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Chapter no 44 – Jacobโ€Œ

Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2)

Are you okay?โ€ I asked.

Briana had her forehead against the truck window. We were almost home. She hadnโ€™t talked for most of the ride. Or in the hotel room while we packed up this morning. Or anytime, really, since the encounter in the elevator last night.

It was a long moment before she answered me. โ€œIโ€™m sorry I threw up on you,โ€ she said again.

โ€œThatโ€™s never happened to me beforeโ€”in my office job as an accountant.โ€

She laughed a little, but there was no mirth in it.

Lieutenant Dan was sitting with his head on her lap. Heโ€™d been whining and crying to get to her from the back seat so badly I finally pulled over and let him sit with her. Same thing last night. I had to let him sleep on the bed.

โ€œWas that the first time youโ€™ve seen them together?โ€ I asked.

She didnโ€™t reply. I reached over and grabbed her hand. She didnโ€™t squeeze it back.

Something was off.

I understood why she was upset. Running into her ex-husband and the woman heโ€™d left her for and seeing that they were married and pregnant had to be jarring.

But there was something else going on too. She hadnโ€™t looked me in the eye since the elevator incident. And it made a knot form in the pit of my

stomach and my anxiety fire to life.

Maybe I was worried about something that wasnโ€™t anything to be concerned about? She was just in shock and not feeling well and needed some time to process.

But she didnโ€™t take the bouquet this morning. Sheโ€™d been so happy to catch it last night. Sheโ€™d said she wanted to dry it. And then she just left it on the hotel dresser. When I went to pick it up, she said she didnโ€™t want it. It felt like some kind of omen that I didnโ€™t want to think about too closely.

We drove the rest of the way home in silence. When we pulled into the garage, she got out. I grabbed her luggage out of the trunk, but she wouldnโ€™t let me take it up the steps to the house for her. She just mumbled that she had it and started walking, dragging it without waiting for me. When I came in after her, she was standing in the living room staring at the couch.

โ€œIโ€™ll make you some soup,โ€ I said, setting down my duffel bag. โ€œMaybe we can watch a movie? Orย Schittโ€™s Creek?โ€

I came up behind her and hugged her. She tensed. My stomach dropped. โ€œWhatโ€™s wrong?โ€ I asked.

She wriggled slowly away from me, like she was shrugging out of a dirty jacket and didnโ€™t want to touch more of it than she had to.

She turned to look at me with bloodshot eyes. โ€œIโ€™m going home.โ€ I swallowed. โ€œOkayโ€ฆโ€ I said. โ€œIโ€™ll go with you.โ€

โ€œNo.โ€

My heart was picking up. โ€œAll right. When will you be back?โ€ โ€œIโ€™m never going to live with you, Jacob.โ€

It was like a dagger that came out of nowhere.

โ€œIโ€™m never going to live with you, and Iโ€™m never going to marry you. If you want that, find someone else.โ€

โ€œIโ€ฆI donโ€™t want someone elseโ€”โ€

โ€œWell, maybe you should.โ€ She stared at me red-eyed and defiant. Like it was me against her all of a sudden.

I shook my head. โ€œWhy are you fighting with me?โ€

โ€œIโ€™m not,โ€ she said, her voice clipped. โ€œIโ€™m just telling you the way it is.โ€

I licked my lips. โ€œLook. What happened last night was traumatic. Letโ€™s talk about itโ€”โ€

โ€œNo.โ€

I studied her face.

โ€œBriana,โ€ I said carefully. โ€œIโ€™m not going to do to you what he did. If youโ€™re worried about thatโ€”โ€

She burst into laughter. Deep, guttural laughs like Iโ€™d never heard from her.

โ€œYou donโ€™t know what youโ€™ll never do,โ€ she said. โ€œMaybe youโ€™ll get sick of me. Maybe youโ€™ll meet someone else you canโ€™t live without. And then Iโ€™ll come home early and my Bluetooth will connect to your phone when I pull into the garage and Iโ€™ll get to hear my friend telling my husband of ten years how much she enjoyed fucking him on my new duvet.โ€ She cracked up, like this was hilarious.

โ€œOh,โ€ she said like she just remembered. โ€œAnd then he leaves me for her, and while theyโ€™re in my house, eating off my plates and sleeping in my bed, I miscarry our baby. Alone. In my shitty childhood bedroom with my shittyย Smallvilleย posters on the walls. Which worked out great for him because he didnโ€™t wantย myย baby anyway.โ€

I blinked at her. โ€œIโ€ฆI had no idea that happened to youโ€”โ€

โ€œWell, itย did. And no, you wonโ€™t do that to me, Jacob. Becauseย Iย wonโ€™t let you.โ€ She grabbed the handle of her luggage and started for the door. โ€œI donโ€™t live here. I want to go home. I want my mom.โ€

I grabbed her wrist. โ€œBriana, Iโ€™m not himโ€”โ€

She yanked her arm away from me. โ€œEveryย man is him! You areย allย the fucking same!โ€ Her voice cracked on the last word. โ€œYou arenโ€™t until youย are.โ€ Her breath was coming out shaky. โ€œYou wonโ€™t like me once you really know me, or youโ€™ll find someone else or youโ€™ll want something different andย thenย youโ€™ll leave. So just do it now. Save me the trouble.โ€

My chest was rising and falling, sheer panic pulsing inside me. I didnโ€™t know what to say. Everything I said was making it worse, and I didnโ€™t know what to do.

Her face changed a dozen times in the long seconds we looked at each other. Anger. Hurt. Sadness. Fear. And then finally something softer and resigned and broken.

โ€œI need to be alone right now, Jacob,โ€ she whispered. โ€œJustโ€ฆleave me alone.โ€

And she left.

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