Chapter Fourteen

 

I woke while the sun was still rising; Aron’s alarm was going off. I reached out and grabbed it, tossing it to him.

“Are you getting up with me?” he asked, turning the phone off.

No. I didn’t want to. I wanted to keep sleeping.

“You know …” He trailed off and placed a kiss on my cheek. “Never mind.”

“What?” I rolled over, opening my eyes to face him.

“Nothing.” He gave me a smile, sliding out of bed.

I have this thing where I don’t care what someone is about to say. It could be the meanest thing in the world, but if they stop themselves, I suddenly need to know what it is.

I sat up, watching him.

“Nothing?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I was going to child you.” He looked away from me. “But I caught myself before I said anything.”

“Thank you.” I slipped out of bed with him. Whatever he’d been about to say was probably true. I should be getting up with him; I still needed to do some research for an assignment due next week, and I had to write another three essays and study for a test.

I had a lot of work ahead of me; I knew I’d need to sleep eventually, but I needed to get work done too. I stretched my arms over my head and cracked my neck before slipping out of bed.

 

 

“Jamie, what are you doing here?” I looked up from my desk.

“Hi,” she said breathlessly.

It wasn’t abnormal for Jamie to stop by and see me while I was working, but I hadn’t seen her for a couple of weeks. In all honesty, I thought she’d moved on.

“How are you doing, Aron?”

“I’m fine, thank you. Was there something I could do for you?” Normally it was help related that she contacted me. Well, that’s what she said.

“Actually ...” she sat down across from me and pulled something out of her purse. “I did some baking; I thought you might like some brownies.” She handed me a small container of them.

“Oh, wow. Thank you.” I forced a smile over my lips as I took them from her. I didn’t want to be rude but needed to find a way to tell her that I wasn’t interested.

For the longest time, I didn’t say anything; after all, she was nice, and she’d never come out and said she was interested in me. I figured it would be rude to just act like I knew for sure that she did. But, if she did have feelings for me, then I needed to let her know that Melina and I were together.

If we even are for long. After last night, I couldn’t be mad at her if she wanted to be with someone else. I couldn’t blame her if she thought I was an ass for the way I’d treated her.

I knew on some level it had a lot to do with the fact I wanted to take care of her. I’d wanted her to realize how bad it was she waited so long. I hadn’t wanted to fight with her about it, though. I hadn’t wanted to hurt her. But you did.

And when it came down to it, that was what mattered, wasn’t it?

“Aron?”

My own name snapped me back to the real world.

“Yes?”

“You … you looked lost in thought.”

“Oh, I have to admit, I was.” I gave her a quick smile. “I’ve been super busy recently, between work and my girlfriend moving in.” I saw her eyes widen. “I guess I’m not all there right now.”

“I …” she stammered. “I have to go.”

Without another word she stood up and left the room.

I wasn’t sure how to react and just stood there staring after her.

“Uh …”

Was I supposed to rush after her? Was I supposed to go after her and comfort her?

What did I do? All I said was … Oh. I’d mentioned my girlfriend. Well, at least that was that. I guess I didn’t have to worry about telling her about my girlfriend.

 

“Morning.” Rebecca beamed as she stared at me. By the looks of it, she’d been about to go refill her coffee cup.

John gave me a nod.

“Hey.”

“You look tired,” John said.

“I am,” I admitted. “Aron and I had a fight last night, and I was up until some dreadful hour working on that essay.”

I could see the look on Rebecca’s face. She wanted to stick around and learn more. She wanted to hear every detail, but she didn’t want to look like she was doing it. I bit my lip.

Can I actually trust her? I wondered as she gave me a sympathetic smile and walked away.

“Are you okay?” John asked, the second she was gone.

“I think so, yea.”

“You know, Mel,” he paused, staring into my eyes as he reached out and took my hand. “You deserve someone who makes you feel amazing. Not someone who hurts you.”

I stared at him with wide eyes. I mean, fights were normal for any couple—right?

He reached out and touched my hand softly. My heart skipped a beat as his warm fingers brushed against mine.

Oh.

He was just trying to make a move on me. Somehow, it seemed a lot less kind now that I realized he was just playing his own game.

I cleared my throat and pulled my hand away, brushing my hair out of the way and looking around, praying for a second that Rebecca would come back and save me.

“I think we worked through it,” I said, trying to fill the awkward silence. “I mean, it’s our first fight, and now that we’re living together it’s going to be a little harder. I mean, it’s like we have to combine our lives.”

“I may not be as rich as him but ...”

“Wait, what?” I cut him off, staring at him. Why would he being rich mean—Oh.

“I mean, I know he’s rich and everything and that’s probably nice but—”

“I’m not with Aron because of his money.” I cut John off again. My brow furrowed. “I’m sorry that you think that’s the kind of person I am.”

Clearly, John was not the kind of person I’d want, even if I weren’t dating Aron.

I wasn’t going to tell him that; I didn’t want to be a total bitch. My jaw locked as I stared at John.

“Oh, I didn’t mean that. I just meant …” He trailed off. I could see him trying to figure out what to say next, and as bad as it was, I took a bit of pleasure in it. Seeing him squirm.

I glanced down at my phone and cleared my throat.

“I have to go. I’ll see you around, John.” God, I hope not.

I stood and walked away.

I couldn’t believe John would think that of me. I’d always thought he cared about me, but not in the normal way. I’d always felt like it was a really sweet thing.

I felt tears sting my eyes as I brushed past someone, accidently hitting their shoulder. I muttered a quick ‘sorry’, but I wasn’t sure if they heard it or not. I didn’t care.

I can’t fucking believe it! That John would treat me like I was just some gold digger. Was that what everyone thought of me?

Fuck them. I didn’t care. If that’s what they wanted to think of me, then that was their fucking issue, not mine. I was going to do my thing and live my life. If they wanted to think I was just some gold digger, then that was their fault. If that’s what they think, I’ll fucking show them.

I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I headed for my car.