“It means, if she was only staying with you out of pity, she wouldn’t still be here at all,” Val said bluntly. “Jordin’s not the type to do shit she doesn’t want to do. You know that better than anyone.”
I didn’t respond. Because she was right.
Val pushed. “Does Jordin do anything she doesn’t want to do?”
I swallowed hard. “No.”
“Exactly.”
I ran a hand down my face and let out a slow breath.
“She still loves you. I could see it when she talked about you,” Val said. “I don’t care what you think you see. She still loves you. Maybe not the same way she used to, but that’s your fault.”
I leaned forward, my forearms resting on the balcony railing. The cool air kept my temper even.
“I saw the news, Oak.”
I tensed. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said. “What the hell happened? He looked… bad.”
I sighed, rubbing a hand down my face. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” she echoed, disbelief clear.
“I don’t. I know as much as you, from the news,” I admitted. “He’s not answering her calls. He’s not answering mine either. Not that I’ve tried much.”
“So you just gonna leave it at that?”
I hesitated. “He’s not my fucking problem.” She was starting to annoy me.
“Oh, but he is,” she said, and I could hear the smirk. “Jordin is tied to him now. So yeah, he’s your problem.”
I didn’t respond.
“Look,” Val said, her voice shifting. “I get that this isn’t easy. But if Jordin loves both of you, then you’re both in this. You can either make it work, or you can let it fall apart.”
I clenched my jaw. She was saying the same thing the singer had.
“And another thing,” she added. “You need to talk to Ciarán.”
I scoffed. “For what? I don’t.” I’d already been nice to him when his father died—that was all I had in me.
“Because you need to figure out what the fuck this is actually gonna be. You can’t keep dancing around it, waiting for him to fuck up or for Jordin to change her mind. If you’re really gonna stay, you need to figure out how this works.”
I clenched my jaw.
“You don’t gotta like him, Oak,” she said. “But you gotta deal with him. He’s not going anywhere.”
“After this, he might be,” I rebutted.
“I doubt it. Jordin might be mad now, but she’s not going to give up on him while he’s going through something. She’s a bleeding heart,” she laughed.
I hated that she was right.
She continued, choosing her next words carefully. "Oak... have you even considered that this could be a good thing for you all?"
I frowned. "The fuck are you talking about?"
