Destined To Fall (Reluctant lovers #1)

Chapter Twenty Eight

“Okay, enough with the couch potato. You ’ re actually making a permanent indent in it,” Laura greets me, dumping her fancy-pants briefcase on the coffee table.

“ You calling me fat?”

“ If the sweatpants don ’ t fit.” I look down at the sweats I am in fact wearing and the crumbs still sitting on my boobs from lunch and wrinkle my nose.

“ Fair. I ’ ll book into a hotel and get out of your way.”

“ That ’ s not what I mean, numbnuts.” Taking my feet in her hands, she lifts them up and slides in under them. “ You ’ ve been moping for over a week. Time to get your shit together, woman. You ’ re Vivienne fucking Carmichael. You don ’ t mope over anything.”

“ She ’ s long gone, her body left in an alley.” And her soul in a bed with a boy. “ Nothing left.”

“ Then it ’ s time to find who you are without it. Perfect time for reinvention. Who do you wanna be? What do you wanna do now?” I can see the wheels turning in her head, the spreadsheets she ’ s creating, the Venn diagrams and brain mapping. It ’ s enough to make me wanna puke.

“ I don ’ t know how to be or do anything else.”

“ That ’ s a big fat lie, and you know it. Jesus, Vee. You have a brain . Use it. ”

“ Shut up. You ’ re supposed to be my friend. My best freaking friend, I might add.”

“ Babe, I ’ m your only fucking friend.” My heart twists painfully at her words. For a little while, she would have been wrong. “ You miss him, don ’ t you?” I feel my lip tremble, but I refuse to let the emotion overwhelm me.

“ Who? ”

“ Real cute, Vee. Real cute. ”

“ Then don ’ t ask stupid fucking questions you already know the goddamn answer to!” I yell, getting to my feet.

“ Then do something about it!” she yells right back.

“ Like what? What the fuck am I supposed to do, huh? If you ’ re so smart and all-knowing, what the fuck do I do now? Because the way I see it ,”— I pause, shaking my head—“I ’ ve got nothing.”

“ Nothing? Nothing? I call bullshit. You still have cards to play. Make the call, Vee.”

“ What?”

“ Make the fucking call.”

“ I can ’ t call him!” I gasp. My heart stops at the thought. Laura shakes her head, her eyes rolling.

“ No, dumbass. Make the call and cash in your chit.” I raise an eyebrow, not quite following, and then it hits me. Her lips curve up when she sees the understanding in my eyes, and she nods.

The wheels start turning in my head, and I pace, thinking through the possibilities. When I start mumbling to myself, Laura sits forward to better hear and pay attention, interjecting when she catches bits and offering suggestions. Next thing I know, she ’ s got her laptop out, and a plan is forming.

I take a deep breath and reach for my phone. My hand shakes as I scroll through it until I find his number and look back at her, biting my lip. I don ’ t think I can do this.

“ You ’ ve got this.”

I give her a weak smile and hit call before pressing the speaker button and setting it on the coffee table between us, watching it like it ’ s a ticking time bomb. It picks up after the fourth ring.

“ Maxwell.” His deep tone breaks through the thick silence in Laura ’ s apartment, and the breath I ’ ve been holding comes out in a whoosh.

“ Hi,” I choke out. “ It ’ s Viv. Vivienne. ”

“ Vivienne? ” I hear him shift in his chair, the soft crinkle of leather coming through the speaker. “ It ’ s good to hear from you.” The curiosity and concern are evident in his tone. “ It ’ s been…awhile.”

“ I know. I…I ’ m sorry.” I sigh. “ I need your help.”

“ Anything.”

Like the coward I am, I paid someone to pack up my apartment, leaving only the essentials to stage the place for sale, and put the rest in storage. I loved that apartment—it was the first real thing that felt like mine—but I couldn ’ t make myself go back. It ’ s so …I don ’ t belong there anymore. It belongs to a life I no longer inhabit.

“ Are you sure this is what you want?” Laura asks, handing me the final sale papers to sign.

“ I ’ m sure.” I hope.

“ Say goodbye, Vivienne.”

“ Goodbye, Vivienne. ”

She grins before taking the papers and heading for the door, casually throwing a singsong ‘ good luck ’ over her shoulder.

“ That felt real sincere . Thanks ! ” I holler after her as the door closes, leaving me alone in her apartment to stew.

My heart is instantly in my throat, threatening to jump ship and escape, taking the meager contents of my stomach with it. I focus on my breathing and finish getting ready. After raiding Laura ’ s wardrobe and touching up my face one last time, I ’ m out of valid excuses not to leave.

