“Ivy Hudson became the poison Ivy to my life.” Jake states solemnly.

“Before you start telling me about her can I just say that I want to punch the bitch already? No?” I ask him my jealousy oozing out of me.

Jake looks at me amused. “Are you by any chance jealous, Ms. Rain?” He cocks his eyebrow at me in amusement. A small smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

I scoff at him. “Me? Jealous? Abso-fucking-lutely yes!” Jake starts chuckling and shakes his head at me. When he is done, he smiles at me goofily and puts an arm around my shoulder pulling me close. He kisses my cheek and says, “You, my love, have nothing to be jealous of. She was my past. You're my present and my future. Besides she can't even compare to you. You're one of a kind and now I have eyes only for you, gorgeous.”

I beam at his words and he pulls me, hugging me to himself. I love him so damn much!

“I love you so damn much too.” His eyes twinkle as he says it. My eyes widen. Did I say that out loud?

“Yes, you did.” His shoulders start shaking a little but this time due to trying to control his laughter.

“Are you going to continue?” I say narrowing my eyes at him. He rolls his eyes at me and gives me a sheepish smile.

“As I was saying, her name was Ivy Hudson. I met her when I was 19 and just started to get over my mom's death a little. We met in college and because of my reserved nature she was the first one to approach me. I wasn't easy but she kept trying and trying until I finally accepted her as a friend. Long story short, we became really close and then I realised that I felt something more than friendship for her. She was a little rowdy and outgoing. She was the total opposite of me. Bad grades, always partying and had a cheerful way of looking at life. I fell in what I thought was love for her, but now I think about it, after meeting you and actually feeling loved, I got the true meaning of the word 'Love'. I was just infatuated and extremely attached to her.” He sighs again.

I put my hand on his cheek and gently rub it to calm his nerves. He smiles at me and grabs hold of my hand. He turns his face and kisses the palm of my hand.

“After months of thinking about opening up to her about my feelings I finally decided to tell her and she gladly accepted. I was beyond ecstatic at that and we were happy together. The first few initial months of our relationship were an absolute bliss. She would pay attention to me and I would love every second of it. It's strange though how I was so into her and yet I never let her call me Jake...” He looks at me conveying with his eyes how much special I am to him.

I nod telling him to continue.

“When I turned 20, I finally decided that I wanted more from her and I decided to propose her. I had this whole plan to woo her so she couldn't say no to me and we'll be happily married. But right now I couldn't be happier that we aren't because I wouldn't have met you, My Roxy. My precious treasure. The love of my life. I can imagine spending my future with you.” He says looking at me with eyes full of pure love, want and happiness. It feels like he is content. I lean forward and kiss him. Our kiss starts to turn a little rough due to the electricity passing in between us. But we both control ourselves. Later.

“Shall I continue?” He asks.

I nod.

“She was beautiful. An absolute sight to behold. You know she was the prettiest girl in our college but what good is all that beauty when you're so shallow from the inside. I got to know this about her much, much later.”

“As I said, I decided to propose her. But I didn't do it immediately. I was waiting for the right moment but things started to take a turn for the worse. I was so blinded by her love that I ignored all the red flags. She started hiding things from me, standing me up on our dates, being vague about her whereabouts, she never even introduced me to any of her friends she was supposedly hanging out with when she wasn't with me.”

“One day when I got worried about her when she wasn't picking up my calls, I went to look for her and went to her apartment and found her laying there, lifeless. She had overdosed. I rushed her to the hospital on time and they managed to save her somehow. I was so relieved. I never even knew that she was an addict. Her near death scare turned me into a mothering hen and I never left her side. She was getting annoyed but I didn't care. All I cared about was her safety and the fear of losing her. But she got aggressive and started ghosting me. She started ignoring me as if I didn't even exist. I still got her into rehabilitation in hopes that she will go back to her previous self.”

“After she came out she was better but things changed between us. She no longer wanted to be with me. She broke up and left me and shifted to another state. I was heartbroken but I decided to never give up on her and went to her. What I found there shocked me to death and I started hating myself for ever committing to her.” He sighs, dejectedly at those worst memories.

“I knocked on her door but surprisingly it was open like she might've forgotten to lock it. I called out her name two- three times in a row but she wasn't replying, so worried that she isn't in trouble or anything I rushed inside.”

“When I got closer to what I supposed to be the bedroom, there were voices coming out from there. Like moans and groans.”

I feel a disgusted shiver run down my spine imagining Jake's horror. I can't imagine I was feeling jealous of this bitch when now I already want to make her pay so badly for hurting my Jake.

