Obsessed: Part Three (The Obsessed Series) (3 page)

"Dear, have you finished packing?" Mrs. Adams asks as I open the door to my apartment.

"Almost." I motion her in. "I need to pick up a few more boxes for my clothes and then I'm all set."

"You young girls have more clothes than you know what to do with." She limps past me towards the living room. "Back in my day a lady had one skirt for Sundays and one for the rest of the week."

I smile at her remembrance of her youth. "Can I make you some tea?"

"Yes. That would be lovely." She settles onto the sofa as I walk towards the kitchen.

I stand in silence as I wait for the kettle to boil. I keep hearing Nathan's words ringing in my ears. Do I owe it to Jax to watch the entire video? I've almost thrown that flash drive into the trash so many times I've lost count. Now I'm beginning to wonder if watching it will actually be the way to get the closure that I need.

"Do you want milk or lemon?" I place a small flowered teacup and saucer in Mrs. Adams trembling hand.

"Lemon, please." She smiles faintly. "I came over to talk to you about your hippie friend."

I squeeze half a lemon into her tea before taking a seat in the chair across from her. "Jax. What about him?"

She sips carefully at the hot liquid before placing the cup and saucer on the table in front of her. "He was in the lobby when I came home from the doctor yesterday."

My cup instantly begins to shake when she mentions his name. "He what? I'm sorry. He shouldn't have been here." I try to contain my surprise. Why would Jax come here when he knows I want nothing to do with him? "I'm sorry if he bothered you."

"Not at all, dear." She reaches again for the saucer resting it and the
teacup on her lap. "He came to see me actually."

"He came here to see you?" I don't even try and veil the shock in my voice. "Why on earth would he do that?"

She sighs before taking another small sip from the cup. "He's troubled. That boy is very troubled." She stares down at her lap as she shakes her head slightly. "I feel badly for him."

"You feel badly for Jax?" I'm questioning not only her better sense
but also Jax's motivations. He had no right coming to my building to accost Mrs. Adams and make her feel sorry for him.

"He hurt you," she says softly. "It's upsetting to me that he did that."

I nod. I don't want to interrupt her. My curiosity is peaked now.

"He told me that you saw something that broke your heart." Her weathered brow furrows as she frowns. "I told him that he had to make it up to you."

I smile at her boldness. She was never one to hold back her opinion and now that she's explaining her conversation with Jax, I'm grateful that she's as honest and direct as she is.

"Some things can't be made up," I whisper. "Anything that we had is over now. I'm going to start fresh in Boston."

She studies my expression. I know that she can see right through my words. She knows that I'm only trying to convince myself that I don't care for Jax anymore. "Running away never solved anything, Ivy." Her voice is tender but there's an edge of authority to it. "I know you think you can leave and start over but that's not how life works."

"It can work that way." I take a swallow of the tea and realize it's bitter. I reach for the sugar and stir one scoop into the half empty cup.  "I have to get away from here."

"From here or from him?" she questions.

"Both," I confess. "I'm surrounded by lies and betrayal here."

"Do you think I'm a good judge of character?" she asks me expectantly.

I smile before I respond. "Of course, Mrs. Adams."

"That boy has a pure soul." She pats herself on the chest. "I see my late husband in his eyes."

My
teacup stops in mid-air as I try to absorb her words. Is she saying she believes Jax is a good person? Why am I surprised by that? He's debonair, charming and manipulative. How hard would it be for him to convince this woman that he's the second coming of her dearly departed soul mate?

"He told me he loves you." Her tone is direct and matter-of-fact. "And I for one believe him."

I draw in a deep breath. "I for two, don't." I pull a thin smile across my lips.

She places the now empty
teacup back down onto the table. "He was in pain. I could see it. He just wants you to watch something. A show on your computer. It's called…"

I'm appalled that Jax is so conniving that he's even trying to use my elderly neighbor to further his cause. "He told you…"

"The show is called Flesh Drive," she interrupts. "It sounds promiscuous but he assured me it's not." She snaps her chin down and her expression narrows. "Watch it, dear. He says you'll understand when you do."

Before I have time to protest she's pushing herself up from the sofa. I rush over to help and hand her the cane she rested beside the coffee table earlier. We walk in silence to the door of my apartment.

"Don't you dare leave for Boston before coming over to see me." She pulls me into a weak but tender hug.

"I promise I won't." I hold the door open as she steps through.

"Watch the program." She calls over her shoulder as she slowly walks towards her apartment. "Do it now."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I smash the flash drive onto his desk causing him to turn from where he was gazing out the window, the phone still pressed against his ear.

"I'm going to have to call you back." He's curt with the person on the other end. "What are you doing here?" His eyes run seamlessly from my face to his desk where the flash drive with Brooke's name emblazoned across the side now rests.

