“Don’t know and don’t care.” He pulls my face down to his, kissing me deeply. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I know, but we agreed to be careful. And I need to check on Chad.”
“Of course.” He presses a kiss between my breasts. “I’m just being greedy.”
He watches me shimmy into my jeans, sans panties, and grab my shirt off the floor. He trails a finger up my uninjured arm. “What did your mom mean about Ares?”
I stall with my shirt halfway over my head. Fuck. I knew he wouldn’t let that go. I might as well come clean. He’s going to be my husband, my baby daddy, and I can’t keep secrets from him. Letting my shirt fall down over my body, I turn to face him. “You can’t tell Chad.”
He nods, wrapping a finger around my blonde hair. “What did Ares do?”
I tell him everything about that night in the shower, and his features grow angrier with every word out of my mouth. “That fucking manipulative bastard!” he growls when I have explained it all. “Just say the word, and I’ll kill him.”
I laugh until I see he’s serious. “Jase.” I cup his gorgeous face. “You can’t just offer to kill him like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not fucking normal!” I kneel beside him. “I know it’s the way you’ve been brought up, but you can’t go around killing people who piss you off.”
“It’s more than that, Ash, and you know it! He took advantage of you.”
“He did, but I didn’t fight him. I let it happen.”
“Do you think he would have walked away if you said no?”
“I don’t know for sure, but yes, I think he would have.”
Jase stares at me for so long I wonder if he’s turned into a statue. “You’re into him,” he quietly says.
“What?” I rear back, offended. “No! Of course not.”
“It’s okay to admit it, baby. I won’t be mad.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“No. You can’t help who you’re attracted to. Even if the guy is a jerk, I can admit he’s a hot jerk.”
“Well, I’m not into him.” I slide my feet into my sneakers. “So, you don’t need to worry. And I can deal with this myself.” I pierce him with a pointed look. “Bree is looking for dirt I can use to blackmail him, and I’m confident I can handle him. You are not to do anything, Jase. I won’t have you fighting my battles for me.”
“Okay.” He readily concedes without argument, and I’m grateful. He pulls me in for one final kiss, and I go willingly, sighing into his mouth as I melt against him. Jase is an unbelievable kisser. It’s like he is making love to my mouth every time, and he casts a spell on me. “Message me when you get home.” His lips tip up when he spots the lovestruck, dazed expression on my face.
Fucker knows he’s a freaking god in the bedroom.
I roll my eyes. “Jase, it’s only next door.”
“I don’t care. You know the world we live in now. Always expect the unexpected.”
I suppose it’s good advice. I just need to wrap my head around all the ways in which my life has changed. It’s not something I can get used to overnight. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I ruffle his hair and sneak one last kiss before I tiptoe out of the room.
Quietly closing the door, I turn around just as Ares slips out of Julia’s room. He notices me instantly, and we stare at one another for a few silent beats. Then he smirks his usual annoying smirk, and that snaps me out of it. I flip him the bird as I walk past, glaring at him over my shoulder when he swats my ass.
We walk in silence back to our house, neither of us saying a word as we make our way upstairs to the bedrooms. Jase’s words bounce around my head, and I wonder if that’s why I’m irrationally pissed off at the thought Julia was telling the truth earlier. Why does it bother me if they are fucking? What is Ares to me but a nuisance foisted on me by our parents’ marriage.
Julia is welcome to the asshole.
Hopefully, she’ll annoy him so much he’ll slit the bitch’s throat and do us all a favor.
I slip inside the guest bedroom where Chad is sleeping and ease myself down into the tub chair pulled up beside the bed. Mom had texted earlier to say she moved him here and changed the sheets on my bed. I can’t recall a time when my mother ever changed my bed, so I guess she is trying. Still, it’s not enough to instantly forgive her for all the ways in which she has failed me and lied to me.
