I’d been exposed to was his relationship with my mother. From the sound of it, Gia and Eli had consumed the same drink and their passion could burn down rainforests. I was pretty sure that Grandpa Ellis had fallen victim to the same fate. Those relationships had been contrived. Inorganic. Manipulated.
Fake.
If all this was true, then my love for Ethan was nowhere near real.
We rounded a bend and my heart thudded hard in my chest. I tripped a little and Gia glanced over at me, but I shook my head to let her know that nothing was wrong. Yet, something was very wrong.
If my love for Ethan was nowhere near real, then neither was his love for me.
-----
Ethan
My mind was slowly entering a lightless tunnel. My shoes were thudding against the pavement, which was the only sound I could hear as my thoughts drowned out the small group of runners that had been able to keep pace with Eli, Roderick, and I. I didn’t want to believe it, but it was the only thing that made sense. My attraction to Alexandra had escalated to a point after that night that had left me feeling completely helpless. In less than twenty four hours, she’d signed the deed to all of my senses. I had never, ever experienced anything like it before but had chalked that up to my lack of real relationships. I’d never even considered letting a woman getting that close to me before her.
Then, the worst part was that I’d still pursued her even though she’d been committed to someone else. Even if that night had happened, the Ethan Stewart that I’d always been would have put the brakes on everything that happened afterward. Unless she agreed to be with me, I wouldn’t have taken things further. I was never the man to share and never had to share in my entire dating history. Yet, virtually willingly, I’d fallen for her, somehow convincing myself that I could make do with just her heart instead of all of her. For God sakes, not but a few moments ago, her father hadn’t even known who I was. Wasn’t it then logical to think that she would never leave Roderick for me? Wasn’t that what men told women all the time? Why didn’t I think it applied to me?
Alexandra was a sheltered woman who wasn’t introduced to passion until I dipped my tongue between her legs. However, passion didn’t transfer to a lifetime. Roderick was stable to the point of predictability and straighter than a steel pole. He was loaded with old money. To add to that, she still hadn’t left him.
Growing up in Louisiana, it wasn’t a far cry for me to actually believe that Evelyn could have somehow done something to facilitate what had happened, and what was happening between Alexandra and I. I wished that I had enough willpower not to believe it, but my actions had been far too left field for something else not to be going on. I hadn’t succumbed to whatever bug constantly bit Kellen whenever he found someone who genuinely sparked his interest. I’d been forced in love, which meant that Alexandra probably had been too. She didn’t choose me of her own free will, and that was if she would eventually choose me at all.
“Is it sinking in?” Roderick’s scathing voice cut in. “Look, I know all about your trysts with Alexandra.”
I didn’t turn to look at him but instead focused on the finish line which was now only about a mile away.
“She had her fun,” he went on. “Just like when she was a girl and would visit those pig farms with her grandparents, she had her moment of rebellion.”
I still didn’t respond, determined not to waste my breath on this man. We were coming up on the end of a ten kilometer run and of course, this arrogant son of a bitch wanted to pick a time like now to start some shit.
“But, she was never going to leave me for you and she never will. Evelyn’s concoction or not, you were an experiment. I’m the goal.”
I wanted to lay this man out and have no remorse afterward, but we were still within sight of some of my students. I constantly preached to them about being the bigger man, so it was safe to assume that planting a fist in Roderick’s face would negate all of that.
“Yo, E,” Eli called, glancing over.
I nodded and we put our last burst of energy