When high-school sweethearts Joanna Guelas and Cruz Forman are reunited over an interview, their once lost love flame is reignited. As they enter unexplored caves of satisfaction, they are thrown into the deepest pits of hells, with the flames of th...
It's beautiful- we're on an island- the setting is beautiful. Liv's dad holds my hand as everyone stands to admire my dress- there he is- my handsome Cruz. In less than an hour, I'm going to be Mrs Cruz Forman. His eyes fill with tears when he sees me. The boys are his groomsmen and Liv is my maid of honor- Leah is also my bridesmaid. The ceremony goes on until someone objects. WHAT THE FU-
''Jo, you awake?'' He plants a soft kiss on my lips as he passes me a drink. ''I am now." We're on the plane back home. We decided to leave a week earlier than the boys- they wanted to spend more time with Leah and Liv. It was Cruz's idea to leave. Two days ago, he got a message on his phone. I don't what or where or who it was from, but he's been weird ever since. Maybe it's something to do with his company. I stare vividly out the window as I reminisce about my dream. I can't wait to marry this man-
Oh the sweet torture.
"Listen, we need to talk about a few things when we get home. I wanna marry you as soon as possible, Guelas. But in order to do that, there needs to be no secrets." "Secrets? What kind of secrets?" ''We'll talk when you catch up. You're gonna have alot of jet lag.'' ''You too.'' ''I love you, princess.'' "I love you, Forman."
I remember landing, checking in and getting into the car. I remember getting the shades out of the cubby and him getting into the car and clenching my hand in his and that's it. Now I'm waking up 24 hours later in the comfort of my bed. I can hear the shower turn off and he comes walking out with his sweats on. He's drying his hair and his face lights up when he sees me awake.
"Goodmorning." He plants a feather light kiss on my forehead. "Goodmorning." "Do you have any idea about how long you've been asleep for?" "I have a vague understanding." I laugh. "You said you wanted to talk to me?" His face turns pale. "Yeah. Maybe over breakfast- or lunch." He glances at his watch and leaves. I get up and get into the shower. I reminisce about the proposal- how I fought dramatically with him all the way until I cried. I am still a litle woozy from the jet lag but from halfway down the stairs, the smell of steak hits me like a truck, and I instinctively start to walk faster. As I enter the kitchen, he starts tossing the salad. My man is a chef.
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"Hungry?" He asks as he merely picks his head up to look at me. "Ravenous."
He is very quiet at the table- there is no noise beside the clinky-clanking of the knives and forks against the plate and the occasional sips of red wine.
"So, here's the thing." He takes a deep breath and reaches over to grab my hand. I can see the fear within his emeralds. "Cruz, whatever it is, we will work it out." "I'm afraid you might just-" "What? Leave you? Hurt you? Kill you? You know that I can't hurt a fly. I am am so so deeply in love with you, Cruz Forman. Nothing or no one could ever change my mind." I don't know whether I was imagining or what, but his eyes glimmered with tears. "So..." He wakes up and walks away and I hear him going upstairs. Some sort of shuffling occurs and I hear him treading downstairs. He has that brown envelope in his hand- the one that made him sit all the wai on the other side of me. "I want you to know, that I always love you. I've always loved you, and I will forever be in love with you." He hesitates to give me the envelope. I stand up and push the plates aside and kiss him, before opening the envelope.
There are pictures- from what I assume is camera footage from the day of the accident. My mind fills with the gruesome memories and my body fills with every single emotion that I felt on that day. I grab his hand as I see him stare at me, nervously. I sit on his lap and he holds me and nuzzles into me as I continue to sift through thr booklet. And then I see what he was so worried about- a woman. she's driving a red porshe or something. A fair complexion, a face mask and her hair is tied back, with blonde- No, brown- strands of hair falling on her face. "Cruz?" He doesn't look at me. "Keep flipping." I do as I'm told. As I turn the page, a word, in capital letter handwriting catches my eyes ______________________________________________________________________________ Recorded cause of accident: ARSON ______________________________________________________________________________ My heart sinks. Who could have? Who? I turn to look at him. "Do you know who it is?" He's silent. "Cruz I'm asking you something. Do you know who did this to you? TO US?" "ONE OF MY EXES OK. ONE OF MY FUCKING EXES." I'm lost for words. He's never raised his voice at me like that before- except when I asked him about that thing on his back- and then I remember, and I'm frustrated that I was more concerned about a man raising his voice at me- Instead of realising that HE LIED TO ME. I look at him, but I can't manage to hold the gaze. I get up and he tries to hod me and I shake him off. I run to the sink and everything comes out. He holds my hair but I don't want him. I push him off. I stable myself and drink some water. "I can't believe you lied to me." "Jo-" "Don't 'Jo' me, FORMAN!" "Listen-" He comes closer and reaches out to me. "Don't fucking touch me. Don't you dare. You told me you waited. YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE A VIRGIN. Oh my God, you lied about that too! No wonder the sex was so good, because you had practice!" "Jo. Shut up. I am- I mean- I did lie to you about the whole 'being single, waited for you' thing. We left off at a bad spot." "Do you remember why we stopped talking back in High-school?" "No-" "IT WAS BECAUSE YOU FUCKING LIED, YOU DICKHEAD! You were hooking up with Calli when we were a thing! I had to find out from your friend- Jaydin-" "Jacob." ''WHAT EVER!!! And now you decided, 'oh well let's just start again on the basis of lies, shall we?' God, I can't even look at you right now." "YOU SAID YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH ME." "I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU!!! I just can't even bare to look at you." "Well, you don't have to look at me to listen to me... Listen, I admit, I was never alone in the space when you and I last spoke and when we met again...I went on dates, with a couple of women, trying to find someone- there was no one out there for me, Jo. When I found out I can get you back by just an interview- There's no words to describe it. It was sweet torture. I wanted you and I had to have you. I was ready to risk it all for you. Everything, because I wanted you to be my everything and you have become just that." I hear him sniff and I pick my headup- and he's crying. Every being of frustration leaves my body. "Cruz, I'm-" "You don't have to say anything baby, nothing at all." I pull my sleeves up so I can wipe his tears. "Would you tell me what happened to your back?'' I ask, as I reach out to touch him. He stops me. "Jo-" "Cruz, please. You want me to marry you. And I'm going to marry you. But I'm not going to marry you if you don't-" He takes my hand and swings me around so that I'm touching his back. I lift his t-shirt up and he takes a deep breath as I run my hands from where it starts to where it ends. He starts breathing heavily. I stop and turn him around and hold him. "Shh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Who did this to him? "Jo-" "It's okay, you don't need to say anything." "I'm fucked up. I'm only going to hurt you. Please-" "Listen, couples fight. I love you, and I'm in love with you. I am incapable of falling in love with someone else. There's nothing I can say to justify the fact that you lied to me, because you know how I am, better than anyone on this freaking planet. Just, don't lie to me again. Ever. BECAUSE THEN I'LL KILL YOU FORMAN." He smiles. "You promise?" I pull him closer. "My sweet sweet torture."
