Unveiled (Torn #6)(23)
“I don’t have anything with her, Lindsey. How often do I have to tell you that?” he ground out then gripped his hair while shutting his beautiful eyes. When he gradually opened them, they landed on me with such intensity that I felt his gaze pulling me in. “If you’re so worried about her, then why don’t you come be with me? You can continue your studies, and I’ll work and lessen my travels so you and I can have more time together. This jealousy you have, knowing that you and I live apart; this is going to break us. I can already feel it. It’s going to drive us both away,” he warned, though not giving me enough options.
“You know I can’t just leave my life here. That’s absurd! The only solution that I can think of is you cutting that French whore out of your life for good! Who cares if she’s crying a river, bawling her eyes out because she felt publicly humiliated and rejected by you resuming your relationship with a past lover—better yet, your ex-wife? Why do you care so much about what happens to her? What about me? Don’t you care that you’re relationship with her is driving me crazy?”
“I’ve addressed this subject with you already. I can’t stress it enough—I owe Claudine. She’s not a whore, Lindsey; she’s just a woman who’s having a hard time dealing with disappointment after I bought her a ring and led her on for so long.”
“You bought a ring?” I paused, flabbergasted. Had he disclosed this information before, or was this the first time I had heard of it? The days leading in and after we became a couple again were such a blur because I had been living in a blissful world full of hope. Maybe I had neglected to take into account what he had confessed then. I remembered he said a lot of things, but I was so distracted that none of them mattered. Well, they do now, I thought belatedly. Everything mattered whenever that woman was concerned.
He gave me a deadpan look, gravely pondering.
“Where’s this ring that you meant to give her?” I pressed on, paling at the thought that he took time in his busy schedule to go over to a jewelers and choose a ring befitting his bride. Nothing spelled out intimacy like a man going over engagement rings, and I felt like I was dying, emotionally eviscerated.
He walked a few steps, gazing out a window that overlooked the street. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. What we should be discussing is how to solve this jealousy problem you have from here on out. The past is the past. You and I can’t keep dwelling on that unless we want to keep rehashing our faults, which can only lead to us parting,” he murmured almost to himself yet loud enough for me to hear. “Unless, of course, this is what you’re aiming at. If your cozy relationship with Brody has resumed, then I wish you luck.”
This wasn’t going anywhere. Thinking quickly, I made a hasty decision, hoping it would be enough to solve whatever was going on between us. “If you’re okay with it, I hope you don’t mind if I join you in Greece instead of meeting in New York? I want to see if it’s possible for me to take a semester off. I have to speak to my councilor, but if she gives me the green light, I’ll be spending three months with you, give or take.”
“Don’t do something that you’ll end up regretting.”
Giving up on him, on us, it was the only thing I knew I would regret. Besides, it was my life. I needed to see where he and I could go with this. Hopefully, it would be enough time to rebuild whatever it was that we had lost or what we didn’t have in the first place. Trust was one of the main issues we had before, and perhaps it was high time one of us compromised and fixed it.
Shaking my head, my heart suddenly felt lighter, giving a signal that my decision was the best one—the right one to make. “I normally don’t do these things, not for anyone, but it’s you. And you’re everything to me. Maybe it’s my turn to give you what you want, even if it’s only a temporary solution.”
He made an amused face, hiding his smile. “Is this your idea of compromise? I can truly get used to that.” He breathed out, reaching for me before placing a kiss on my forehead. “Don’t you ever—ever—drive like a lunatic with a death wish again. I’ll throttle you myself if you try a stunt like that. God, I thought I was going to lose you back there,” he whispered shakily, holding me close. “Toying with my fragile heart like that was truly cruel. I’m sorry if I came out rather brutish, which merely pushed you to do whatever you fancied at the moment.”
“I’m really sorry.” My apology sounded so measly after I recalled what I had just pulled. I was lucky nothing had happened to me. A lot of things could have happened.
While he stroked the back of my nape, nothing mattered other than the feel of each other and the love and devotion we so clearly had for one another.
“Let’s not fight like this. Let’s try to fix it before it’s too late. We have to stop hurting each other.”
I nodded, silently agreeing with him. Fighting drained me, though what I had realized amidst the fight, was how much I was willing to go through to keep him. Maybe the trial period in Athens would show me a different life that might entice me to stay longer. Who knew?
Hopefully, by the time I left, Carter would be well on his feet, recovering slowly. Hopefully, he would understand my decision about leaving for a few months, as well. It was unlike me to make such drastic changes since I had always had a phobia of leaving family behind. However, Dimitris was family, too. Even though to the outside world he was officially my ex-husband, in my eyes and in my heart, he would always be my one and only.