In The Darkest Hour

Part One - Chapter Seventeen: A Small Chance

Isla brushed her fingers through her hair, she had barely slept since she had turned Gerard down and she felt terrible for hurting him; she wanted to say yes but she knew that it would be wrong if she did.

Deep down Isla knew that she had made the right decision not to agree to date Gerard, when he found out why she had been hired; she doubted that he would feel the same way.

Isla shook her head, she couldn’t believe that Gerard would ever love her if he knew why she had been fired from her last job; she hated herself and R’s taunts only made her feel worse.

Isla might not have killed Isabel but she knew that until she was proven innocent, she was guilty in everyone’s eyes and she had to wait; she hoped that Montserrat would have information soon so that she could carry on with her life.

Isla was tired of having to be careful with everything that she said, she wanted her old life back and it would only happen when Montserrat revealed the corruption in her former place of work.

Taking a deep breath, Isla silently left her bedroom and headed upstairs knowing that Gerard had already left for training; she avoided him when she could now since she didn’t want to hurt him more.

Reaching the first floor, Isla paused and took a deep breath; she wanted to tell Gerard everything and she wished that she could but Montserrat had talked her out of it.

Isla stepped into the main area and stopped when she spotted Gerard, she had been so sure that she had heard him leave that morning; she hadn’t considered that it might have been someone else coming and leaving their home.

“I thought you were at training,” Isla whispered softly, she stepped back towards the door knowing that this was only going to end up in another fight between them.

“I have the day off,” Gerard murmured looking at Isla, he had asked his mother to take Milan for the day since he needed to speak with her; he wanted to make things right between them again.

There was no way that Gerard was about to give up and he wasn’t going to change his mind, he knew that Isla had a secret one that stopped her from being with him and he didn’t care for it; he wanted her and no one else.

Gerard looked at Isla, she looked nice in her V-neck box top and skinny jeans paired with canvas lace-up pumps; he guessed she had expected to spend the day running after Milan who was now with his grandmother.

“Isla talk to me…” Gerard pleaded he was tired of hearing her cry and he knew that she was hurting just as much as he was and he wanted nothing more than to stop all of this; he didn’t care about the past only the future.

Isla stared at Gerard, she knew what he wanted and she couldn’t give it to him; she wished that Gerard was stop this before one of them got hurt.

Gerard watched Isla closely, he had talked about this with his mother and while she had been surprised with his decision to try and date Isla; she had been supportive of his decision and happy for him.

“I know what I want and it’s you, anything else doesn’t matter,” Gerard said getting to his feet and walking over to Isla, he was determined not to have her run from him this time; he wanted to know what was so bad that she couldn’t be with him.

Isla closed her eyes, she couldn’t believe that they were having this conversation again; she wanted things to be simple but that clearly wasn’t going to be the way.

“I don’t care what happened in the past Isla… it doesn’t change you in any way not to me,” Gerard murmured taking Isla’s hand and pulling her close, he wanted her to at least say yes to one date.

Isla closed her eyes, she wished that Gerard would stop this and she wanted it to all go away, she stepped back from Gerard moving to head downstairs only for Gerard to stop her; he pulled her into a kiss knowing he couldn’t let this go.

“Give me one night,” Gerard breathed looking into Isla’s eyes when he pulled back, he held onto her arm so she couldn’t run away him; he wanted to show her that this could work.

Gerard kissed Isla again, he wanted to take her on a date and make her feel special to prove that whatever had happened in the past that they could survive it; he wanted a chance to move on and he wasn’t going to let it go.

“Gerard,” Isla warned pulling back from him, her resolve was breaking and she wished that there was some way to stop all of this; she wanted to stop this before she did something that she would regret.

Gerard stepped closer to Isla, he wasn’t letting her go this time and he would fight for her; he didn’t care what had happened and he wanted her to see that they could be something amazing if she let go of her past.

“Just one date...” Gerard persuaded wanting nothing more than to have a chance with her, he had thought for a week about how they could make this work and he had talked to Lionel a lot about what he could do.

Isla shook her head, she stared at Gerard wondering why he was doing this; he could have anyone yet he kept trying to win her around and it scared her so much.

She had no idea who R was and she feared that whoever it was would ruin her life, they threatened her and blackmailed her; whoever it was had a hold over Isla now.

“I can’t,” Isla whispered closing her eyes, she wanted to say yes but she couldn’t risk it; her guilty about her deception was eating away at her and she wished that it would all go away.

Gerard snorted, he held Isla’s hands in his own wanting her to give him a real reason; he wasn’t going to let her get away with saying that she couldn’t anymore.

“Give me a reason why we can’t be together,” Gerard stated staring right at Isla, he wanted to know what she had done so that he could tell her that it didn’t matter; he was sure it was only something stupid.

Isla shook her head, she moved to pull away from Gerard wanting to put an end to this; she couldn’t be with him and nothing was going to change that fact.

“I’m not going to drop this until you give me a real answer,” Gerard muttered tightening his grip on Isla’s arm, he wanted answers and was fed up of her running away from him and avoiding him; they were adults and needed to talk about this.

Isla swallowed, she had no idea what to do and she was frightened about what was going to happen; she wanted nothing more than to go down to her bedroom and hide from him until Milan came home.

“Tell me Isla,” Gerard whispered pulling Isla close, he didn’t care what she had done and he was sure that he could look past it; he wanted to prove that she had nothing to be scared of.

Isla was a beautiful woman and Gerard knew how stupid he would be if he didn’t take this chance, he wanted to move on with his life and Isabel would want him to be happy; she would want him to carry on and not spend his life alone and miserable.

“Isla… it’s okay, whatever it is we’ll deal with it,” Gerard continued gently pulling her close, his blue eyes watching Isla and wanting her to know that she could tell him anything.

Gerard brushed his fingers through Isla’s hair and kissed her, he had no idea what she could ever think was so bad about what she could have done; he was always going to want her.

“I’m the nurse that was fired for Isabel’s death,” Isla whispered staring at Gerard, there was a small chance that she would regret confessing to him her identity but she knew there was no way around it and she would happily face the consequences.