Let Go

"Why don't you just buy her out?"

Jack chuckled dryly. "Getting Ronnie to sell – that's the tricky part."

Janine leant against the bar, the edge digging into her side. "Ah, that's where I come in."

Jack looked at her, his face void of all emotion, not giving anything away. Instead of replying he walked out of the VIP room and towards his shared office. He lingered at the ajar door, just watching his business partner as she scribbled things down on a sheet of paper whilst her left hand played with her necklace. Business partner. He thought to himself. We used to be so much more.

The door creaked as it swung on it's hinges, Ronnie looked up to see who was there, her entire face changing; becoming hardened, it was as though a brick wall that nobody could penetrate went up. And that was all down to him.

They locked eyes for a moment, blue on brown, before Ronnie turned her attention back to the sheets of paper in front of her. Jack inwardly sighed, sitting himself down at his own desk. For a few more moments, he just watched as she worked, taking in every detail as if he was committing it to memory.

"So – is this what it's gonna be like?" He asked, breaking the icy cold silence between them. Ronnie didn't even bother to look up, let alone give him an answer. "You not even talking to me anymore? Very mature, Ronnie."

"What's there to talk about? I mean, apart from you wanting me out of the club?" Her cool blue eyes pierced through his skin, as though slicing through it with that one look.

Jack visibly flinched. "You heard that?"

"Yeah, amazing thing – ears – the number of uses they have." She paused, before speaking again. "So when were you going to tell me? Before or after the contract was written up?"

"It's not like that," he tried to explain.

"It never is, is it?"

"Nah, you don't get to play that card. You did the exact same thing to me."

"A few days after finding out you'd slept with my sister and were the father to my niece!" Ronnie hissed, her fury pouring out of her with every word she spoke. Sucking in a deep breath, she caught herself. "I'm not doing this anymore," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "Get the papers drawn up."

"What?" Jack asked, completely stunned.

"The contract for the sale. Get it drawn up, give me a fair price, I'll sign."

"Wh-why? Why now? Two weeks ago you wanted to run this place on your own, now you want out? It don't make sense. Why've you changed your mind?"

"Does it matter? You're getting what you want, aren't you?"

Jack shook his head. "Nah, this ain't you. You never give up, not without a fight-"

"Well, maybe I'm tired of fighting? When something's dead, you need to let it go. Bury it and move on."

Jack stood up and moved towards her desk, placing his palms on the flat of it. "And that's what you're doin'? Nah, that's running away and the Ronnie I know-"

Ronnie scoffed. "The Ronnie you know? Don't even think for a second you know me, Jack. What we had – it was nothing."

"You said you loved me, remember on Halloween? You told me to not leave you, to stay. You said you loved me," he stated, he voice calm but a desperate urgency coated it. He needed her to remember that, to remember those feelings and the electricity of their kiss.

"They do say there's a fine line between love and hate."

"Oh, so you hate me now?" He didn't know why, but those words hurt him so much more than anything she'd ever said to him before.

Ronnie shook her head. "I just don't care anymore."

The air hissed out of him, as though her words had physically winded him. If he thought she'd hurt him before with her words, he was wrong. A new type of pain seemed to creep through him, trickling into every pore and crevice, choking him from the inside out. His legs felt weak, the strength in them dwindling so he sat on the edge of his desk, just watching her sadly. What have I done to her?

"I'm sorry," the words had escaped his lips before he'd even thought them.

"That doesn't mean anything, it doesn't make everything okay."

"So what will? What can I do to make it better?" He pleaded, needing to do everything in his power to make her care again, or at least to stop hurting.

"Buy me out."

"Ronnie-"

"No, listen. I know you weren't serious when you were speaking to Janine, but I am now. I need a fresh start, Jack, I need to get out of this place-"

"You're leavin'?"

She nodded, opening up one of the drawers in her desk and pulling out a file. "This came in the mail today."

"What is it?" Jack asked, taking it from her, their hands brushing slightly. Her skin was so soft and warm, all he wanted to do was take her hand in his and just keep it there for a while. They'd never done that when they were together – they'd never walked down the street holding hands.

"It's a new place in Ibiza, I saw it the last time I was there, but I came back before I got the chance to look into it." Jack just stared at her, not even noticing the papers in his hands. "Don't look at me like that," she told him, shaking her head and looking away for a moment. "I would've been perfectly content to run this place and be with you-"

"So why can't we?"

"Because too much has happened now, there's no erasing it, there's no going back . . . not now."

"You're really doing this, aren't you?"

Ronnie nodded her head. "I can't stay here, Jack. We're making each other miserable working together, and like you said, the customers are starting to pick up on it so it can't be good for business. And what do I have to stay for?"

"What about Amy? She's still your niece."

She bit into the cushion of her bottom lip, the reminder of her lover's betrayal stabbing at her heart. Ronnie shrugged. "She doesn't know me – you can't miss something you never had."

"You know that ain't true, Ron."

"What do you want me to do, Jack?" She exclaimed, exasperated.

"Please, just forgive me."

"Even if I did, I'd never be able to forget and what's the point in that? It's over, Jack – we fought and we lost. We just don't work-"

"We do work, I just mucked it up."

Ronnie let out a small laugh. "Yeah. I'll have the solicitor draw up the papers first thing." Standing up from her desk, she walked around so that she was facing him. "Bye Jack," she presented him her hand to shake but instead of doing just that, Jack held it in his own. Ronnie looked down at their entwined hands, the electricity jumping between the two palms. It's still there. Even after all this, it's still there.

She felt herself leaning closer to him. "You have to let me go," she whispered, her mouth inches away from his, her breath warm on his cheek.

"What if I can't?" He begged of her, holding her hand even tighter in his and brushing his lips against the plush cushions of hers. But neither of them moved closer, knowing that nothing more could happen. This was truly the end.

"You already have."

THE END