Anna stared at him without being able to utter a word out of her chest. So, this was how he looked like when he laughed? She had never thought that this day would come between them even though she knew their promises of hurting each other will never be broken over some thrown up laughs in a beach. Beaches were always known for making someone feel better and lighten their moods and it was surely the same for Jack. How he held her was a mistake because he wasn't sure whether she was his girlfriend or not.
And his attempt to kiss her? Wait... so that wasn’t just another illusion of hers? Jack really tried to kiss her, of course he did and if she hadn’t spoken first, he would have kissed her and what would they have said to both Charles and Clara? She knew for Charles, he would have understood if she told him who Jack was in the story she had given him. But Clara wouldn't understand and Maya? She might finally have the chance to do that factory reset on Jack’s balls. That made her grinned and when she looked back at him, she realized he had stopped laughing for long and he was staring at the way she was silent for a while before she grinned.
“We’re still fighting, Anna Brayden, but I expected you to say hi and thank me for flying you from California to Spain.” Then the look was back, their old selves were back, and it was as if they had never shared that moment where they felt the irresistible magnet that was trying so hard to pull them towards each other. She put back that part of herself as well because she knew Jack Roberts only understood violence so long as she was the other person he was conversing with.
She tilted her head backwards and somehow, they found themselves walking along at the edge of the sea while she turned to give him a befitting reply, “Oh, I didn’t know it was the quack pilot that flew us here, what do you think of the idea of having my jet fly us back? Of course, you’d be the one to take us and I pray you get late. Getting suspended twice in a row would be so much fun, don’t you think?” She knew just the perfect nerve to hit and she was glad to see the way he curled his fist.
If someone saw them from afar, he or she would think they were a couple having a lovely conversation as they walked through the beach, but none of them would know the nature of their conversation. She didn’t know how, but it felt as though she was a whole different person with Jack. He brought out the bad in her and she was certain he would never bring out the best in her. He turned to her with a wicked grin and nodded his head.
“Of course, it will be fun, and I'm sure Clara will love to fly on a private jet with the oh so famous Anna Brayden.” Damn it, he spoke about that Clara even when they were fighting? She hated him for this, and she didn’t know the reason why she wasn’t able to hide what she had felt in front of him.
“What? Don't tell me you’re jealous, Anna?” He was smirking at how pale she looked, and Anna knew it was either she put on a show or this might be the new way Jack will be hurting her. She knew they both didn’t have a reason to why she would be jealous of him even though she would likely deny this, but somewhere in her heart this was the truth about what she was feeling. She truly hated it whenever she saw him with Clara, and her heart ached if they kissed. If they kissed, she wanted to puke.
She laughed and shook her head, “What would make you think that I'd be jealous of a person like you when the whole destiny of your life lies on my palms, Jack? I can make you sad for a very long time if I want, and don't see that just because you got back to work and even flew a plane to Spain was an assurance that the job you so much know is secured, it’s not. One single call will change your destiny and I know how much this job means to you and your whole family.” She covered her mouth in a mocking gesture, “I’m sorry, not the whole family. But at least it’s good to have a mother and a sister by your side. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
She smiled calmly at him and turned back to see that they had covered quite a distance. She walked silently, aware of his intense look on her back and she smiled triumphantly when she slumped beside Maya on the sand. “That was a good one, Maya. Just say you’re proud of me already.” She blessed the day she asked Julia to make a quick background check up on him so that she would have the perfect comeback for whatever he would say to her because she knew the next time they met, he would try to touch the part he so well knew wasn’t pleasant to her.
And he did, and god! She put him back right to where he belonged and when she discreetly turned to look at him, he was rooted to his spot, probably fuming. “Tell me, I haven’t seen him groaning in pain yet. What have you reset in him this time?” Maya asked wickedly and Anna grinned before she laid on the sand and didn’t feel cautious that she will ruin her dress, she wanted to rejoice on this feeling while she stared up at the dying sun.
“It would’ve been easier on him if I had reset those useless balls, but I said something that will likely hurt him so much that he wouldn't want to move an inch. Where’s Charles by the way?” She asked and turned, still laying on the sand and when she they all turned to see where they were before Maya gave her a reply about Jack, they saw them together with Clara as they bought a drink, and they were laughing their chests out.
“What the hell is wrong with those two?” Anna smiled and shook her head.
“Nothing harmful. She's hopelessly in love with Jack, she won’t do anything. And for Charles, I trust him, he’s just having fun.” And the look Maya gave her was ‘I pray it’s just for fun.’ But Anna wished she could tell Maya how amazing of a person he was. She knew he meant no harm; it was just him making a new friend when Clara needed it because both her and Jack weren’t in the mood to make the atmosphere lively. She turned her face away from them and stared up at the sky as she closed her eyes. Oh, how beautiful it felt, to hurt him with words just this once.
