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Chapter 24
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HARD TO GET Chapter 25 Ashley
I felt sick; DJ was clearly in pain and I could do nothing about it. I turned to Josh. “What happened?” I snapped accusingly. He frowned angrily. “Don’t you dare blame me for this. This isn’t my fault! He was jumping on the bed, I’d told him not to do it, but he carried on and then fell off,” he retorted, throwing his hands up in exasperation. I groaned. DJ did like to jump on beds, and I’d told him time and time again not to do it, I couldn’t really blame Josh for this. “Okay, sorry.” His face softened as he looked at me apologetically. “It’s alright. I’m sorry I had to call you away from your date.” Holy fudge balls, my date! I turned back to Jace, knowing that he must be wondering what on earth was going on. I hadn’t told him about DJ yet so hearing him call me Momma would have knocked him for six. But as I turned, I noticed that he wasn’t there. My eyes widened. Had he seen DJ, heard him call me Momma, and then left? The air left my lungs quickly. O
HARD TO GET Chapter 26
I sighed, knowing I deserved his anger. “I’m really sorry. I should have told you, but I just… I don’t know… it was nice for a little while to have you look at me. I swear I didn’t mean to mislead you or anything, but I liked having your attention. I guess I knew that as soon as you found out about DJ that you’d run a mile. I’m sorry, Jace. I was going to tell you though, I swear. Next week.” I rested my forehead on the table. I actually wanted to cry, but I wouldn’t let myself, I had only known him for three weeks; it was nothing serious, so I shouldn’t be upset about it. “So your husband doesn’t treat you nice any more, doesn’t take you out, so you just decided to go have a little fun with a new guy? Screw him and screw family?” Jace replied acidly. Screw family? Is he kidding me right now? How dare he just assume things about me and my family! “Jace, you need to chill out. I know I didn’t tell you about DJ, but don't you dare start assuming anything about my fam
HARD TO GET Chapter 27 Jace
As soon as I disconnected the call I tossed my phone onto the table, putting my head in my hands. I’d jumped to conclusions last night, and now I was going to pay for it. I'd honestly thought she was with that guy, they looked like a proper little family at the hospital, and in my defence she even told me she had a man. So what was I supposed to think? I breathed out heavily and sat back on the sofa. I’d screwed up. She was so incredible, and I’d just blown all chances that I had with her. I didn’t care that she had a son. I didn’t care that she hadn’t told me. She’d probably thought it would scare me away. Never in my wildest dreams had I even thought about dating a woman who had kids, but now that I knew Ashley had one, I couldn’t bring myself to stop wanting her. She interested me. I wanted to talk to her about my day and hear about hers. I wanted to be the one she called if she got scared or needed a favour;I just plain old wanted her. So she had a kid, which w
HARD TO GET Chapter 28
Seth literally choked and sprayed Gatorade everywhere; I just managed to jump back in time so it didn’t go all over me. “Dude, what the hell? That was gross!” I cried, looking at the drink all over the counter as I brushed a couple of spatters off my shirt. He didn’t answer, just looked at me with wide eyes as he wiped his chin with the back of one hand. “She has a kid? What the hell? How? Who? But… but… how?” he asked, looking at me in disbelief. “If you don’t know how by now, then I can’t help you, buddy, because you’ve been doing it wrong for a lot of years.” He frowned and shook his head. “Seriously, Jace, how?” I didn’t know how, exactly. “Some guy got her pregnant when she was younger, I guess. She’s not with him now; she’s on her own with the kid.” “So what did you say when she told you? Shit, man, I would have run out of there so fast you wouldn’t even see me go, it would have been like one of those cartoons where all you see is the dust that was le
HARD TO GET Chapter 29
My heart was racing as I stood outside her door with my hand raised and my finger poised over the button for her apartment. “Shit, please let this work out,” I whispered, rubbing a hand over my face, trying to calm my nerves. I glanced at my watch again. 19:54. I had been standing here for the last eight minutes trying to summon up the courage to press the buzzer and see her. I forced my finger down onto the button, fighting the sudden urge to run away and do this over the phone instead. That way I wouldn't have to see that look in her eyes when she found out I was a lying, good for nothing player, just like she’d first thought. “Hello?” I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Damn it, Jace! I slapped my palm against my forehead and squeezed my eyes shut. “Hey, Ashley, it’s Jace,” I mumbled, my voice tight. “Hey… er… Come on up.” When the front door lock clicked, I pushed it open and stumbled my way up the stairs, shifting the flowers that I’d bought from one
HARD TO GET Chapter 30
I frowned; she didn’t even look angry, just disappointed, and that actually made it even worse. I would rather her shout and scream at me rather than being all calm and collected about it. Clearly she’d been expecting something like this to happen anyway. By the looks of her tough exterior, she was over it already, over me already. But the tiny twitch to her eye told me that this was mostly just an act and that she was hurting inside. “Ashley, please. I know I’ve done wrong, and it doesn’t matter that we weren’t exclusive, I shouldn’t have done it.” She nodded. “You’re right, you shouldn’t have, but it’s done now. Just leave and we’ll agree to be friends. We never started anything; not really, so we’ll just forget it happened for the sake of our best friends. I don’t want things to be awkward around them, and we’re bound to run into each other now and again.” “Why can’t we try and talk it through?” I asked. I couldn’t walk out of her place without making this right, I
HARD TO GET Chapter 31 Ashley
With Jace’s mouth pressed against mine, my knees weakened. Luckily though, he was pressing me against the wall otherwise I would have surely sunken to the floor like a quivering mess. His kissing just seemed to set my whole body on fire. One of his cocky little smiles and I was reduced to a silly little schoolgirl again, crushing on the bad boy. His tongue slid along my bottom lip, and I couldn’t not kiss him back. It was like some magic pull that he seemed to have. It was no surprise to me that he’d had so many girls – he was beautiful. I knew he wouldn’t appreciate that word much, because it wasn’t manly enough, he would have probably preferred something along the lines of ‘ruggedly handsome’, but he was way beyond that. The way his natural blond hair seemed to have a mind of its own and stick up in a sexy, ‘I just got out of bed’ kind of way. The way his piercing blue eyes locked onto mine, and held a confidence, a self-assuredness that said he knew exactly what he was doin
HARD TO GET Chapter 32
I swiped at the lone tear that fell down my cheek as the whole thing played out in my head. I’d never really spoken to anyone about it all before. I’d told Anna that he’d cheated a couple of times, but she didn’t realise the extent of it. It seemed like the only one who knew, was Jace. I looked up at him, waiting to see his reaction. He just carried on staring at me for a couple of minutes and we sat in an uncomfortable silence. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. Finally, he seemed to gather his thoughts enough to speak. “I’m sorry for what he did to you, Stripes. You shouldn’t have had to go through that, and I wish I’d been there for you to talk to when you needed it. But thank you for telling me the truth now.” He bent his head and kissed my cheek. The feel of his lips lingered there for much longer than his mouth actually did. He pressed his forehead to mine, and my heart seemed to thump in my chest. I’d not felt anything like this for so long that
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