right person, wrong time.

Chapter Eighteen

Jo

Theodore fucking Laurence.

His eyes widen a fraction, sensing my change in demeanour but I was too fast for him to react accordingly. Anger surged through me as I lifted my chin and head-butted him right in the nose.

He whelped in pain and surprise, jerking away and collapsing beside me on the ground.

I jump up, moving sideways. Not closer, not farther. I begin to prowl. He jumps up, clutching his nose, mirroring my movements, stepping with me. Even though we were only walking, it felt like a dance.

"How?" I grit through my teeth.

"How?" He scoffs, arching his brow,  chest quivering slightly. "The first thing you say to me after all of this, after all of this time is how?"

I shake my head, ignoring his question. "How did you find it?"

"For Christ's sake Jo!" He snaps, his eyes hardening. "That's not what is important here! You hid this from me! I had a right to know about this."

I bite at my bottom lip, the taste of metal in my mouth.

"I wanted to make things easier for you!"

His shoulders drop, as if astounded by my words. "So you hid the truth from me? How dare you take away my choice in that? Who gave you the right to make my choices for me?"

A bitter smile twists my face and I laugh humourlessly.

"You don't get to judge me Teddy." I spit, advancing on him.

"The rich boy always getting what he wants. You have no idea what it's like being a woman in this time, or ever." I narrow my gaze. "Do you truly know what it's like to have your choice taken away from you? That fact that you even have a choice in anything is a luxury in itself. We're constantly being pressured to find someone just to have conceive with and then what? We grow old and die — our existence relies solely on that."

"And for some women, that's fine, amazing! I'm happy for them, truly I am but what about the rest of us? The women who want to live and exist outside the constraints of a man. To love openly and freely and without expectations of marriage and just love. We are more than just our husbands and our wombs Teddy." I look up at him, my chest shaking violently with the weight of my words.

His brow furrows before he speaks, softer than before. "Can't you see Jo, that's all I've ever wanted for you. No expectations just trust in this— in us."

He exhales, his breath stuttering.

"Can you not see what's right in front of you? You did once, it's written all here." He points at my confession, his eyes pleading.

"We're right for each other, meant for one another, we just found each other at the wrong time."

He was stirring those emotions up. They were like mud that had settled. He was dipping in the water and dirtying everything up.

"Teddy," I sigh. "How can you believe in the concept 'right person, wrong time'? Don't you think that if that we were truly the right people for one another, we would have found each other when the time was right?"

I pause, shaking my head. "The entire concept was created for romantics who try and justify a broken heart. Life isn't like that; love isn't like that." I shrug, defeatedly.

He scoffs at that, rolling his eyes. "And you're the expert of love right?" His brow arching, "Just because you write about it Jo, doesn't mean you know it."

I jerk at the provocation.

"I didn't mean—"

"Yes— yes, you did."

He murmurs a curse, running his fingers through his hair. "Why are trying so hard to fight this?"

"Why are you trying so hard for this?"

"No, no. I've already done this once before Jo. I've explained myself, my feelings for you, laid my heart out bare at your feet and you didn't reciprocate. I can't, I won't do that again."

I exhale, exasperated.

For Christ's sake.

"How can you be so intelligent and so inexcusably dense in the same instant Ted? You're a walking, talking contradiction. One moment you're claiming that I know love and I should divulge in it all and yet in another moment you claim that I can merely write about it?" I grind out.

"What do you want from me? What do you want me to say?" I demand.

He starts to speak, but I continue on.

"Besides there's a massive difference between our situations Ted! You did get married. That's what society demands of us and you did exactly that. You got married."

I snap my head to his. I level a withering stare in his direction.

He meets mine — glare for glare.

"To my sister for starters, great job there by the way. 'Girl rejects you because she's afraid of commitment' and the first thing you do is elope with her sister!"

I feel his reaction as sharp as the jibe.

His head jerks sideways as if I physically assaulted him right then and there, like he couldn't face the reality of our situation.

Good.

He deserved to feel exactly how I felt when I found out about him and Amy.

His gaze dropped to the floor, his fingers flexing behind the back of his neck, his cheeks deepening with a reddish hue.

"Ok I admit I messed up there."

"You think?" I scowl, pulsating with rage.

We stare at each for a heartbeat. Our breathes deep, heavy. Our bodies humming with pent up anger and something— something else I couldn't quite name.

He looked down at me, eye to eye, lashes dark and long. He shakes his head dismissively.

"That doesn't change the fact that I had the right to know about this Jo!"

"Right back at you Teddy!" I snarl.

Every nerve in my body felt as if they were standing on end, burning, blistering.

He was so close to me now; I could see the tiny flecks of green in his eyes. So close that I could feel the warmth of him radiating through me. I could feel his breath, see his pulse in the sinew of his neck.

I wet my lips, the air in the room feeling too thick to breathe. His eyes flicker towards the movement, darkening.

I shift my gaze away from his— his entire being overwhelming me, consuming me.

He grabs my chin, forcing me to look up.
To look at him.

His eyes search mine, and they're raging with anger, conflict and that something else again.

My breath hitches at the sight.

Then suddenly and all at once, he jerks my face forward closing the distance between us with his lips on mine.

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A/N: Oop don't beat me up...

Please don't be mad, law school is a wild one right now. I hope you're all doing well besties and this year has been good to you so far!

Remember to treat people with kindness.

-  NN