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Authors: Lynne Silver

Tags: #Coded for Love

05 Desperate Match (18 page)

BOOK: 05 Desperate Match
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She took a sip of the water placed for her convenience on the table in front of her, swallowed, then said, “Okay, let’s do this.” Loren had told her to keep her calm. No matter what they asked, no matter how she felt, calm and poised was the goal. Unless she wanted to insert a few tears at the memory of Jack’s abuse, then that would be okay. For now, she focused on calm. She still hadn’t managed to cry about her marriage without completely losing it and breaking into ugly, body wracking sobs. So not the on–camera goal.

The rest of the practice session went okay. They’d have time for three more of these before she went live to Ronna Woods, the reporter Loren had managed to schedule for the interview. Apparently, it had been the easiest thing Loren had ever done. Media outlets were fighting for the right to an exclusive interview and offering money for the rights to her high school photos with Jack. It had never occurred to her that she could make money while giving an interview. She didn’t know how to feel about it. On one hand, she needed the money kind of desperately. On the other, she had a safe place to live and food to eat and a job. So many women didn’t have those things. Maybe she could use the money to help other women.

Loren had selected Ronna Woods from all the offers, because Ronna was known for being tough but fair in her questioning. And she’d recently signed a deal with an online news organization so the interview could go viral on the Internet in addition to television. Loren had felt strongly about getting clips online.

Finally, Loren called an end to the session. Mainly because Samara looked as though she was about to fall asleep in the chair.

“How far along are you?” Jill asked.

“Seven months,” she answered.

“Do you know the gender?”

Samara smiled and rubbed a palm on her distended belly. “No.” She laughed at Jill’s shocked look. “I know. No one can believe that I, a geneticist, am doing nothing for the baby. She won’t be enhanced.”

“She?”

“Gut instinct. Program enhanced babies are nearly always male. Since Chase isn’t enhanced and we aren’t a DNA match, our baby won’t be enhanced.

“Wow. I didn’t know Chase wasn’t enhanced.”

“Yeah, well you’re new on campus. All gossip reaches you at some point around here.”

Jill could only imagine what people were saying about her. Maybe that was why Rowan hadn’t returned the inflatable air mattress. He knew their sex life would be the subject of gossip. She appreciated his discretion, but she wasn’t too bothered by being the center of attention. After six years of isolation, there was safety in numbers. If she’d been part of a tight–knit community, Jack wouldn’t have gotten away with beating her for all those years. She would’ve had a safety net.

“Night, Jill,” Loren said. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Sure, see you.”

They rehearsed for the next few nights, and she awoke the Friday of the interview feeling more confident in her ability to stay
on message,
as Loren called it, and not to let Ronna’s demeanor throw her off her game. She still hadn’t told Rowan and planned on telling him this morning at breakfast, but Loren accidentally threw a bomb into the works when she approached.

Jill was enjoying her scrambled eggs and working up the courage to tell Rowan her big news when Loren approached with an indecipherable look on her face.

The tall blonde dropped into the extra chair at their table and spoke without a
good morning
. “Jill, I just heard from Ronna Woods. They want to make a slight change to the interview.”

The eggs suddenly felt as if she were swallowing a hard boiled one. Whole. Her mock sessions had been going pretty well, and she felt pretty confident she could handle any changes they threw at her. Also, Rowan was still clueless, so she smiled brightly and said, “Sure thing. Let’s talk about it later.”

Loren obviously didn’t specialize in telepathic speech and missed the signals Jill had thrown her way. She kept talking. “We need to make a final decision now. They need to know if we’re pulling out.”

“Pulling out? No way.” She was fully aware Rowan had ceased eating and was watching the two women like a tennis match.

“You might change your mind when you hear their proposal,” Loren said darkly.

“What, they want to invite Jack to the interview?” she joked, then bit her lip and looked Rowan in the eye.

“Yes,” Loren said.

“I don’t know what the fuck you two are talking about, and I want to know. Now,” Rowan said before Jill could speak.

Great, now she had Rowan to contend with as well as dealing with Loren’s major bomb. It was her own stupid fault. She should’ve told Rowan about the interview, but she knew he’d get all protective and try to talk her out of it. Every night they’d snuggled in bed and she’d open her mouth to confess, but nothing came out. And now she was going to pay the piper.

