“I never did I?” Jake sounds shocked. My head snaps up to him wondering what he sees close-up in
that cocky whore’s face that I can’t. She hesitates and looks back at him, like she’s been caught, and
she loses the mask for a millisecond. It quickly draws back up, but I think even Ben caught it, a tiny
flicker of shit he knows.
“Yes, you did,” she snaps a little too quickly. The flicker turns into a full-on twitch as she has trouble
keeping her face under control.
“No, I didn’t. I can tell when you’re lying to my face … I never had sex with you, did I?” Jake’s tone has
completely dispersed, instead of rage he sounds shocked, something in his brain whirring and clicking.
Figuring it all out, trying to work through the drunken haze of a night he still can’t remember.
“Marissa? Surely even you couldn’t scrape as low as that?” Ben snorts in absolute disgust and I see
the ways she clenches her teeth, pure hatred emanating everywhere. Ben shakes his head, appalled,
deciding that this is the truth right here. He walks off to get another drink.
“That night in the hotel …” Jake’s lost in memory and talking out loud, his voice a little soft, “… You
never said my baby. You said you were having a baby.” He seems to be trying to pull something out of
his head, running fingers through his hair. “You knew I would see a lie when you were faced with me
that way.” His chin lifts again and glares at her angrily.
“You’ve got no clue of what you’re saying.” She throws her hair back over her shoulder and turns to
storm off, but Jake’s lightening quick reflexes means he catches her wrist and pulls her back with
serious aggression; yanking her to him with a hollow thud as she hits his chest with her arm, he draws
her wrist up to his shoulder angrily. The grip is harsh, even from here.
“You said you were pregnant and having a baby. You asked me what I was going to do about it, but you
never actually used the fucking words my baby … Not once … In that whole conversation. Later when
we were separated by lawyers and distance, sure … but up close like this … Never fucking once!” He’s
standing but his back is bent, nose to nose with her, voice seething, scarily intimidating and I being to
wonder if he’s capable of hurting a woman in this state. I recoil behind him, suddenly unsure of this
person I’ve never seen before coming out.
My heart is pounding and every part of me is fighting to intervene. I can’t let Jake hurt her even if I hate
her. I would never look at him the same way. This isn’t what I want, this isn’t who I love. I can feel his
hatred for her sweeping off him, around us, like smoke filling the room. So many memories of cruel
men with power over me and I can’t let that happen to anyone else, even her.
“Stop it, you’re hurting me,” she snarls through gritted teeth but there’s fear in her eyes too. She
doesn’t know this version of him and neither do I. I feel faint with the confusion tearing through me. My
hands cover my mouth and I have absolutely no idea what to do. Even Ben looks a little uneasy at this
terrifying version of Jake in full-on viciousness and he tenses as though ready to intervene.
“Did I fuck you?” His angry glare and nasty growl, through clenched teeth, show a man on the verge of
so much rage it’s sweeping off him in droves so powerful the air seems to be cracking around him. His
knuckles are white with the grip of his fisted hand by his side, and the one on her wrist is almost
crushing her. This is a side to Jake I’ve never known and he’s terrifying.
Her eyes fill with tears and she stops pulling at her wrist because it obviously hurts. The color drains
from her face, her eyes losing a little of their confident arrogance and her lip starts to wobble in the
presence of this version of him. She feels the same fear I feel, but she’s the object of his pure
undivided attention so I can only imagine how much worse it really is. He’s almost nose to nose with
her in the most vicious scowl I have ever seen. I reach out to his back and touch him, a begging touch,
to stop hurting her for me. I may hate her but right now I can’t bear to see her hurt like this, not by him
or any man. No women ever deserves to be treated this way even if she has done the unthinkable.
His grip loosens enough for the color of the pale skin in her fingers to start warming again. He’s
responding to me even full of rage and I calm a little, knowing he’s still in there and still responsive to
me. He hasn’t succumbed to some red veil of rage and blanking me out at least. Marissa looks ashen
faced and scared.
I don’t blame her; this isn’t my Jake. This is a man with the potential of someone like Ray Vanquis,
someone with enough strength and aggression to make a woman submit to the truth by any means.
Someone who could beat a woman to the floor without a second thought if he wanted to.
The tears start pouring down my face, willing me anywhere but here so I don’t have to witness what he
thinks is necessary. I couldn’t forgive him if he does this. I don’t want to see this, so many memories
brimming to the surface of my brain and wounding me.
“You still want me,” she whispers to distract him, aiming for some emotion inside of him that she’s sure
he still has for her, trying to manipulate and claw back some of the man she previously knew. But this
time she’s pushed him too far.
“Marissa, I fucking hated you for years, but I don’t hate you anymore, because I don’t give enough of a
fuck about you to feel a single fucking thing.” He lets her go, with a voice as cold and empty as ice and
steps back, much to my absolute relief. I feel faint with it.
His words must sting as eyes fill with moisture and tears come pouring down. If it were me, I’d be dying
right now knowing that Jake could be so brutally cold and cruel and emotionally dead inside. My body
sags with relief that he’s backed off and I’m so confused with all the emotions hitting me over this
scene.
