Reunited (4 page)

          “Why
did you break up with me before graduation?  Was it really about work?”

          I
definitely saw hurt in his eyes and I hated that it was me that made him feel
that way.  I looked down at the floor and took a deep breath.  My heart was
pounding.  I took a sip of my drink before responding to him.  He was searching
my eyes for an answer.

          “I
didn’t want you to throw your life away because of me.  Jake, you were offered
an incredible opportunity to work for your family’s
BILLION
dollar
business.  And you were going to throw all of that away for me!  I couldn’t let
you do that.  If things didn’t work out between us you would have resented me
and I didn’t want that.  I wanted you to take that opportunity and see if it
was what you wanted to do, and decide on your own if it was right for you.  I
didn’t want to be an influence in any way.  I broke up with you because I
wanted the best for you.  And from what you just told me, you made the right
decision going to work for your family.”

          He
sat there silent, looking out over the water.  Was that relief that I saw wash
over his face?  I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

          “You
ignored my calls and emails when I tried to contact you after we graduated. 
You wouldn’t even talk to me.  We were together for
four
years and you
wouldn’t even
talk
to me.  Do you have any idea how much you hurt me
Lauren?  Any at all?”

          I
could see a flicker of anger in his eyes but mostly I just saw sorrow.  I felt
horrible.  It hurt me to know that I had hurt him so badly.  Tears started to
well up in my eyes and they spilled down over my cheeks.

          “Jake
I am so sorry.  I feel awful that I hurt you.  But I did it because I loved
you.”

          All
of a sudden he snapped and his booming voice startled me.

          “You
did it because you
loved
me Lauren?  I would hate to see what you would
do to me if you hated me!  You ripped my heart out!  Do you have any idea how
long it took for me to be able to leave my apartment?  I was
devastated
! 
I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning!  Finally, after
two
months, I was able to pick up the pieces.  I became a different person.  You’ll
see on this trip that I am not the same person you dated all those years ago. 
That person was weak and not in control.  This new Jake Hunter is in control of
everything, all the time.”

          He
had almost a chilling look in his eye when he said those words.  My tears dried
up and I was a bit taken aback. 

          “So,
how is your personal life?  Are you married?”  He spat out the words as he
fixed his gaze on me, anger brimming all around.

          I
didn’t know if I should answer his question but after hurting him the way I
did, I wanted to be honest with him about everything. 

          “No,
I’m not married.  I’m dating someone casually.”  I saw a flicker of fire.

          “Were
you ever married?  Any kids?”  His tone was harsh and unfeeling.  This was not
the Jake I remembered.

          “No
to both.  And what about you?”  I tried to sound as warm as possible.

          “After
you, I swore off women for a
long
time.  And then I met Vivienne.  We’ve
been dating for about two years.”

          My
stomach dropped into my toes.

          “She
is a remarkable woman.  She is very loving and supportive of me, she’s
beautiful and my family loves her.”  His tone was taunting and nasty.

          I
looked at Jake when he said that last part and I could always tell when Jake
was lying to me because his upper lip would twitch.  His upper lip was
twitching when he told me his family loved Vivienne.  His lies were usually
innocent, like the time he tried to surprise me for my 21
^st
birthday
and told me we were going to a popular sushi restaurant for dinner.  My
birthday is in February and it was freezing that night so I told him we could
just skip the restaurant and stay in.  He said it took almost a year to get the
reservation so we really needed to go.  His lip was twitching when he said that
and I didn’t think anything of it at the time.  He ended up flying me, Amy and
a few of our friends to New York City on his family’s private jet for a night
out on the town and we had an amazing time.    

          “Oh,
she sounds lovely.  Your family loves her?” 

          He
looked directly into my eyes.  “They do, especially mother.”  His lip was
twitching like crazy
.  He is lying to me.
 

          My
heart sank.  He was probably lying to me to get back at me.  I bet there wasn’t
even really a Vivienne.  I wanted to see how far he would take the lie.  I
don’t know how I mustered the courage to ask the next question, but I just had
to know. 

          “And
what about you, do you love her?”

          He
eyes, laced with fire, held my gaze.  My eyes frantically searched his,
anxiously waiting for his answer. 

          “There
you guys are!  I have been looking all over for you!”  Amy’s chipper voice
deflated our intense moment and snapped us back to reality.  “It‘s time for
dinner and everyone is there but you guys.  We don’t want to keep everyone
waiting.  Come on!”

          I
grabbed my empty drink glass and we all headed to the dining room.  Right
before we went inside Amy told Jake we were going to the ladies’ room. 

          "So? 
What happened?"

          "Amy,
I swear, I feel like this is all a dream.  My head is swimming in so many
different directions, it's ridiculous."

          "What
did you guys talk about?"

          "We
talked about what we've been doing the last 10 years and then he asked me if I
was married."

          Amy
opened her mouth wide getting ready to add her two cents, when I cut her off.

          "I
told him I wasn't married but I was dating someone casually and then I asked
him if he was married.  He told me he wasn't but he was seeing some wonderful
girl named Vivienne for two years and his family loves her."

          Amy
instantly looked disappointed.  "Well Lauren, I think if they're not
married, or at least engaged, then it can’t be serious with this girl.  There's
no way."

          I
leaned in toward Amy and lowered my voice.  "Amy I asked him if he loved
this girl."

          "Oh
my gosh!  How did you get the nerve to do that?"

          "I
have no idea.  But he didn’t answer me."  Disappointment was written all
over my face.