I turn to slam the door of his office shut. "You had no right coming to my building to sweet talk Mrs. Adams into being part of your fan club."

"What?" A weak smirk flashes across his lips. "I have a fan club?"

"Everyone is suddenly on your side." I know I sound delusional. I've just realized that I'm standing alone in a room with Jax. This is the first time we've been in this situation since that night at his apartment when I finally understood his true intentions.

"Who pray tell is everyone?" His tone is playful and misplaced.

I stare at him. He looks like a completely different person than the disheveled and scattered mess that he was yesterday. He's dressed in a navy suit complete with a blue and white pin stripe shirt. He's pushed his hair back from his forehead and his face is now smooth. Any remnant of his outer pain has been cleaned up by a shower and a shave. I feel completely out of place in my worn out jeans, white t-shirt and pink cardigan.

"Mrs. Adams and Nathan," I murmur. Why am I telling him this? "They said I should give you a chance."

"Moore is on my side?" He leisurely undoes a button on his suit jacket as he sits. "So you haven't watched it yet?" He nods his chin in the direction of the flash drive.

"I'm not watching it, Jax." I follow his lead and sit in one of the two leather chairs facing his expansive desk.

"Do you remember when we went to visit your father?" He reaches for the flash drive and rubs it between the index finger and the thumb of his right hand.

"Of course I do." My throat is burning. I'm anxious and frustrated. His calm demeanour is doing very little to help ease any of that.

A small smile spreads across his face. "It was perfect."

I sit in silence. I can't allow myself to relive those memories. He's right. It was perfect. The entire trip was everything I wanted and needed. I left Boston feeling intensely that Jax adored me and would do anything for me.

"Your father asked me about my father." He stares at the flash drive flipping it effortlessly between his fingers. "My father was always very disappointed in me when he was alive."
I feel my anger retreating and I'm frustrated by my own emotions. I don't want to listen to his excuses. I know what I saw and I know what I heard. "I'm sorry for that but…"

"Your father's approval is important to you too," he interrupts. "I saw it that day."

I nod silently. I've always wanted my father to love me more. I've always known that he secretly blames my birth for my mother's death. I understand that voracious need to win the approval of a parent but rehashing my second-rate childhood and how it relates to Jax's isn't what I came here for.

"Yes, that's true but I didn't come here to talk about that." I state boldly. I can't back down from this. I want Jax to understand that manipulating Mrs. Adams into doing his bidding for him just isn't acceptable.

"Before the gala…" He leans forward in his chair before he continues, "doing whatever was necessary to win back my father's company was all I thought about."

"That's obvious on the video." I motion towards the flash drive he's still lazily running along his fingertips.

"Everything changed at the gala. Everything changed when I saw you." His voice breaks and he looks down into his lap. I can hear him drawing in a heavy breath in an effort to temper his emotions.

"No, that's not true." I push back. I don't want him to think that he can pull on my
heartstrings again and I'll forgive him. This time is different. I understand his need to honor his late father's memory but I won't let my guard down. "On the video you say it's the day after the gala. You were plotting to blackmail Mark after the gala so you're lying again."

He slowly raises his head until his eyes are in line with mine. I lock onto them searching for any hint of honesty within him. "Did you believe me when I told you I loved you, beautiful?"

The question jars me. How dare he ask me something so personal when we're in the middle of a discussion about his underhanded corporate conspiracy? "Don't talk about that." I spit the words out with distaste. "How can you use someone so easily like that? How can you pretend to be something you're not?"

"I've never pretended with you." He studies my face with his eyes. "I told you I loved you because I do. I've never loved a woman before."

I laugh out loud. "That's such bullshit. You admitted you were cheated on. It was Brooke, who cheated on you, wasn't it? She cheated on you with Mark. How sick and twisted is that? The woman you loved cheated with the man I loved?"
He's silent in response. I sit waiting for the expected explosion of anger but he stares directly into me, his eyes not faltering.

"You and Brooke plotted against Mark and me." I point my index finger at him. "The two of you deserve one another. I just have one question."
He tilts his chin up. "What's that?" he asks in a whispered tone.

"Why did you break the rule? Why did you fuck me?" I seethe.

"You said you loved me, Ivy." He picks up the flash drive and balances it on his palm. "I know that you meant it."

"So what if I did?" I snap back. "I was in love with who I thought you were not the real you."

"You're mistaken, beautiful." He pulls himself to his feet in one fluid motion. I push my body back into the chair. I want to keep as much physical distance as I can between Jax and me.

"I'm not." I fumble for my purse. I know I placed it next to the chair when I sat down and now I can't find it. I just want to get out of here.

"I haven't made love to anyone since I saw you at the gala that night." His voice whispers across the back of my neck and I jolt myself back into an upright position. He's there, hovering over me. I can smell his skin. He's so close.

