Dedrick gave her a questioning look before exiting with PJ. It was awhat the hell have you gotten me into?look. She was gonna get an earful from him, for sure.
Jackie and Antonio were alone again. The hum of the AC in the room was the only noise that filled silence between them.
“I have never had a client fire me,” Jackie said softly.
“He’s just upset. I’ll talk to him.”
Jackie held up her hand. “Don’t.” Antonio tried to each out for her, but she took a step back. “I should have known this would be a mess.”
“C’mon Jackie, we been through this already,” Antonio sighed. “It’s as complicated as we let it be. It doesn’t have to stay a mess. The kid is just hungover.”
“Your son just reduced the years I worked for him, my blood, sweat, and tears to…to me being your booty call,” Jackie said, frustrated. “Do you know how demeaning that is?”
Antonio rubbed a hand down his face. “I know. That was wrong of him.”
“I told you from the beginning…” Jackie’s voice was unsteady. “Me, you, and PJ, we all lose if something goes wrong between us. Then what? We’re left to pick up the pieces. You don’t have a son. I don’t have a client.”
“Jackie, he’ll come back around.”
“And if he doesn’t? I can hear the assholes at the firm saying, ‘We knew she’d fail.’”
“Then leave the firm,” Antonio said. “You don’t fucking need them.”
Jackie shook her head, scoffing at his naiveté. “Of course you’d say that. You’re Antonio Steele. Former football star. You’d be you with or without AMW-Elite. But who would I be?”
“You’d be Jacqueline Miles. Marcus Miles’s daughter. And your dad wouldn’t want you to—”
Jackie pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare. You don’t get to bring up my dad. You don’t know me like that.”
“I don’t?”
Jackie knew that last part probably stung. Right now, she was too hurt and angry to care. “I don’t care how much I love being with you. I don’t care how it makes me feel. This…us… We should have let it stay in Vegas. We should have never crossed the line again.”
Antonio stared at her, dumbfounded. “You can’t mean that.”
Jackie wasn’t sure if she meant it or not. In the moment, it was the closest she could come to the truth. Wasn’t that what Mother Mary had told her? To be truthful? To speak with her heart? Her brain was moving faster than she wanted, and her words were trying to play catch up.
Antonio moved closer to Jackie, attempting to place his hand on her shoulder, but she moved out of his grasp. “This weekend, I thought we were…” His voice trailed off.
Jackie looked up. She could feel the beginning of tears stinging, but she refused to cry. She put a hand to her throat. “Like I said, Ant. I don’t think we should—”
“Jackie, please,” he interrupted. “Let’s not do this. Please. Don’t say what I think you’re going to say.”
Jackie looked up into Antonio’s face. His lips trembled, as if he was barely holding on to his emotions. The pain on his face mirrored her own, but she wouldn’t let him see her hurt. Her anguish. Her embarrassment.
“Fine, I won’t.” Her words came out in a whisper. Jackie grabbed her clutch from the table, walking past Antonio and out the door.
CHAPTER 42