          "I
knew it!  He still loves you!  If he loved her he would have said so.  You guys
are going to live happily ever after!  I'm so happy for you!"  She reached
out to give me a hug but I stopped her.

          "Hang
on, hang on.  It's not that simple."

          "What
do you mean?  He didn’t say that he loves her so that means he still loves you,
end of story."

          "No,
there's something different about him.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but
he told me that he's not the same person that I knew 10 years ago.  He told me
that he's always in control."

          "What's
wrong with that?  I would
love
for a man to control me, at least in the
bedroom anyway."  She laughed as she winked at me.

          "I
don't know.  Something in him has changed."

          "Well
whatever it is Lauren, just go with it.  Don't let him get away this
time."

CHAPTER
3

          We
had name cards at our tables and I was seated with Amy, Jake, Adam, Jake’s
fraternity brother Paul, Arianna Covington and a few other people.  Arianna was
probably the most arrogant person I had ever had the displeasure of meeting. 
She was the sole heir to the Covington Real Estate fortune.  Her family, like
Jake’s family, also had a building named after them on our university campus
and she’d had a crush on Jake since freshman year.  Their families were friends
and back in college she always tried to bring that up in conversation as if
that would make Jake like her more.  I will never forget the time I went with
Jake and his family on vacation for the first time and we stayed in a villa
next to the Covington’s.  The look on Arianna’s face when she saw me was
priceless.  She thought she could sink her claws into Jake, but he only had
eyes for me. 

          “Oh
great
, we’re stuck with that
moron
at our table.”  Amy glared
across the table at Arianna.  She’d never liked her ever since she literally
bumped into Amy the second week of classes freshman year.  Amy was crossing the
quad with an arm full of books, on her way to class, when Arianna bumped into
her causing Amy to drop all of her books.  Arianna just glanced at her and kept
walking.  She didn’t even apologize or offer to help her pick them up.   When I
saw what happened I rushed over to Amy to help her pick everything up:

         
“Thank
you so much.  That girl is such a you know what.  Does she think that she owns
the campus or something?  I can’t stand arrogant people like that.  Anyways,
thanks for helping me pick up my books.  I’m Amy.”

          And
that is how our friendship began.  Amy has been my best friend ever since. 

          Back
at the dinner table Amy was shooting Arianna nasty glares.

          “Don’t
let her get to you Amy, she’s not worth the energy.”  I didn’t want that to
ruin Amy’s night.  “At least Paul is here.  That’s good, right?”  I tried to
keep my comments to a whisper.

          “Right,
Paul is good people.”

           
Jake was looking our way and I could tell he wanted to talk. 
“So
Amy, I see commercials for your product all the time.  Congratulations on your
success.”   He sounded genuinely happy for her. 

“Thanks
Jake, it’s been a crazy ride.”

I
could see Arianna seething with jealousy.  We knew that Amy’s success ate her
up inside.  Our alumni newsletter ran a full page story on Amy’s success years
ago and a local newspaper approached students from Amy’s class for a comment. 
Arianna happened to be one of the people they approached and her words about
Amy were less than kind.  She insinuated that Amy did not go to our school and
that her product was a direct copy of another famous shapewear brand.  Amy had
a few choice words about Arianna at the time but she only shared those with
me.  I told her to forget Arianna and to focus on building her brand, which she
did.  Arianna was a nasty person and not really welcome at our table by me or
Amy.  Remembering the awful things she had said back then brought back my
feelings of disgust for her so I had to rub Amy’s success in her face just a
little bit more. 

“Arianna,
did you see that Amy made Forbes’ list for the top 50 female entrepreneurs
seven years in a row?  That kind of exposure is priceless.  Isn’t it just so
amazing
that we went to college with such a successful, smart, beautiful, self-made
woman?”

Amy
choked on her water a little bit as she held back a laugh at my over the top
description of her.

“I
knew there was a reason I liked you,” Amy whispered to me.

Arianna
flipped her hair over her shoulder, looking as if she could hardly be bothered
to speak to me.  “Hmmm, no I missed those editions.  I remember some newspaper
asked me about a girl I went to school with who created girdles. I don..”   Amy
stopped her right there, her eyes piercing a hole through Arianna’s eyes.

“It’s
shapewear
, not a
girdle.
”  The words were ground out through
Amy’s clenched teeth.

Arianna
shot Amy a snide look, her lip curling up at the corner.  “My apologies.  S
hapewear. 
Anyway, I didn’t remember you so I think I probably told them that. 
Congratulations on your success.”  She sounded so insincere and rude but Amy
didn’t say anything to her, she just let it go.

“
Witch!
” 
Amy whispered the word to me and I could see out of the corner of my eye that
she was wringing the napkin that was sitting on her lap.

Jake
was oblivious to the tension at the table.  “I think it’s fantastic that you
have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time Amy.”  He turned his
gaze to me.  “And you too, Lauren.”  His cold stare sent shivers down my
spine. 

He
held my gaze, making me squirm under his stare. 
He looks like he cannot
stand me!

“It’s
fantastic that you were able to make partner so quickly Lauren.  I’m sure it
required a lot of hard work and late nights.  What sacrifices you must have had
to make.  Was it worth it?”  The fire in his eyes was like nothing I had ever
seen and the nasty tone of his voice was downright painful.  I was speechless. 
I felt so much resentment coming from Jake, I was dumbfounded.  I could feel my
eyes welling up and I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing that he
hurt me.