Running Back to You (The Running Series, #1) (43 page)

Evan was also spotted having lunch at DeNiro’s Tribeca Grill with former
teammate Darryl Hawthorne.  After lunch, the two headed downtown to Tiffany’s
where McGuire was seen leaving with a small gift bag in hand. 

Averee has just started a short sold-out run on Broadway starring as
Roxie Hart in “Chicago” where she is burning up the stage with her powerful
voice and undeniable stage presence.

Evan was seen a few nights ago with a local bartender, Juliette Fletcher,
where the two were spotted enjoying a romantic night out on the town.  Miss
Fletcher could not be reached for comment. 

The star athlete is well known for his romantic entanglements.  When we
return, we’ll hear more from Averee.

I feel my eyes filling up with tears while the most painful feelings well
up in my chest, as if I had just been hit by a truck.  They start rolling stock
footage of Evan and Averee from last year, strolling hand-in-hand, laughing. 
They seemed happy then.  All I can do is stand there and stare, bewildered. 
The next screen appears, showing Evan entering her loft today.  Today!  Why?

He told me hundreds of times and in thousands of ways how much he loved
me.  I don’t understand what happened.  When did his feelings change?  Did she
somehow get to him and lure him to her house?  How could he let her?  He’s
supposed to be with me.  Not with her, or anyone else ever again.

He has been texting a lot lately.  Maybe he’s been in contact with her
the entire time.  Evan wouldn’t be the first man to betray my trust.  Despite
the cold, hard fact that I’ve been in this situation before, this is
different.  I can see the infidelity with my own eyes.  Not only can I see it,
the entire television-viewing world can see it, too.

I’m crying so hard, I can no longer see the TV screen images.  Shock,
anger, pain, regret, and disgust all swirl around me in waves so close
together, I cannot decipher one emotion from the next.  It’s hard to breath. 
Reflexively, I bend over, placing my hands on my knees, trying to get air into
my lungs.

I’ve been waiting for this day to arrive, now here it is.  I told Evan he
was going to get bored with me, but he wouldn’t let me go.  Why?  Did he want
it to be on his terms?  Rob me of any and all sense of control?  Well, he’s
done it.  I’m broken.  I swore no man would ever break me, but deep down
inside, I knew that Evan was going to be the one to do it, finally.  But with
Averee DeVeau?  If that is the type of woman Evan wants, then I am definitely
not
the right girl for him.  Maybe when he’s done with her, I can set him up with
Samantha or Kayla.

I need to get to the bathroom.  I think some cold water splashed on my
face will help stop the tears from flowing.  I find the doorknob to open the
door and it turns in my hand, swinging open.  The shock frightens me, and a
fresh wave of tears begins to flow uncontrollably. 

“Crap, Jette.  What the hell happened?  Did I hurt you?”  I look up and
it’s Derek.  He thinks he hurt me with the door.  The thought is so funny to me
that I begin to laugh in between sobs. 

“Jette, you’re scaring me.  What the hell is going on?  Talk to me,
dammit!” he demands.

All I can do is point to the television screen.  I glance up and Averee
is back on camera.  I cannot hear what she’s saying, but in the corner of the
screen, they are rolling pictures of the two of them.  I can see the pictures
taken today, too.  They show a picture of her opening the door while Evan enters
her building; then there’s one of her throwing her arms around his neck; they
pull up the one from the Knicks game where she was all over him; and finally, another
one of him and Darryl leaving Tiffany’s with a small blue bag in his hand.  Underneath
the images, the crawler at the bottom of the screen reads, “
Evan ‘Big Mac’
McGuire and Averee DeVeau back together again
.”  I fall to me knees,
sobbing.

I’m barely aware of what’s happening as Derek carries me to the couch and
holds me while I weep into his chest.  He hands me tissues and rubs my back
until the waves slow.

“Jette, you can’t stay here.  I’m taking you home.  Wait here, I’ll be
right back,” Derek tells me.

“No!  Don’t leave me.  Please, Derek, don’t go,” I beg.  I don’t want to
be alone right now.

“Okay, okay, calm down.  I’ll call Jack and tell him you got sick and I’m
taking you home.”  He takes out his phone and calls our boss.  They chat for a
moment, and then Derek ends the call.

The next thing I know, I’m sitting in Derek’s car.  I have no idea how I
got here, but my seatbelt is on and the car is moving.  For the moment, I’ve
stopped crying and I can see the road ahead.  He’s taking me home.

“Derek, please don’t take me home.”  There are memories of Evan all
around my house.  The alarm he installed, the flowers he gave me, the bed he
slept in last night.  “Please!  Can we go to the diner and just sit for a
while?  I don’t want to go home.  I’ll go anywhere you want, just not home.” 
I’m desperate to avoid more pain.

“Sure, Jette, let’s go to the diner.  I think you’ve calmed enough to go
back in public.  We’ll be there in a minute.”  I take a few deep breaths,
trying to calm my nerves.  Now that I’m no longer able to see the television, I
can breathe again.

Derek gets us a table in the back of the diner, and we sit for the
longest time without saying a word.  He orders both of us an unsweetened iced
tea and cheese fries.  I can’t eat, and Derek easily finishes off the entire
serving without my help.  When his phone rings, I beg him to shut it off.  I
don’t want to see anyone right now.  I’m too upset and humiliated.

“Where’s your phone, Jette?  Did you bring it?  You should let someone
know where you are.  They’re going to worry.”  He’s right, I know, but at the
moment, I really don’t care.