“You haven’t told him yet?” Loren looked at her in amazement.

“I…”

“Told me what?” Rowan asked. His left fist gripped the table’s edge.

“Loren has been prepping me to go on Ronna Woods’s show to be interviewed,” she said in a rush. “I was going to tell you, I swear.”

“When?” His glower had her scrambling to remember his promise to never ever hurt her.

“This morning. At breakfast.”

“Okay,” he said. “It’s breakfast. Tell me more.”

“It’s the best way to get the country off our backs,” she said. “No one knows my side of the story. They think I simply ran away. They don’t know Jack beat me.”

“And you’re okay going on TV to tell the world?”

She nodded. “If it will help The Program.”

“What if I asked you not to do it?”

She held his gaze, and her voice trembled, but she found the courage to say, “I’d do it anyway.” Breathing stopped being a primary function for a desperate few seconds before he spoke.

“Okay,” he said.

“Really?” She couldn’t believe he’d capitulate that easily. “I thought you were against it when I brought it up a few weeks ago.”

“You’re an adult, Jill. You make your own decisions. And you obviously don’t think it’s necessary to share them with me.” He stood, shrugged on his coat, and grabbed his tray in one hand, heading to the exit.

Oh, shit. She scrambled after him, abandoning Loren and her coat. She’d deal with interview changes later. Talking to Rowan and soothing his hurt feelings was more important. “Rowan, wait.” But he was already in the cafeteria entrance with the doorway open.

She caught up to him on the path halfway between the cafeteria and the bachelor quarters. “Rowan, wait.”

He spun to face her. “Why? Why should I wait for you? You never seem to wait for me. You got a job without giving a shit for my opinion, and now this. When do I rate, Jill? Or do you expect me to follow you around eating your trail of crumbs and pretending it’s cake?”

Ouch. But he was right. She hadn’t treated him fairly, and he’d been nothing but good to her. She opened her mouth to apologize, but he wasn’t done.

“I keep telling myself to be patient,” he said, “to not push you into a permanent relationship, and especially not into sex, but I can’t keep doing this, Jill.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, blinking back tears. His words hurt harder than any slap or punch from Jack. Yet nothing he said was anything but the truth. She hadn’t been fair to him.

“I’m giving you all of me, but you’re only giving me pieces,” he said. “I want it all. With you.”

She swallowed. A figurative crevice opened in the space between them and she could leap or cling to the edge. She’d been clinging to safety for too long. Maybe it was time to take a risk. With him.

“What’s it going to be, Jill? Are you in this with me? Do you want to be my match?”

She swallowed and leapt. “Yes. I’m yours, Rowan. I’ll do better. I promise.” She didn’t remember consciously stepping into his big body, but she was pressed against his strong body, and her tears slid down the high tech fabric of his winter coat. His lips found hers and they kissed for long minutes until the winter chill penetrated.

Finally she pulled back. “I need to talk to Loren,” she said. “If they want Jack in the interview, we need to figure out what to do.”

“Simple,” Rowan said, “you don’t go. I don’t want you on the same planet as Jackass, let alone the same television studio.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “But I worked so hard. I refuse to hide from him anymore. He’s the one in the wrong. Not me. He should be hiding, and maybe if I can change public opinion, he’ll have to.”

He glowered, but said nothing, and let her hold his hand on the way back into the cafeteria to discuss all the details with Loren. It would be one of the hardest things she’d ever done, but she was determined to do the interview, and now face down Jack.

* * * * *

That evening, she was ready. Well, as ready as one could be when going on national television to confront her abusive husband.

The car ride over had been amusing because Loren’s brother, Chase, did his best to crack jokes and put her at ease. Shep had forced Rowan, practically at gunpoint, to stay on campus. As he and Adam had been the ones to originally beat up Jack, they couldn’t be the ones to face him now, Shep had argued. So Chase and Xander were her bodyguards for the night. She wished Rowan was at her side, but she knew it was for the best he was safe on campus.

She walked into the television studio in Washington DC, feeling pretty confident. Until she entered the makeup room and saw the man in the tall chair getting his camera face on. It was Jack who turned to greet her with the scariest smile she’d ever witnessed.

“Hello, Jilly.”

