“You are so fucking stubborn.”
“You knew that.”
He slowly shakes his head, still smiling. That beautiful grin always warmed my heart.
“I didn’t know how deep your feelings ran,” he says in a softer voice. “I knew I’d hurt you but never thought I’d leave you scars.”
“Scars were not my problem. You warned me. Remember?”
His eyes glint with emotion this time.
“Yes, I do. But that was not my intention. The only reason I said that was to keep you away from me and protect you. And also myself. To keep things how they were and prevent them from changing us.”
“You’ve changed anyway.”
He looks at me, his gray eyes looking like a rainy day.
“No, I haven’t. A lot of things have changed, but not me. I’m not happier than I was with you. I’m not different than I was with you. I have the same scars and ink under this shirt. I have the same coldness in my soul. I have the same loneliness I've always had. My life is so much better in so many many ways. But I’m the same. As hurtful as they were, all the things you said to me weren’t true. I didn’t use you. No matter how we ended it, it would’ve felt the same way. I wanted to be your man. Not the poor guy you found on the street, behind a club, or stabbed by a thug on a dirt road in the woods. At that point, I didn’t know if I could be that man. The same way you didn’t know whether you’d make it when you left home. Nobody knows those things. I didn’t know them either. I took a chance, and luckily, it all worked out. But things could’ve been completely different.”
I look at him, dumbstruck.
“And what exactly was your plan, Jaden? To go out there, strike on your own, and come back to me?”
He studies my eyes for a moment.
He shakes his head again.
“No. I knew it was difficult to come back. And I knew how you’d react. I see it now.”
“Was it worth it?”
“No. It was a loss either way, but I had to take a chance.”
“Well... You took it. And it paid off. Now that you made your money, you also got a prize,” I sneer.
He sinks his eyes into mine, a grin tugging at his lips.
“Your words can’t hurt me more than they already have,” he says.
“I hurt you?? Seriously? No, no. That wasn’t my intention. I was only stating a fact. So, who is she, by the way? Wife? Girlfriend? Hot date?”
“She’s a client,” he deadpans.
I look at him, thrown off.
“You’re joking, right?”
He clicks his tongue.
“Nope. I’m not.”
I push his chest again. He doesn’t move.
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s the truth.”
“You said you didn’t do women. Besides, the woman couldn’t be more smitten with you. She looked as if she was in love with you.”