I didn’t move, but he continued.
“Olive…” There was a long sigh. “When did I start missing you this much, sweetheart? When did I…” Another sigh. “I was so worried when Alvin said they didn’t know where you were.”
More silence.
Slowly, he pulled the covers down, and his fingertips touched my bare shoulder.
Damn it! Why had I thought it was smart to sleep in a tank top and my underwear? I should’ve let myself suffocate in peace. When his fingertips reached my hip and he realized that I wasn’t wearing much underneath the covers, he sucked in a breath and let the cover rest on my thighs.
My heart beating in my throat, I waited to see what his next move would be. Maybe he had come to say we had to get a divorce? If these were our last moments, I wanted to savor every second of it.
I know what you’re thinking, but did you hear the part where I already acknowledged the fact that I was pathetic?
“Is your heart still beating just for me, Olive?” he asked softly, his voice low and sweet.
I closed my eyes tighter.
“I wonder if you can feel my touch in your dreams…if that’s why your heart is beating so fast.”
His soft words a whisper on my skin, I let his fingertips trail every inch of my body, seducing my heart before my mind could put a stop to it.
“I missed you, baby. If I kiss you, Olive…” I felt the touch of his warm lips on my shoulder just before he moved closer. A shiver went down my spine and I was too late to hold in my small gasp. Jason continued as if he hadn’t heard me. “If I kiss you will you wake up and play with me? I want to feel your lips on mine so badly, Olive. Will you please stop pretending to be asleep, baby?”
He knew I was awake. Too tired for games, I opened my eyes to a dark room. “What are you doing here, Jason?” I whispered after some time.
“Will you look at me, sweetheart? Please.”
I turned to face him, but we were a little too close for my comfort, my childhood bed being too small to keep a respectable distance between us. Still, I backed away until I was lying on the very edge of the bed. I kept my eyes down on the sheets.
“Can I tell you what I remember from last night? Will you listen to me?”
“Do I have any other choice? You are in my bed and I have no other place to run to.”
I could barely see with the only light coming from outside, but he still lifted my chin so I could look at his eyes. I focused on the stubble on his cheeks.
Because I’m a rebel like that.
“I never want you to run away from me again, little one. If you do, I will always come after you. I want you to remember that. That being said, I will never give you a reason to run away from me either.”
Again, I stayed silent.
“The last thing I remember from last night is going up to the private rooms with you and trying to figure out what I could say to convince you to let me have you up there.”
His fingertips touched my lips and I flinched. He ignored it and gently stroked my lips.
“Then I kissed you, Olive, didn’t I? I always remember kissing you.”
I would never forget how it felt to have his lips on mine either. It would always stay with me.
Damn those tears rushing to my eyes!
“I also remember talking to Lucy and Lily, but after that I remember nothing, Olive.” He paused for a minute. “Do you know where I woke up this morning?”
I flinched again and braced myself, but instead of continuing with his story, he brushed my hair back.
“You’re shivering sweetheart. I wish you would come closer so I could warm you.”
I didn’t move. When he was satisfied with my hair placement, he sighed and picked up from where he had left off. “I woke up in Devlin’s hotel suite. Alvin was there, too. They think someone spiked my drink because I was acting weird, and when I woke up I couldn’t even remember where you were.”
I tensed.
“Will you come closer so I can hold you in my arms? You’re about to fall off, and I’m afraid Dylan will barge in to protect you from me.”
“He knows you’re in my room?”
“Not yet, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
He linked his hand with mine and gave it a gentle tug. Reluctantly, I scooted forward. When I was close enough, his hand sneaked around my waist and he pulled me flush against his chest, resting his head on top of mine as I discreetly breathed in his scent.
His long sigh sounded like he was relieved.
“I don’t know how I’m going to make you believe me, Olive, but I hope you will. While I was sleeping it off, Devlin questioned his entire staff, but other than that one drink, I didn’t have anything. No one could’ve slipped anything into my drink because the bartender prepared it in the room, you saw it yourself.”
Somewhere in the house, someone opened a door and we fell silent, our bodies tense with the interruption. A few seconds later, the bathroom door opened and closed.
When the coast was clear again, he continued, talking in hushed tones. “I took Alvin with me and went to your apartment to look for Lucy, but she wasn’t there. When I found Lily instead, I kinda lost it. I might have scared her a little, but it was worth it because she admitted to messing with my drink with Charlotte. According to Lily, it was Charlotte’s idea to take pictures of me to leak to the press. I don’t know how much of it is a lie, but that was what she was going with.”
I hadn’t even realized I was crying until Jason lifted his hand to softly wipe away my tears.
“As if they hadn’t done enough damage, one of them also called the tabloids as an anonymous source to say that our marriage was fake.”
Bewildered, I shook my head. “It couldn’t be Lily. I don’t even know her all that well. But I swear to you, I didn’t tell Charlotte either. Only Lucy knows.”
“It’s okay sweetheart, it doesn’t matter. Megan pulled some strings and they won’t take the tip seriously.” His lips touched my forehead and instead of pulling back, he stayed just like that.
“I brought your phone with me. Why don’t we call Lucy and you can hear it from her, too,” he whispered.
Reaching behind, he took something out of his back pocket and handed it to me. My phone. I barely had any battery left.
I dialed Lucy’s number.
“Lucy? Hi.”
“Hey, babe. How are you holding up?”
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that? How is Jameson?” I tried to talk as quietly as possible.
“He is awake now. He is already making my life miserable. Frankly, I’m more worried about you right now. You promised you would call me when you made it home.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. When I saw my dad, I just…”
“It’s okay, Olive, I understand. I’m assuming lover boy made it there and that’s why you are calling.”
My lips twitched, but that was all I could manage.
“I don’t know exactly what he told you, but he is telling the truth, my little green Olive. I talked to Charlotte a few hours ago, or more like fought with her. The night I brought you to the apartment and Marcus carried you away to his room, well, that’s apparently when she realized Marcus would drop her like a hot potato the moment you wanted to get back with him. I think that’s why she told you that she’d been with Marcus while you guys were still together. If you ask me, I have my doubts about that after everything that’s happened since yesterday.”
The more Lucy talked, the more confused I was getting. Messing with someone’s drink was a whole different ball game then just cheating, or made up cheating, or whatever. Heck, where had she even found a pill that would mess Jason up like that?
“My take is that she told you about the cheating so you wouldn’t go back to Marcus, and she messed with Jason so you couldn’t have him either. The worst of it is she made it sound like she did you a favor because it was ‘bound to happen anyway’. The bitch has no idea Jason is in love with you.”
“You are the only one who thinks that.”
“Oh please, it’s only you who doesn’t think that.”
“My battery is dying, I have to go, Lucy. Can I call you tomorrow?”