The Bachelor by David Dower (read along books TXT) 📖

inside. She found her computer on the bed, still on. She forgot to turn it off earlier. Looking at the blank screen, she had the urge to write but nothing—not a word—came to mind.

She’d start on that tomorrow, she thought.

 *****

They were yet again surprised by Brent the following day by announcing that they would be playing volleyball by the beach. Julianne was never good at sports, but she had to join. There were only ten of them and there would be five members each team.

She feared balls coming her way and she was right about it because the girls of the opposing team, Hanna, Chloe, Tanya, Penny, and Kim were making it sure that the ball landed on her. If only she could do some really good spikes, she would have cracked their brains open with the ball like what they were obviously trying to do to her.

Her team mates, Pauline, Stella, Jenny, and Amanda were shouting at her for not hitting the ball right. She was saying sorry every freaking time and she was starting to really hate the word.

Zach was watching with Brent, his face shadowed by the sun. His fixated gaze on her was not helping either. Obviously, the other girls were desperate to win his attention by slamming the ball hard towards her. They must have figured out she was not really good at it because of her poor eyesight.

 *****

Zach was getting furious. The heat of the sun was not helping either. In fact, it was boiling his blood high. Julianne was obviously not doing well and the girls were taking advantage of it.

“Don’t you think it’s time to cut the game short?” he asked Brent.

“They’re enjoying, can’t you see?” Brent asked, eyeing Chloe and Hanna. “Just look at those buds, man…”

Zach was not paying attention. His eyes were locked on Julianne and from the look on her face, she was near outburst. “I think Julianne’s not feeling fine.”

“Of course she doesn’t. The ball’s been hitting her hard since they started. She really needs to get those eyes fixed,” Brent said without taking his eyes off his subjects.

“Hey,” Jack Carter’s voice said behind him. Zach turned and saw that the man was wearing a concerned look on his face. “I don’t think Julianne’s doing great. Can’t you do anything to stop this?”

Zach’s temper snapped and he pushed away from the bench. “You don’t really have to tell me that. I was just about to do that. Just go back to you work,” he said under his breath, his words intended only for the man’s ears. And then he turned away. “Okay, ladies, why don’t we stop this? The sun’s really hot and I don’t want any of you dehydrated. Let’s go get some drinks!” he announced and he heard Brent’s groan behind him.

“I think we won!” Chloe announced proudly.

Zach forced a smile, “Yeah, you did.”

He stopped Julianne when she passed by him. “Jules, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she walked away with Pauline.

Of course she isn’t, she was hit by the ball a number of times, his brain said. His face shadowed with anger when she stopped to talk to Jack Carter.

Jealousy was not a feeling he was good at and he was not handling it well at the moment.

 *****

While they were having lemonade, Brent urged them to gather around him, Zach included for a little interview.

“So, how are things so far?” the host asked. The cameras were rolling all around them in every direction. Julianne, as what she always did whenever something like this happens, chose to sit back and listen and observe.

“A lot of surprises,” Chloe chimed in.

“Surprises?”

“Yes, like when we went fishing the other day when Zach went to Vegas with Tanya and Hanna?” Chloe answered, deliberately leaving out Julianne’s name. “We didn’t know there were sharks in that cave! It was such a big surprise, really.”

Zach frowned. “There were sharks?”

“Yes! I nearly got killed, didn’t you know that?”

“Uh, Chloe, I don’t think there are sharks around this area,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Well, that time there was,” she said simply. “And then, what else was the surprising thing again?” she turned to Tanya and Hanna, and then her eyes travelled to Julianne.

Something told her something nasty was going to come out of the bitch’s mouth.

“Oh, yeah, well, I don’t know if this is surprising, but someone told me Julianne was so bold during Vegas and that she came inside Zach’s room. And oh, did I mention she is J. Green, the author?”

Everyone was silent for a long moment and those who were familiar of her pen name turned to her with awe. And those who weren’t were probably focused on the first revelation that they threw her an incredulous look.

But Julianne was stunned. She didn’t care what everyone thought about her coming in Zach’s room.

 She snapped her head at Zach, glaring at him with accusing eyes. He was the only one who knew about her being J. Green.

But he looked as stunned as her as well.

But no one knew about it other than him, she thought.

She was just about to jump on her feet when Zach’s voice boomed. “Where the hell did you get that, Chloe?”

Julianne froze in the couch—well, everyone froze. Even Jack Carter who was seated behind the cameras was stupefied. The shock of Chloe’s revelation was still in the air, but Zach’s sudden angry outburst was more shocking. That voice, that tone, was a complete stranger to everyone.

She looked at Chloe and the girl was as pale as paper.

