“That’s hard to do when your past shows up at our wedding—a wedding you called off without even consulting me.”
“That’s rich, Jeff, considering you not only left town, but you also refused to talk to me at all,” I whisper. I can feel the tears stinging my eyes. I hear the emotion in my voice that betrays them. I hate it, but I can’t stop it. I need Jeff with me. I need him to hold me and promise me that we’ll get through to the other side.
Because suddenly I’m feeling like I’m completely alone again.
He lets out an audible breath, but something about it just sounds final.
“Jeff…”
“Katie, I—”
“Just come home. Come home and we’ll work this out. I love you and you love me. The rest will sort itself out in time.”
“I think you need to stop fooling yourself. Hell, I need to stop lying to my own damn self. It’s time we both stop pretending.”
“I’m not pretending about anything,” I deny.
Jeff lets out a bitter laugh. “You know what the difference between us is, Katie?”
“Jeff—”
“I can admit that no matter how much you deny it, for you, it has always been Jake.”
“Jeff,” I exhale, misery welling up inside of me, not knowing what else to say.
“And for me, it has always been you. Just you.”
“Jeff, please—”
“And I tried. God, I tried.”
“You have to let me—”
“I tried so damn hard to be the man you wanted.”
“You still are, baby. I—”
“If you truly believe that, then you’re just lying to yourself, Katie. It doesn’t matter anymore, regardless.”
“I don’t understand,” I whisper, but God, I’m afraid I do.
“All loving you ever brought me was heartache, Katie Smith. I’m tired of picking up the pieces my brother keeps leaving you in. You’ll have to find someone else to lean on this time when he leaves, and make no mistake about it, my brother is just like our father. He will leave you, but I’m done. Loving you turned me into someone I never wanted to be.”
“You don’t mean this. You can’t,” I deny, my heartbeat thudding in my chest so hard that it’s painful to breathe.
“Go back to your dinner with Lennon and Jake, sweetheart. It’s the family you’ve always wanted anyway.”
“Please stop. There’s room for you, Jeff. It doesn’t have to be black and white. Jake can have his place in Lennon’s life, and we can still be together. Lennon loves you. We’re already a family. We can make this work. We just have to want it. We can—”
“That’s the problem, Katie. I don’t want that life anymore. I want a woman who is mine completely not someone who might be in my bed but is thinking of my brother while my dick is inside her.”
The phone goes dead. I bring it down from my ear and just stare at it.
It’s over.
CHAPTER 14
Jake