“I left all my things at the bar with Emmy.  My purse, ID, phone.  Everything. 
She’ll take care of it.  Jack has probably told them by now that I went home
sick.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Derek asks.

“It’s over.  He left me.  He went back to his rich and famous pop star
ex-girlfriend, Averee fucking DeVeau.”  My voice cracks as I say it aloud.  I
need to say it.

“Did Evan say that himself?  Did he break up with you?  I saw pictures of
him with her today, but that could be for a lot of different reasons.”

“Derek, it’s not just the pictures.  She told everyone and bragged about
it on national television.  I never thought you, of all people, would be
sticking up for him.  Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“No, I never wanted to see you like this.  You know that, Jette.  I’ve
seen how he is with you.  He loves you.  I just find it hard to believe that only
twenty-four hours ago, he was a man passionately in love with you, willing to
throw away his career for you.  Now, you’re convinced he’s tossed you to the
side and gone back to some diva.  It just doesn’t make sense.”  Derek hands me
another tissue so I can blow my nose.

“I thought so, too, at first.  But then Averee confirmed it on T.V.  She
said they are seeing each other again.  Why would she say it if it’s not
true?”  I can feel my heart breaking again.

We sit there for nearly two hours, just talking.  My head hurts.  We keep
going around in circles.  I don’t know what to think anymore. 

When we ran into Averee at the Knicks game, Evan seemed fine.  Actually,
he seemed annoyed and embarrassed by her behavior.  He was attentive to me.  He
stayed with me.  He left with me.  God, I’m so confused.

Derek reminds me of a few important things.  For one, I only know
Averee’s side of the story, and she is
not
someone I find trustworthy. 

And two, I’ve never dealt with paparazzi and celebrity gossip.  I guess
I’m not very good at it.  I’ve always known that you can’t believe everything
you read or everything you see on T.V., yet I accepted this entertainment
gossip as fact.  How could I be so gullible?  Maybe that’s exactly what Averee
is banking on.  That I will just give up and roll over, freeing up Evan for
her.

Then I remember a promise I made to Evan.  I swore that I would not
believe everything I see and read about him without asking him or Adam about
it.  I broke that promise tonight. 

Deep down inside, I know he loves me.  Everything he does and everything
he says proves it.  But why is Derek working so hard to keep us together?  If
what Auggie suspects is true, Derek should be in his glory right now, seeing me
suffer.

“Derek, we’re friends, right?” So many thoughts are swirling in my head
right now, I need to get at least one thing straight.

“Of course we’re friends.  Why would you ask?”  He’s looking right at me,
waiting for me to explain.

“Do you ever wish things worked out differently?  You know, that maybe if
I never met Evan, we would ...” I trail off.  I don’t know how to ask him what I
want to know.

“Well, sure we all have regrets, Jette.  I’ve never hidden the fact that
I had feelings for you.  But you already knew that.”

“Derek, I’ll just come out and ask you.  Are you the one who’s been
torturing me?  Did you follow me that night in your car?  Did you break into my
house?  Did you hack my e-mail and put up a fake Craigslist ad just to get back
at me for choosing Evan?”  There.  I said it.

“Seriously?  You think it was me?  You really do believe the worst in
everyone, don’t you, Jette?”

“No!  I
don’t
think it’s you.  I never did.  But Auggie and Emmy...
they think it could, that you could, oh, I don’t know.”  I’m not even making
sense at this point.

“Jette, it’s not me.  I swear!  I could never do that to you, or to
anyone.  Why would Emmy and Auggie think that?”  I’ve hurt him.  That’s not
what I meant to do.

“They said you look sad when you look at me.  That maybe you’re really
more hurt than you let on.  Besides, we don’t really know that much about your
past.  Why don’t you ever talk about your family or growing up?  How come you
have no high school friends?”

“I don’t like talking about my past.  My parents were killed in a car
accident when I was a freshman in college.  I quit school to take care of their
estate.  They had a lot of debts to clear up and personal property to get rid
of.  I wasn’t a lot of fun to be around for a long time.  Most of my friends
got tired of waiting for me, and slowly they went about their lives.  About
three years ago, I moved here and started over.  Want to see my family?  I have
pictures of my parents on my cell phone.”

He pulls up some pictures and hands me his phone.  There are Christmas
pictures and images of them together at Disney when Derek was little.  He was
really a cute kid.  But there are no recent pictures.

“Derek, I’m so sorry.”  I take his hand in mine.  “They look like they
were great parents.  Will you ever forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive.  I can’t really blame you for wondering. 
But I swear to you, I would never do anything to hurt you.”

“I know.” 

“Now, are you ready to go home?  I really think you should talk to Evan.”

“Do you really think I should?  How will I know if he’s telling me the
truth?” I ask.

“You’ll know.  Trust yourself, Jette.  If he’s moved on, then the worst
has happened and you survived.  If it’s a big misunderstanding, then you’ll be
glad you gave him a chance to straighten things out.  You can’t run away from
your problems.  They always catch up to you in the end.”

“You’re right.  I’m ready.  Take me home?”

Hanging on by
a Thread

I
t’s a quick drive back to my house.  I’m so grateful that Derek found me
and helped me see things clearly.  I’m more convinced now that there’s no way
he could be my stalker.

“Thank you, Derek.  You really are a good friend.  I was in pretty bad
shape when you found me, wasn’t I?”

“I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance and have you taken
away to a rubber room.  You were laughing, crying, hyperventilating, and making
no sense.  You scared the crap out of me, young lady.”