I'm Here to Fix You - Broken Souls Series #2

Giving him the benefit of the doubt

CHAPTER 45 - GIVING HIM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT

I saw it, I saw her fist coming my way, I saw it colliding my nose, and I felt the blood, gushing out, I even felt the pain, but I didn't move one inch. If literally kicking my ass will let her get past this stupid drama, then so be it.

"Feel better now?" I squinted my eyes as my sight blurred. Damnit, I knew she could kick ass, but this shit hurts. Not gonna let her see that, though. "Wanna walk over me too? I thought you didn't condone violence."

"That was your sweet little Liv there." Silvia growled. "You're lucky I can't give Lulu a bad example."

"Seriously, for being a translator, you don't do much with words." I rubbed my injured nose, which caused me to stand on a precarious balance, due to the damn crutches. Yeah, blood was definitely gushing out, but I've been worse.

Silvia shot furious daggers at me. "Cheaters like you deserve this and more."

"I didn't cheat on you. I slept with Olivia when you and I were barely even friends. How's that cheating?"

"Once a cheater, always a cheater. What tells me you're still not sleeping with her?"

"Uh ... hello?" I raised the crutches. "I can't do anything with this, and God knows I freaking need it."

She crossed her arms, huffing, clearly seeing I was right, yet unable to admit it. It's one flaw she has, she can never admit she's wrong. "Well, who knows what you do with her in the secrecy of your penthouse ..."

"Use that goddamn brain for once, woman, I spend almost all my time with you. I barely even see Olivia."

She scoffed. "That's bullshit."

"Ok, maybe I do see her, but not as much as you think, and certainly not to do what you accuse me of." I took a step closer. "See, that's exactly what I meant before, you see me as the impenitent womanizer that one way or another is gonna cheat on you because he just can't keep it in the pants. You're convinced I'll screw up because that's what I usually do, while your oh, so perfect Saint Ryan wouldn't."

She glared. "Don't bring Ryan into this. It's your mess, not his."

I snorted. "Yeah, as if he never cheated on you."

"He didn't." Her gaze hardened while the little girl watched us confused and mildly worried. "Ryan was utterly honest with me. He didn't wait 4 weeks to tell me he lives with his ex. When he saw his ex girlfriend, he told me. He told me everything in detail. He even told me how many times she tried to convince him to get back together. Ryan knew what being in a honest and truthful relationship meant, something you apparently don't, Jake."

"Ah, there we go. I knew it. I knew you'd start comparing me to him!"

"You did it yourself! You brought up Ryan!"

"It was a stupid example!"

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my poor nose, which luckily had quit bleeding. "Alright. Let's take a step back." I began. "I made a mistake. I should have told you about Olivia, I'm sorry. But the thing is, I knew you're react like this. I thought I could solve the problem without bothering you with it. But you're right, I shouldn't have kept the secret."

I took a step closer, half smiling, caressing her cheek. "But you'll realize that the situation was messed up. You'd have never believed me, like you don't."

Silvia slipped away from my grip, her countenance grim. "That's where you're wrong. I would have believed you. Had you been honest since day one, I would have believed you, Jake." She stepped back, going inside the apartment, hand on the door. "But you decided to lie to me. You took the coward route and decided not to tell me. As if I were some unreasonable beast that couldn't understand. Had you come to me, telling me, Silvia, Olivia is living a rough period and I want to help her so she's staying at my place for a while, I might have been jealous at first, but I'd have understood. Instead no, you lied, and now I can't shake off the feeling that maybe you did it for a reason. That maybe you lied because there's still something between you two, and that you're trying to decide whether you want me or her."