Someone I Used to Know - By Blakney Francis Page 0,98
Adley? You can’t punish yourself forever…You’re being a bloody coward, and we both know it.”
I was being a coward, but it didn’t make my decision any less valid. Even I knew Gone with the Wind was the role of a lifetime. It would make his career. He might think the feelings he had for me meant something, but in the long run, he’d see that forgetting each other was for the best. I wouldn’t – couldn’t – let him ruin his life over me.
My chin dug into a stubborn jut. “It isn’t the right thing for us to be together.”
A shiver of tension rolled down his spine, spreading stiffness through his stance and exuding resolve through his steely glare.
“You can’t force people to agree with your decisions. That might be how things worked with you in the past, but that sure as hell isn’t going to be the way things go down with me. You don’t always know what’s right.”
“No, Declan,” I retaliated, spitting the sharp words. He didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. He certainly didn’t know the sensitive buttons he was about to trample all over. “I made the decisions that no one else wanted to make. I submit to being the bad guy, so you don’t have to. I’m strong so everyone gets what’s best for them, and no one else is stuck shouldering the guilt.”
His expression slackened, disbelief coloring every handsome facet. “You honestly believe that things worked out so great the last time you got to make all the decisions? You think the life you and Cam have now is really for thebest?”
My eyes narrowed, and my body went rigid. He was treading on very dangerous ground.
“If I hadn’t been the strong one last time, and kept Cam from seeing our daughter, then his dreams would have never come true. And you’d be out of job.”
He paused for a long time. A look of incredulity painted thickly over him, to the point where it almost bordered on amused.
“You’ve really never read the book, have you?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I fired back. His senseless question threatened to knock me off balance, but I stamped an imaginary foot down in my mind. I was done. It was time for me to get the hell out of there before I could do something I would really regret…like stay.
“Look, I know you’re not used to hearing no, but I’m finished repeating it. I don’t want to be with you! This fucked up, pretentious Hollywood life is reason enough to run for the hills, but I’m damn sure not interested in your fickle playboy ways either. Get it through your pretty head.”
I took a deep breath. “I. Don’t. Want. You.”
I tried to hide my cringe as he rocked back on his heels away from me, like I’d dealt him a physical blow. A hard sneer twisted his mouth, and I was almost eager for the retaliation I knew was coming. If he struck back hard enough, at least my guilt would be lessened.
He didn’t let me down.
“I never understood before why everyone you’ve ever loved has let you walk away: your parents, friends, Thomas…even Cam. Didn’t they see that you were worth chasing after?” The edge of his unforgiving voice sliced into me. “But I get it now. All you had to do was show them how cold, dead, and unfeeling you truly are on the inside, and I’m sure it was a relief to watch you disappear.”
“I won’t waste anymore of your time then,” I answered, raising my voice to equal his, even when his lash begged me to crack.
I yanked away, spinning in a jerky pivot…and then abruptly stumbled to an embarrassed stop. Our yelling match hadn’t gone unnoticed by the rest of people on the back lot. Madeline, Alfred, even Cam, along with more than a dozen or so other familiar faces, circled the show we’d just been orchestrating.
I didn’t dare meet their eyes, instead squaring my shoulders and pushing forward through the onlookers.
A hand darted out. “Where are you going? You can’t leave. I need you.”
Madeline’s grip held firm on my arm, impassive to my attempts to shake her off. I refused to meet her eyes, choosing to stare at the ground.
“You can’t leave,” she commanded, trying to use her leverage to corral me back to her waiting entourage.
I wasn’t her helpful little ducky anymore, though. I had no interest in falling back in line. My days of following