Free Never Just Friends (Spotlight New Adult Book 2) by Mina V. Esguerra Page B

kind of long-term relationships that my colleagues have. A lot of them who are young, don’t. And the ones who are older, they’ve pretty much made their families an extension of this job. If I want to move up, I need to get more degrees. I’ll need to find time to actually study for those degrees. I’ll need to manage a project directly, and not from New York, but from wherever it happens to be. It won’t be just one; these people live where the new project requires them to live, take their families with them. And then make that choice all over again three years later when contracts are up. Are you starting to understand why the idea of Victor, of Rocco...why it made sense to me?”
    He was beginning to. His job in particular was known for its lack of security; one year at a time, they were told, even though he had signed on for five. He was lucky, as one of the leads. Others, like Jessica, showed up because of a pre-production decision to hire someone for a short period of time. It was a relief, personally, that she had gotten serious with finding more work and spent a lot of time outside of Vancouver. It was true; he slept with her, fell for her, because she was there. He also knew she might not be there all the time. He thought he’d be fine with it, but their relationship was obviously not as strong as he was hoping it would be.
    “I’m not asking you to give up your work,” Jake said. “I’m not asking you to move to wherever I happen to be filming. That’s not what this is about.”
    “So, back to my original question. What is this exactly? What haven’t you told me?”
    If only Jake could say it. Not that he was holding anything back, but he didn’t know what it was. This didn’t have a name.
    “I had an accident on set last year,” he told her. It was the first time he had said it aloud to someone; he had no family really to report it to. Felt like a good time to have some wine, so he took a swig. “It was why I wasn’t able to visit you in August last year.”
    “What happened?”
    “Something to do with a harness, and I had trouble breathing...it was meant to be safe but I didn’t know that I would respond that way. I lost consciousness and woke up in the hospital, and they kept me there a couple of days. They managed to keep that quiet as much as possible, definitely Cora pulling her weight around...”
    “Dear God. You didn’t think I should know about that?”
    He shrugged. “I’m fine. I’ve been cleared, no memory loss, no damage... The point is...I was there in the hospital and I didn’t have family to call.”
    “You have family you can call.”
    “I didn’t want to. I only wanted to call you.”
    Lindsay’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t call me for a year.”
    “Because I didn’t want you to be back like that only time you came to Vancouver for me, cleaning me up like a nurse. I had so much crap to deal with. So I worked on it, dropped everything that I didn’t need. Decided what I really want. And that’s why I’m here. Does this answer your question?”
    He had practiced how he would say this, how much he would say. Maybe it worked.
    In response, she kissed him, and it was a deep kiss, her free hand going around to his back. It was arousing, also comforting.
    “I would have helped you,” she whispered against his face. “I would have dropped everything and helped you.”
    “I know that.” He did. It was the thing that gave him strength, but what he most feared he’d lose if he called upon it too often. Cora understood this, thank God, and did everything to keep Lindsay out of it. “It’s why I don’t care about your Victors or Roccos or whoever else you have in your pocket. I know what we are.”
    She wanted to go back up to his room, and he agreed. There was a slight difference to the way she touched him, looked at him, like she was softening it, meaning to be gentler. He didn’t want this, didn’t want her to see him any differently, but knew that it was