by Marian Tee
Christian’s face turned ashen.
A moment later, he started talking – fast.
“No, Jane. I was wrong. You were right. We can still fix things and---”
The desperation in his voice was familiar, and it hurt.
It hurt because he was too late.
It hurt because she knew it was only temporary.
It hurt because she knew it wasn’t real.
“Jane, I love you.”
And oh God, he was using the exact same words, too, and it hurt.
“You don’t love me,” she said brokenly, “the way I want you to love me.”
He grabbed her hands and squeezed them tightly between his. “I do, pet.” His voice was taut and urgent. “I love you, only you, more than anything---”
“Christian.” She looked at him helplessly. “You blocked my number.”
He flinched.
And the tears suddenly couldn’t stop falling.
“I know it seems a silly, shallow thing, but God, Christian, I could never do that to you---” Her throat started to close, but she still couldn’t stop speaking. “And never so soon, and it was just ruthless---” And her vision began to blur, and she had such a hard time breathing, but she knew she needed to get the words out. “And everyone knew. They knew---” She choked, and she gasped. “They knew, while I was working my ass off to help you, that you had already erased me from your life.”
Ah, God.
“I’m sorry,” he said rawly. Letting go of her hands, he tried to hold her, to pull her into him, but she scrambled away from him, the look of fear on her face making his arms fall limply to his side.
He watched her struggle to breathe, and frustration and pain struck him, knowing that he could do nothing.
How could he when it was his own mistakes that were strangling Jane, his own blindness and cowardice that had made her like this?
“I’m sorry.” He couldn’t say it enough. “I’m sorry, Jane. I’m sorry.”
Her pain ravaged him, but he forced himself to keep looking, punished himself over and over with the sight of her tears tracking endlessly down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Jane. I fucked up. Everything was too new, and you made me feel too much, and it – it terrified me.”
The words were everything she wanted and expected to hear. But now it was too late.
And when Christian started, she realized she had said the words out loud.
“Please. Jane, please. Forgive me---”
But she could only shake her head. “I w-want you to understand that this is not about H,” she said shakily. “It was never about you having a third party because---” An empty laugh escaped her. “You’re H, Christian, and H is you. You’re intrinsic parts of each other, and I’ve k-known that from the start, so how could I have hated H when I---” She swallowed hard. “When I loved you?”
Christian stared at her.
“I’m sorry,” she choked out.
“Jane – don’t you…” And Christian, too, choked. “Don’t you love me anymore?”
Instead of answering, she clumsily rose to her feet and walked to the door. Opening it, she said, “I think you should go.”
****
In the following days, news about their breakup quietly spread and people started visiting Jane like she was sick. Jared showed up regularly, but she had almost barred him from coming. He kept trying to talk about Christian, until she was forced to tell him nothing he said would convince her things could work between them.
Jared had only smiled. “If that was true, then wouldn’t you be closer to falling for me now?”
Madison and Riley had also dropped by, and the two women managed to force everything out of her over lunch and coffee. On their way back to Jane’s apartment, they had come face to face with Christian, who had been on his way inside.
“Jane.”
Shit.
How was it that when he said her name, he still made her sound like she was the most beautiful girl to him, and that he would die if he couldn’t spend the rest of his life with her?
It frustrated her so much that when he had told her he had flowers for her, she had unthinkingly grabbed the bouquet from his arms, thrown it on the ground, and stomped on it until they were torn into pieces.
And when it was over, she felt completely awful, but she just couldn’t make herself say sorry. Instead, she lifted her chin, asking tightly, “Do you get it now?”
Christian only smiled. “I do. And it’s that I’m glad I’m rich enough to afford to buy you a thousand more without hurting the bank.”
She had shoved past him after that, acting like he had enraged her, but really it was because she didn’t want Christian to see that she was about to cry. Her friends rushed after her, and one look at their faces told them they knew.
Of course they knew.
They were her friends, after all.
And so she had burst into tears, and Madison and Riley had done their best to comfort her. When it was time for her friends to go, Madison had asked softly, “May I say something, both as a friend and therapist?”
Jane shook her head.
Riley laughed. “Stubborn as always.”
“Well, I did ask just for politeness’ sake only. I’m still going to tell you, and it’s something rather simple.” Madison looked straight into her friend’s eyes. “Love’s messy, Jane. Didn’t you both promise to be yourselves with each other?”
“It doesn’t mean he can be an asshole just because he was born one,” Jane said thinly.
