How to Marry Your Frenemy - London Casey Page 0,98

hearing,” she said.

“Don’t. It’s the truth. And now it’s over.”

“That’s why you’re hurting,” Mom said. “Because it was real to you.”

“No,” I said.

“You’re lying to me.”

I turned my head and saw the stack of folders.

All the information about Mom’s business.

Everything Jackson had done… spending an entire night coming up with a plan to save Mom’s business. Not for her, but for me. He wanted Mom to leave me alone. He knew she was a burden…

My teeth chattered for a second.

“Lying?” I asked. “You’ve been lying for years, Mom.”

Callie, no. Not like this. Please not like this. Don’t do this now…

“You’re a mess, Callie,” Mom said. “Come down to the shop. I can help.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked. “Make some tea? I was the one who kept us alive. I was the one who worked and came up with ideas to get by. You were asleep and I was awake. I was twelve and trying to find a way to negotiate our lease so we wouldn’t get kicked out. Or how about the lemonade stand? Do you remember that?”

“Callie…”

“No. I’ve paid your car payments. I’ve paid your taxes. I’ve covered shortages for your business. Over and over.”

“I never asked-”

“Yes, you did,” I said. “You call me and act stupid. Why do I have to pay this each month? It’s called a fucking car loan. And the worst part is, if I stopped helping, you’d lose everything and end up at my door.”

I was losing myself.

I couldn’t stop staring at the folders.

All Jackson wanted to do was help.

I pushed him away.

“Are you done now?” Mom asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s the thing… I am done. I am done with everything.”

“Your energies are crossed, Callie,” Mom said. “I can help. When you’re ready. Everything will make sense in time.”

I shook my head.

I hung up the call and threw my phone behind me.

I reached for one of the folders.

Then I screamed.

I screamed like I had just seen a spider crawling across the floor.

I pushed all the folders off the table and fell to my knees.

“Jackson,” I whispered. “Where the fuck are you? You’re supposed to be here to catch me…”

I ended up on my butt on the floor.

My blanket was out of reach so I hugged my knees.

I shut my eyes.

I pictured Jackson naked, holding a cup of coffee in each hand, wiggling his hips, slapping his cock side to side, smiling at me.

That’s all I wanted.

Coffee. Cock. And Jackson.

Chapter Forty-Three

Jackson

Callie stopped texting, and I didn’t blame her.

If I wasn’t going to respond, why keep trying, right?

I had my own ways of dealing with pain and grief and being let down. Or maybe it was simply embarrassment. That I let myself go too far this time. I inched my guard down long enough to look around at the idea of love and it seemed right.

The only good was that it happened when it did. We weren’t together for a year or longer. We hadn’t moved in together or did something drastic to our lives.

Except getting married, right?

I looked at my left hand.

I still wore the ring.

Like a complete moron.

I growled and splashed cold water on my face and refused to look at myself in the mirror. If I did, my eyes would beg me to call her. To text her back. I couldn’t do that. Just the thought of her voice made me want to throw my entire life into the air for her.

That wasn’t going to happen.

That wasn’t who I was. Ever.

I hung up the bathroom towel after drying my face.

I had to do it the right way or else Miranda would lay into Liam and Liam would have to have a talk with me.

Liam was my first call.

I should have called Lincoln.

He had a nicer bachelor pad type place.

And the keyword there was bachelor. Which translated to no Miranda.

I went from one pain in the ass woman to another.

At least with Callie when she got on my nerves I could fuck her. Or just go down on her to shut her up.

With Miranda…

I couldn’t bring myself to have a thought like that about her.

I walked into the kitchen to get some coffee.

There was none made.

I looked at the time and understood why.

It was the early afternoon already.

My days consisted of sleeping until the afternoon, wandering around like a hurt puppy, dragging my ass to the gym to say I did something, and then come back to Liam’s where I’d sit around all night long until I fell asleep right around