Page 69 of Don't Lie to Me
“I’m willing to wait for you to figure everything out with Jack, but I also want you to know I’m not going anywhere. I just want a chance to have the family we used to want.”
He lightly brushed my cheek with my knuckles and headed for the door.
I stood in the kitchen, long after he left, polishing off my bottle of wine alone wondering what in the hell just happened. His parting words left me thinking. What stuff did Jack and I have to work out?
He left me. Fired me. And I was left to pick up the pieces and figure out a way to provide for Logan and myself.
TWENTY-ONE
“This place is pretty damn cool,” Macy said with awe as we walked into SkyJump, an indoor trampoline park, for Logan’s fifth birthday party. A dozen of his classmates gathered in the entryway, their parents signing release forms, while Macy and I were standing, mouths wide open at the massive room filled with one enormous trampoline. It was the length of the entire room, had red padding in between the individual trampolines, and they curved up the walls at least eight feet in the air.
It was awesome and I couldn’t wait to get on them and jump off some much needed steam. Dean, Tate and Marcus had already taken off their shoes and joined Logan on the trampolines, jumping around like the big kids they were.
We bounced and jumped for an hour. Tate and Dean stopped halfway through, completely out of breath after doing flips and jumps and trying like hell to impress a bunch of little kids.
Macy and I laughed so hard while we threw ourselves off the wall, that we almost peed our pants. That was my cue to take a break along with the other guys, although Marcus and Macy stayed on, determined to get their money’s worth for every single second.
My legs shook from overuse by the time I got off. I walked over to Dean, fixing my messed up ponytail, a huge smile on my face, my breath panting like I’d just run a marathon. My legs were going to be so sore by the time bedtime hit.
“That was so awesome,” Dean said, while chugging a bottle of water.
“I know,” I breathed out. “Who knew a place like this could be so fun. I wonder how many kids puke on it.”
“Gross. Probably more than we could imagine.” He took another chug of his water and then turned to me, more serious. “How are you?”
“Crappy, to be honest.” I shrugged and smiled at Marcus trying to teach Logan and his friend, Spencer, how to do a back flip. I cringed, hoping Logan’s birthday party wouldn’t end in a trip to the Emergency Room. “I’ll get over it, though.”
“You still thinking of running?”
I pursed my lips. “I was never thinking of running, but sometimes a change of scenery can be a good thing. You of all people should know that,” I reminded him of the night we met and he had said he went out of state for work to get away from his family’s expectations and not just take what he was given.
He shrugged. “Yeah, but I had good reasons. You’d just be leaving because you’re scared.”
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I sent my applications in this week to Chicago only schools.” I smiled and winked at Dean. For someone who I had originally thought was going to be a stuck-up little rich boy, he had turned into a good friend over the last couple of months.
I thought he would smile back, but instead, his shoulders tightened and one of his arms went around my shoulders. I frowned.
“Jack’s here.” He narrowed his eyes and looked out the window to the entryway behind us. “Want me to tell him to leave?”
How did Jack even know we were going to be here? And why was he here? My hands started shaking nervously and I felt my heart begin racing out of control.
“What?” I asked with a voice so shaky I could barely understand myself.
Slowly, Dean turned me around, but kept his hand on my shoulder the whole time so that by the time I was staring at Jack through the windows, Dean was standing completely behind me, both his hands on my shoulders, holding me up.
My mouth dropped and I leaned back into him.
“What am I supposed to do?” I asked as I turned my head to Dean and away from Jack. I couldn’t describe the look on Jack’s face. His lips were pulled into a tight white line and his free hand was stuffed into his front pocket. His eyes were unreadable. Blank and cold and absolutely devoid of any emotion as he stared at the two of us.
“I can make him leave,” Dean repeated, but I shook my head.
“It’s okay, I can handle it.” Dean gave me a doubtful look, but let go of my shoulders anyway.
With shaky legs, I took a few steps out of his protective hold and walked to the entryway doors to meet Jack. It was the first time I had seen him in weeks and I could feel large, angry butterflies trying to burst free from my stomach. I suddenly felt like throwing up and knew it had nothing to do with the thirty minutes I had just spent jumping around.
Jack did this to me. He always made me feel all sorts of crazy. Where before it was in awe and wonder at the man who could make me feel beautiful and desired and wanted like no one else had before, now, I was terrified. Why was he here?
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I met him outside. He stayed on the sidewalk the entire time, never once entering the place we were having Logan’s birthday. He held up a gift bag in one of his hands that was decorated with Star Wars Lego people.
