“You own me, Josslyn. I don’t think you realize it, but you fucking own me,” I say as I take a breath.
She smiles, the first real smile I’ve seen from her in days, and kisses me as I lift her and start walking to the bathroom. After we shower, we lay in silence for a while.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Leo,” she says quietly, her voice breaking when she adds, “When I saw Tate’s name on the paper … You don’t think Tate … I mean, Tate wouldn’t…”
She starts crying before she can finish her sentence. I pull her closer and shut my eyes, breathing out slowly. Tate might be an asshole, but he’s not capable of doing something like this. Not committing murder or leaving my sister there, assuming he was there with her. That doesn’t mean he doesn’tknowsomething. It definitely doesn’t mean I don’t want to fucking kill him. He’s fucked up too many times for me to ignore this slight. It’s not only that he was sleeping with my sister, but he hurt Josslyn and I can’t—won’t—stand for that.
All this time, I had Tom following Titus and Josslyn for nothing. For a short time, Tate was on that list, but every time I saw a picture of him, my blood pressure began to rise, so I stopped. I couldn’t stand to see his smiles or know he was going to see Josslyn. Knowing he had her—period. I should’ve known then that my visceral reaction to anything Josslyn-related was more than just a need to fuck her once.
She sits up and covers her face with her hands. “I missed practice.”
“You don’t need to worry about that right now,” I say, sitting up and cupping her face.
I can’t stand the glassiness in her eyes or the pain I know she’s feeling. For a moment, I feel like an asshole for not comforting her the moment I walked into the coffee shop, but when I found her on Tiago’s lap, I just reacted. And I know if I had to turn back time, I’d do it all over again. All of the self-restraint I’ve practicedmy entire life goes out the window when it comes to her. I pull her into my arms and kiss the top of her head as she cries softly.
“I feel so stupid,” she whispers. “How could I be so blind?”
“You’re not stupid.”
She trusts too easily and is too good to undeserving people. Including me. I won’t point that out, though, because it wouldn’t make a difference. I’m not good enough for her, but I’m not letting her go. Besides, I’m trying to be better. Every day I make a conscious effort to be the man she deserves.
“You’re not stupid,” I repeat, kissing her. “You’re beautiful.” I kiss her again. “And kind.” Another kiss. “And loving.” Another kiss. “And mine.”
“Would you let me go through your phone right now?” she asks, her voice wavering.
“Yes,” I say, no hesitation.
She pulls away further and studies my face. “Really?”
I reach for my phone on the nightstand, hand it to her, and give her my passcode. She blinks rapidly a few times, as if she can’t believe I’m trusting her with this, which annoys me to no end, but I don’t let it show. Fuck Tate for planting seeds of doubt in her head. I watch as she goes through my texts, which are boring as fuck. She glances at me and the spark of amusement in her eyes makes my stomach dip.
“Am I the only one you have normal conversations with?”
“Probably.”
Next, she opens my social media accounts and looks at my DMs, which I rarely check, let alone respond to. Her face pulls in disgust.
“Some of these women are so desperate,” she says. “They’re hot though. You really never respond to any of them?”
“No.”
“Why?” she asks, frowning at me.
“Why would I?”
“I mean before me,” she clarifies.
“Paranoia, I guess.”
“How were you finding your one-night stands?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Despite what you believe, I didn’t fuck my way through Vegas. Most were models or sex workers I met at events or nights out.”
“Really?” she asks, her surprise obvious. When I don’t say anything, she adds, “I’m not judging. I’m just surprised. According to that account with the sneaky pictures of you, you used to take them out to eat.”
“Sex workers eat too, you know.” I feel myself smile when she rolls her eyes. “But you’re right. The women in those pictures are family and people I work with.”
“Even the blonde?” she asks, pursing her lips.