Chapter Ten

Y
ou’re not supposed to be here,” she blurted. “It was part of the deal.” If she had to look at his smug face another second, shit was going to fly. Hopefully in the direction of his head. She spun and started to sprint out of the room, but crashed into the wall that was Chase. Wow, she hadn’t known he could go from surfer to the scariest looking badass she’d ever seen. Her terror dissipated knowing he had her back. Now she was pissed and wanted to find someone who could tell her why the hell her ex–husband was in the room. How dare they do this to her? They’d promised to never allow him near her except on camera with her guards present.

At that moment, a woman entered the makeup room and smiled at her. “Jill.”

“Ronna Woods?”

The woman smiled and held out her hand. “Thank you for agreeing to being interviewed by me.” Ms. Woods had obviously already had her turn in the makeup chair, making it easy for Jill to recognize the newswoman. She had a compelling, beautiful face, but she looked more approachable off–camera than when she was on. Every inch of her declared her as a powerful, intelligent woman.

On a normal day, Jill would’ve been in awe and hesitant to even speak to the woman, let alone raise her voice. Now? Let the yelling commence. She ignored the proffered hand. “I want to know what the hell my husband is doing in here.” She pointed with a shaking finger.

It was hard to know who looked more stunned, Ronna Woods at being yelled at by a stranger, or Jack at hearing his formerly meek wife yell like a banshee. To her credit, Ronna recovered quickly. “I’m sorry. You’re right. It shouldn’t have happened. We’ll get Jack finished up in here, but we need to get you to get started with makeup soon. You didn’t leave much time.”

“Fine, I’ll get makeup done, but I don’t want him here,” she managed.

“Of course not,” Ronna said briskly, walking to the makeup artist and whispering in her ear. “She’ll finish with your husband and your guard will be with you the whole time.” She pulled out her cell phone, and dialed a few numbers. “Katie, find a waiting area for Jack Thompson.”

Meanwhile Jack was smiling and pretending nothing was wrong as a smiling young woman wiped a coat of powder on his face. “How gay is this, huh, Jilly? Me wearing makeup?”

“Don’t talk to me, Jack,” she said flatly, finding the chair farthest away from him and hoisting herself up. Chase positioned himself as a wall, blocking Jack’s view of her.

At that moment, another man entered the small room. Not Loren as she hoped, but a familiar one nevertheless. “Hi, everyone. Ready to make some great TV?” he asked.

Ronna hustled over to greet the man, and they exited the room. He was a relationship doctor who loved making the rounds of daytime television. His opinions were delivered loudly and often in catchy phrases people liked to repeat or adopt as their personal mantras. Jill had never liked him. She thought he simplified life too much. Life was complicated, kind of like the messy situation she was in now. But Ronna Woods was excited to have him play relationship doctor and try to mediate an amicable reconciliation between Jack and Jill on national TV. Not going to happen.

She took a deep breath as the makeup artist moved from Jack to her and started wiping liquid foundation across her cheeks and nose. Loren and crew were still nowhere in sight, but surely Jack would do nothing with the makeup artist present.

“What’d you do to your hair, Jill?” Jack had moved off his stool and come to stand near her, pretending Chase wasn’t there. She wanted him back one hundred feet. Like yesterday.

“I cut it,” she answered. Was he stupid? It was obvious to a child she’d had a haircut. She braced herself for the imminent insult coming her way in three, two, one. But Jack surprised her.

“It looks good. You look pretty.”

Her head spun to give him a startled look, which he returned with a sheepish one. “Guess I never told you enough. I took you for granted, Jill. I forgot to compliment you, tell you you’re beautiful.”

She knew what he was doing. Charming Jack came out to play. It was how he got her in high school, and it was how he was going to get Ronna Woods, the makeup artist, and American TV viewers on his side. “I said don’t talk to me.” She pretended not to see the disapproving look the makeup artist gave her, but she couldn’t let it go. “Compliments don’t heal bruises, Jack. Were you going to tell me I look beautiful as you slapped me?”

The makeup artist took a full step back, protecting herself from the vitriol bubbling out of Jill. Jack started to respond, but Chase stepped into his space. “You need to leave, now.” Having come out the loser in one encounter with Program soldiers, Jack didn’t act like an idiot and followed orders. Jill knew the fight wasn’t over and braced herself for the on–air battle about to erupt.

BOOK: 05 Desperate Match
5.44Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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