“I'm not going to get bullied into something that I don’t want to do. I told you no and you should just accept that as the answer.”
“I don't want to. And I just can't. So, you're going to come out with me. I will wait here and come every day until you let me have this one thing.”
Vincent knew that he was being a jerk about it. It wasn't like she didn't have a right to tell him no. Obviously, she did. Why was he acting like he got to tell her one way or another? Like he ran things, and her? Like she was already his?
The look on her face pretty much made it clear that even though he was used to people listening to him, she was not part of his pack. She did not have to listen to anything he said, and quite frankly, she wasn't going to. He wanted to kick himself for being so stupid. He had handled it completely the wrong way. Instead of getting her to agree to spend some time with him, instead, she was never going to at the rate he was going. He wanted to backtrack and start over, but he knew that he wasn't going to be able to. What he said was already out in the open. Now, the best thing he could do was give her a little space because Mallory wasn’t budging. That much was clear.
Vincent sighed loudly.
It felt like it was never going to be right. He wasn't used to not getting his way. He wasn't used to being told no. Why was it the one time that he wanted something so badly was the one time that he didn't get it?
“I'm sorry that I have been so adamant about it. I just haven't seen you for a while and I was excited to see you. I didn't realize that there was going to be this animosity between us. I was just happy that you hadn’t married Balthazar. I thought you guys got married a long time ago.”
It was Mallory's turn to scoff. “You made it very clear that you didn't want to have anything to do with me because of my intended. We also said that we wouldn't bother each other after it happened, remember? We said that we wouldn't talk to each other again.”
Vincent agreed. He had known that it was all his fault, but hearing it said out loud like that, just made matters worse, somehow. It was kind of silly for him to be pushing it so hard now, when he had made it seem like the last thing he wanted was to be around her. No wonder she was confused.
Vincent left, but he didn't promise that he wouldn't come back. He was just going to have to find another way to go about it. The direct way and aggressive way was certainly not working. He should have known that. She had never responded well to it in the past.
He was a little downtrodden as he left, but he wasn't going to give up. Something told him that giving up on her would be more detrimental to himself than anything else that he did. Why, he had no clue. It was just a feeling that came over him very strongly.
Chapter 16
Mallory looked up to see Laura across the room. She had heard the whole conversation between her and Vincent. She was probably wondering what Mallory was doing. That's what Mallory thought, anyway. She felt guilty that she had not told Laura about Vincent trying to convince her to go out with him. She should have, the two women shared everything. But she hadn't for one reason or another.
When she walked up, Mallory knew that she was going to have to come clean about some things. She's going to complain about things that she certainly didn't want to.
“Tell me that isn't who I think it is.”
“If I did, I'd be lying to you.”
“Are you freaking kidding me? He has been coming here this whole time and you didn't say anything to me?”
“It hasn't been this whole time.”
“From what he said, it's been a week.”
She had nothing to say for herself. It had been about a week and Mallory wasn't even sure why she hadn't mentioned it. She had been trying to deal with it herself, but it wasn't going very well. He was getting pushier and it was becoming harder and harder for her to tell him no. Especially when she didn't want to. It was hard to tell her friend the truth, when she didn't even know the truth for herself.
“Yeah, about that long.”
“Is that why you’ve been acting strange?”
Mallory shrugged her shoulders with a vacant look on her face. “I don't know. Honestly. He just popped up one day to buy a donut and he's been coming every single day trying to get me to go out with him ever since.”
“What does he want?”
Again, that was something that she wasn't sure about. He had told her that he just wanted to talk, but it didn't seem like that was what was really on his mind. If she had to guess, she would have said that he was trying to get her attention for other things. She couldn't be sure, though. It had had been a long time since they'd been around each other. Their last encounter was ever present on her mind, obviously. She had a son to show for it, after all.
“He said he just wants to talk.”
“Well, you know that's not it.”
“You don't think he knows, do you?”
“No, but I think that Nathan kind of made that happen.”
“What do you mean?”