*
From where he sat, he watched the way Clara was excitedly getting ready and a small smile graced his lips, he had never been so glad of something like he was, for bringing Clara to Spain. She seemed to be having the fun he wasn’t able to give her in California and it was as though taking a mountain off his shoulders. “I love seeing you look excited, Clara. And it’s so sad that I'm not interested in this movie, I would’ve gone together with you.”
“Don’t worry, the taxi man will keep me happy and he's an old man for you not to get worried.” She giggled at the glare he sent her way, and she lifted her hands up, “I know, you trust me, and I trust you tenfold, my Jacky.”
“Don’t be like Willa, it will be so much torture to have a second Willa in you.” She giggled and he smiled warmly at her. She always made things better even without her knowing. He was so glad to have someone like Clara in his life, for she was peace to him.
“I have never said this to you, but I love it whenever she calls you Jacky even though she knows how much you hate being called that.” She was applying the lip stick on her lips when she spoke, and Jack wasn’t able to reply her when his phone shrilled in his breast pocket and he chuckled happily.
“Speaking of the devil, she’s calling me now. I wonder what she’s going to call me now.” He smiled and slid the answer button.
“I would’ve said my regards to her if she knows about me. But which dress do you think will fit? The green or lilac?”
“Lilac is the best color for you.” He answered her as he placed the phone on his ear, “Hey Willie—” his next words were hooked in his throat when he heard the crying voice of Willa and Jack didn’t know when he stood up. He knocked on the door for Clara to notice and motioned for her that he was going out.
“Hey, Willa, what's wrong with you?” He asked with a voice that emanated how worried he was, and she couldn’t even speak further. She was just crying as bitterly as he had never heard Willa cried even when Dad said she had to get married to Victor. “You’re making me panic, Willa, can you please speak to me?” He didn’t know where he was going to, all he knew was he had to leave this hotel, because it felt as though everything was suffocating him.
“Jack...” She began but let her words trailed off as she cried bitterly, “Victor is cheating on me.” He had to hold the railing of the stairs and stop for a minute. The first thing that got back to his mind was the voice of a cheerful Willa as she told him, ‘Jack, I'm so happy that I married Victor. He takes a very good care of me; he loves me a lot. And do you know what? He's the most loyal person I've ever met in my life.’ What had happened to the marriage that wasn’t built on love, but they managed to make it through?
He strolled out of the aware, giving no attention to the people that were flashing him some looks. All he wanted right now was to be in California. He wanted to give Willa the biggest hug he could muster because she had told him that his hugs were the most comforting hugs she had ever felt in her life. “Willa, can you calm down a bit? What do you mean?” He raked his hands through his messy hair and heaved a breath out. “I know you’re just in panic now, maybe that isn’t what truly happened, right? Let’s speak to your baby brother a little bit calmly, can you?” It was as though he was speaking to a five-year-old girl and Willa only increased the pace of her cry.
“I'm certain about this, Jack. This isn’t the first time I caught him cheating on me.” That spoke about everything, right? The day she called him that she was sad and famished, only god knew how badly she had cried. He felt terrible, why was it that the only women he loved and cared for were all in pain one way or the other. Without him knowing how, he found himself thinking about Anna and how badly she had cried on that rooftop. Who thought that his precious sister was feeling the same agony and because he was a fool, he added more pain to her wounds in that restaurant.
“Willa, take a breath. Have you cried enough?” He asked tenderly and he heard the way she had surged in a breath and breathed out calmly. He kept on speaking to her in the calmest way he had never spoken to a woman before, and he was glad that she was the first woman that unveiled this part of him. The comforting part of Jack Roberts, the sympathetic part of himself.
Before they ended the call after he had promised her that he would come to her house the first thing when he landed and he promised to take her out on a date and of course, a shopping spree without Mom. Which meant more freedom to her and less spending to him. She was laughing at the end of the call and she had to promise him that she wasn’t going to cry again before the ended the call. He felt so grief stricken to walk back to the hotel as he had covered quite a distance by now.
He realized he was now in an area he had never been to and distinctly, he heard the echo of a woman’s cry and he needn’t be told that she was in danger. But which strict was she? He rushed through streets as he tried to find her for her cries were getting even more painful and urgent and just like he felt when he heard the way Willa was crying, he had it in his mind not to ever let another woman cry ever again in his life. So long as he had the chance to.