The Unwilling CEO's Love Game novel Chapter 13

"What's up? Got a bee in your bonnet?" Melvin sidled up to her, whispering sweet nothings, the air between them thick with ambiguity.

Jocelyn turned her head and forcefully pried his hand away, putting some distance between them.

She saw a flicker of annoyance in his eyes and remembered the way he looked at her after he put that woman in the car the other day. It hurt like hell.

Melvin stepped back, leaning against the wall, his expression cooling off.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Jocelyn stared him down, only now realizing how little she meant to him.

He didn't even bother to offer an explanation.

She didn't want to go all harpy on him, interrogating who that woman was, or who he had been with during those two days and a night.

She pointed at the bag by the door, "Did my dad give that to you?"

"Yeah," Melvin glanced at it nonchalantly.

"So, why'd you bring it here?"

"Well, I'm here, aren't I? Where else should I have taken it?"

"You know damn well that's my dad returning a favor. Even if you think it's beneath you and don't want it, you shouldn't flaunt it in my face!" Jocelyn's temper flared up.

Melvin frowned, "So where should I have dumped it?"

"Do you despise these things that much? Are they just not worthy of your precious attention, so you dump them on me?" Jocelyn's tone was sharp, she wanted to keep her cool, but she just couldn't.

"You're way off base." Melvin reached for her hand, "Come on..."

Jocelyn shook him off, "I don't even know what my place means to you. Sure, I like you, but I'm not bottomless. Like this stuff, if you don't value it, toss it. Don't give it to me or flaunt it. It just makes us look like a joke!"

"What are you trying to say?" Melvin's face darkened too.

Jocelyn took a deep breath, "I won't be the other woman."

With one woman out in the open, one in the shadows, hoping to have it all?

Dream on!

Melvin scowled, "The other woman?"

Jocelyn didn't want to say much more, stepping back to widen the gap between them, "I thought we weren't planning on marriage, just living day by day, in the moment. But now, even that's too much, so what's there to cling to?" She looked at Melvin, "You've just been playing with me, and now, I'm done playing."

She refused to be labeled a homewrecker, a mistress, a floozy.

With not even a flicker from Melvin's eyelids, he asked, "Got someone else lined up?"

Jocelyn exhaled in irritation, "No."

"Done playing?"

"Yes."

"Kicking me out?"

"Yes."

Melvin stared at her for a long while before turning and heading into the bedroom. He didn't even shut the door. He got dressed and walked out, face sour as hell.

The door slammed shut with a bang.

Jocelyn took a deep breath, filled with nothing but frustration and disappointment.

He knew what she cared about, what she wanted to hear, but he wouldn't explain, not one bit.

In the end, he disdained to explain because they were not even in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

No need to retain, no need to explain; it's over just like that.

Jocelyn had her limits, and now that they'd been crossed, no matter how painful or unwilling, she had to cut ties. Otherwise, she'd make a mistake.

She went to the bedroom, yanked his clothes out of the closet, and threw them into his suitcase, her eyes starting to burn.

She hadn't finished packing when someone knocked at the door. Judging by the rhythm, it couldn't be Melvin.

She steadied herself and answered the door. It was Rose, her neighbor from downstairs.