The Bachelor, David Dower [uplifting books for women .txt] 📗

panic that was starting to wake inside him once again. He had to stay calm and alert if he wanted to win her.

Huh, funny. He should be the one to be won over, but he found himself trying to win Julianne.

 *****

The rain finally calmed down by the middle of the day. Neither of them spoke about the fragile topic they had talked about that morning. But she did not avoid him when he sat beside her on the bed, holding her hand in his. They stayed like that for a long time, just…just like that. No talk, no other activities, just sitting there, leaning against the wall, holding hands.

The sound of an engine finally stirred them and Zach reluctantly let go of her hand to go to the door. His horse was in the stable and a truck was coming their way.

“Rescue’s coming,” he announced, waving his hand. His right hand man was driving the truck toward them. Julianne was already standing beside him, her face full of relief.

 *****

Julianne knew she would be arriving to a group of seven girls with sour, accusing faces. And she was right. Every one of them was looking at her accusingly like she did something wicked—all of them, except Pauline. Her friend—should she even consider the lady as one after what Zach told her?—ran towards her the moment she and Zach entered the door, damp from the light rain outside.

“Julianne, thank God you’re okay,” she sighed, hugging her.

“Of course I’m okay,” Julianne answered reluctantly patting the girl’s shoulder. She could see Zach’s annoyed look from the corner of her eye.

Pauline let her go with a smile. She couldn’t smile back. She couldn’t force herself to. Honestly, the woman was making her feel creepy right now.

“I’ll meet you later, ladies,” Zach said, tipping his hat at them with a smile. “I think I need some rest.” He left them and climbed up the stairs to his own room. Unlike in the island, he had to share the house with all of them.

“Tell us, where did you go, Julianne?” Chloe’s voice asked when they were finally alone.

“At some cabin near here,” she answered, walking to the stairs. “I need to have some rest, ladies, it had been a long night last night,” she couldn’t help but add. She smiled inwardly when she heard their gasps behind her.

If she couldn’t find a friend among them, she had to be strong to survive before she left. Pauline might prove to be Chloe version 2.0, so she better not be frail.

 *****

After showering and putting on fresh clothes, she went down and found Jack Carter sitting in the living room with some papers. “Where are the ladies?” she asked, sitting across him on the couch.

He looked up and shrugged, “I don’t know, probably trying to pick Zach’s door lock,” he grinned.

Julianne snorted and closed her eyes. She suddenly felt tired.

“So, what happened?” Jack boomed and when she opened her eyes he winked at her knowingly.

“Shut up,” she groaned.

“Fine, let’s talk about something else then,” he placed down the paper he was holding on the free space beside him and turned to her, stretching his arms behind him. “When do you want to start working?”

Julianne frowned. “What do you mean?”

“The writing job,” he explained.

“Is it still open?”

“Are you kidding me? For J. Green, it is open.” He beamed at her.

She smiled, “Can I start once I leave this show?”

“Sure, that will not be a problem. That’s what we talked about anyway,” he said, his eyes trailing at something behind her.

Slowly, she turned her head to see what caught his attention and she almost chuckled with amusement when she saw Kim disappearing into the kitchen. “Okay, I think someone got a crush on someone,” she said with a teasing tone.

Jack, for the love of God, flushed red.

“Oh my God, really?” she gaped. “I didn’t know that…really?”

“What?” he asked laughingly.

“Jack, you like her!”

“Of course not,” he scoffed and stood up, snatching his papers. “I have to go to work,” he muttered.

Julianne laughed, “You mean you have to chase someone.”

“Shut up,” he uttered and walked briskly towards the door and out the house.

She was still chuckling when she saw Zach standing by the bottom of the stairs, his face dark.

Her smile wavered.

Oh God, what did she do now? Chapter 19

“What were you two talking about?” he asked, his brows in a line.

“Nothing,” Julianne answered, standing up, and walking to the door. She didn’t have time to entertain his jealous rages. She had enough trouble with the girls already, what with them treating her like she was invisible. And though Pauline was still acting like a real friend, she couldn’t anymore look at her the same way as before.

Really, the world was just full of nasty things.

“You were laughing with him,” he pointed out behind her it almost startled her that he was able to dash that fast towards her.

“And?” she asked, irritated now. What the hell was his problem?

“Jules, what’s really going on between you two?” he asked, grabbing her by the arm.

“Do you know you’re acting like a child?” she hissed at him.

“I can’t help it. I’m starting not to like seeing you around him,” he said with a frown. Julianne wanted to scratch at his handsome face because he was acting like a stupid child.

“What? I can’t have fun with other people now?”

“No, it’s not that,” he said in haste. “I’m just curious. You seem close to him and I’m wondering why,” he said with as much patience.

