Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 169

12:10 Fri, Feb 27 A MO

Chapter 169

Chapter 169

Jessica’s POV

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The roar of the crowd was thunderous, a massive wave of sound that pressed against the walls of the Los Angeles arena.

I sat near the sidelines, my pulse skipping in time with the squeak of sneakers on the hardwood.

I adjusted the sleek, custom mask covering my face-my signature look as the “Anonymous Insider.” It was a way to be present in the thick of the action without being hunted by the press or the Kennedy’s security detail.

To the world. I was just a blogger with a gimmick; to Aaron, I was the only person in the building who mattered.

The scoreboard was a blend of red and white.

Ten seconds. Aaron had the ball at the top of the key. The air in the gym seemed to vanish as he moved. It was a dance he had mastered over a lifetime-the crossover, the step-back, the elevation.

When the ball left his fingertips, the entire arena went silent for heartbeat.

Swish.

The buzzer sounded, and the place erupted. I felt the vibrations of the crowd’s roar traveling through the soles of my shoes, a deep thrum that rattled my very bones.

Above the sea of screaming fans, the commentator’s voice cracked with raw excitement, amplified by the massive speakers until it seemed to vibrate the air in my lungs.

“UNBELIEVABLE!” the man’s voice shrieked over the PA system. Six years, ladies and gentlemen! Six years since Aaron Tyrone put on that Titans jersey, and for six years, the Larry O’Brien trophy has stayed right here in Los Angeles! You are looking at a living dynasty! Look at that man!”

I wanted to run to him. I wanted to hurdle the barrier, throw my arms around his sweaty neck, and kiss him until the cameras went blind. But I stayed put.

We were in the heart of Tyrone territory, and with the Walters still looking for any crack in our armor, we couldn’t risk it. Not yet.

Through the sea of teammates and screaming fans, Aaron’s gaze found me. He knew exactly where I was.

He didn’t break character, but he shot a quick wink in my direction and “caught” a kiss I blew him from behind my mask.

I was grinning like a fool, my face hot under the plastic.

The adrenaline eventually settled into a dull thrum in my veins, and I realized I was parched and needed the restroom.

I slipped away from the noise, heading toward the quieter corridors of the stadium.

The bathroom was large and smelled of industrial bleach.

I was in a stall, finally out of the madness, when I heard the sound of a mop bucket being wheeled in, followed by a heavy, tired sigh.

“Yeah, right,” a woman’s voice muttered, the sound echoing off the tiles. “All these rich people. Screaming over a ball, Must be nice to have nothing to worry about but a game.”

I heard the splash of water and the harsh scrubbing of a brush.

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12:10 Fri, Feb 27 A M

Chapter 169

“Bet they think their poop don’t smell, too, she grumbled.

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I snickered before I could stop myself. It wasn’t meant to be loud but in the silence of the bathroom, it rang out like a church bell. The scrubbing stopped instantly.

I finished my business, tucked my mask into my bag, and stepped out to the sinks. I wanted to be human for a second, to wash the sweat from my face.

The janitor had her back to me, hunched over a trash can. She was wearing a faded, oversized grey uniform that looked like it was wearing her.

“I didn’t mean to laugh,” I said, reaching for the soap dispenser. was just a funny thing to overhear.”

The woman stiffened. She slowly turned around, her hand still gripping a black plastic liner.

As her face came into the light, the air in the room turned to ice.

The woman froze. The bag slipped from her fingers, fluttering to the floor. She stared at me, her mouth hanging open.

“Jess?”

I felt the earth shift from its position. My hands stayed frozen under the faucet, the water running cold over my skin.

I stared back, my brain struggling to connect the ghost in front of me to the girl from my nightmares.

She used to have vibrant, thick brunette hair and blue eyes that always looked down on me with such sharp, polished cruelty.

Now, her hair was chopped into a jagged, uneven bob.

Her skin looked sallow, her eyes sunken and rimmed with red. She looked like she hadn’t slept in a year.

“Rose?” I whispered.

