Chasing His Rejected Wife (Jessica and Aiden) novel Chapter 80

Chapter 80 – Hope Shattered

Aiden

“I did it to save your marriage!”

25 Ports

Elisa’s declaration left me stunned. The words hung heavy in the air, thick with tension and a crap load of bullshit. Silence reigned for several seconds, our breathing and the noise from the TV, the

only sounds in the room.

Disbelief must be evident in my expression because Elisa said defensively, “You may not believe me, Aiden. But it’s the truth.”

“The truth?” I asked, recovering my composure and I added in a sarcastic tone, “You saved my marriage by getting rid of your child? Really?”

“Yes. If I hadn’t done what I did, Jessica would have never given you another chance, not for as long as there was the painful reminder of your affair with me, the evidence that you and I were in

love and together.”

I couldn’t help but wince at that as I remembered the devastation in Jessica’s eyes when she’d found us together in that room after Julian’s funeral, and how shaken she’d been when I’d stupidly implied that the baby was mine. It was a fucking miracle that Jess didn’t hate my guts at this point.

Which made me appreciate and love her all the more. That she still gave me a chance to be a part of the pregnancy journey even when I didn’t deserve it.

And yet, Elisa’s words kindled a flicker of doubt in my mind. Would Jess still have given me that chance with the specter of another child looming? Afterall, her original plans had not involved me in any sort of way. Matter of fact, she’d told me she didn’t want a situation where her child would suffer neglect because my attention would be divided between the kids.

So, if that were true, then Elisa’s timely ‘miscarriage’ may have truly delayed the inevitable and given Jess and I a chance to get to know each other better.

Even if we still ended up divorced.

“I did it because I love you, Aiden.” Distracted by my maudlin thoughts, I barely noticed that Elisa had swayed even closer to me until I felt her hands slide up my chest, her body pressed up against mine, so close that her breath washed over me. “I love you so much. I have always loved you,

Aiden.”

Fuck.

It took a minute for my brain to catch up, but my instincts kicked in and I grabbed her hands and

Chapter 80 – Hope Shattered

pulled them away from me. As though she anticipated that move, she let herself go limp and knocked off balance, she fell against my chest. She wrenched free of my grip and hooked both arms around my neck, using that as leverage to pull herself up and try to plant a kiss on my mouth.

This time, I recovered quickly from the shock and jerked my head back just in time for her lips to miss my face entirely, her breath fanning over my face tinged with alcohol.

“What the fuck, Elisa?” I growled, my temper rising rapidly as I wrenched her arms from around my neck, pinning them more securely and not too gently this time behind her back.

“Owwww…you’re hurting me.” She wailed in protest but I was far too pissed off to care. It hit me then, that that glass of wine she’d drunk may not have been her first glass for the evening. From experience, Elisa had a higher tolerance for alcohol than even most men, and could down copious amounts without appearing visibly inebriated until it kicked in in full force a couple hours later and she turned into a miserable, fucking insane drunk before finally passing out.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Fuck.

I should have realized it sooner and sent her on her merry way rather than let her in.

I glanced down at her, noting the flushed cheeks and dilated pupils that were a telltale sign and groaned. “How much wine did you drink?”

“Does it matter?” She narrowed her eyes at me, displeased. “I’ve just told you how I feel about you. I’ve opened my heart, didn’t you hear me? Won’t you at least say something?”

I maneuvered her back onto the sofa, no easy task since she was hell bent on not moving away from me as long as she could. She flopped onto the sofa, her eyes fixed on me, tears streaming down her cheeks, leaving behind a trail of mascara.

I straightened and looked down at her, still massively irritated. “I heard you loud and clear.”

“And?” she prodded, faint hope in her eyes, “Do you love me too?”

“I care about you,” I told her, struggling to keep the irritation from my tone. “And I’m sorry, but that’s all there is to it.” I watched her expression shift from hopeful to hurt and tamped down a smidge of pity. “I’ll get you some water from the kitchen.”

I sighed and stepped away from her, turning to go get some water from the kitchen, but once again, Elisa flung herself at me, this time around my thighs.

“Elisa,” I growled, nearing the end of my patience. “Let go of me.”

“It’s because of her, isn’t it? She’s the reason you can’t love me back, right?” There was pure venom in her tone and it took me by surprise as I’d never heard her speak in that way before. “Fucking Ms. Nobody is always going around like some sort of helpless damsel, but she’s a money grubbing

214

Chapter 80-Hope Shattered

bloodsucker like her mother…”

“Enough!” I cut in firmly, not about to stand there while she slathered mud on Jessica. I pried free of Elisa’s grip and stormed out of the room into the kitchen. I leaned against the counter, shut my eyes and let loose a string of curses, an entire repertoire of flavorful curse words as I struggled to stay calm.

The cursing helped and I began to pace while trying to devise a plan to handle the situation. Any chance of Elisa leaving on her own was in pieces, and I couldn’t exactly call a Lyft to take her home

because she lived alone and would be in no state to be on her own.

The only other options left were really the worst case scenario and all involved her spending the night here.

I swore out loud again then got a glass of water, hunted down some hangover pills in a cupboard

and returned to the living room.

Elisa sat with her head buried in her arms, but she looked up at the sound of my footsteps.

“Drink some water, it’ll help get you sober.” I tried to hand her the glass but she ignored it, her eyes getting a faraway look.

“You love her, don’t you?” her tone was a mixture of bitterness and sorrow. She propped her feet on the cushions and hugged her knees to her chest. “All this time…all these years, I held out hope that once you were free of her clutches that your heart would finally be ready to accept me – that you

would finally see me as more than your best friend.”

She laughed mirthlessly and shook her head. “I’m such a fool. Do you know that when we pretended to be together that I would tell myself it was real and not just acting? The way you would look at me and touch me…I started to hope, to believe. But you would only do it when she was close and I had to lie to myself to stay sane.”

I sighed and set the glass and pills on a side table and sat down, listening to Elisa ramble on.

“I shouldn’t have played with your emotions like that.” I admitted, feeling wrung out. “And I’m truly sorry for putting you through that.”

She scoffed and went on as if I hadn’t spoken, still staring at the distance. “It wasn’t easy, you know. Especially after you fucked her the night Julian died. You said it was a drunken mistake, that you didn’t mean for it to happen but that was when I started to doubt….to be afraid, because sometimes, I would catch you looking at her in some type of way and I don’t think you even realized you were doing it. All soft and caring. Even when you thought she was a manipulative witch, there was something that drew you to her.”

Chapter 80 Hope Shattered

–

She finally fell silent and for long moments, we sat there, lost in our thoughts.

$25 Points

Soon, a soft snore shook me back to the room and when I glanced over, Elisa had fallen asleep.

“Incredible,” I murmured to myself with a sigh and got up to retrieve a blanket. Once I was certain she was as comfortable as can be on the sofa, checked the time and found it was close to midnight and decided to call it a night. I would deal with the incident in the morning.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify