Page 52 of Acceptance
Smirking, Kent shakes his head. “Probably because when people think about Dad, all they seem to remember is his very active sex life with Melanie. Everything else pales in comparison.”
“Fair.”
They shake hands, and Kent heads out to his pickup and takes a deep breath. Why does he feel empty? This isn’t his baby, but he feels connected to him somehow. And the urge to hold him again hits him strong enough to startle him.
What the fuck?
Chapter Eighteen
Griffin’s Beach
Jamie
One week. That’s how long it’s been since the news about Nina came to light. It’s also how long it’s been since Jamie last saw Undertaker.
He hasn’t come home to sleep since their night in the clubhouse. Phone calls go unanswered, and she just gets a text response ofkwhen she texts him to tell him she’s home.
Her fears of not really being loved feel as though they’re coming true, and she fights the tears as she walks through the front door of the house she used to share with her boyfriend.
It’s not just the physical intimacy she misses. What she longs for are the feelings of being safe and cared for. He doesn’t tell her he loves her anymore. She’ll text it since he doesn’t answerphone calls, and he just never responds. It’s hard not to believe it was all just a game she’s lost.
“I can’t keep doing this,” Jamie whispers as she stands in the bedroom.
She doesn’t have much in the house, so she packs what she has and loads it into her car. If she’s wrong—which she prays she is the entire drive to the clubhouse—she’ll bring everything back to the house and unpack them without Undertaking ever knowing she was planning to leave.
Please don’t disappoint me, Frances. Please be in Church. Somewhere you can’t have your phone on you.
Walking around to the back of the clubhouse, she slips in quietly and walks down the hallway until she sees him standing in the main room with Brock. A rolling cork board stands between them, and Jamie recognizes the pictures of Nina pinned to the board. They’re the same photos Undertaker has in his phone.
She can’t blame him for wanting to find the man who killed his ex. If she hadn’t looked through his phone, she’d just assume it all ties to his best friend. She knows Aaron meant everything to him, and losing him was difficult.
“Except losing Nina,” Jamie says under her breath.
The jealousy makes her angry with herself. She’s jealous of a dead woman, but it’s impossible not to be when she’s certain Nina holds the heart of the man Jamie loves. Everything feels like a gigantic lie, and she can’t pretend nothing’s wrong anymore.
Pulling out her phone, she calls Undertaker. “Please, Frances, pick it up. See it’s me and answer. Tell me how focused you’ve been but you’ll be home soon.”
The phone lights up on the table behind them, and Brock points at it. “Need to get that?”
Undertaker picks it up and silences it after glancing at the screen. “No, it’s nothing important.”
The phone almost slips from Jamie’s hand, and she runs outside before the sob escapes in the empty hallway. Her cover would be blown for sure, and she needs to leave. It’s done. It’s all over.
Running to her car, she takes off, not entirely sure where to go. There’s no going back to her father’s house. After he and his stepson tried to kidnap her, their relationship completely crumbled. Not that it was solid to begin with.
“Seems like a running theme in my life,” Jamie says as she blinks the tears away. “He wanted to be my entire world, and now I have nothing.”
The only place to go, at least right now, is the hotel. She can get a room to stay all by herself, but first, she needs a drink.
“Hey,” a familiar brunette says from behind the bar. “I’ve seen you around.”
“You, too,” Jamie says as she fights the urge to break into uncontrollable sobs right there. “I’m Jamie.”
Snapping her fingers, she points at Jamie. “Undertaker’s girl.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Tilting her head, she sets a glass of water in front of Jamie. “Are you okay?”
