Slide (30 page)

We sat in silence, searching each other’s faces before Ryan spoke again.

“I’m a different person around you, Evangeline. You make me want to become a better man and I’m trying so damn hard to be that for you. I’m going to make mistakes, I’m going to make stupid decisions, but what we have between us is rare, please don’t throw it away so quickly because of a small fuck up.”

Ryan let go of my wrists and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, resting his forehead against the crook of my neck. My arms mechanically reached for him and held him tight as if they were afraid to let him go.

“You mean so much to me, Evangeline. I need you,” he whispered, kissing the sensitive skin on my neck.

We stayed that way for a while before finally heading to bed. I was puzzled when Ryan followed me into the bedroom instead of leaving the apartment, but I never questioned his reasoning. I guess deep down I wanted him there.

****

I woke up the next day alone, with a small note resting on top of the pillow next to me.
Don’t give up on me…

I stared at the words written on the piece of paper in Ryan’s handwriting and wondered if it was ever going to be possible to give up on a man like Ryan Fox before drifting off to sleep again. It wasn’t until my phone rang several times that I eventually forced myself out of bed.

I rushed to grab my ringing cell but just missed it. Six missed calls from Derek flashed up on my screen. Just as I was about to call him back a message came through from him asking if I wanted to go to lunch. I knew the real reason was because he was curious to see how the rest of my night turned out, and knowing that it was much easier to get the daunting questions out of the way, I texted back a quick reply instructing him where to meet.

An hour and a half later, I was sitting inside a private booth at a boutique sushi bar filling Derek in on what happened later in the night, then, I listened to him go on about the photographs plastered all over the Internet of the fight Ryan and I had outside the French restaurant.
Great
.

“It isn’t all that bad,” Derek went on, plopping a piece of sashimi salmon into his mouth using his chopsticks. “You guys are the most talked about couple at the moment. You’re both style icons and apparently one of America’s hottest couples.”

I frowned at him. I didn’t care about any of that. “I don’t want to be talked about at all.”

“I know you don’t but it’s not something you can change. You’re the daughter of one of the richest men on the planet that is also dating one of the sexiest men alive. Mind you, DiCaprio and Gosling aren’t far behind, in my books.” He gave a wink in my direction, to which I just groaned.

Derek chuckled then his face dropped and became serious. “Can I be completely honest with you, Evan?”

Apprehensive of what he was about say next, I slowly nodded.

“You may not realize this but you’ve grown so much since being here. Whether or not your man candy is the reason for that, it makes me happy to see you this way. It’s like you have this newfound strength. You don’t let the paparazzi get to you anymore; the old Evangeline wouldn’t step foot out of the house knowing there was a group of men with cameras sitting outside her door. I haven’t seen you have any panic attacks since your father’s funeral… are you still having the nightmares?”

I thought about his comment as I took a sip of warm sake. I couldn’t recall the last time I had a nightmare. The haunting images of the car accident I used to have every night had suddenly stopped, but when? Had Ryan really been the reason why?

A light tap on my shoulder interrupted my thoughts. I turned to my left and my jaw dropped when I immediately recognized the redhead standing in front of me.

“You’re Evangeline Montgomery, right?” Ryan’s therapist, Jessica, said with a strange smirk on her face.

Unable to speak, I was grateful when Derek came to my rescue and stepped in. “Excuse me, can’t you see that we’re trying to eat?” He pointed to the food between us then turned away from Jessica and shook his head in disgust, muttering just loud enough for her to hear, “Damn pap’s, they don’t have any respect.”

“Err… I’m not the paparazzi. I just had something I needed to say to Evangeline,” Jessica replied, placing a hand on her hip.

“I
know
who you are,” Derek spat acidly. “The answer is still no. So, go away and let us eat in peace.”

Instead of leaving us, Jessica continued to stand there with a raised brow and that annoying smirk. “I guess that means Ryan has mentioned me. But how much has he told you, Evangeline?”

“Didn’t I tell you to go away? She doesn’t want to speak to you.” Derek barked.

“And I will… once I say what I came here to say,” she shot back, pointing a thin, manicured finger at me which caused me to snap out of my stunned state.

“What do you want?” I asked in the bravest voice I could muster, turning myself so I could look her straight in the eye.

A malicious grin spread across her features the instant I spoke. I tried not to react but I couldn’t help the uneasy feeling washing over me. In the back of my mind I knew she’d purposely done this knowing Ryan was out of town.

“So, Ryan’s told you all about me, huh?” I didn’t answer but it didn’t stop her from continuing. “I’m interested to know just how much he has said, and whether he told you the entire
truth
. He has the ability to make people believe in whatever he wants them to, you know.”

“He’s told me enough,” I said firmly, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“And you believe him? Did he tell you that when he’s not inside you, he’s with me, and when we’re both waiting around for him, he’s out there fucking every other girl that smiles his way?”

My whole body tensed. She had it wrong. Ryan wouldn’t do that; he admitted that he hadn’t been with anyone since being with me. He said he loved me… Was he lying about everything?
Of course he was lying,
my mind hissed at me.

I held my breath to try and stop the unwanted tears that I knew were on their way. I couldn’t let her see that her words affected me. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing me that way. That was what she wanted.

“That’s it, get out of here!” Derek shouted, rising from his seat so fast.

