She knew she had heard horrible things about her from him and Nate but none of them could reach to this. She tried to keep her eyes as natural and poised as she could, but nothing worked, she was certain he saw the pain that flashed through her in a blink. no one had ever told her that she would be the worst Mom alive, Anna knew that will be the most painful thing she’d ever get to hear in her whole life. “Jack…” she began, and let her words trailed off because she didn’t even know what she would say to him.
“What? Are you going to call him back and ask him to fire me from being a pilot?” He fixed his blazing eyes at her and she rested back on the sofa and smiled, so he was hurt by what she did after all, right?
“What? Do you want that to happen, Jack Roberts? And guess what? Once I do that, I’d make sure that no one signs you up as their pilot in the whole of America.” He felt her words and the threat did work just like she had imagined it would. He was just staring at her when she continued with a smug look on her face, “Or maybe we should try doing that? How much fun will that be?”
“Anna, don’t you dare start the game you cannot finish yourself. But guess what?” He crossed his legs as well as they shot each other hateful words. Is there a woman he would hate the way he hated this girl? And he knew it was the same for her, damn it, he barely tolerated her!
She threw her head back and laughed wholeheartedly, “What? Jack, I know by now you must’ve have known how much power I possess, or do you want me to show you more of what Anna Brayden could do?” He fixed his unshaken eyes on her as though he was daring her to do her worst, but he couldn’t come up to say that with his lips because he knew she could actually do it. She sat upright and moved further on the sofa, “How about we do this?”
When Anna saw the expression he had on his face, she giggled. “Don’t give me that murderous look again. I’m actually going to help you now, tired of being a bad bitch, you see?” He curled his fingers into a fist and her eyes wandering to how much he was fuming before she smiled again. “What, don’t tell me that you’re going to beat me up?” She giggled and Jack stood up because he knew if he stayed where he was, nothing could stop him from doing the worse thing he could ever have imagined on Anna.
She stood up as well and stared briskly at the wristwatch that was attached to her wrist, “Look, I’m the one that should be insect a hurt to leave, I have a job. No, I own the job.” He turned enigmatically at her and she took a step backwards, “You scared me, oh god! Let’s make a deal, I’ll get you fired from being a pilot and hire you as my bodyguard instead, how does that sound?” She was grinning at him and despite the way Anna knew he was only a few seconds from bursting out of his control shell, she kept on taking mocking steps toward him and she didn’t know there was a chord of wire in front of her until it got tangled with the hell of her shoe and she tumbled.
“Arhhh!” She screamed at the pitch of her voice, staring at the white tiles below her which she was sure it was only a matter of seconds before it got smashed with blood and maybe a few of her teeth. She closed her eyes and fought the tears of self-pity that had already pooled in her eyes as she waited to reach the ground, but she felt as strong and warm arms took a hold of her petite frame. Her face fell on something, for sure, but that wasn’t the tile, and it was soft to be a…No!
Her eyes immediately jerked open and she saw that her lips were directly on Jack’s lips. They weren’t kissing, but he was firmly holding her waist to stop her from falling and maybe if he knew, he should have held her heart instead. Because man, she was an inch to losing a total control of herself. What was this she was feeling? He stared directly into her eyes not making another move, but she was certain the thumping beatings of their hearts might be heard anywhere in the building.
She saw something in his eyes, it was much more than the hatred she was certain he had for her. His eyes were an amalgam of both anger, surprise, and something she wouldn’t want to refer to as desire. Because she knew she had never seen a real one, Nate made sure she lost all hopes in all those things. Wait…their lips were still touching, his hands still wrapped around her waist and her chest fully rested on his with her hands on hip sturdy shoulder. What the hell was she thinking of to stay in this position for more than a minute?
Damn it! She quickly pulled away from him and the way her heart was beating widely made her felt dizzy and she slumped on the sofa next to her, panting for breath. Yes, there were times she had found weak body system so annoying but this time, she hated herself for having such body. She was seriously trying to calm herself, but it was as though she was begging her lungs to suffocate her because all she could remember was how his lips felt as they just sat on hers.
Jack was just staring at her as he secretively fought the rambling of his breath until he steadied himself. He watched the way she was trying so hard to breath, what the hell was wrong with her? Did she always have palpitations whenever she had something that made her heart raced? Wait, he affected her to the point that her heart beat in such an unstable way for her to have heart palpitations. It was getting worse, and he could remember briskly reading through her medical report.
