Chapter 65 The Date II

Chapter 65 The Date II
Laura's POV

The candles flickered on the table and the overhead lights were nicely dim. It gave the restaurant a cozy, homely feel. I leaned back against the soft cushioned seat and eyed Jaxon.

"I'm glad you made it," he repeated again, smiling, flashing his wide toothy playboy grin, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Look," I placed my bag on the pristine white table cloth and stared him in the face. "I have roughly fifteen minutes to do this. What did you want to talk about?"

He tilted his head back and stared past me and waved at a waiter. "I want to talk about the recent scandal." 

I tapped my fingers on the table impatiently, waiting for him to begin talking. The waiter came over to take his order, but   Jaxon was staring at me with those stupid eyes I loathed more than anything else.

I frowned and pressed my lips together. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he said, too quickly, before turning his full attention to the young waiter, waiting eagerly with menu in hand, 

"Don't you think the lady should go first?" he suggested to the waiter. Who turned to me but I was still staring at Jeremy. "I'll have nothing. A glass of water will do," I said.
“That wouldn't do.”   Jaxon argued.

"I'll have water, yeah, just a glass," I said firmly. The waiter jotted it down.

"And you sir?"

"Just bring the best meal you have on your menu. One, and another for the lady."

My temper tipped to the edge at that instance. One frown at the waiter made him halt in his tracks.

"I'm not having that  you must respect my wishes," I said carefully.

He chuckled. "Water?”

"This is a date, alright, not a trip to the kitchen."

My lips compressed together, even my breathing grew thin. "This is not a date, Jeremy. I'm not on a date with you," I blurted out fiercely.

His gaze darkened. "But we're out in an eatery."

"I. DON'T. CARE."

"Well, that's bad news because I do," he said back, trying to compose himself.

"I'm still not having that, I'm okay with just water," I muttered to the waiter in a forced calm voice, which I was doing a terrible job at achieving

I hated Jeremy.

He could have looked different in a suit, or even more mature than six years ago, but this man was still the same person   I just knew it, He still had that stubborn intensity burning in his eyes, that sort of made him feel he was all high and mighty. He could own anyone's life however he wanted   have people do everything he wanted and no one could question or refute his authority.

Bad news was, I was going to do just that!

This man has been my one nightmare all these years, and even now, I was done with letting things go his way. They had to go my way now.

We sat at the table staring at each other for a very long time, after the waiter left, without saying anything, just observing the other, someone was going to give up soon and it wasn't me.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out suddenly, breaking the silence.

I drew my eyebrows together, leaning over the table till I was just inches from his face, before I said what I had on my mind. "And what exactly are you sorry for?" I tried to keep my voice levelled enough to avoid displaying any the rage boiling in my insides.

"What exactly are you sorry for, precisely?”

Is it taking advantage of me in an empty hallway and ruining my entire life?

Or was it for getting me pregnant, giving me a daughter, you don't even care about or know of her existence?
Or is it coming back to me now, when I was finally putting the pieces back together to ruin the last bits of what I have left?

"I'm sorry for imposing my wishes on you and for the scandal.”

I snorted. That's not even a scratch compared to all the damage you've caused me.

"Sorry wouldn't fix anything," I said coldly.

"I know." There was an obvious grump in his voice now. What really pissed me off was the look on his face.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'll have the PR team work on cleaning out the rumors off the internet."

"And how about me? You ruined my reputation, I want some compensation," I declared defiantly.

There is no getting away with this, this time, Jaxon.

"What will you have me do? You ruined my reputation too," he snapped, throwing off his cool finally.

My nostrils flared. "Did I kiss you or set you up to force yourself on me?”      

"No, you didn't, but…"

"You go around sexually assaulting women and just think you can go scot free, because you're the boss, right?" I pressed on, clenching my fist under the table. I could feel the anger surging through me, my veins throbbing.

He sighed. "No, that's not what I mean."

The young waiter from earlier returned, carrying our orders.

"What exactly do you mean because you're two minutes away from facing a real jail time "

"Can you just cut the crap!" He snapped, cutting me off. I picked up the water glass and almost threw it at his face as I took a steadying sip.

"I know what I did was wrong and I'm sorry. Terribly sorry."

"No. You're not!"

He continued. "But on the bright side, don't you think this is an opportunity for us?"

My eyes narrowed. "There's no us," I declared firmly. "There will never be!"

"How come you dislike me so much anyway?" he retorted.

"Because, you're terrible!" I snapped right back.

He calmed a bit. "At least give me a chance, I can change," he said. 

I blinked. Did I hear right?

"Give your chance to do what exactly?"

"To change," he said, licking his lip. "This is an opportunity for us to build something beautiful together and I don't want to pass it up ever."

My heart slammed. I reached for my purse, without blinking an eye, and pushed back the seat. He stared at me surprised as I stood up, purse in hand, glaring at him. 

"What is it, did I say something wrong?"

"You just said everything wrong, Mr. Jaxon. You'll be hearing from my lawyers shortly," I said, my voice as sharp as icicles.

I whirled around, ignoring the seizures threatening to come out of my chest and bounded out of the restaurant. Hermes rushed after me, but he couldn't catch up.
I reached the car before him and slammed the door shut.

The tears that I'd been holding back came crashing down at that very minute, raining nonstop. I slammed my fist on the steering wheel, cried even more.

The pain of that night. The trauma for six years. And now the same person came, wanting to force his way back into my life, like he always did.

A sob erupted out of my mouth.

Hermes got to the window and stood there knocking and calling.

But I wasn't letting anyone in, not ever   not again.