Chapter Fifteen
He was here; Jake was at the bridge where she’d guessed he would be.
Thank God her hunch had paid off.
As she slammed out of the car, Naomi’s arms trembled with a bone-wobbling mix of relief and nerves, but she didn’t hesitate. She closed the distance between her and Jake as quickly as she could in her floor-length gown, ignoring the cold wind stinging her bare shoulders and making her eyes water.
The fact that she was freezing didn’t matter. All that mattered was finding a way to convince Jake that nothing had changed, that she was still the woman who had made him the happiest he’d been in years, and he was still the man who held the key to her heart.
He was the one she wanted, the only man she would ever want. If she couldn’t convince him to put this behind them, she didn’t know how she was going to find the strength to start over again. A future without Jake would almost be worse than no future at all. He had reminded her what it felt like to be loved, to find joy and safety and passion that left her breathless in his arms, and she couldn’t go back to a world without him.
She wouldn’t.
“We have to talk,” she said as she reached the foot of the bridge, grateful that her words sounded steadier than she felt. “I know what you heard, but I—”
“Go away.” Jake’s voice was so ominous and final-sounding that it made Naomi’s teeth ache with dread.
This was going to be bad—his tone assured her of that—but if he thought a forbidding voice was enough to scare her off, he had another thing coming.
“I’m not going away,” Naomi said, gripping the gown clenched in her fists so tight her fingernails dug into her palms through the heavy fabric. “Not until you let me explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain.” Jake was so still he looked like a statue, the moonlight lending a chilling, inhuman air to his handsome face.
At the moment, he didn’t look like he was capable of listening to anything with an open mind, but she had to try to get through to him. She couldn’t let him spend the night alone out here working up a wall of fury and despair so thick she might never crack through it.
“Please, listen to me, Jake,” Naomi said softly, stopping several feet from where he stood, sensing that he wouldn’t allow her to get much closer. “I know how much you must be hurting right now, but I—”
Jake laughed, a brittle sound that made her shiver. “I’m not hurting. I’m mad as hell. And disgusted with both of you. So if you don’t want a split lip to match my brother’s, I’d suggest you get back in your car and leave.”
Naomi’s eyes widened at the threat. She was shocked, but not the slightest bit afraid. He was bluffing. She knew that the way she knew Maddie’s cookies were heaven sent, and being outside the circle of Jake’s love had to be some level of hell.
“That’s crazy,” she said, taking a step closer. “You’d never lay a hand on a woman in anger.”
“For you, I’ll make an exception,” he said, but his scary voice had lost its edge.
Naomi shook her head. “Stop it. I know you better, and I’m not leaving. I’m not going anywhere until I convince you that none of this matters.”
Jake’s fists balled at his sides. “You slept with my brother and lied about it, and you think none of that—”
“I didn’t sleep with Jamison.” Naomi’s pulse leapt as anger flared in her chest. “Did he tell you that I slept with him? Because we didn’t. We never—”
“He said you spent the night together before you left town.”
“Yes, we spent the night together,” Naomi said, the hope that this might be smoothed over more easily than she’d thought sparking to life within her. “We kissed and maybe a little more. I drank so much vodka that night I honestly can’t remember every detail, but I know we didn’t sleep together. I mean, we shared a sleeping bag, but we—”
“I’m not interested.” Jake turned to brace his hands on the bridge railing, staring out at the railroad tracks. “It doesn’t matter if you slept with him. You betrayed me, and you lied about it. And now, we’re over.”
“No,” Naomi said, her voice catching. “No, we’re not over. I didn’t lie. I just—”
“I don’t care!” Jake shouted before clenching his jaw and ducking his head. He took a breath, his shoulders rising and falling, before adding in a more controlled tone, “Go, Naomi. Leave me alone.”
“I wasn’t trying to deceive you, Jake. I just didn’t see the point in telling you something that would serve no purpose,” she said, closing in on him, refusing to give up. “What happened with Jamison was a dumb mistake I made when I was a stupid kid who had no idea how rare what you and I had was. But I’m not a kid anymore, and I would never do anything like that again and I—”
“Go away,” Jake repeated as she stopped beside him, his gaze still glued to the tracks stretching away into the distance.
“Please, Jake, please just listen to me.” Naomi could sense the rage pouring off of him, but she reached a hand out to touch his shoulder anyway.
Jake spun, brushing her hand away as if it had burned him. “Fine. If you won’t leave, then I will.”
He started past her, but Naomi grabbed his arm and held on tight. “But what about not letting the bumps in the road steal the joy?” she asked, her voice creeping higher as Jake tried to pull away. “What about that whole speech you gave me last week? This isn’t even a bump in the road, Jake. Can’t you see that? This is nothing. I know your pride is hurt, but—”
“You don’t know anything,” he said, grabbing her wrist, his fingers completely encircling the bone.
“Please, I’m not—”
“What if I had been with Maddie?” he asked, the question banishing her protest from her lips. “What if I had been with her, and kept it from you for fifteen years? Would you still think it was no big deal?”
Naomi hesitated, breath coming faster as she thought about what Jake had said, knowing he deserved an honest answer. “I…I don’t know,” she said. “On one hand, what I didn’t know wouldn’t hurt me, but I… If I ever found out I would be angry. And hurt.” She paused before adding in a soft voice, “I would feel like a fool.”
“Not a fool, a child,” Jake said, his voice vibrating with emotion. “But I am not a child incapable of handling things I don’t want to hear, Naomi. And I’m not some fragile fucking flower you and Jamison had to protect.”
“I never said that you were!”
“You kept this from me because you’re a coward,” Jake continued, making her flinch. “You didn’t want to deal with how messy things would get if I knew what you’d done. You may have convinced yourself that you were doing this for my own good, but I know better. You were lying for your own good, because Naomi is always number one on Naomi’s list.”
Naomi frowned up at him, tightening her grip on his arm. “You’re wrong. I wanted to tell you at first,” she said, pushing on when he rolled his eyes “I did. I swear I did. I wanted a clear conscience, but the closer we got and the deeper I fell back in love with you, the more I realized my clear conscience would come at too high a price. I love you. I want to protect you and make your life better and happier, not bring you more pain. And that’s why I kept the secret. Because I knew the truth would devastate you, even though there’s absolutely no reason it should.”
“No reason?” Jake’s voice was colder than the frigid air making her bare shoulders numb. “You call cheating on me with my brother—”
“Fifteen years ago! Fifteen years, Jake,” Naomi said, pleading with him to see that this was nothing they couldn’t get past. “That’s half a lifetime. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. We’re what matters. You and me and the life we’re meant to have together.”
“Let me go,” he said, his grip tightening on her wrist. Naomi knew if he squeezed much tighter she’d be forced to let him go.
She only had a few more seconds, one more shot, and everything left to lose.