49 – Joey
The knock at the door of the hotel room had my head snapping up and I climbed to my feet, answering the door.
Jake stood on the other side. His gaze lifted to mine, and he smiled.
Joey. He stepped forward, wrapping his arms around me and we stepped back into the hotel room, as Jake kicked the door closed behind him. I should have felt joy at seeing Jake, of feeling his embrace, but something didn’t ut right in my stomach, and I didn’t hug him back. “I’ve missed you.”
He stepped back, his hands on my shoulders and 1 looked up at him, Jake’s brows furrowed and he stared down at me.
“Are you okay?”
I looked up at Jake and smiled. “Yeah, just tired. Fonly flew in last night.”
Turning, I went back to the sola and curled up on the end of it and looked back to my best friend My gaze raked up and down him and for the first time since we’d become friends, Hailed to see why I had been so attracted to him.
He looked like a generic Asian man
There was nothing remarkable about his features, or his stature, or the way he held himself and if I didn’t know hiri personally, I wouldn’t have been able to pick him out in a crowd to save my life. He was nothing like hus brother, who stood out in every way.
“Where were you?” Jake asked, coming to sit on the other sofa. “I went to your apartment after we got back from Hawaii, but you’d left. I tried to call your dad, but I couldn’t get through to him
Yeah, that one was on me.
I’d called dad after the wedding, when I told him I was leaving, and asked him not to answer the phone, if Jake tried to call.
Obviously, he’d done just that, and I reminded myself to thank him, when I next spoke to him.
“I decided to go traveling for a while. I did say that, when we last spoke.”
The mention of that call had Jake’s mouth turning down in a frown and it was a few seconds before he spoke. “So, where did you go?”
Was he fishing for information?
Had he figured out where I was? I hesitated for a little bit, before I answered his question “All over the place. I’ve been working at random hospitals.”
It wasn’t a complete lie.
I had been in Chicago, and then in New York.
“Cool.“Jake pushed his hand through his hair, and I frowned at his left hand.
The ring was missing.
I tilted my head to the side. “Where’s your wedding ring?”
Jake’s hand dropped and he looked down at it, color racing along his cheeks.
“Uh..” He sighed and leaned back on the sofa. “Phoebe and I are taking a break”
“A break? You’ve only been married for just shy of three months, Jake.”
“Yeah, I know. But we had an argument, and she kicked me out.”
I stared at Jake, wondering if he was joking or not.
When he didn’t say anything else, I let out a huge breath “Wow.”
“Is that all you have to say?” There was an underlying angry tone to Jake’s voice and red flags started to pop up in front of my eyes after being with someone like Alex for the last two months. Jake’s attitude was everything you should avoid. “My wife kicked me out, and my best friend just says wow!”
I blinked
So now, when he was not with her. I was suddenly his best friend again?
49–Jory
Nope.
that I
I was not going to be falling into this trap again. I had already decided this morning, while waiting for him to turn up, would not just fall back into the old ways with him. I had to be more in control, and the one that had taught me to do that, was Alex.
If Jake needed my help, genuinely; I would help him. But otherwise, I was not going to be his puppet anymore. I’d done that far too long and had lost myself.
“What am I supposed to say, Jake? I did try and warn you, about a dozen times, before you married her, she was no good. But you didn’t listen to me, because you were too interested in getting your rocks off.”
It was Jake’s turn to blink, and I watched as the shock of my words sank in, and then the shock was replaced with anger. “OL, wow. I always thought you had my back, Jolene. But now, I know you never did.”
It took me a few seconds to register the fact he had just played victim.
“Me have your back?” I threw back my head and laughed, until I cried, tears rolling down my cheeks. “I did have your back, Jake. For over thirteen years. I was there to help you with everything and never once, did I get a thank you, or any kind of appreciation from you.”
I sat forward, resting my elbows on my knees and Jake’s gaze shifted to the opening of my blouse… and something in him changed.
I’d seen that look before when I was twelve.
I blinked and sat up and his gaze slowly lifted to mine again and for the first time in the thirteen years I had trusted Jake.. I suddenly didn’t
I wanted him to leave.
Now.
But then. Alex’s words slammed into my brain again and I licked my lips.
“What happened to your nose, when we were twelve?”
Jake’s eyebrows furrowed and confusion flitted across his face. “Huh?”
“What happened to your nose? You told me you broke it, playing basketball”
“I di-”
“Don’t lie to me.” Everyone knew when I lied, because usually the embarrassment of the deed, showed on my face. Jake though, could lie like a pro, but I had gotten good at being able to detect when he did. Tell me what happened. Or leave.”
