I called over and over again in hopes that a number spamming his phone would at least prompt him to pick up in angry curiosity. Then I wondered if the security lockdown blocked his cell signal entirely, which would mean his phone wasn’t ringing. I even considered calling his commander. But… Security lockdown. Impending deployment. Bothering the CO, never good.
Unhappy and out of sorts, I slogged through the rest of my day. School let out and I didn’t even bother with my end-of-day tasks. I just wanted to go home, grab a shower, and wait for Jackson to arrive so I could talk to him.
Except when I arrived home, a second truck sat in my usual parking spot out front. Laramie’s truck. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and prickled like a disgruntled porcupine.
Have you ever tried to talk your instinct down?No, you’re freaking out for no reason at all. Absolutely no danger here! Tell that bad feeling in the pit of the stomach to go back home. You guys need to check reality before you get riled up like this. This is a completely innocent visit from the brother-in-law who has made his negative opinions about me clear as glass. An innocent visit on the day my ex kissed me at a bagel shop, the day after I got into an argument about said ex and her toxic friend.
This is fine. This is totally fine.
I grabbed my messenger bag from the backseat and tried to walk at an unhurried pace up to my own front door. The knob and deadbolt were unlocked, but I still had to put my shoulder behind it to open the door. Something was blocking it from the inside.
Bags. Packed bags. They’d waited on the side of the door, almost out of the way, but their overstuffed ends jutted out to block me.
This is not fine. Go ahead, instinct. Cue the freakout.
“Jackson?” I called, as I forced the door open past the bags and poked my head inside.
I didn’t have to look far. Jackson and Laramie sat in the living room, one on the couch, one on the loveseat. They hadn’t left room for me to sit down. As my eyes adjusted, I could see redness around Jackson’s eyes, and pink tinting the whites from crying.
His face was dry now, though. Dry and too neutral. A steely gaze caught my eyes and held. “Wondered if you’d show your face here today,” he said.
“What are you talking about? This is our home. Of course I’m here,” I said, stepping over the ends of bags to get all the way inside. It looked like a miniature tempest had torn through, plucking Jackson’s belongings from their places while mine remained.
Mostly. Several had tipped over, or sat on the floor as if that careless wind had knocked them there and not bothered to pick them up again. No question who’d done that.
Laramie wore the grimmest, most somber smirk I have ever seen twist someone’s lips. He had to remain serious, since he had clearly stirred up a shitstorm and now had to support his brother through through that odorous gale, but he couldn’t keep that gloat off his face. “Yourhome,” he said. “Jackson’s out of here.”
I ignored him. “Jackson. I have no idea what is happening here, but could you please ask your brother to wait outside? I really need to talk to you.”
“Picture’s worth a thousand words,” Jackson said, and held his hand out to Laramie. Laramie put a phone on his palm, and Jackson, without a glance at the screen, held it up for me to see.
It was a picture of me and Joan at Olde World Bagel. The angle disguised our faces, hid the look of horror on mine, and made a compelling case for me having kissed her of my own free will. And now it all made sense.“I’m sorry. I have debts. He had money.”
“This is a thousand words of bullshit,” I said. “Joan texted me while I was trying to send you a message today. She had my grandfather’s ring. I’d left it in her purse on one of our last dates, and she insisted she give it to me in person.”
“She definitely gave yousomethingin person,” Laramie sneered.
Again, I ignored him. “She tried to talk me into coming back. I told her no, and demanded she give me my ring. Then she grabbed me and kissed me. She said someone had paid her to do it. I don’t know who, but I have my guesses.”
Jackson stared at me with undisguised condescension. “You think my brother paid your ex to kiss you. Why the fuck would he do that?”
“To frame me? To get rid of me? You know he hates me.” I gestured at Laramie. “I do not want to accuse anyone. I have no proof. But I can look you in the eye and tell you, I did not kiss Joan. I have wanted her to leave me alone. You know that.”
“I thought I knew something.” Jackson turned the phone toward himself so he could swipe through it. “See, I told Laramie that maybe some hinky shit had happened and that picture of you today wasn’t right. I said, ‘Sebastian doesn’t want anything to do with Joan anymore. He’s been ignoring her.’ Then he showed me this.”
He held up the phone. It showed a picture of me in the store on the night I’d gone for ice cream. The nameJoanshowed clearly at the top of my phone, but the text of the messages was too small to read.
Again, he swiped the phone, and another picture came up. Me on the hood of my car, smiling a melancholy smile as I texted Jiaying. That picture didn’t show my screen, but combined with the one in the store, and the next one, which showed me looking at Joan’s texts in the parking lot, it put forth a strong implication.
“Pictures don’t lie,” Jackson said. He tossed the phone back to Laramie. “But you do. God, you couldn’t even wait three fucking days to get your lips on her. And that night? I’m back home, crying my eyes out and talking myself intosharing my worst secret with youand you? You’re out talking to your ex behind my back.”
“That isnotwhat happened!” Anger and pain and a gut-clenching fear burned away the initial shock of the confrontation. “I went out and textedJiayingbecauseI didn’t know how to help you.Call her and ask. You already knew Joan had been texting me.”
Laramie shook his phone to indicate it. “Show him your messages. Prove it.”
“I can’t. My phonetried to blow uptoday. I had to turn it in at the phone shop. They couldn’t save the data. Give me a few days, and I’ll see if my provider has logs.” I turned back to Jackson. “I did not cheat on you. I wouldnevercheat on you. Jackson, please. Laramie has set all this up. Ever since you married me, he has done his best to drive a wedge in our relationship.”
Jackson’s stare hardened. “You don’t talk about my brother that way. I know family doesn’t mean shit to you, but mine iseverythingto me. Laramie has always had my back. You just sneak around behind it.”