On The Border - Marry Him Or Die

34

Jenny’s POV

I cannot believe I just unloaded on Alex like that!

He just kept pushing me off the edge until I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any more and exploded on him.

I even managed to hit him a few times and the weird thing was, he didn’t make a move to stop me at all.

I didn’t expect him to be touched or moved by what I revealed to him.

He looked really distraught as he left the room after apologizing for everything.

I almost saw tears in his eyes!

He was totally different than my first impression of him.

It made me almost feel bad for speaking so harshly to him, almost.

A part of me felt good though, relieved even. No more hidden secrets, no more wrong assumptions about each other.

But what’s going to happen now?

Is he going to leave me alone and stop trying to fake conversations with me?

I hope so.

I just want him to totally ignore my existence with him in this room. In this whole house.

I even want him to forget my name. I don’t want him to call me Jenny, it’s frustrating. I made it pretty clear that only the people that I care about get to call me that. And him using it, is so getting under my skin. And I can’t help but assume it is his exact intention.

He seemed to love this kind of game. But I didn’t want to play it. Not with him.

I was so tired and drained of the whole confrontation, I was still slowly healing and the infection was taking its toll on me.

I gave my self my last injection of insulin and got into my side of the bed.

I put the long pillow between us and gave my subconscious a stern lesson on keeping all my parts away from Alex Snow.

I heard a message arrive to my phone and had to go over to the window ledge to read it because I left it there.

It was Megan asking about me.

I replied quickly to her and reassured her that I was fine.

She said she wanted to see me and I told her I will ask Alex for permission.

I hated that I had to ask for permission to see my best friend inside this house.

I closed the phone and looked through the window briefly before focusing on it again.

Alex was sitting on one of the garden arm chairs staring straight at the sky and blowing off white smoke from his mouth.

I didn’t see any cigarette in his hands so I realized he was using the cold to create a kind of smoke illusion.

It was freezing outside, and he wasn’t even wearing a jacket.

I gazed at him for a while.

He looked troubled.

Was it because of me or something else?

I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for blaming him for ruining my life.

He did.

But he didn’t really mean it.

It wasn’t intentional.

My mind goes back to his horrified face when he saw my body after he made me take off my jacket in front of everyone.

I could almost feel how hurt he was by what he saw at that moment.

I heard it when he almost ripped my uncle to pieces in untamed fury. He really caught me off guard then.

I could somehow see what his ex Melanie saw in him once she got past the criminal part. He could be gentle with the people he cared about. He protects the people he loves and will burn and kill his way to save them, like he did for the town. He also ruined his life by marrying me. He sacrificed himself for the town. I never saw it that way before. But now that I got to know him a little, I started to look past the hatred and loath.

I went back to bed and sat against the headboard waiting for him to return. I don’t know why though.

To apologize?

Shout at him some more?

Tell him it wasn’t his fault?

Beg him for a divorce and to set me free?

He will never let me go. It was the last thing he said to me. He can’t. For the sake of the town. It all spiraled out of control because of the smuggling. Because of their business. If it wasn’t for their business that lord wouldn’t have killed Isaac Snow, Jacob wouldn’t have killed my father, and Alex wouldn’t have asked for me, but I still wouldn’t be free then. My dad would still be around.

But my mom is now. She is free and happy with her sister. It was worth it.

And then it popped into my head. A piece of information I forgot to mention to Alex.

Will he believe me? Or will he think I’m defending my father after everything he’s done to me?

It doesn’t matter what he thinks, I decided. I’ll just tell him what I know and it’s up to him to decide if he wants to take it at face value or dismiss it.

I busy myself with my phone for about half an hour, until I hear the door open and close.

I had shut off the light in the room, but I turned on my lamp light, on my side of the nightstand. It gave off a dim yellow calm glow to the room.

His eyes landed on me when he entered, but gazed away very quickly.

He went into the closet, picked up his nightclothes, and disappeared inside the bathroom.

He came out after five minutes and laid down next to me on his back.

I put my phone aside and turned to him.

“There is something else I want to tell you. But whether you want to believe it and take it seriously or not is entirely up to you” I said firmly.

He turned his head towards me in curiosity.

“What is it?” he asked warily.

“The man…. Who.. Killed your father, he wasn’t smuggled across the border by my father or our clan. I’m sure of it” I said in a small voice.

He looked at me sharply and lifted himself against the headboard like me.

“What made you so sure of that?” he asked tightly.

I felt my insides churn with tension at his sharp look and stern tone, but I decided to carry on anyways.

“In the three days we were locked inside the house, I listened on all my father’s phone calls. He was set up by lord Z, the drug lord who ordered the hit. They were working together to allow drugs to be smuggled through here. My father knew that he planned to kill your father, but…. He didn’t provide any help for him, said he wouldn’t implicate himself and put his life in danger. Lord Z assured him that he will carry out the hit without his help. My father didn’t help the shooter get past the border, someone else must have done it and made the killer say my father’s name to protect himself from being exposed”

He looked at me with speculation for a long time without saying anything.

“I am very sure of what I heard Alex. I hated him so much, but I can still distinguish between the lies and the truths. It wasn’t him” I said determinedly.

“Did he say anything else about the person who exposed him? Or make any guesses about the real betrayer?” he asked coldly.

“No, he had no idea who it was. He was very astonished that someone else even agreed to work against you” I said softly.

He nodded his head once, deep in thought.

Finally he managed to get a grip on his emotions and said kindly “Thank you for letting me know about this, Jenny”

My lips twitched in a half grin, half grimace.

He was still determined on using my nickname.

“You’re welcome, and I apologize if I came down too hard earlier. You didn’t deserve everything I said… or did.. to you…. I was just… pissed off and you… pushed me a lot into speaking, I lost control of my emotions” I said nervously.

He gives me a hard look and says “You have nothing to apologize for. You had every right to say what you said. Don’t ever apologize for being right even if the truth hurts the other person”

I look at him in wonder. He openly admitted that I hurt him with what I said. I didn’t think he was capable of being hurt, let alone admit it, to me.

“Well, then I’m not sorry. I take it all back” I said in amusement to hide my shock about his admission or maybe convince myself that I misunderstood his words. Because it seemed weird that he was actually affected by what I revealed to him about me.

His lips stretch into a smile, and my heart flutters.

“Good night Jenny, try to tell your subconscious to behave tonight” he said teasingly as he laid on his back again.

My cheeks turn red at that memory and I reply shyly while avoiding his face “Good night, I’ll make sure to do that”

I turned off my lamp and laid on my back just like him.

‘Keep your hands to yourself Jenny, don’t embarrass yourself even more please’ I said to myself before I closed my eyes and surrendered to sleep.