"Why are you lying?" I try to retreat into the chair but the soft leather resists. "I saw you in bed with Brooke. I saw it."

He leans back against the desk giving me a slight reprieve from his imposing presence. "I was in bed with Brooke. Nothing happened."

"No. You're lying. You think I'm an idiot. You've always thought I was naïve." I scowl.

"You're, by far, the most amazing woman I've ever met." His voice lowers. "I knew it the instant I saw you at the gala. I would do anything for you."

I stand. "You're so delusional."

"How so?" He mirrors my stance and towers above me.

"You and Brooke worked together to manipulate Mark and me. It's all there on the flash drive, yet you continue to deny it." I chuckle," the proof is right there, Jax."

"Indeed it is, Ivy." He opens his hand and holds the flash drive at my eye level. "If you would watch the entire thing, you'd understand."

"I understand everything I need to understand." I grab the flash drive and toss it back on his desk. I try to push past him so I can leave but his body is blocking my pathway to the door.

"That's obviously not true." He lowers his head until his lips are hovering mere inches from mine.

"It's true." I pull back. I can't think straight when he's this close to me. I'm beginning to doubt my own resolve.

His index finger traces a faint line across my chin. "I fell in love with you at the gala. My life changed that night."

I shake my head partly to disengage from his heated touch and partly to clear my thoughts. "You've been manipulating me since we met at Brighton's gallery opening. It's all been so you could take control of Mark's company."

"That's your perception, beautiful." He takes one step closer. "I'm only guilty of wanting you and my father's company."

"Do you really think this will work?" I throw my hands in the air in sheer frustration. He honestly believes that he can seduce me into forgetting what I saw on the video.

He grabs my wrist in one fell swoop. "What do you mean?"

I try to pull it free from his grasp but he's not relenting at all. "Let go of me." I glare at him.

"Not yet," he whispers as he pulls my arm to his lips. I flinch as I feel him run his lips across my skin.

I shiver from the touch. "Stop it." I jerk my arm again and this time he effortlessly lets it drop from his clutch. "You can't seduce me. You can't convince me that you're not the manipulative jack ass that I know you are."

He arches his brow and his expression darkens. "Oh, I'll convince you, beautiful."

"Give up, Jax." I scowl. "You won. You get your father's company and you got to fuck Mark's ex. Way to go." My words are dripping sarcasm and I don't care.

He swallows hard before he speaks in a pained whisper, "You think I'm a monster, don't you?"

I'm taken back by his response. "I think you'll do whatever is necessary to get what you want."

He lowers his head into his hands. "That's not who I am."

I stare at him. His shoulders have softened. His posture has shifted. If I didn't know better I'd swear my words bit into him. "You've manipulated me since we met. You've withheld the truth."

He pulls his head up so he's looking directly into my eyes. "I should have been honest about my father."

"You used me. You used me to get what you wanted. You let me believe in you." I feel all of my emotions rushing past the barrier I've tried to create within my heart. "I fell in love with you. I thought you were him. I thought that was you."

"You thought I was who?" He jolts to his feet again.

"Him." I sob as I turn towards the door. "Mine." I can't form the words to tell him that I envisioned our future. That the innocent part of my heart wanted to build a life with him.

He reaches for me and pulls my body into his chest. I struggle to break free.

"I am him. I've always been him." His voice cracks. "Believe in me. Trust me."

I twist around swiftly breaking free from his arms. "You don't see it." I struggle to form the words through my sobs. "You can't do that…" my voice trails as I point behind him to the flash drive." You can't do that and then expect me to just pretend I didn't see it."

"You don't know what you saw." He raises his voice, frustration laced within it. "Until you watch the entire thing, you're never going to know the truth."

"I can't." I stumble back towards the door. "Why the hell do you want me to watch you fucking her? Why?" I scream the words at him.

"I didn't fuck her. I couldn’t. I wouldn't have." He picks up the flash drive and lays it in his palm. "Take this. Watch it."

I stare at it. Brooke's name is taunting me. I scoop it up and throw it in my purse again. "You're not worried that I'm going to hand this over to Mark and ruin your chances of taking over the business?"

He pauses as if he's contemplating the question.  "The business doesn't matter to me anymore."

"Yeah, right." I snap. "That's all that matters."

He brushes past me. "I have a meeting to get to." His hand curls around the handle of the door. "I can have Leonard drop you off at home and I'll take a cab."

'I'll take the cab." I move quickly towards the open door. "For someone who doesn't care about the business you're certainly in a hurry to go to this meeting." I know I'm being childish but the way he's dismissing me stings.

"It's not a meeting for that." He motions towards the bank of elevators. "Everything I do is for you. Everything." With that he steps into the open elevator.

I stand in silence as I watch the doors close.