“That’s true, but Jane – being ourselves is also accepting that we’re all human. That we make mistakes, and that sometimes our real selves can be ugly.” Madison paused. “Tell me something, Jane – what if none of this happened and everything was going well between you when Christian gets into an accident---”
Jane frowned warily. “I don’t see where this is going.”
“Bear with me, Jane. What if there was an accident, say a car crash---”
A shiver ran down Jane’s spine, and she couldn’t help getting up to knock thrice on the first wooden surface she could reach.
Madison hid a smile, knowing that Jane didn’t realize how telling her actions were. When her friend looked at her again, she asked simply, “Would you still love Christian even if the accident leaves him disfigured and paralyzed from the waist down?”
Jane didn’t even think. “Of course.” She knocked thrice on the table again. “There’s no question about it.”
Madison stood up from the couch. “Exactly, Jane. Think of the security breach as the accident, and everything else that followed after that as the fallout.”
Madison’s words didn’t leave Jane for the rest of the night, even to the point of keeping her awake. Frustrated by how the words kept bothering her, Jane pulled her bedside drawer open and took her phone out.
She hadn’t checked it for any messages, knowing that Christian had been texting and calling her nonstop. She hadn’t wanted to hear from him, but because she was still a stupid lovesick fool, Jane hadn’t been able to erase any of his unread messages either.
The first message she read was an answer to an old message of hers.
Jane: Could you please reply, no matter how late? Just reply when you read this. That’s all I need.
Christian: I will. I promise from now on I will.
And as Jane scrolled down the list of unread messages, she realized to her shock that he had done exactly that, replying even to messages she had sent more than a month ago.
Jane: You’re really not working, are you?
Christian: No. I haven’t gotten back to the office since you returned your engagement ring.
Jane: You’re with your ex. The girl with a split-personality name! I’m right, aren’t I?
Christian: First of all – that’s one hell of a way of describing Elizannie’s name. It’s accurate though. And no, you’re wrong. I’m not with her. I don’t want to be with her or anyone else. I want to
be with you, only you.
Jane: If you just want to break off our engagement, then just say it!
Christian: That’s probably my line. But I’ve got good news – you can take it back anytime, and all you have to do is walk out of your building. You know the café across the street? I’ve rented out the second floor, and I’ll be staying here, waiting until you’re ready to talk again. You can come anytime, pet. Anytime. It doesn’t matter if weeks or months or even years have passed before you see this message. I mean it. Nothing will change because I love you, and I always will.
Jane: Anyone there?
Christian: I’m here. I’m sorry for the times I wasn’t there, but I’m here, now and always.
Jane: Baby?
Christian: Baby. Talk to me. I miss you. I love you.
Jane: Christian?
Christian: Jane. Are you there?
The last bit made her laugh, but it also made her realize she was crying.
Oh God, he was being so silly, and it wasn’t like him, and he had to know that, didn’t he?
The last ones were new messages.
Christian: I told my mother about you, and she says she wants to meet you whether or not we got back together again. Also – she thinks the same thing about Elizannie’s name.
Christian: Guess what, pet? H has a new update, and it’s absolutely naff because of you. I hope you check it out. Or maybe I don’t. The thought of what I’ve done is threatening to emasculate me.
Christian: Actually, I’ve made up my mind. Forget about it. Just remember I love you, and I’m always here for you.
Jane didn’t even hesitate. She logged in to her account in H, and as soon as the game’s version was updated, a pop-up notification came out to inform her about the latest ongoing contest in-game.
Retweet this message: #ILoveYouJane – Christian Ravenhearst
Reward: One bonus point
Tweet why you think Jane Cooper and Christian Ravenhearst make a good couple.
Reward: Two bonus points
Tweet suggestions on how H’s developer can get his ex-fiancée back.
Reward: Five bonus points
She remembered how Christian would do his best to repress his revolted shudder at the slightest suggestion of adding a romantic angle to H.
If people want a bloody love story, then they can look elsewhere for it, but H won’t be ever like that.
And yet here they were.
Jane began to run.
****
“I’m leaving now,” the café’s owner, a sixty-year-old widower, informed Christian. “You’ll be okay here?”
“I’m good,” Christian answered from his usual spot at the counter facing the window, which had a pretty good view of Jane’s apartment building.
Barry shook his head as he took his apron off. “You’re one determined gentleman, Mr. Ravenhearst.”
Christian’s lips twisted. “But what you really want to say is that I’m being a fool.”
“As you should be, since we’re all fools in love.”
The door swung shut after Barry, and Christian watched the older man walk away through the window before returning his attention to his laptop. He had been scrolling through messages from H’s players for some time now, and so far their suggestions on how he could win Jane’s heart had ranged from the ridiculous to the downright impossible.