Zach was on his feet, his eyes boring into Chloe, his lips pursed, and his jaw clenched.

Oh, oh, Zach was obviously not happy and he was really angry—for the first time. Chapter 15

Zach’s anger surged up not when he heard Chloe’s statement, but when he saw Julianne’s accusing glare. For the first time, he was angry at her for even thinking that he would betray her trust.

He directed his anger towards Chloe, yes, but he was angrier at Julianne. He was hurt.

“Where did you get that story, Chloe?” he asked again.

Chloe was looking pale, her mouth open and out of words. “I…I…someone told me,” she uttered.

He took a deep breath. He could see Julianne was shocked from the corner of his eye. Hell, she should be! He didn’t say anything about her being J. Green. Was she shocked because she thought he told someone? Or was she shocked because he got angry all of a sudden?

“Nothing happened in Las Vegas,” he decided to address that issue and hopefully, no one would ask about Julianne being the author of the number one thriller book. He looked at Hanna and the girl cowered. “Nothing happened, right, Hanna?” his voice was like ice now, his eyes like daggers.

“No, nothing happened,” she said in a whisper.

Everyone behind the camera was speechless, even Brent.

“Good, because I went to bed alone,” he looked at each women in the eye, including Julianne’s. “I don’t like this rumors circulating around you girls. It’s just plain immature,” he stated. Whirling around, he looked at Jack Carter and said, “I don’t want this shoot aired.” The man nodded and he turned his attention back to the ladies, “Let’s forget about what was said here and start all over again. As for Julianne being J. Green, that’s for her to tell and you can’t go around announcing such information without her knowledge. Now,” he forced a small smile, “let’s just have fun and no fighting. I don’t like it.”

The ladies nodded their heads solemnly. He looked at Julianne. She diverted her gaze and anger rose up in his throat once again. He decided he should leave to cool things down. He had never snapped in front of a lot of people before.

“I hope you clear this thing up before I return for tonight’s dinner,” he declared and left the cabin without another word.

 *****

“Oookay…” Brent said after a long time of awkward silence. “Why don’t we continue this later?” he got up and walked out the door. What a jerk.

Julianne, her mind whirling with all the things that had happened since Vegas, followed suit and almost ran up to her room. She was followed by Pauline.

“Julianne, are you okay? I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that bitch was going to do that. If I had known, I would have told you,” her friend uttered gently, sinking in the bed beside her.

“That’s okay, I don’t expect anything good from them,” she answered, her voice blank. Her mind was full of Zach as of the moment. Funny, she didn’t care at all that everyone knew of her identity as J. Green. She was more bothered by the gaze Zach directed towards her before he left. He looked hurt and angry at the same time.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“About what?” she asked absently, staring up at the ceiling.

“That you’re J. Green,” Pauline said, her voice full of awe rather than accusation.

“I wanted it to be kept a secret for a while,” she replied.

Her friend nodded. “But Zach knows, right? I saw it in his eyes when Chloe said those words. He was more shocked that she knew than at the news.”

“Yeah,” she nodded her head once. “He knew it a long time ago.”

“You think he told Chloe?”

“No,” she answered. Yes, of course she thought he told her—at first. But seeing his reaction earlier, she was certain he didn’t. “No, I think he wouldn’t do that,” she repeated silently. And then she groaned. How could things turn upside down? She was the one who was supposed to be angry at him, and now she felt like she needed to apologize. She knew he knew that she thought he told Chloe and somehow, she knew he was hurt by it. She saw it in his eyes.

And he was angry too.

“What’s wrong?” Pauline asked.

“Nothing, I think I need to go out and be alone for a while,” she sat up and climbed out of bed.

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

“Yes, I am,” she lied once again. “I’ll be back before dinner.”

 *****

She was under her usual tree, just sitting there, when Jack Carter’s voice spoke up.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re J. Green?” he asked, his face shadowed by the sun behind him.

Julianne looked up and smiled. “I didn’t think it was necessary,” she answered.

“The hell it is!” Jack cried. “I could have given you the job in an instant!”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Because I was thinking I needed you to fill a more important slot in this stupid show. But if you had told me you’re J. Green, I would have knelt down on the floor to ask you to accept the writing job.”

She scoffed. “No, you wouldn’t have.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he sighed and grinned. “So, what is someone like J. Green doing here?”

“I want that job, I told you that,” she scooted as he sat down beside her.

“What for? You have an amazing career writing amazing stories,” he pointed out.

“I wanted to do some research and expand my knowledge about television and stuff.”

“For your next novel,” he stated matter-of-factly.

She nodded.

“I can get you out of this show if you want,” he offered.

She snapped her head towards him, “You will?”

“Of course. I know you can be a lot of help for my next project. If you want, I can make another