was at. Yes, she flirted with me. Of course, I bet you didn’t see me move my arm and hear me divert the conversation back to business.”
I can see her demeanor change as I talk, but I continue because she needs to hear me out. Abigail needs to see the point here. “Did I kiss her? No. Did I fuck her? No. Did I charm my way into her pants? No. In fact, the reason I called you this afternoon was to talk to you about this. Excited to see your reaction to my news. Of course, you jumped the gun and saw the worst rather than asking me for an explanation without going ape shit or sending your sister after my balls.”
Abigail just stands there, her expression pained. For a second, I feel strong knowing I had her stumped, but at the end of the day, it’s simple. She either trusts me, or she doesn’t.
“Before you say anything, tell me one thing, Abi.”
“What?” she whispers.
“Do you trust me? Plain and simple, yes or no.”
Uncertainty is what I see when I look into her eyes.
Silence is the response I get.
“I see.” Shaking my head in utter disappointment, I don’t bother waiting. I turn around and walk down the steps, out into the chilly afternoon, with a heavy heart knowing that because of my tainted past, I may never get through to Abigail.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
ABIGAIL
“Well, that was not what I expected.” I hear Tiffany say, her voice getting closer.
I turn towards her as I stare out the door with Jaxon now out of sight. “Don’t start Tiff.” My voice is cool, but on the inside, I am crumbling.