Butt spelling I Love Jane was stupid enough, but the player had also gone on to suggest that it could only be authentic if Christian added a hashtag. Butt-spell a fucking hashtag symbol? He might as well tear his ass into---
The sound of the door swinging open interrupted his thoughts, and without looking up, Christian murmured, “We’re closed, sorry.”
Silence.
He frowned.
And then---
“You’re right,” an unsteady, achingly familiar voice said. “It was absolutely naff.”
His head jerked up.
And there she was.
Christian. She couldn’t stop thinking his name now. Christian, Christian, Christian. And oh God, but it felt so good.
He was still as handsome as she remembered, but thinner, too, and the realization pinched her heart. A smile wobbled over Jane’s lips when Christian continued staring at her like he was seeing a ghost. She started towards him, slowly, because her legs were shaking so hard, and Christian’s expression remained stunned.
When she reached him, he still didn’t say a thing, and she asked teasingly, “Are you going to ask me if I’m real?”
She watched Christian slide off his stool without taking his gaze away from hers. “I think I have to---”
Her brows furrowed, and Jane followed his gaze, which went all the way down – to her feet. Her eyes widened.
“Because you don’t have your shoes on.”
Jane swallowed back a laugh. “I don’t, do I?” And she hadn’t even realized until Christian had pointed it out. “My glass slippers are in the repair shop,” she said finally. “I threw them out when this idiot prince made me mad.”
Christian’s azure eyes gleamed. “A Disney princess with anger management issues?”
She choked.
“Major turn on,” Christian drawled.
And this time, she couldn’t help laughing, but she also couldn’t help crying---
It had been so, so long since they could banter like this.
“Not to mention you remind me of this other princess I know.”
“O-oh?”
“She’s got a habit of throwing stuff out,” Christian said solemnly. “Like that ring I gave her?” He snapped his fingers. “She threw it away without hesitation. And my heart?”
Oh!
“She threw it out of the window---”
But Jane couldn’t laugh anymore. How could she when, despite the lightness of his tone, she could see in Christian’s eyes that she did manage to rip his heart out of him?
“Stop,” she whispered.
He stilled.
“It’s over, okay?”
Christian whitened. Had he gotten everything wrong?
Seeing that he didn’t really believe her, she said forcefully, “I mean it. It’s over, Christian.”
“I see.” He turned away clumsily. “I need a moment.” He could feel his entire world crashing, and he couldn’t even make himself give a fuck.
It was over.
He had thought that Jane had come here to let him know she had forgiven him, and he was right. But what he hadn’t realized was that with her forgiveness came the end.
It was over.
Jane couldn’t understand why Christian was acting so oddly. Wasn’t he supposed to be happy that---
Oh.
Jane was torn between dismay and laughter, but when she saw him about to take a step away from her, she automatically reached for his hand from behind, her fingers tightening around his wrist.
Christian closed his eyes wearily. What now? Was she going to explain why it had to be over?
But then he heard her say, “You didn’t let me finish.”
And he started, remembering that once upon a time he had used the same words on her.
He spun around, in time to see her start crying again as she choked out, “What I meant was – your waiting is over---”
Christian had hauled her into his arms before she even finished speaking, and he was kissing her---
Oh, he was kissing her the way only he could, with his tongue penetrating her all the way to her soul---
Lifting his head, he said raggedly, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for ever hurting you.”
“Forgiven,” she whispered, “and I’m sorry, too, for taking so long to realize that love doesn’t make us perfect.”
Sometimes, it didn’t even make them better people. Sometimes, love was just love.
And that was okay.
“I love you, Jane,” Christian whispered against her lips.
Jane wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Christian.” Their mou
ths met, and a shudder went over Christian’s powerful form while sobs wracked Jane body.
Because at that moment they knew---
No other words would ever be needed.
They were together.
And it was all they ever wanted.
The End
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading The Marriage Dare, which is my first book for Carly Phillips’ Dare series in Kindle Worlds. I hope you enjoyed the story of Jane and Christian, and if it’s made you want more – not to worry because I’ve an epilogue-slash-short-story in the works for them, alongside other bonus scenes. Even better – this will be completely for FREE. Just make sure to visit my website and sign up for my newsletter. Expect this to be out come New Year! <3
Until our next journey,
Marian Tee
P.S. Before I forget, pretty please consider writing even the shortest review of the book if you enjoyed it. That’s one of the quickest ways for me to know what you guys like to read from me.
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