Chapter 54 CHLOE

Chapter 54 CHLOE

“You know I can’t do that, Jason,” I replied in the same tone.

I felt his body stiffen before the frown appeared across his forehead. “You can’t, or you won’t?”

“Jason…” I sighed, not in any mood to pick up where we’d left off. “I told you I was still mad at you, didn’t I? Sex wouldn’t magically erase our differences, you know that.”

He stayed quiet for a moment, still half on top of me, the warmth of his skin on mine making it harder to keep the walls up. Tiny had relocated to a spot beneath the table, grooming one paw with the sort of indifference only a cat could manage.

Jason eventually rolled onto his side, propping himself on one elbow so he could see my face properly. His hair was a disaster — the ends of his curls sticking out — and mine couldn’t have looked much better.

“No,” he said finally, his jaw working beneath the stubble covering his face. “I know.”

Something about the resignation in his voice made the anger inside me lose a little of its bite.

“But then again, I already apologized, and I’ve explained what really went on with Stancy. If you want, I can avoid her till we leave?”

Was he asking me or telling me?

And no. I did not want to come across as the woman who couldn’t handle the idea of her man having other female friends. I didn’t want to be jealous… Because I remembered all too well what that green-eyed monster had done to my mother’s marriage.

Fuck, am I repeating that cycle?

I pulled the sheets up around my chest as the chill in the room suddenly felt too stifling.

“Don’t do that on my account,” I said dully, staring at a spot on the wall. Was that a spider web?

He fell back on the bed, raising a hand over his eyes. “Did our relationship mean so little to you that you’d give up without fighting for us?”

“No. But when there are so many— so many secrets, then yes!”

“What other secret is there, Chloe?” he asked, lifting his arm to look at me. His eyes were tired. Sad even.

“Why do you not get along with your brother? Why did so many people at the reunion think you would end up with Stancy if you guys were just friends?” I air-quoted the ‘just friends’. “I have so many questions, and you won’t answer me!”

“And if I answered every one of them right here – right now, would that satisfy your curiosity?”

“It’ll be a start,” I hedged.

“Fine, then.” Then he was silent for a long while; I thought he’d changed his mind about coming clean.

“Where do I begin? Stancy,” he started, his voice slow and so quiet that my ears strained to hear him. “We’ve practically been friends since we were in nappies, like I already told you. Our parents are friends and neighbours, and since we attended the same school, people often teased us about how close we were. If anyone made any such remark at the party, then it was just good ol’ ribbing, and nothing more.”

Hmm… That did not explain why Stancy was acting like I’d stolen her man, but anyway…

He turned over onto his back. “As for my issue with Derek, we’ve never really been close — cause we aren’t actually brothers.”

I turned my head toward him in shock. I hadn’t seen that coming at all.

“Not by blood anyway,” Jason continued, looking at me. “His parents died in a car crash…

My eyes widened with shock.

…so when he was six, he came to stay with us, and my parents legally adopted him because his—” he broke off, shaking his head ruefully. “That’s a story for another day.”

Now, my curiosity was piqued, but why interrupt him while he was on a roll?

“So,” I said, after he’d been silent for a while, as if reliving old memories. “You guys don’t get along because you aren’t actually related?”

“No, not just that,” Jason said, shaking himself out of his reverie. “It’s because Derek never wanted a relationship with me from the moment he arrived at the house. I think he secretly hated me for still having what he’d lost.

I tried to talk to him, really tried.” He gazed deep into my eyes, like he was willing me to believe him, so I nodded, smiling at him encouragingly. “I’m older by two years, but Derek has this… sort of hardness about him—”

Tell me about it…

“—he scared me a little. If I’m being honest, he still does. He was pretty notorious back in high school for being brilliant in academics, and with the girls.”

As if he were bracing himself for the next part, Jason sat up in bed, resting his back against the headboard. I felt a little foolish lying there while he was sitting, so I scooted over to sit up beside him, our shoulders rubbing against each other.

“I already told you I played basketball.”

I nodded. He said he was pretty good at it too.

“Well, basketball players were a huge deal then — after the soccer players, that is. ‘I’ was a huge fucking deal—”

My brows rose. This was the first time he was cussing since he started talking about his past.

“—until Derek fucked my girlfriend right in the locker room — a space that was a second home to me.” His voice was harder now. “And everybody knew about it, except the clueless elder brother.”

Growing restless, Jason got out of bed and began pacing the floor, still in his birthday suit. “I found out before Stancy overheard a group of girls laughing at me — the victim!” He pointed a finger at his chest.

Fuck, this was bad. This really was bad.

