Heartbreak Lover (Broken Hearts Academy #2) - C.R. Jane Page 0,53

still in the red because of the two years of his life he’d lost because of me?

I replied before I could think any more on it.

Sorry. I already ate.

He replied back immediately.

Dinner then. I want to make sure you’re okay.

He didn’t include the question mark this time, and I knew he’d done that deliberately. The bastard was trying to leverage the fact that he’d saved my life to get back into it. In a way, I’d needed this kind of sign. He’d acted so like the old him that I’d needed a reminder that Caiden was capable of manipulation like none other.

Maybe the old Everly would have eagerly fallen into his offering, just grateful that Caiden Parker was paying attention to her.

But I wasn’t that person anymore.

I would carry the regret of what had happened between Jackson, Caiden, and I for the rest of my life.

But it would be a cold day in hell before I let Caiden Parker back into my life.

My phone buzzed again.

Caiden: Pizza sound good?

Me: Sorry, I can’t.

Caiden: Can’t or won’t?

I took a deep breath, trying to build up the courage to respond as I knew I needed to.

Just then I heard the garage open, and then a minute later, Jackson walked in, using his shirt to wipe down his body. Not quick or well enough to hide the fact that there was blood flecked all over his skin.

I knew immediately where Jackson had been. And I knew that Landry Evans wasn’t going to be anything but a bad memory from now on.

It was demented at how good it felt to know he’d sought the vengeance on Landry that I could never have gotten on my own. A warm feeling spread through my body, working its way through my veins and bloodstream until the feeling hit my heart, warping and shaping it until Jackson was all it could see.

I’m thankful for what you did, but I meant what I told you the other day. Let me go.

I fired off the text before I could change my mind and marveled at how light I felt having sent it. Three dots signaled that Caiden had read my text and was responding, and then they disappeared. The silence felt like bliss.

Jackson came to a screeching halt when he saw me sitting there, and I knew he must have thought I would still be upstairs…hell, or even gone when he’d walked in by the bashful, somewhat ashamed, look on his face as he watched my gaze dance all over his crimson streaked skin.

Something was wrong with me obviously, because I suddenly had an image of his blood-streaked body bending over mine, moving in and out of me with passionate thrusts until I was covered in Landry’s blood as well.

I shook my head to clear it of my insane thoughts.

“Thank you,” I whispered before he could say anything or try to apologize for what he’d done.

A fierce protective look crossed his face. “Always,” he swore to me.

And for the first time in over two years, I believed a promise that came out of Jackson Parker’s mouth.

“I just need a quick shower, and then we can go,” he told me. His hands were clenching repeatedly like he wanted to tie me to a chair to make sure I didn’t go anywhere.

But he didn’t need to worry about me running…or walking as it were. I’d lost the desire to run, his blood-soaked skin a sacrifice that I didn’t know I needed.

“I’ll be here,” I told him throatily, and a satisfied smirk curled on Jackson’s lips. Of course, the asshole would see right through me right away.

He’d always seen me.

I sat there, mindlessly watching an episode of Vampire Diaries, when Jackson came down the stairs, looking sinfully delicious in fitted black jeans and white T-shirt that was stretched across his chest.

I stood up, fiddling with the edges of my shirt, because it seemed like we were about to go on a date, and in all my years with Jackson, we’d never been on a date.

Jackson prowled towards me until he was right in front of me, his eyes blazing with a smoldering need.

He walked me back until I was leaning against the wall. Jackson closed me in with his arms and then his mouth. For one second, I relaxed into relief at the stroke of his tongue, but then I ripped away, forcing my head to the side, panting. I was determined that we weren’t going to get waylaid by sex today. At least