Free Resisting Fate (Predetermined) by Heather Van Fleet Page A

Call someone? Jesus Christ, what the hell can I do?”
    I frowned down at the phone. When had Zachary become mister crazed over-reactor anyways? The closer Jack got to me, with all his hooded, droopy eyed broody-ness in full force, the more my vocabulary became extinct.
    “I don’t think you should be talking right now, Strawberry,”
    I swallowed. It burned, he was right. Why was he here? I blinked… Oh and please don’t let those flowers in his hands be pink daisies!
    And shoot…I had those floaty bugs crawling around in the pit of my stomach again. The same floaty bugs that had become inevitable whenever he was near. Have I ever mentioned how much I hated bugs by the way?
    My mouth went all desert-like on me and I almost dropped the phone again, as Jack bent over to retrieve the white remote off the floor. His white t-shirt had opened at the top, giving me a glimpse of his fan-freaking-tastic, amazingly, stunning chest and abs. Phew, too much hotness, and not enough descriptions to do him justice. Then when he stood upright, catching me in the act, my face darkened to a red shade that most likely rivaled my hair color. The smirk on his face would have been sexy too…if it wasn’t all-knowing and teasing at the same time.
    Dammit all to hell, he needed to turn that delicious body right on outta here before it got devoured by my teeth…
    I shook my head in attempt to remove the manic thoughts floating in my brain. Somewhere along the way, I’d forgotten the simple fact that Zachary was still on the other end of the line. And now, he was practically screaming at me. Was that fear I heard in his voice or was it raging anger instead?
    “Goddammit, Emmy! Answer me!” My jaw fell open at the sound of Zachary’s hateful temper. I was stunned, mind blowingly stunned, that he had the ability to sound so cruel, so callous with his words. Not once, in the almost two years that we’d dated, had he ever raised his voice at me, or anyone else for that matter.
    “Yeah, I’m here…but now I’m about to go…” No way was he going to talk to me like that. No. Way. In. Hell.
    “No, wait. Emmy, I’m sorry. Please don’t hang up on me. I wanted to talk…about everything. I need to know exactly what that John guy did to you, please! It’s killing me that I can’t be there for you…” The desperation in his voice tugged at my heartstrings, but the frown on Jack’s face was pulling at my beating heart a little bit more.
    “I’ll call you back tonight, how about that?”
    A heavy sigh sounded over the line. He paused, not a single answering response sounded from his end. The only noise I heard was his ragged breath. I clenched the phone tighter and let my chin fall onto my chest.
    I was not going to feel guilty over this. Zachary was the one who had left me. If I had to let him go, then that was the way it was going to be. I wasn’t about to feel guilty. I wasn’t doing anything wrong!
    “You can’t call me back, Emmy, I’m sorry. I won’t be able to talk to you again until I come home…in a few months.”
    Jack narrowed his blue eyes at something on the wall. I blinked, staring at his flexing jaw, his clenched lips that seem to purse even harder every second that Zachary spoke. It was if he could hear whom I was talking to. It kind of freaked me out…
    My palms became sweaty and I shifted in my bed. Oh yeah, Zachary was still there wasn’t he? “W–why do you care?” My heart and head went to war with one another. My tortured looking knight paced back and forth in front of me while my angst filled…ex, or whatever he was anymore, finished his sentence.
    “It’s complicated. I’m sorry I don’t have a better explanation for you.”
    “That’s not good enough for me, Zachary…” Anger replaced patience in my veins. He was pissing me off. I was done with the evasiveness. I was done with this conversation, even though the idea of not talking to him for a couple more months wasn’t exactly sitting well