Chapter 24 #2
There’s a beat before his reply lights up my screen.
Will: Okay, Shakespeare. Give me 20. I’m coming over with booze and wings.
And just like that, I start crying harder… because Will gets it. Of course he fucking gets it.
By the time he gets here, I’ve had two more glasses of scotch, and I can’t even bring myself to open the door. I just sit there on the couch, staring at the T-shirt she left hanging on the back of my bathroom door. It’s soft and faded and smells like her. Like a memory I can’t shake.
The door swings open a minute later—he must’ve used the code. “Oh shit, man,” Will says, stepping in and setting down a tray of spicy chicken wings and a six-pack like he’s here for a funeral. “How much have you had?”
I just point at the bottle of scotch, now three-quarters empty.
He whistles low. “Ah, only that? That’s not bad. Thought you’d be naked or something.”
I glance at him, and he’s a little fuzzy around the edges. “She’s gone,” I croak. “Back to England. She left me.”
Will drops onto the couch beside me. “What’d you do? Show her your tiny peen?”
I don’t even flinch. Just reach for the bottle again.
“No, no,” he says, swatting my hand away. “Rookie mistake. Let’s get dead drunk the right way. Start with five wings. Trust me—it soaks up the sadness.”
I don’t have the energy to argue. I just pick one up and take a bite. It’s hot, spicy, and it burns. It feels real.
“She said she can’t love me. That I’m not… me.”
Will raises an eyebrow, chewing slowly. “Did she actually say that?”
I shake my head, the words catching. “She said I can’t love her. That what I loved was the version of her from last night. The dress. The makeup. That it was all fake—plastic and artifice.”
He snorts. “Well… it was. But it was good plastic. High-end artifice. That’s half the fun.”
His phone buzzes on the table, the screen lighting up. He glances at it, then ignores it with a sigh.
“Come on, jackass,” he mutters, nudging the tray toward me. “One more wing. Misery loves sodium.”
I reach for another, more out of reflex than anything. My chest still aches like someone split it open and left me to bleed, and I don’t know how to glue any of it back together.
His phone lights up again.
I glance at the screen. “Why is Mariana calling you?”
He doesn’t even flinch. “I was at her place. Dick deep.”
I groan. “Then why the hell are you here? Why’d you even look at your phone?”
He shrugs casually. “Because it was you. And you needed me. You’ve always shown up for me.”
That hits harder than it should. I swallow past the lump forming in my throat.
“Man, I—”
“Don’t whine. Eat.”
I manage a hollow laugh and shake my head. “Something happened. I don’t know where I fucked up… or if I even did.”
The phone rings again. Will sighs like a man going to war. “Let me just answer this. She’s stage-five clingy when she doesn’t get her orgasm.”
He pops open two beers, hands one to me, and hits speaker.
I lean back, my eyes closed, bracing.
“Mariana,” he says, flat.
“When are you coming back?” Her voice is sultry and impatient. “I’m getting cold and lonely.”
“I’m not. Use the toy I bought you for Christmas. Jake needs me.”
There’s a pause, then a low laugh. “She’s gone, isn’t she?”
Will doesn’t answer.
“Honestly?” Mariana hums, all faux sweetness. “Sooner than I expected.”
Despite the alcohol dulling everything in me, I see Will switch in real time. The smirk fades. The usual relaxed posture is gone. What’s left is cold and sharp.
“You did this.”
Mariana tuts. “Don’t be so dramatic. She was never built for this world, darling. I gave her clarity. That’s what you said she needed, isn’t it?”
Will’s voice drops, lethal now. “Why? Why the fuck do you want him to fail the way you did?”
She laughs, light and dismissive. “Fail? I have two Oscars, sweetheart.”
“Yeah? How’re they keeping you warm at night?” He scoffs. “Oh… right. They’re not.”
Silence. And for once, she doesn’t have a comeback.
Then he looks at me with dark eyes. “You’ll see how wrong you are,” he says, but it’s not for her anymore.
It’s for me. “Those two? They’re a match.
Even with my jaded-ass heart, I can see it.
And I think you did too, Mariana. That’s why you burned it down.
Misery loves company. I’d know. I used to love yours.
Find another dick to play with.” He presses the red icon and throws the phone on the table.
Then, louder, like we’re not both on the verge of collapse, “That’s good news!”
I blink. “Okay… I know I’m drunk, but how the hell is that good news?”
He grins, all teeth. “Because now we know. It wasn’t her breaking down. It was Mariana breaking her. And now you can fix it.”
“Fix it?” I echo.
“Yeah. Jump on a plane. Go get her. Fix what that venomous bitch wrecked.”
I shake my head. “No.”
“No,” I say again, quieter this time. “If she really wanted to stay… nothing Mariana said would’ve mattered.”
He sighs. “Jake. She’s scared. Scared she’s not enough. Scared to be a burden.”
“Then I must not love her right,” I mutter. “Because she shouldn’t be scared. Not with me.”
“It’s all new. High-speed, high-stakes. You two went from zero to soulmate in, what, a month? It’s not weird that she’s scared—it’s human.”
I press my palms to my eyes. “She said I’m not the man I pretend to be. And maybe… maybe she’s right.”
Will stills. “Jake—”
“She’s right,” I say, cutting him off. “The version of me I thought I was wouldn’t have picked Joseph Gordon over Everything That Follows.”
Will’s eyebrows shoot up. “Wait. Joseph Gordon offered you a role?”
I wave a hand. “He’s going to offer you one too. Paladin.”
Will blinks. “The sidekick?”
“Comic relief,” I confirm, letting my head fall back against the couch. I stare at the ceiling like the answers might be written there, but of course, they’re not.
He doesn’t say anything right away. Just watches me—beer in hand, wings forgotten. Finally, he lets out a low whistle.
“Damn,” he murmurs. “This really fucked you up, huh?”
I close my eyes. “Yeah. It did.” I swallow hard.
“But the thing is… she’s not wrong. I can’t be two different people.
Not really. It doesn’t work like that. I need to figure out who I am.
Jake, Eli, or a hybrid version of me I can actually live with.
And Amy? She needs to figure out if she can love that version because I can’t have her bail on us like that again.
I’m not made of stone.” I pause. “She broke my fucking heart today.”
Will nods slowly, then takes a long sip of his beer. He stands and crosses to the bay window, staring out even though there’s nothing but black outside.
“I’m pretty sure leaving broke hers too,” he says quietly. “You must realize that by now. Just… don’t wait ten years to figure it out. Don’t come back when it’s too late.”
I glance over at him, the vulnerability in his voice catching me off guard. “Did a woman break your heart?”
“Yes,” he says simply. “But I think I broke hers first.”
A weighty silence stretches between us.
That… that’s not like Will. No deflection, no sarcasm. That was something real. And for once, I don’t fill the silence. I just let it sit there, heavy.
I know the truth, though, and despite my broken heart, I’m not giving up on us.
I can’t. I love her too much for that. But for once, I’m not chasing.
I’m taking a step back. Listening, like she asked. I’ll figure out what I want and who I really am without twisting myself into the version I thought she needed.
Because that didn’t work, and it blew up in our faces.
So I’ll do the work… quietly. For me. And when I’m ready, when I know I’m the man she deserves, not pretending, not performing, I’ll show her.
And then… it’ll be her turn to decide if the love we had still fits the life she wants.
Because next time, there won’t be any turning back.
Next time, I’ll be playing for keeps.