Jake

I caught sight of Jamie in the pen with Ed working with her fold. I’d also seen Honey’s car parked out front. In my current mood, I decided to deal with Honey first. Jamie looked happy and I wasn’t ready to spoil that if she asked me about her mom.

What I didn’t expect when I passed through the front door was a man exiting Honey’s room with a box cradled in his arms.

“Axel Spider,” I said with as much enthusiasm as one would acknowledge that they’d stepped in horse shit.

He looked up and was a mirror image of the one I’d seen last night in the post. He hadn’t changed at all, not even his ridiculous hair style. He stopped in his tracks. Honey hadn’t been too far behind him and barreled right into his back, sending him a step forward until he caught his balance.

“Jake,” Honey said, coming from behind Axel.

Was that sorrow or just plain guilt in her eyes? I wasn’t sure what I felt in that moment. She took my silence to add whatever she’d been carrying to his pile. “Can you give us a minute?”

He held her gaze as if silently asking if she was sure. She read it too and nodded. He sized me up and said to her, “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

Points for me for not saying shit when he walked by. I couldn’t see what she saw in him. Yeah, he was what women would say something to look at, but there wasn’t much to him. He’d blow away in a stiff breeze. No way could he handle her like I could. Like I had, just the other night.

Once he was gone, she glanced down at her nails before finally meeting my glare.

“Jake,” she said again.

It wasn’t lost on me she’d used my given name, well, my given nickname not once but twice and hadn’t called me Sugar. Of course she wouldn’t in front of her husband. Did she call him Sugar too?

“So you were just going to leave without explaining yourself?” I asked.

Though she looked remorseful, I wasn’t sure what I could trust anymore. I was two for two when it came to picking manipulating women. Clearly, my judgement was impaired.

Her voice came out small, like I was the one breaking her heart when it was the other way around.

“What’s to explain? We’ve talked about this.”

I tossed my head to the side to wordlessly gesture to the man outside.

“You brought him, though I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“He came in town and I needed help. I hoped to do this quickly.”

Who was this woman and what had I done in the world to deserve being broken twice? And even though I’d known Honey for far less time, what she was doing hurt so much more.

“You know, it doesn’t matter what you to do me. But Jamie…”

I closed my eyes briefly, knowing the world of hurt coming to my daughter.

She held up a hand like I was the one wielding daggers. But after this, she’d caused more pain than any knife.

“I promise I planned to talk to her before I left,” she pleaded.

“And that’s it.” That was all she had to say. “You just waltz into our lives and make us all love you and then you just walk away.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes like she had a right to cry.

“You don’t know what it’s like to need your mother’s love,” she said, moisture starting to leak like a flood from her eyes.

I hardened my heart to them because at first I wanted to reach out to her, draw her into a hug, and tell her everything was forgiven. But I was the one who’d been wronged.

“Maybe not, but you’re the only mother Jamie’s ever known.”

She covered the choking sound that leapt from her throat. I willed my feet to stay cemented to the floor so I wouldn’t console her.

“I love her like my own. But she needs time with Tara, to get to know her. And you need to see if things can work out between the two of you.”

The bark of laughter I let loose bore nothing resembling humor. “The only thing Tara will see is the back of jail cell bars.”

Her eyes sparked with questions or concern. “What?”

I lifted a hand to stop that line of inquiry. “I just need one thing from you before you walk out with your boy toy.”

“Boy toy?”

I didn’t bother to reply. “I deserve the truth.”

She was good, maybe better than Tara. The look of pure ignorance on her face was Oscar worthy.

“Truth about what?” she asked about the same time the boy toy popped his head in the door.

“Is everything okay?”

Considering neither of us had moved, he should have surmised the answer as his glance bounced between us.

“About him,” I said to her.

Honey sighed and then graced him with a smile some would call sad. The events of the past night had jaded me enough to label it practiced or rehearsed. Because someone who could lie to me with such utter ease had to work hard to perfect that look of absolute sincerity.

“I’ll be there in minute,” she said to him, not yet answering my question.

He took another few moments to assess the situation before leaving us alone. I might have appreciated the gesture if he wasn’t the obstacle between who I wanted. And even though she’d lied to me, my need for her hadn’t yet diminished. Wasn’t I the fool? Maybe it was stamped in ink for all opportunistic women to see.

“The truth is I ran into him at my grandmother’s place and he offered to help me.”

I chuckled and maybe that was from lack of sleep. The forced grin fell off my face.

“So a rock star was just…” I wave a hand in the air. “I don’t know… hanging at your grandmother’s, someone he’s not related to unless there’s something else I don’t know.”

“He’s a person like you and me.”

She defended like the point of my statement had to do with his occupation. The point was someone like him doesn’t go to a random person’s grandmother’s house.

I rubbed my forehead. “So you’re just going to pretend there’s nothing between you two.”

She tossed her hands in the air. “We’re friends, not that it matters.”

“You’re right about that. But I didn’t think you’d continue to lie considering he’s right outside.”

Her bafflement was a true testament to her pathological ability to lie with a straight face.

“Lie about what?’ Her exasperation almost stopped me from saying my next words.

She was so damn convincing. I just flat out said it.

“That you’re married to him.”

Her jaw dropped. “What? I’m not married to him.”

The gall of this woman. “I saw the headlines.”

She gave a slight shake of her head. “Did you bother to scroll down when you Google searched me?”

She didn’t give me time to answer, brushing by me with anger filling the spaces between us. Though I thought she would walk out, she called Axel by name.

He must not have been far, because mere seconds later she stepped aside to let him in the house.

“Ask him?” she said.

Something was off, but what I saw on Tara’s phone had been real. Tara couldn’t have manufactured that. And he was here with her now.

When I said nothing, she asked him, “Are we married?”

His frown turned completely upside down. “We were for a day and half. Best day of my life.” She thunked his arm. “Ouch.”

He rubbed at the spot as I blinked.

“But—”

“It was annulled,” she said coolly.

I had to eat crow and no way was I doing it in front of him. “Could you—”

“Give you a minute?” he finished, though he didn’t look happy about it.

I nodded.

“Sure thing.”

As soon as he was out the door, I was in her face, backing her against the wall.

“Sorry,” I said and crushed my lips to hers.

For a second, she melted again me. Then her hands were between us, breaking the seal.

I stared into her eyes and she took the opportunity and used my moment of distraction against me. The slap wasn’t underserved. I rubbed at my throbbing cheek.

“Your sorry isn’t enough,” she cried, a second before she made a dash for the door.

“Wait, I can explain.”

She whirled around and gave me back some of my own medicine. The laugh she let loose came without a smile. “Explain? Really? Did you bother to ask and let me explain before you became judge and jury?”

She had me there.

“Honey.”

“No, I can’t. Not right now.”

When she got to the door, she stopped as someone was there and it wasn’t Axel.