Jimmy dared not hide the truth from Stanley. He nodded honestly and said, "I went to pick them up half an hour ago. Sharon was shopping with her friend, so I took both of them here..."
After a pause, he asked suspiciously, "You didn't know about this?"
Stanley glared at him coldly. "Howard made a slip of the tongue on the phone, saying that you all came here but no one called me, so I knew there was something fishy going on."
Jimmy laughed awkwardly.
"Why does Jackson want to see her?"
Jimmy shook his head and said, "I don't know. He asked me to bring her here, that's all."
After a moment of silence, Jimmy asked in a curious tone, "Jackson was here just now. Where is he?"
Ignoring him, Stanley put one hand in his pocket with a cigarette in the other, his beautiful eyes staring ahead.
Jimmy pointed to the place where Sharon was. "Aren't you going over there?"
Stanley flicked the ashes with his fingers and said, "You go first." There was obvious agitation in his eyes.
Jimmy couldn't guess what was playing in his mind, so he spared him the bother and was about to leave when Stanley suddenly asked, "Your marriage with Ariah was loveless in the beginning, and you even wanted a divorce for a while, but now you're so intimate with her. Did you fall in love with her?"
After a pause, Jimmy looked at him cautiously and said, "Stanley, is it a trick question?"
"I don't care about the messy affairs you have with that woman behind Ariah's back," Stanley sneered.
Jimmy smiled. Instead of being defensive, he thought for a while and said, "I feel guilty for that woman, so I have always been kind to her... As for Ariah, I think God has a plan for us since the day I married her. It's just that it took me a long time to realize that I can't live without Ariah."
Stanley lowered his eyes. After a long while, he said with a faint smile, "So, you want to do like those French monarchs did in the ancient times, right? Having a lawfully wedded queen in the castle and keeping a mistress outside, is that your intention?"
Jimmy squinted at him, annoyed.
There was no point in continuing this conservation, so Jimmy turned and left with a gloomy expression.
Jimmy finally came back after Sharon and Melody almost finished the snacks. When he walked closer, Sharon and Melody gaped their mouths and eyes wide in surprise.
Jimmy changed his clothes and carried a gun on his shoulder. He stood there at a slanted angle, looking utterly handsome.
"Is that... a gun?"
Sharon and Melody stepped forward at the same time, with excitement in their eyes.
It was true that the man with a gun was the most handsome.
Jimmy put his gun aside and asked, "Do you want to try?"
Sharon swallowed and shook her head timidly. After all, she was young, so she was a little frightened when she saw the dangerous weapon.
Melody stretched out her hand and pointed. "Is this a real thing?"
Jimmy sniggered and said, "Of course it's real. It's heavy too. I bet you can't carry it."
Sharon and Melody exchanged glances with thrill written in their eyes.
Stanley came out after smoking. Before he got close to her, he heard Sharon's excited and nervous voice, saying, "Wow, it's really a real gun. It's so heavy..."
He saw her blushing face since he was not far away, wondering if it was because of sunburn or excitement.
Her pink and tender cheeks were bright and glowing under the sun, and her big eyes were shining with joy, which was more beautiful than any other time.
Stanley's expression darkened. He pulled his collar and strode over.
It was Sharon's first time to see a real gun, hence the apparent excitement, but she was afraid to touch it. Melody was braver than her, so she touched the gun several times.
Of course, Melody could see through her best friend's mind, so she shoved the gun into Sharon's arms and said, "Come on, have a look."
When Sharon took it, the first thing she felt was that the gun was really heavy and hard. Her nervous hand was sweating and trembling in excitement. "It's really heavy..."
As she spoke, she retreated and slammed into a wall of flesh.
"You're bold enough to play with guns now, huh?"
Stanley's mellow voice echoed above her head, which felt as if it materialized into stones and were thrown at her heart. She stood as stiff and frozen like a statue.
How could he, whom she had not seen for three days, suddenly appear here?
Suddenly, the gun was snatched away from her hands. Sharon looked up and saw him standing behind her. She couldn't see his eyes clearly since he was standing against the light, so she could only see his prominent facial outline. His body was covered with a layer of golden light, shining brightly.
Sharon subconsciously moved aside, pulled Melody, and stood next to her.
Stanley glanced at Sharon from the corner of his eyes, observing her every minute move. He twitched his lips unhappily and thought, "Am I so scary that she has to avoid me?"
With a crack, he unloaded the gun in his hand and took out the barrel to have a look.
Jimmy knew what he was doing, so he immediately explained, "Don't worry, there are no bullets in it. It's empty."
He would not be so stupid as to let two women play with the gun with live ammunition in it. Anything could happen and the consequence would be catastrophic.
Stanley snorted and threw the gun at him. Jimmy took it.
Stanley grabbed a chair and sat down. He casually took out the sunglasses in his pocket and put them on, looking cool and indifferent.
Sharon bit his lip as she glanced at him, thinking that it was really unfair for him to look so handsome despite his frigid expression.
Then she glared at Jimmy with hatred and thought, "Liar. Didn't you say that Jackson wanted to see me? Why is Stanley here?"
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Because You Are My Lady novel (Sharon and Stanley)