Begrudgingly, even hating himself for not ignoring her and uttering all he had wished he could to her, Jack walked to where she sat as she panted and knelt on his knee. “Are you alright, Anna?” He asked with a warm voice and her now tearing eyes were staring at him with a look he had never seen in someone’s eyes in his whole life, he had to take a hold of her hands without him knowing when he did. “Anna, talk to me. What do I need to do? Do you have a pill or something? Should I call someone for you?” In a minute, he had forgotten all that had transpired between them or the suspension letter that lain on the floor right now.
She coughed, “My spray, it’s in my bag.” She managed through breath and with one of his hands firmly holding hers, Jack rumbled through her bag, what he first saw was a sleeping pill, then anti-depression and finally the lungs spray. He pulled it out and sprayed into her slightly opened mouth, she had nearly given up on her consciousness at the time.
“If you know that you have the spray with you, why will you wait until you’re only few seconds from passing out?” He spoke in a high-pitched tone, and no matter how much he might deny it—that’s if she’ll ever tell him what she had sensed in his words—Anna would never believe that that wasn’t him sounding worried, about her.
She closed her eyes as her breath began to liberate. She sighed and closed her tearing eyes, wondering when she will feel completely healthy in her life. And now he would think that it’s because she had her lips placed on his and he affected her to the point that she had to have her heart palpitations. Even though it was true, but she didn’t want him to think that. She opened her weak eyes and realized they were still holding each other hands, firmly as though their lives depended on each other and he was now sitting beside her while he flashed her a worried look.
Jack followed where her eyes were fixed at and he realized where he was, what he was doing, how he was acting, and most importantly, whom he was together with. He internally cursed himself and pulled his hand out of her hold, Anna was still staring at her now empty and cold her even after he stood up from her side; no one had ever held her the way he did, and it felt so overwhelming.
“Don’t think this is over, I’ll make sure you regret doing this to me, Anna.” He said with a voice she was sure was forced out of him. It was as if he didn’t want to act up to the sentiments he was feeling in his heart and he wasn’t even looking at he in the eye, so he was affected too, right?
That though made her grin before she replied him, “I’d love to see you do something worse, and my offer is always open, become my bodyguard, I think you’d have the chance to have your face snapped by every paparazzi that lives in California. How does that sound?”
“I’ll extremely hurt you, Anna.” He said that through gritted teeth and didn’t even wait for her reply when he walked out of the office and banged the door behind him. She stared at the door and smiled afterward. She pulled her phone out of her bag and dialed Julia’s number.
“Can you come in and help me out? I had an attack.” She swiftly ended the call because she wasn’t ready for Julia’s frantic questions. She closed her eyes and leaned back on the sofa, but the only thing that will flash through her eyes was how Jack stared back at her with his lips placed on hers, his hands wrapping her waist.
“Ma’am, are you alright?” She opened her eyes to a devastated Julia and smiled at her before she nodded her head and motioned for her to help her stand up, she did.
“I’m not fine, Julia, my heart. Just take me home from here.” How could she begin to explain the rate at which her heart beat at that time? Anna was certain that not even a cardiologist will ever understand that. She needed a day off and then she’d be fine, right? They drove directly home with her eyes closed as she thought about everything she had felt in that office. That chest, it was as if this wasn’t the first time she had been hugged by it even though she didn’t know if it was okay to refer to that as a hug. And that thing, was it a peck, kiss or she should refer to it as mouth-to-mouth contact?
“Are you fine, Ma?” Julia asked and she turned to look at her, the smile not leaving her face.
“What have you seen, Julia? I would’ve told you to take me to the hospital if I wasn’t feeling alright, right? It was just heart palpitations, and I had the spray with me. Don’t fret, okay?” She assured her with a smile and Julia was still not convinced.
“Yes, that’s why I’m worried. You told me that you’re sick, you had an attack, but you had a smile on your face, it’s making me creep, Ma’am.” Sometimes, Julia was blunt and right now Anna wanted to smack her lips for not being able to conceal what was in her heart, damn it!
“I’m fine, Julia, I just remembered something.” And they drove silently to the house. Anna allowed Julia to help her into the house and they weren’t even getting to her room when they heard the shriek of Mom behind them.
“My poor Anna, what happened to you again? I told you to take a few breaks until your mental health is stable enough to go back to work again. Are you all right?” She watched the way Mom held her hand and right there, she figured how different it had felt when they firmly held each other’s hands with Jack. Stop thinking about him, you idiot. You wanted to revenge, now you got one, what the hell is wrong with you?! She could imagine Maya shouting these words at her, and maybe it was only better if she said them to herself.