Chapter 20

Christopher

I took the rest of the day off work and stuck by Jessi’s side. I helped her with Caleb and danced around their routine, hoping to pick up a few tricks I could use to help her. She was clearly still rattled about the fight with her brother, and I didn’t want to push things.

But I did want to know how it all came out.

“Jess, could we talk?” I asked.

I watched her tense as she laid Caleb down in his crib.

“Can this wait?” she asked. “No offense, but that is what my brother said this morning.”

“All I want to talk about is that. What exactly happened this morning?”

“Let me get Caleb to sleep and we can talk,” she said.

I walked out into her living room and sat on the couch. The couch that still smelled like the two of us. I closed my eyes and reminisced, smiling at how she took control. That was a new side of her. Something I’d never seen in her before. She was always so submissive in bed. My sweet girl who always gave in. But there was more behind what happened this afternoon than her trying something different.

There was almost a need behind it.

And I wanted to know why she felt like she needed control.

“Okay,” Jessi said with a sigh. “Caleb’s asleep. What’s up?”

“You never talked me through what happened this morning,” I said. “We sort of—got distracted.”

“Did you like it?” she asked, with a grin.

“Not the point here, but yes. Jess, what happened with you and your brother?”

“He came over here all hotheaded and asking about us. He kept railroading me and started yelling, and it just—came out.”

“What made him suspect us?” I asked. “No offense, but what happened between us was over two years ago. I was more concerned about him finding out what we’re doing now.”

“So you don’t ever plan on telling anyone about us?” she asked.

“Not the point, Jess. You know how your brother gets. What tipped him off to something that happened two years ago?”

“He said he kept thinking about how distraught I was after you left.”

“What?” I asked.

“Yeah. I don’t know what made him start thinking about it. He was too busy backing me into a corner to say anything else. All he kept saying was the pieces made sense and that I was too distraught over his best friend disappearing.”

“What did you say?” I asked.

“I told him that he was messed up over it too, but that didn’t mean anything. All it meant was that I cared like he did. He kept asking me how much did I care and why I cared and all these stupid questions. He kept getting louder and louder, and Caleb was eating in his high chair and finally it—came out. Just—bam. Right there. On the porch.”

I narrowed my eyes at her as my mind began to turn. I felt like she was hiding something from me. Lying, like she was about Caleb. She was making a habit of this, and if there was one thing I wouldn’t stand for, it was lying. Doing what she was doing in some vain attempt to protect Caleb was one thing, but this had to do with me. Justin and I’s friendship. Jessi’s and I’s relationship. I was directly involved in this one, and she was still lying.

There was no way I was going to tolerate that. Not in any relationship. Platonic or otherwise.

“I know you’re lying to me,” I said.

“I’m not lying to you,” Jessi said. “That’s what happened.”

“You’re holding something back though. There’s something you’re not telling me. I know you, but I know Justin, too. That man hardly ever dwells on the past. It’s one of his annoying little traits. He wouldn't all of a sudden start dwelling on it if he didn’t have a good reason. And you and me screwing around isn’t one of those reasons.”

“You don’t think my brother would care about us fucking, Chris?” she asked.

“Then what prompted him to start thinking about it?” I asked.

“I don’t know! He wouldn’t tell me!”

I heard Caleb’s cries come from his room and Jessi grimaced. She shot up from the couch and I caught her wrist before I stood slowly. She wrenched away from my grasp and strode to the hallway, heading straight for his room.

“That the story you’re sticking with?” I asked.

“My son is crying. Whatever perceived slight you think I’m dealing against you is going to have to wait,” she said.

She stomped down the hallway and I gathered my things. After taking off work and making sure she and Caleb were all right, this was the thanks I got. Lying. A bunch of fucking lies and secrets still untold. I grabbed my wallet and my keys and headed out the door, not bothering to say goodbye.

I had a feeling she wanted me to leave anyway.

Still, I was shaking with anger as I made my way home. I was white-knuckling the steering wheel and grinding my teeth. Why the hell was she still keeping secrets from me? Had I not shown her that I wanted to help her? That I wanted to stick around no matter who the fucking father of her kid was? I sped up as I drove and skidded into the driveway of my beachfront condo, but I recognized a car that was sitting there.

Fuck. Justin was here.

“You,” he said.

I got out of my car as I watched Justin fly down the stairs.

“I need to talk to you,” he said.

“Can it wait? Been a rough day,” I said.

“You fucked my sister.”

“Then I fucked over your sister, so I’m pretty sure I don’t count anymore.”

Justin cocked his fist back and slugged me, landing a punch right against my jaw. I stumbled back into my car and he grabbed my shirt, pulling me close into his face.

“You’re a little piece of shit, you know that?” Justin asked.

“Says the brother who cornered his sister on her porch with her kid inside,” I said.

“You fucked her and left her. You left all of us. What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“Get the hell off me,” I said.

I shoved Justin away as people started to step out onto their porches.

“What the fuck gave you the right to screw my sister?” Justin asked.

“She did,” I said. “We had a consensual sexual relationship and I treated her with respect.”

“Until you up and abandoned her, you asshole,” he said.

“None of you know what I went through!” I said. “None of you understand what was at stake for me if I didn’t!”

“What? Some bullshit career where you get to dance and fuck around with beautiful women all damn day? I listened to my sister cry for weeks, wondering why the fuck she was so angry at you leaving. I sat against her bedroom door and tried to get her to talk to me while you were off screwing over other women like you screwed over her! I was the one left to clean up your fucking mess. We were the family you abandoned.”

“You’ve never been my family,” I said. “Your family keeps so many fucking secrets it’s hard to keep track.”

I could tell Justin wanted to say something, but he clenched his jaw to stop himself.

“Get the fuck off my property,” I said. “Before I call the cops.”

People were looking at us as Justin slammed into his car. He sped off down the road at lightning speed, screeching tires as he careened around the corner. I lifted my hand to my mouth to see if I was bleeding, and groaned when I saw that I was.

I needed to clean myself up and get some fucking sleep. Unlike a lot of these idiots, I had a fucking job to work in the morning.