Falling For You [Tom Hiddleston]

44

Tom's POV

"Oh my god!" Sarah gasped. "Tom - Tom, you have to see this!"

"What?" My head popped up in alarm at her tone; my sister wasn't at all what I would consider an anxious person. "What did you find now?"

I shoved my mobile back in my pocket as I quickly strode back over to her to see what she was looking at, only to be startled when her hand blindly reached out and caught my arm, tugging me down to kneel beside her with an unexpected strength.

"Read it, Tom," she ordered, gesturing at the screen without looking away.

I studied my sister with concern as she continued to stare at the screen, frowning when she brought her other hand up to smother the small noise of distress she made in reaction to what she was seeing. I reluctantly looked at the screen then, wondering what manner of article could possibly draw this sort of response from her, a former war correspondent.

I exhaled slowly and began to read, relieved to see it was a different article than before - as well as looking like it came from a credible newspaper instead of one of the scandal rags.

After only a few sentences, I paused in stunned disbelief, my anger draining away as I suddenly realized why this story had drawn such a powerful response from Sarah. Right there in black and white, it stated the cold, hard facts: Claire's fiancé, a decorated veteran who'd survived multiple tours abroad, had been brutally murdered mere weeks before their wedding date.

So there was absolutely no reason for my anger; although she had taken his surname, it appeared that Claire had never actually been legally married to Jacob Kingsley.

"This is not at all what I expected," I admitted, my throat tight and my heart aching terribly for Claire. She'd already lost almost her entire family, but to then lose her fiancé as well...that was beyond my ken.

Unable to believe my eyes, I found myself rereading the article from the beginning while contrarily hoping for a different ending; unfortunately, a second reading didn't alter the facts. The only thing that stuck out to me this time was that while his death was formally reported as yet another gang shooting, I got the feeling from how things were phrased that the author doubted the official report for some reason.

Mentally reeling, I set aside all this new information for the moment, needing to give myself time to fully absorb it before I even considered having a conversation with Claire about what I knew now.

While several years had passed since this happened, I suspected Claire was still grieving the loss of her fiancé. Why else would she repeatedly insist that the only way we could be together was on her terms - no strings, no commitments, no promises? No, they were just an excuse to keep herself from becoming emotionally attached to anyone else.

What was that saying that Sebastian had used regarding Sadie again? It certainly applied to Claire as well...I think it went something along the lines of once bitten, twice shy?

Claire was certainly intelligent enough to know by now I would never attempt to replace Jacob, but it was far easier to build walls and keep people at arms length than it was to open your heart to the possibility of getting hurt again.

"It gets worse, Tom," Sarah said, drawing me from my thoughts.

"How could it possible get worse than that?!"

I looked back at the screen to see that she'd opened a different page to a tabloid article that quickly made my stomach churn. The paparazzi had somehow managed to get inside the church and had taken photos of a veiled, black-clad Claire during Kingsley's funeral at a very packed church.