My stepsister took a shaky step forward, her hands reaching out as if to touch me, to see if I was real.

I instinctively moved backward, my heels clicking against the tile

Rose stopped, her shoulders dropping. She let out a breathless, wet laugh, and I saw tears start to sting her eyes.

“Is that really you? You… you look so beautiful, Jess. You look different. So different.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say a word. I just kept staring, my mind a storm of memories. I saw her in our old kitchen, laughing while her mother called me a burden.

I saw her throwing my favorite book into the fireplace just to see me cry.

“What are you doing here, Rose?” I finally managed to ask. “Why are you working as a janitor in LA?”

Rose’s shoulders slumped, her entire body seeming to cave in on itself as she let out a breath that sounded more like a rattle than an exhale.

“Life happened, Jess,” she rasped, her voice cracking as she stared into the drain. “It happened fast, and it happened hard Like a door slamming in our faces before we even realized we were standing in the way.”

She started to narrate a story that sounded like a slow-motion train wreck.

Her hands shook so much she had to tuck them under her armpas.

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12:10 FM, Feb 27 AMO

Chapter 169

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She spoke about the house-the one where I’d been treated like intruder-turning into a hollowed-out shell. It was just “drinking” anymore.

I could see the shame in the way she wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Dad… he lost his job three years ago. He couldn’t even hold a pen straight. And Mom? She didn’t try to stop him. She part joined him. They’d sit in the dark for hours, surrounded by empy bottles, screaming at things that weren’t there. Then they moved on to the pills. Anything a doctor would prescribe, and then anything they could find on the street when the prescriptions ran out.”

She let out a dry, hacking sob that shook her thin frame.

“They’re not parents anymore, Jess. They’re just… shells. They sold everything. The furniture, the jewelry, the books….. they’re all gone. Just to keep the ‘buzz’ alive while their bodies rotted from the inside out.”

She reached out, her fingers white-knuckled as she gripped the cold porcelain rim of the sink just to keep from folding onto

the floor.

“They’re both in the hospital back home,” Rose continued.

“Dad needs a liver, Mom… I don’t even know anymore. The doctors say their organs are just quitting. Me and Gary-he’s working construction in another state-we’re trying to raise the money. I take every shift I can. I volunteer for the overtime. I’ll scrub every toilet in this city if it means getting another doll for the bills.”

She was wailing now, her chest heaving under that dingy grey uniform. But as I watched her, I didn’t feel a single twinge of sympathy. Instead, I felt a cold, hard knot tightening in my stomach.

I remembered the three days I went without food because her mother decided I didn’t deserve a seat at the table.

I remembered the crumbs I had to eat from the floor-literally the scraps Rose and Gary had left behind.

I remembered being locked in my room for hours, listening to them watch TV and laugh, while I begged just to go play outside.

Rose suddenly dropped to her knees. She grabbed for my ankles her fingers damp and trembling.

“Please, Jess. I know… I know we don’t deserve your forgiveness. We were monsters to you. But they’re dying. Anything you can spare. Fifty dollars, twenty… I see how you’re dressed. You made it. Please.”

I looked down at her. I saw the top of her head, the thin patch of hair where stress had clearly taken its toll.

I felt a tear roll down my own cheek, but it wasn’t for her. It was for the little girl I used to be, who had no one to stand up for her.

I pulled my leg back, forcing her to let go. “No.”

“Jess, please-”

“I am not the same girl you knew a decade ago, Rose,” I said, my voice shaking but firm. I stepped back, the distance between us feeling like a canyon.

“I have a new life. A real life. And I’m not going to let the ghosts of my past haunt it. You expect me to just hand over a check? After the way you, your brother, and your parents treated me? You made my childhood a living hell. You treates me like a stray dog.”

Rose wailed, a sound of pure despair that echoed off the porcelain. “We were kids, Jess! We didn’t know-

“You knew exactly what you were doing,” I snapped. The memors were hitting me like a physical force now the pushes, the shoves, the constant reminders that I was nothing.

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12:10 Fri, Feb 27 A MO

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