“He’s good to me and he makes me comfortable,” she answered in a whisper. She knew some of the girls were in the kitchen. “Look, Zach, we might have shared some stuff but it doesn’t mean that you can intrude in everything that I do,” she said it while looking straight in his eyes.  With that, she left him there standing in the middle of the room.

He could date more than one woman and he expected her to be exclusive? This was what she had feared. Zach had the tendency to be so childish and possessive. He was proving to her she was right.

 *****

Zach paced around his room like a lost puppy. He knew what he did wasn’t right, but Jack Carter was just the man who could scratch the wrong nerve.

“Zach?” a knock came on his door.

“Yes?” he answered unconsciously, still in a jealous rage.

“It’s Fatima, can I come in?”

He sighed and closed his eyes. Fatima always talked to him to plan the next activities. “Yes?” he asked as he opened the door and found her standing outside with her clipboard.

Does she sleep with it too? A part of his mind asked.

“There’s a little rage on the internet about your date with Pauline,” she said, handing out a piece of paper.

He frowned, “I’m sure they didn’t like her after everything she said about Jules?”

Fatima cringed, “As a matter of fact, they do like her.”

“What?” he scanned the paper and his eyes widened in disbelief. “Why the hell do they think Pauline’s the most honest person in the competition?”

“They believe that her courage and honesty to tell you about her friend’s…uh…wrong side…is…uh…something to be praised for…”

“Wrong side? Jules got no wrong side,” he snapped, “people don’t know what they are talking about.”

“Well, actually, Julianne’s reputation outside the show is not really good. She doesn’t really make that much effort to make people like her.”

“It’s because this show is not her thing,” he said with disgust. “You’re just here to tell me that?” he asked.

“No,” she shook her head. “I also came here to tell you that the producers want Pauline to stay. They know you favor Julianne more and they must have thought you would send Pauline home because of what she said about Julianne.”

“They want me to keep Chloe the last time,” he reminded. “I can’t take more orders from them.”

“They want her to stay until the top four. The ratings are really good with Chloe and Pauline in the show.”

Zach’s jaw tightened. “What else?”

“What?”

“What else are you going to tell me?”

“Oh,” Fatima’s eyes glinted with understanding. “You’ll be playing Spin the Bottle with the girls tonight.”

“Truth or dare?” he asked incredulously. He had never played that game since ever.

“Yeah,” Fatima nodded.

“If they ask me who I hate most among them, can I answer truthfully?” he asked sarcastically.

“Uh, if you’re going to say Chloe or Pauline’s name, I don’t think that will be a good idea.”

Zach nodded his head slowly, “Thanks for the heads up.”

Fatima stepped back and he closed the door behind him. He threw the paper at the far corner of the room. Damn everyone. Damn every freaking producer of the show!

 *****

Julianne just stared at Zach when he joined them later that night. Everyone was in their pajamas—if you would call them that—waiting for him when he entered the room. He was wearing a light shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. Fresh as usual, of course, and that night she shared with him in the cabin came rushing back to her that she had to look away and focus her eyes on the empty, shining bottle of wine in the middle of the room.

Fatima had already asked them to gather around the floor in a small circle. Chloe and Tanya took out some wine after dinner and they drank it while they waited.

The first sight of the bottle made everyone squeal and squeal more when they learned that Zach would be joining them.

His face was not really in the mood for some games though and she could see that. She wondered if it was because of what happened earlier between them. Julianne shook that thought aside. He couldn’t very well hang on to that unreasonable act, right?

But when his eyes met hers, she knew he was not that over yet. She could sense that he wanted to talk more. Thank God for the girls for that because she didn’t want to talk to him about some useless jealous issues he had. It was childish, simple as that.

“Hi, ladies,” he greeted with a dry smile. He dropped down on the floor across from her, beside Kim who scooted away to give him room, and joined the circle. “I see we’ll be playing some game…”

“Yeah, Spin the Bottle,” Chloe answered, nodding her blond hair, tucking some behind her ear.

Pauline was seated beside Julianne and she didn’t know if it was normal or not that she felt she wanted to push her fake friend away every time she leaned close to whisper something in her ear. Julianne would usually just smile and nod, but it was never like before. She was disgusted at the thought of Pauline talking behind her back and it both crushed her and angered her at the same time.

“We should start,” Tanya said excitedly, clapping her hands and clasping them together.

Kim smiled at everyone mysteriously as she leaned over to take the bottle. “Zach should spin it first,” she suggested, giving it to him.

Zach shrugged and did what he was supposed to do and the bottle spun around. Everyone looked anxiously as it slowed down, the tip travelling from one person to the other until it finally landed on Pauline.

The ladies gave out exaggerated gasps as Pauline smiled and excitedly said, “Dare!”

“Pick the dare, Zach,” Stella