Jake, however, is staring into space as if reliving those memories and keeps going, “I didn't like those sounds. I already knew what was up but I wanted to see it for myself. So I pushed open the door and I shattered.”

“She already had someone there having her merry time on the bed. She was aware of the fact that I was standing there watching her fucking someone else but she didn't stop. She turned around and looked me straight in the eyes and smiled evilly while continuing to fuck the man beneath her. My blood ran cold at that. My whole demeanor changed and my strength crumbled. I couldn't fathom what I had just witnessed. To see the woman I once loved like that I lost all hope in love. And since then I never loved again. I vowed to myself that I'll be better alone. I never got closer to any woman again. I won't lie that I had my share of fun after that. But I never committed to another. Until I finally met you. My sunshine!”

He looks at me, his eyes glistening with the unconditional love for me, he smiles at me and presses his lips gently to mine.

“So thank you, baby, thank you, for coming into my life and for helping me get out of that hellish place that was surrounding me for so long. I though I could never love again. But you proved me wrong.” He hugs me and kisses my head gently. I melt into his arms.

“You have absolutely no idea how wonderfully strong you are, Mr. Valtor. You are the love of my life. I love you.” I say to him, rubbing his jaw.

“God!! I love you too. I will never get tired of hearing this. Feel free to smack me on the head for denying myself this pleasure of hearing you say these words to me.” He shakes his head at himself in disappointment.

And me being me, I smack him on his head and he looks up at me in shock like he couldn't believe I just did that. I snort at his reaction and he just starts laughing.

I then make him look at me by putting my finger under his chin.

“You had demons that were haunting you. I will never hold your reasons against you. I just wished that you could've told me sooner. I will never judge you for your past, Jake. You are really strong to have risen up from what you have been through. Losing a parent is a loss that no one should ever go through. I cannot even imagine the pain you went through or  are still going through. I just want to be a part of your life so that I can share your burden. So I get it why you pushed me away.” I tell him now fully understanding his hesitation. And honestly, now I cannot be mad at him for that. Just his degrading comment.

He lets out a relieved sigh. “You have no idea how much those words mean to me, Roxy. Your mere presence in my life has healed me. With every touch, every word from you I was healing and being the idiot that I am, I hurt the one who was my salvation. I will always regret it but I will devote my whole life to you to make it up to you.” I can see the regret and sorrow in his eyes. My heart clenches at this sight.

“You may have issues but they are my issues too now. I will never let you deal with them by yourself. You'll never be alone again, I promise, baby.” I tell him smiling and give him the full blown effect of the love I feel for this amazing man. I know he said hurtful things to me and I'm not letting it go until he works for it. But he at least deserves a chance.

I have been miserable without him. And now when I'm finally back into his warm embrace I feel like I'm back where I belong. He is my happiness. My world. My heart and my soul. So why should I deny myself this happiness when we can be happy together. Besides if I can give that mothertrucker Marcus so many chances when he doesn't even come close to Jake then why can't I give Jake a second chance?

“A penny for your thoughts?” He asks me breaking me out of my reverie.

“Mmmhmm. Just thinking.” I smile at him.

“Roxy, I'm sorry, baby. I will never hurt you again. Ever. I was the one who did the hurting and it was I who was dying inside. I don't think I can live without you. I love you so so much.” He buries his face into the crook of my neck and starts sobbing, tears of regret travelling down his cheeks and falling onto my shoulder.

I shush him and rub my fingers soothingly into his hair. I caress his back gently in a comforting manner. Then I whisper softly, “I know baby. I know. That's why I decided to give you another chance. Besides I wasn't ready to give up Milo and Lilo yet. They're my babies.” I pout.

I joke trying to make him laugh. He looks up at me abruptly at me and pouts at me so cutely. “So is this all about the dogs, huh?”

“Yup.” I say, flipping my hair back, popping the 'p'.  “I'm just here for the dogs.”

He scowls at me, his pout growing more and more by every second. My heart gushes at his adorableness.

“I'll give them to Freya.” He blurts out, still pouting.

I shriek at that. “DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE, VALTOR!!!”

He bursts out laughing throwing his head back. Finally. I missed this beautiful sound. A smile of my own makes its way onto my face.

I touch his face and couldn't help myself say, “I love you. Never stop smiling.”

“I love you too.” He smiles.

Just then my front door slams open, startling us, breaking us out of our bubble.

“What the fuck is this fucker doing here??”

Uh-oh!

***************

A/N: Who do you think just barged in there? And Jake has been through too much as well. Right? *Sigh*

My strong babies!

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