Chapter 34 Maverick
Chapter thirty-four
Maverick
"Iz—"
"No, I fucking told you I didn't want to come, Maverick. You didn't listen."
Something isn't right with her. She says she doesn't feel well, but it's more than that. I can feel it. It’s obvious in the way she’s nervously biting at her nails, staying quiet when she’d usually be chatting up a storm, and constantly looking over her shoulder.
She may think because I don't force her to talk about things, I don't notice, but it's quite the opposite.
I notice everything. I just let her set the pace to respect her boundaries.
Quite frankly, her boundaries suck, and I'm ready to knock those fuckers down with a wrecking ball. I’m ready to be let in fully… I think I deserve that much.
"I'm just asking a question..." I say softly with a sigh.
"Asking a question? Or questioning me? There's a huge difference." Her tone is harsh. Harsher than she's ever been with me before.
"I'm just asking if there's more with him that I don't know about. That's all. The interaction last night was... tense. It was weird."
She crosses her arms. "I wasn't even there. What does that have to do with me?"
I scoff, annoyed that she's deflecting instead of just answering the question. It causes my nerves to rise, as if she's hiding something, and I don't like the feeling at all.
Over the course of time that I have been with Izzy, I've come to know her well.
She may have been all about sex in the beginning, but she doesn't sleep around with multiple men at once.
I've never felt like I had to worry about that being an issue, but something about this situation doesn't sit right with me.
It was how the guy looked at me, sizing me up, as if I were in his way. It's in the way that my bubbly, outgoing, always-down-for-a-good-time girlfriend didn't want to come. It's in how she's hiding out in this cabin like she's afraid to face what will meet her outside these walls.
I let out a sigh before speaking. "Can you just answer the question?"
"If the question is if there is more history there, then the answer would be yes. Yes, there's more. Is it something I'm willing to talk with you about right now? Absolutely fucking not."
I don't speak, just shake my head. The anger is rolling off of her in waves, and she's coming apart at the seams. I've never seen her like this. I didn't intend to start this war. I just wanted to have a conversation. On the blind date with Via and Ander, I had asked her if Jett was going to be a problem. I thought she didn’t answer because I wasn’t being serious. Now, it’s obvious it was because she’s hiding something—the more to their history.
“That’s fine, Izzy. History is history for a reason. But will you eventually talk to me about it?” I ask.
"Tell you what, exactly, Maverick?" Oof—she never calls me by my full first name. The sound of it coming out of her mouth almost stings. "Am I sleeping with Jett? Am I sneaking around with him? What am I hiding? Does that about sum it up?" She scoffs, annoyed.
"No, I don't think—"
"That's the problem. You don't think. You go around speaking and acting before thinking.
If you seriously have any of those questions, then I suggest you question yourself.
You need to question how well you know me because, apparently…
" She scoffs again, looking me over with disgust. "Apparently, you don't know me at all. "
"Babe, I just want to talk." I forcefully keep my voice small to seem nonthreatening.
"No, Maverick. You want to question. Why don't I ask some of my own, shall I?"
She clears her throat dramatically, stepping up to me. Her short stature, compared to mine, is cute. Her head barely meets my chest, but she's fierce in every inch that she stands.
Not backing down, she pokes at my chest, continuing, "Why couldn't you follow my simple rules?
Why didn't you run from me when I clearly warned you to?
Why did you persist when I told you I didn't want a relationship?
Why didn't you just give up? And why on Earth did you have to make me fall in love with you!
?" By the time she's finished, she's panting, her fists are clenched, and a lone tear rolls down her cheek.
I hear her words, processing them, but all I can focus on is one thing replaying in my mind that leaves me standing still, stuck in place from shock.
"Iz, did you just admit that you love me?" I ask, barely above a whisper.
She lets out a sigh. Her shoulders slump forward, and she drops her head as she wipes away her tears.
I begin to walk toward her, attempting to reach out to her to pull her into me, but I'm stopped short. She shoots a hand out, pushing at my chest, softly, halting my movements.
"Get out," she whispers, her tone filled with every ounce of her sadness.
"Babe—"
"Mav, please. Just get out. For now."
I cannot bring myself to upset her further, since that was never my intention. I nod, and with that, I walk out the door and head to the main house of Cole Ranch to celebrate Thanksgiving... Without her.
There’s something I’m missing, but at the same time, I feel like I understand it all so clearly.
She may not want to admit anything to me, or even herself, but I saw it in the way that guy looked at me and in the way she responded.
There was something between those two. Something more.
For some reason, it’s been kept a secret, and that’s not my business to divulge.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter.
I’m in her life now, and I’m here to stay.