Chasing Jane by Noelle Adams Read Free Book Online Page B

their
tablet without permission.
    I’m finally able to look up from the screen, but I can’t
really see Nate’s face. My eyes are blurred over. “He’s…he’s you?”
    As inarticulate as my question is, Nate obviously
understands it. He takes a step forward, reaching out a hand, “Jane—”
    For some reason, his saying my name like that breaks through
my stupor. I drop the tablet onto the counter like it’s burning my hand. “He’s you ,”
I hiss, backing away as Nate approaches me. “ You did this to me? What is
it? Some sort of spiteful…trick?”
    “No!” He’s trapped me against the opposite counter, and he
reaches out toward me, his face twisting with strong emotion. “That’s not what
it is. I would never do anything to hurt you.”
    “But you did!” My voice is shrill, out of control, and I
hate the sound it. But there’s nothing I can do to stop it. It feels like my
whole world—everything I’ve built my hope and faith and affection on—is
crumbling down around me. “You tricked me. You lied to me. You…you took
advantage of me! All this time, I thought I was…we were…I was opening up my
heart, and you were just laughing behind my back!”
    It hurts so much that I can’t stand it anymore. I jerk out
of his grip and stumble out of the kitchen, trying to reach my bedroom.
    Nate is right at my heels. He grabs my arm before I can
reach my room and swings me around to face him. I’ve never seen him like this
before—urgent, demanding, incredibly intense. This is not my sweet, laidback
Nate. I don’t even know who this man is.
    “I was not laughing at you,” he says roughly. His
startlingly blue eyes are deep and full of emotion I’ve never seen there
before. “How can you think I would do that?”
    “How can I think—” I’m almost choking as the hallway spins
dizzily around me. “You’ve had this whole underhanded scheme going! I have no
idea what you would do. I took this seriously. I was completely vulnerable. And
you—”
    “I was vulnerable too,” he interrupts, moving one of his
hands from my arm to my shoulder. “Listen to me. I was vulnerable too.
Everything I wrote to you was real—”
    I can’t hear any more of this because what he’s saying right
now feels true to me, feels authentic. I desperately want to believe it. But
that simply doesn’t match with what I’ve just learned about him. I jerk away again
and make a dash for my bedroom door. “It was not real! You pretended to be
someone else!”
    He’s coming after me again when I slam the door in his face.
I fumble with the lock until I get it closed, just as he’s turning the handle.
    “Jane!” he bellows.
    “I can’t talk to you right now.” I try to sound firm, but
I’m starting to cry, so the words are garbled and broken.
    “Jane,” he says again, softer now, his voice cracking.
    “I can’t talk to you,” I say again, feeling irrationally
guilty, even though I’m the wounded party in this scenario. It doesn’t feel
fair to run out on an argument with Nate, but I’m about to fall apart, so I
really don’t have any other choice. “You know how much I…I love you—”
    “I love you too, Jane. You know I do.”
    I have to pause a minute to control the sob that’s
strangling in my throat. “You know how much I trusted you.”
    “You can still trust me. I promise you can.”
    “I can’t. I… can’t . I can’t believe you did this to
me. You had to know what you were doing. You had to know how bad it was. I just
don’t understand why…” I have to stop talking now. I’m leaning against the
door, covering my face with my hands as my whole body shakes with tears.
    It sounds like Nate is slumped against the other side of the
door now. His voice is thick, resigned. “Because I wanted to say things to you
I was never able to say in any other way. Because I wanted you to see me…to
think about me…like I could be the hero of your story.”
     It’s simply too much to take in.