D é jà vu hits me, unsurprisingly, when the yellow death wagon pulls up outside the familiar tall monstrosity in record time. My nerves crumble like a sandcastle under a well-placed foot. God, who thought this was a good plan? This is a horrible idea, and I ’ m going to kill Laura when it blows up in my face and I have to crawl back to her with my tail between my legs.

Who the hell am I kidding? I can ’ t do this. There is no chance I ’ m not going to end up eating shit. My pity party is interrupted by my watch vibrating with a text notification from Laura , highlighting that it ’ s ten to nine and I ’ m about to be late.

Fuck it.

What do I have to lose at this point? With that motivational thought, my newfound death wish, and the balls of a moron, I throw all caution to the wind and walk in through the revolving doors. The fact that I hold my breath while they spin and spit me out, and until I ’ m inside the elevator, is beside the point.

The doors ping open, and waiting on the other side is Maxwell.

“ Good morning.” A warm smile I don ’ t deserve lights his face.

“ Uh, hi. How long have you been waiting here?”

“ No time at all.” There ’ s a twinkle in his eye that makes me narrow mine. “ Nigel rang up when he saw you walk in.”

“ Keeping tabs already. I should have known.”

“ Shall we?”

“ Lead the way.”

We walk in silence for a few minutes, curious eyes following us as we navigate the hallways before Maxwell speaks again.

“ You ’ re looking a little…peaked.” I swear his mouth twitches with the hint of a smirk.

“ Bite me,” I mutter under my breath. “ I ’ m fine, ” I lie, casually wiping my clammy palms on Laura ’ s charcoal pencil skirt. It ’ s a little snug. I really need to get my ass back to the gym.

Maxwell rounds a corner, a light chuckle on his lips, only to stop abruptly, causing me to smack into him. Before I can ask what the hell, I freeze.

Jeremy .

My heart rate triples, the threat of a heart attack again sending my stomach skyrocketing into my throat, and I think I really might vomit.

God, I miss that face. The memories haunting me these past couple of weeks really did him a disservice, not quite capturing the way his hair always looks so perfectly tousled, the slight shadow on his jaw, or the exact shade of those gorgeous sapphire eyes currently staring at me with wide-eyed horror.

“ What are you doing here?”

My tongue swells and my lungs constrict, making it impossible to speak. An agonizing twenty-seven seconds goes by without a word uttered by either Maxwell or myself.

“ Seriously. Why are you here?”

“ Oh, would you look at the time? I have a meeting in three minutes. I ’ ll, um, have to finish the tour later.”

“ Tour? What the hell is going on?”

Somehow managing to look sheepish and amused at the same time, Max backs away from us, shrugs his shoulders, and scurries off in the direction we just came from.

Well, fuck.

“ I, uh…um…”

Fuuuck.

Jeremy chooses that moment to look around , and realizing we have an audience, frowns. He takes a deep breath before shifting his head to indicate behind him. Without waiting for, well, anything, from me, he walks off. My heart constricts at his purposeful stride. His usual swagger is completely gone.

Jeremy pauses in front of an office, opens the door wide, and waits for me to go in first. I walk past him, and my senses ignite at the proximity. It ’ s a struggle to fight the urge to breathe him in, but I blessedly refrain and pause in the middle of the office. Jeremy ’ s office. Surprised I wasn ’ t shoved into some random empty space, I stare transfixed, taking in all the tiny details before the door shuts behind me with such force, I startle and spin around, finding Jeremy leaning against it with an unreadable mask on his face.

“ I ’ ll ask you again.” The calm facade begins to crack. “ What are you doing here? At my office? Because I sure don ’ t show up at yours”—I flinch. I can ’ t help it— “ unexpectedly after no contact for…”

“ Nineteen days,” I manage around the lump in my throat.

I could tell him the minutes if he asked, but the hurt that ’ s bleeding through the cracks tells me he knows exactly how long it ’ s been. Okay . Big girl panties on.

“ I…I—”

“ You panicked,” he cuts me off.

“ Yes , and no.”

The mask slips completely before he has a chance to put it back in place.

“ Please, let me explain, and then you can kick me out.”

He says nothing, so I take another deep breath and continue in a rush before I lose my nerve again.

“ I ’ ve always been promiscuous, even in my teens. You could psychobabble me and say it had something to do with my parents. Never feeling good enough or loved, blah blah blah. In short, I suppose that might have played a small part, but I made the conscious decision because it was what I wanted. Marriage was never something I wanted. To be a good little wife and live unhappily ever after. No thanks. I liked sex too much, and my freedom. Plus, if I ’ m brutally honest, I liked the attention and the money. Having complete control over my life and being selfish to a fault was exhilarating.”

“ And I just didn ’ t fit in with all of that.”

“ No, you didn ’ t.” He nods, seemingly to himself. He starts to speak, but I put up my hand to stop him. “ I needed nothing. I had everything that I could ever need or want. I was complete—until you literally walked into me.”

“ You walked into me, if we ’ re going to be accurate here.”

“ Okay, fine. I walked into you, but that ’ s beside the point. The point I ’ m trying and failing to make is, the world that was turned upside down wasn ’ t yours, it was mine.”

Jeremy just looks at me, waiting and giving nothing away.

“ I sold my apartment.”

“ I know.”

I ’ m a little taken aback. “ How? ”

“ I wasn ’ t prepared to just let you run. Not without a fight. But I know you, or I thought I did. So I waited—waited for it all to sink in—and then I showed up.” My eyes go wide. A little part of me had always wondered , but wasn ’ t brave enough to hope.

“ I have no firsts left to give. I wasted them all because they meant nothing to me. Except, well, maybe just the one. I ’ ve never loved anyone, so there ’ s that, but I want you to be all my lasts. My onlys. For the rest of my brief existence. ”

“ Did you just propose?”

Did I? “ Should I get on my knees? I ’ m not opposed to begging.” I lower to my knees, and I don ’ t miss the spark of desire that flashes in Jeremy ’ s eyes. “ Jeremy William Thatcher—”

“ How ’ d you—”

“—will you make me the most blissfully miserable woman on the planet and take me as yours? If you still want me…”

“ Whoa.” He pulls me up from my knees. “ Moving a little fast, aren ’ t we? After only having sex a couple of times, and then, you know, ghosting me for weeks.”

I can feel the look on my face, the shock rippling through me, my heart squeezing in my chest. He…he doesn ’ t want me?

“ I wish I had a camera so I could capture the look on your face right now . Vivienne. You beautiful, clueless, emotionally stunted—”

“ Hey!”

“—woman. I ’ m kidding. You think I ’ m going to let you off that easy? I can ’ t have you thinking I ’ m that desperate. Not to mention, I ’ d like to have the upper hand in this relationship at least once.”

“ You asshole.” I push at his chest, but it ’ s feeble at best, and he takes both my hands in his before I pull away.

“ You have an insane amount of groveling to do—”

“ I ’ m good on my knees—”

“ Shut up.”

“ Okay.”

“ Groveling. All of it. But I meant what I said. You ’ re all I want, Viv. You ’ re all I ’ ll ever want, and I plan to make you the most blissfully miserable—”

I nod and possibly sniffle.

“—the most blissfully miserable woman on the planet. One day. Maybe. If you ’ re good.”

“ I hate you. So much.”

He grins, and a sob escapes me. A tear I fought not to shed runs over my cheek. Jeremy brings up a hand up to cup my face, his thumb brushing the traitorous liquid. His smile turns soft.

“ Say it.”

“ You mean that whole spiel wasn ’ t enough?”

He leans forward, brushing his lips against mine in a whisper as he says, “ I need to hear you say it,” before pulling back.

“ Cruel, beautiful man. Fine. I, Vivienne Carmichael—just so there is no confusion—”

“ We wouldn ’ t want that.”

“ Am. Painfully.”

“ Painfully?”

“ Agonizingly. In love with you.”

His whole face lights up, and more traitorous tears leak out of my eyes before I can stop them.

“ Finally.”

And with that, he kisses me so passionately, so thoroughly, my knees threaten to give out, and somehow I feel whole again as the world around us disappears.

Jeremy eventually breaks the kiss, and I whimper, making him snicker.

“ I ’ m getting a little too worked up for an office setting. Speaking of…why are we doing this here, and what did my dad mean about a tour?”

“ Oh. I ’ m here making an honest woman of myself.” His lip twitches at this. “ I quit my …job, and I needed a new one.”

“ I may have read that somewhere.”

“ Read that… Laura. ” That sneaky wench.

“ Possibly.”

“ Well, you ’ re looking at your new social media marketing manager.”

“ Oh, I am?”

“ Yup. Today is officially my first day.”

“ And you ’ re already slacking on the job.”

“ It ’ s not my fault upper management pulled me into an impromptu private meeting.”

He grins at this. “ So what, you ’ re just going to work in an office for the rest of your days?”

“ Well, yeah, that ’ s the plan.”

“ Is that right?”

“ Okay, don ’ t do that.”

“ Do what?”

“ I ’ m perfectly capable of working in an office. In fact, I ’ m going to love it.”

“ Wanna play for it?”

“ Oh, please, I never lose.”

“ Care to wager, then?”

“ Baby , I ’ m all in!”

To be continued in Laura’s story

Bound to Break

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