My eyes quickly scanned the room before landing on my best friend. Groups of people in surrounding booths had stopped what they were doing and were all watching us; even the waitresses were standing there not knowing what to do.

With his nostrils flaring and narrowed eyes locked on Jessica, Derek looked ready to hurt someone. I’d never seen him like this before. I knew he’d never hit a girl, but seeing the hard look in his eye had me suddenly second-guessing myself.

Jessica let out a wicked laugh. “Calm down, pretty boy. I’ve said everything I’ve come to say.”

She flicked her bright red hair, turned and began walking away, leaving me to stare at her departing figure. She got half way to the door then stopped and cast a glance at me from over her shoulder. “Oh, one last thing. I’d keep a close eye on the magazine stands over the next few days if I were you. There might be something there of interest to you.”

With another laugh she was out the door, leaving Derek and I staring blankly at one another, completely speechless.

CHAPTER 27

Two days later, Jessica’s haunting words inside the restaurant finally made sense.

A sickening feeling whirled inside my stomach as I stared at the front page of the magazine Derek had handed to me earlier. I wanted to disappear and pretend I was somewhere else entirely.

Staring back at me was an innocent smiling Jessica sitting on a red leather sofa clutching her flat stomach. The headline above her read: ‘Jessica Aitkens: meet the real woman in Ryan Fox’s life. Still smiling and happily pregnant.’ To her right was a smaller picture of Ryan dressed casually with his Yankees cap and his head tilted sideways as if he were talking to someone that had been cropped out of the picture.

“It’s bullshit,” Derek growled beside me.

Ignoring him, I continued to stare at the magazine. The world I’d come to know was crumpling to the ground as reality hit me with full force. The truth was I didn’t know how to feel. My emotions were running high and were all over the place. I wanted to cry and I wanted to scream, but neither was going to fix anything.

I was furious, not only with Ryan for doing this to me, but also at myself for allowing him to. I’d been used. He’d been lying to me the entire time, pretending to love me and then saying all those things. It was all to keep me around and now he was having another woman’s child. I had no one to blame but myself. I knew what I was getting myself into with a man like him, but I allowed myself believe he was different. Of course he wasn’t. He was just like every other male out there.

“I hope you don’t believe in that stupid story, Evan. She’s a crazy, lying bitch, with claws out to get you.”

I blinked and slowly lifted my eyes from the magazine.

“She’s having his baby, Derek. I don’t have a choice whether to believe it or not.”

“He wouldn’t… He wouldn’t be so stupid—”

The sound of my cell ringing interrupted the end of Derek’s sentence. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, especially Ryan, but it gave me the excuse to escape from the conversation.

I walked over to the bench where I’d left my phone earlier and glanced at its flashing screen. It was Connor. This meant he’d already seen the article.
Wonderful
…

With inward sigh, I answered it.

“Evie? Are you okay?”

“No…” I replied, unable to lie to my brother. I felt a warm, single tear trickle down my cheek.

“Jesus Christ. This is absolute madness! I’m going to kill that asshole the next time I see him!”

“Don’t bother, Connor. I’m never going to see him again,” I said, feeling my chest tighten at the thought.

“Good. That guy is bad news. He’s worthless, Evie. You deserve someone better than that! Do you need me to take the day off? We can go do something? Get some ice cream or bake a cake?”

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. I was so blessed to have Connor as my big brother. He was protective, like all brothers, but he tried everything possible to cheer me up, even if it meant baking — since he was a lousy cook. But because of that, it was what I loved about him the most. “No, don’t do that. Derek is here with me, I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll come over as soon as I finish up here and I’ll also give Amelie a call, she’ll be done in a couple of hours, she’ll want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Thank you, Con.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Evie. I’m your brother and we stick together. I’d knock out whoever I have to just to make sure you’re okay.”

“I know you will.”

“I love you, little sister, but I’m warning you, if I see that Ryan Fox guy around again I
will
give him what he deserves for hurting you.”

“I know that too.”

My cell beeped indicating another call coming through. I lifted the phone away from my ear and looked at the flashing screen. It was Ryan. That meant he also knew about the articles and was now calling to apologize, or he still had no idea, and was just calling to see how I was.
Stop thinking he’s one of the good guys!

I said goodbye to Connor but didn’t bother answering Ryan’s incoming call. I couldn’t bear to speak to him at the moment and I wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to again.

****

I finally found the courage to speak to Ryan after a couple of days passed with endless missed phone calls. It was easy to avoid him while he was out of town, but that didn’t stop the goose bumps from forming all over my skin whenever the ringing phone flashed his name on the screen.

I gave him a small opportunity to explain his side of the story, which was that Jessica had made the whole story up. Ryan swore on his mother and all of his sisters lives that he’d never cheated on me and admitted that the last time he’d slept with Jessica was the night after he had met me in the club. But I didn’t see how any of that helped the issue at hand. If Jessica was indeed pregnant, it could still very well be his child.
How could he not see that?

In the end, I made the only decision that seemed right at the time, no matter how much it pained me. I told Ryan that I never wanted anything to do with him.

To say Ryan listened and accepted my decision would be too easy. I still received at least three text messages a day from him for an entire week. I ignored every single one, not reading them and leaving them as unread. I found it hurt a little less this way.