My breaths came in short, choppy pants. I was hyperventilating and praying Jason was too far deep in his grief to realize what was happening. Because how was I supposed to tell him that history was likely repeating itself?

‘It’s not the same,’ I argued with that annoying inner voice telling me I was just like my father.

Didn’t you have an affair with his brother while you were already with him?

‘It’s not the same. We weren’t committed back then.’

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

‘Shut up!!’

I shook my head voraciously, tuning back into Jason’s rant.

…So I confronted the bastard, and he fucking laughed in my face — said he did it because he knew I was too spineless to fuck Polly properly. Said she begged him for it…”

My stomach dropped. Why was that sounding so fucking familiar?

‘I don’t know, maybe because you’re Polly?’

“I would have cut my losses; it was Polly after all.” He turned to me again, and I managed to keep my face passive, barely. “Then he said he was going to take all I had from me, including my mom. So I fucking punched him; only Mom walked in just in time to see that, and as she was fussing over him — because he was this little orphan boy, you know? — he turned to me and smirked.

I swear, that smirk pissed me the fuck off, Chloe.”

Tell me about it. I could almost see the corner of Derek’s lips turning up annoyingly. Funny, it used to get my motors humming.

“It was that moment I swore to pay him back in his own coin. Only things never went according to plan…”

What did that mean?

Jason paused at the end of the floor near the door. “So if I say I do not like Derek, best believe I fucking mean it. He ruined my fucking life. And I never my pound of flesh.”

Okay, there were so many things I wanted to ask — like what he meant by ‘Derek ruining his life, but I was too scared my voice would quiver, and he’d see the truth on my face.

I could swear I looked so fucking guilty right now.

He was breathing as deeply as I was — almost like forcing him to recount his traumatic past had done a number on him. Feeling the weight of my guilt lying heavy in the pit of my stomach, I got off the bed, still clutching the sheets, and opened my arms to him.

Jason fell into them, and for a moment, his body shook slightly with unshed tears. And I couldn’t help the feeling that I could alleviate some of his pain.

I’d already betrayed him once. Maybe more — but that wasn’t something I needed to examine right now, was it?

So what if he’d kissed Stancy — which he didn’t — and so what if he’d left for a short while at the party; surely it couldn’t compare to my transgressions?

Why was I even stalling, even after he’d apologized so thoroughly?

From everything he’d said earlier, Derek had been using me to get to his brother — if he even considered Jason his brother anyway….

The bastard.

When the thought of how I’d so easily thrown myself into his arms flashed through my thoughts, I almost barfed from the sheer disgust and shame I felt.

Why had I even entered a committed relationship in the first place? I was so fucking damaged, and now I was bringing an entire family into my mess.

Jason’s arms tightened around me just before they loosened, and he stepped out of my embrace.

Staring into my eyes, searching, he asked, “I’ve told you all you wanted to know. So will you take your ring back now?”

There was no logical reason to refuse him anymore. It wasn’t like I could just say:

‘Oh, well, I slept with your brother multiple times before, but hold your horses, you were a better lay than he was.’

Because, for one, I’d be lying.

Jason was staring at me earnestly now, his eyes full of so much hope that I couldn’t bear to disappoint him, again.

“Yeah, of course I wi—”

The last word wasn’t even out yet before he cut me off with a hard kiss.

“Oh, babe. Stancy won’t be a problem again, I swear it. I’ll set clear boundaries this time, and there’ll be no more situations like the party anymore. I’ll make sure of it.”

I smiled, as if I was in the moment with him. As if I was screaming in my head.

What the fuck was I doing?

“...married right now…”

I blinked back to reality, dread gathering in the corner of my chest.

“What did you say?”

Surely I’d heard wrongly.

“I think we should get married right now—” he repeated, still beaming.

Yep. I heard right the first time.

“There’s a courthouse in town. Get the paperwork done,” he continued. And then, when I remained unfazed, not displaying the appropriate level of excitement, Jason deflated. “I just thought it was a great idea, babe. We’ve been together for two years now. Why waste any more time?”

“No, it is,” I said, forcing my lips to curve into a smile.

What are you fucking doing, Chloe?

“I can get ready in ten minutes,” I powered on, ignoring my inner freak-out. “Not like I wanted a big wedding anyway.”

“We can still have a proper afterparty, though,” Jason rushed to assure me. “For the family.”

And just like that, I found myself searching for my luggage for a dress fit for a wedding.

‘My wedding.’

The words should have filled me with excitement. Instead, my mind was occupied with thoughts of what Derek would think of me when he heard about my marriage to his brother.

And what said brother would do when he found out I was keeping such a huge secret from him.

Yeah, I was going to need a minute to freak the fuck out.