Evelyn • Tony Stark

|CHAPTER 13: TOO MUCH TO ASK|

I will never be prefect for you but I will always imperfectly try to be.

• • •

Hectic.

That's how her week was going, and it was certainly wasn't getting any better as long as Jace continued nagging.

"Jace." She warned, shooting him a threatening glance.

"I don't get why don't you just go out with me?"

After recalling that she had agreed to their 'date', she gave him a call yesterday and said that she didn't think it was a good idea anymore.

"Can you drop this?"

She didn't even pay him any attention, and she prayed that he would get the hint.

She didn't want to start dating, at least not right now, not when she's clearly not over Stark.

"Fine!"

After he screamed that word in her face, he slammed the door to her office close, and decided to call it a day.

***

Unlocking the door to his apartment, he stepped inside, groaning at the appearance of an unwanted headache.

Passing by the kitchen he spotted a figure moving, and he frowned.

His frown deepened when his eyes landed on a very familiar  billionaire genius, reading the daily paper on his kitchen table.

"Technically, this is called trespassing," he wasn't sure why he was here, but he sure as hell was intrigued.

"Technically, I own the building." His tone was sarcastic, and teasing, but even so Jace kept his face straight.

Devoid of emotion.

"No, you don't."

Last time he checked, Miss Reynolds was alive and well, she even greeted him last week.

"Bought it this morning actually, I met this lovely old lady-"

Having realised that he really did own it, he decided to cut him off and get straight to the point.

"What are you doing here, Stark?"

"Well, I wasn't necessarily here for you, but bumping into you, sure was a plus."

He dropped the newspaper, and stood up.

"She's not here. She left a few days ago. She's staying at Madi's." He wasn't sure why he was telling him this, he just didn't want him around him because truly his presence intimidated him.

Tony Stark had everything he wished to have.

He had the looks, the money, the women, he wasn't sure if Tony was missing anything, and judging by his former reputation as a playboy, he knew he wasn't lacking anything down there either.

He wondered if Jace could ever compare to Tony in Evelyn's eyes.

"You got some coffee on you?" Tony asked, rummaging through his kitchen drawers.

"Middle drawer, on your right." He paused and spoke up again, "I won't allow you to see her. You can't."

He wasn't sure why he was making any demands but he wanted to keep him as far away from Eva, as he possibly could.

A humorous chuckle escaped Stark's lips as he sipped his coffee, and he didn't even try to hide his amusement.

"What's so amusing?"

"You are. You think you can just tell me to stay away from her, and I'll listen to you?" His famous smirk was on his face, agitating Jace to no end.

"What the hell is your name, anyway?" Tony asked him again, annoying the shit out of him.

"My name is Jace, and I'm actually a potential love interest."

This was a pathetic attempt to annoy Tony, but surprisingly it did annoy him, just a tad though.

"Well, remind me to tell her that she could aim higher than that."

"Funny, that's the same thing I used to tell her about you," he shot back, smirking as if he won the argument.

"Well, you better start practicing because you'll be saying that to her again soon," he replied cooly, unaffected by Jace's glare.

"You're a selfish prick!"

"True."

"You're a fucking asshole, who only cares about himself."

"Again, true."

"Listen here, Stark. Just because you used your metal machine to fly a nuke out of the city, doesn't mean shit. You're still that worthless piece of shit I knew a year ago, and even you can't change that."

"As much as it is amusing to know that you are a fan of mine, I really need to get one thing cleared up. It's not a machine. It's a suit, you imbecile," sarcastic as always, Tony walked past him, but he was roughly pulled by a hand.

"You think this is a joke?" He was more sincere now, as if what he was about to say hurt him too, "You're just gonna ignore the fact that you slept with another woman, and crushed Eva's heart. You're just gonna ignore the tears she wasted on someone like you, even when you know that you were the reason for them. You want her back so bad? Then answer me this. Where were you? Where were you when she was crying out your name late at night wondering why you weren't there to soothe her? Where were you when she stared at herself in the mirror for hours wondering what was so wrong with her that you had to go and find someone else?"

"I was here looking for her."

That was Tony's response before shrugging off Jace's hand, and walking out of his apartment with heavy breaths.

Because yeah.

He fucked up.

He fucked it up for the both of them but he never wanted to be the reason of her tears.

He never wanted her to shed a tear on someone like him, he never wanted her to put him before herself because she was more important.

Her life was much more important to him than his.

Because he would choose her.

There was no one else he would rather have next to him than her, and even when she left her home that day with him doing absolutely nothing to stop her, he accepted it.

He accepted the fact that she would be happier without him, and so he let her go, even if it teared his heart up.

Even if he needed her like he did now, if she would be happier without him than he would gladly step away, and watch her smile from afar.

He would rather walk away and let her be happy, than chase her around, knowing well enough that what he was doing was only hurting her.