I shiver and wrap my arms tightly around myself, willing my Jake to come back into this room. I hate
being here without him. I need him to be the one dealing with this, not this crazy, rage brimming Jake
that Marissa seems to have pulled out of him. He’s like a stranger to me.
He stands towering over her, every part of him poised and solid. Even Ben has moved away far enough
for me to get the impression that this isn’t over, and I start to tense again. That tingle in the air, a mix of
dangerous and crazy, lingering and I am on the verge of tears again. My body, heart, mind, and soul
are really struggling to endure this.
She doesn’t say anything, just looks from one man to the other in desperation, like she knows she’s
losing and is floundering at what to do. Afraid of the man before her, her face softens, her tone
changes, eyes widen to alarming Bambi type levels. Her whole body seems to sag and turn
submissive.
“Ben?” she whispers tearfully reaching out for him, turning on the tears and victim eyes much like my
mother used to do, as though trying to get some sort of comfort or reaction. She’s acting scared hoping
Ben will protect her from the obvious lunatic in the room.
She’s completely nuts.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart. I’m done being head-fucked by you. Just answer him.” Ben downs another
drink, clinking the glass down on to the counter without another look her way. Offering no help at all but
he does, however, shift closer and I wonder if deep down he would still protect her; especially from this
angry and raging man stood in front of her. Jake is possessed by something, by her and their past, and
the way she nearly messed-up our future; all his anger is focused on her, built up, ready to burst.
She raises her chin in one last show of pride and then nastiness moves in, a darkness taking over her
face as she stands tall to meet Jake with matched venom. She’s decided to stand and fight. A switch in
her head goes off and a new personality steps in; she knows she’s lost so she’s going down in a blaze
of fire.
“All your lame-ass drunk self could do was talk about her.” She nods at me nastily, eyes never leaving
his, defiantly. “Some fucking assistant you were hung up on, then you told me to fuck off, before you
passed out face down, fully dressed.” She’s decided that if the truth is to come out, she’s going to do it
in grand fashion, twisting the knife at the same time. She’s on a sinking ship and doing herself no
favors.
A massive gust of relief rushes through me, my heart soaring, squealing, and aching that even back
then, Jake obviously loved me. It makes me forget the past few minutes, in elation. But I need to hear
her say it, I need to be a hundred percent certain. I want the actual words to finally free us from all the
anguish she’s held over us these past few months.
“So, I never touched you in any way … Nothing?
Not once?” Jake is back to snarling as pieces of the puzzle click into place. The agony of these past
few months and
all the drama and hassle she’s caused over a baby that
wasn’t even Jake’s? All of that and there was never even
a tiny sliver of a chance at it being his. He is ripping her
head off with his eyes, yet his ferocious unpredictable
poise has slowly dissipated. Her confession was all he wanted. It was all an act, a maneuver, another
Carrero manipulation on his part.
“You were as much of a disappointment to me that night as you always have been, Jacob. You don’t
know what to do with a real woman like me and you sure as hell couldn’t get it up. Yeah, I fucked Ben
to make sure I got pregnant because payback is a fucking bitch!” She slaps the glass out of Ben’s hand
since he’d sauntered over to hear every word from the lying whore’s mouth. It smashes to the floor and
she turns on her heel storming away.
Jake seems to be immobilized in rage and maybe relief, while Ben with blinking disbelief, is still trying
to take in the fact that he is one hundred percent the father. He’s ashen faced as though it’s dawned on
him that he’s having a baby … with her!
He has the look I must’ve had when I found out about tadpole, and Marissa’s baby.
“Marissa?” I call after her and she stops, spinning her head to me with a look of complete hatred. I toss
her phone onto the floor between us, not caring if I break it and scowl right back.
“You’re pathetic … It’s sad that you had to go to such lengths to get something he gave me so freely.” I
lift my
chin and slide my hand into Jake’s, anger tremoring through his body, vibrating with rage, as I tug him
with me. I’m no longer afraid of that scary psycho look on his face. Jake would never hurt me in that
way no matter how seething he is, and my touch seems to calm him. He never left me in here at all, he
just needed to push her to break her barriers and confess, always the manipulator and never a
Vanquis.
I was stupid to ever doubt him.
“Take me home, Jake, I want to go home.” I turn my adoring eyes to the man who loves me, smug at
the seething despise on her face as she watches us. Secure in just how little he must’ve ever felt for
her to be able to scare her that way and now elated that her hold over him is gone.
Jake slides an arm around me pulling me in, watching the sheer toxic rage in her eyes, and we leave
Ben and Marissa to sort out the future their baby will have now. I niggle with a little remorse at poor
Ben’s crushed demeanor as we walk out.
With every step away from that apartment Jake seems to lose some of the soaring anger coursing
through his body and starts to loosen up. Every footstep pulls him back to the man I know and love and
as we reach the stairwell, his palms slides over my stomach with a huge sigh of relief. He pulls me to a
stop before hauling me into his arms and exhales slowly right into my hair in an all-consuming full body
embrace.
“I’m sorry I scared you, bambino … Really, really sorry. I just needed to push her for the truth … I
needed her to be scared enough to admit it.”
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