“I’m sorry, Ben. I told him. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Oh, honey, don’t blame yourself for that. It’s not a big deal. I didn’t mean to put you in a bad position. I was trying to get back at him, but yeah. It’s pretty illegal what I did.”
“Okay.”
“I feel like it’s my fault you had a bad day, Jess. I feel terrible.”
“It’s fine.”
She said that, but I knew it wasn’t fine. I was ruining Jess’s life. She was going through a tough time anyway: bad stuff at work, bad stuff at home, her limited free time being taken up by people from my life being rude to her. Everything was my fault. Everything I touched turned to shit—the opposite of the Midas touch.
We were both quiet.
“I just really don’t want to see Cole anymore, Ben. I might have to move.”
Panic washed over me. “I hear you, baby. Can you wait until I get home and we can figure something out together?”
“It’s a little early for us to be fully moving together, don’t you think?” she asked.
“Well, yeah, but... we already do live together,” I said. “And I don’t want to stop.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, babe. I like living with you.”
She gave a little whine. “I miss you, Benny.”
“I miss you, too, hon. I’m real sorry about today. I wish I could hold you.”
“Me, too.”
“I can’t wait to get home to you. Kiss for Daddy?”
“Yeah,” she said with a sad chuckle. “Kiss for Daddy.”
Chapter 42
Jessie
Well, Tuesday had been a shit show. I was determined to make Wednesday better. Mikey seemed equally determined. He had coffee and flowers sent to work for me, garnering an embarrassing number of squeals as an admin carried them through set.
Kitty laughed as my face boiled when the flowers were handed to me.
“Is it your anniversary?” one of the other actors asked.
Kitty snatched the note. “No, it’s just her boyfriend’s cute way to say sorry.”
I swiped the note back, scowling at her. “Mine!”
“You know I’m just nosy and want to see Mikey being cute,” she said.
“You’re lucky you got one that says sorry at all,” the other actor cracked.
The note read, “Sweet Cheeks, Hope today is better than yesterday. I’m sorry again. Gonna give you the biggest hug when I get home. Heart, Jockey.”
My stomach dipped as I took a whiff of the flowers. Irina stood off to the side, distaste apparent in her expression. I grinned as I walked them to the wardrobe trailer.
Ben called when he was getting in bed that night in Detroit. They didn’t have a game but got there a day early. He’d been out with Guy and his best friend, who was also Kitty’s brother. He lived in Detroit and they apparently had a grand old time getting caught up. Ben was nervous about seeing his family the next day, but otherwise, he seemed fine. I’d had some time to cool off and didn’t hold all the stuff that happened Tuesday at the party against him. He, however, seemed to still blame himself for all of it. I told him not to sweat it, and after a steamy little dirty talking session, I went to bed thinking all was well between us.