Jake’s lips thinned and he dropped his gaze to the floor. It took him a few moments, but he answered. “Alexander broke it.”
My stomach sank to the floor and my shoulders slumped. 1 knew something had happened between them, but I didn’t realize it had been violent. “Why?”
Jake’s jaw clenched again, and he closed his eyes. “Because I lied to him. I told him I was going to go to the movies with you, when I was really at the park with some older guys from school, drinking and smoking- and you were at the mall..”
His voice faded as the memory came speeding back into my mind.
Jake had told me he was busy, and I had gone to the mall by myself. I had been followed back to one of the parks by some older boys, who had shown way too much interest in me. They’d promised me twenty dollars, if I just lifted my shirt and showed them my…
I’d almost done it-
I had closed my eyes and grabbed the hem of my shirt, but when I had opened my eyes, they had left. I had looked around to see where they’d gone, but I had been left alone.
I’d cried all the way home, because I would have used that money to buy Jake a birthday present for the following weekend.
Jake’s voice brought me back to the present and I stared at him as he lifted his head and looked at me. “Alex was the reason those boys left you alone. He’d followed, after seeing them trailing you from the mall and stood in the shadows behind you, to make sure they didn’t hurt you. After he scared them off, he followed you home to make sure you were safe, then found me and smashed my nose in, for lying and not being there to look after you.”
49 Jory
My bottom lip trembled, and every good thing Jake and I ever had shattered into a million pieces. I stood, glaring down at him. “I think you should leave.”
Jake stood and stepped forward, his hand coming out. “Joey”
I shook my head and stepped back. “I said you need to leave.”
I turned and walked toward the door, ready to open it and push him out if I had to. Jake grabbed my arm and tried to get me to stop. “Joey!”
I rounded on him, whipping my hand up and slapped Jake across the face.
He let go of my arm, taking a step back, before looking at me. A thin line of blood dribbled from his lip, and he lifted his hand, wiping it away, before he looked at me again.
I’d never had Jake angry with me, that was something he’d managed to keep hidden, but the anger I saw in his gaze showed me he wasn’t who I thought he had been.
My sweet best friend, the kid I had met, when I was only ten years old, was gone and had been for some time, I had just been too blind with my adoration of him, to see it
I stepped closer and glared up at him.
“You asked me where I’ve been for the last few months? Well, let me tell you. First, I went to Chicago, because I couldn’t stand being here, after you married that bitch, you now call ‘wife‘. Then I have been happy for the last two months in New York
Jake stared at me, “You’ve been talking with Alexander. That’s why you asked about my nose”
“Talking‘ Pift. I can tell you now…” I scoffed, “Talking didn’t really happen. Remember when you called me on the Friday morning before the wedding, to complain about me ditching your bitch of a wife on her hen’s night? Well, I’d just crawled out of Alex’s bed.”
I pulled the edge of my jeans and showed Jake the fingermarks on my skin from where Alex had dug his fingers into my hip. while I had gotten off, rubbing on his thigh only two nights earlier. I’d noticed them this morning, when I had gotten changed
“Are you serious? You’ve been fucking him?” There was disgust in Jake’s tone, and I smirked.
“Oh, you have no idea. How does it feel to know your brother, the one who smashed your nose in, can’t get enough of my body. That he treats me like a queen?”
Jake’s jaw clenched. “He’s only doing that to get back at me
1 dropped my hands and rolled my eyes, “For fuck’s sake, when will you understand not everything is about you.”
I turned and walked to the door, opening it and turned back to him. “Now, I want you to leave.”
It looked like Jake wasn’t going to leave and I was prepared to go down to the lobby and get security up here, if I had to. But in the end, he dropped his head and stepped forward and walked out the door. He turned back to me. “He’s going to break your heart. Joey.”
“No, you did that, when you took Oliver’s sister to prom, over me. When you kept looking past someone who would have given everything to you. When you married Phoebe “I watched the color drain from his face and at any other time, I would have comforted him, hoping he would have seen me.. but I was done with Jacob Kazumi. There was no room for him in my life anymore. “Alex has shown me what I am worth, he..”
My voice trailed off as I realized the anger in Alex’s gaze as I had told him I was coming back to Jake, was really pain in me leaving. He had just steeled himself against the heartbreak….
I lifted my head and looked at Jake. “He loves me, and I love him.”
Jake opened his mouth to say something, and I shook my head.
“Don’t bother, nothing you say to me, has an effect anymore. We’re done. Don’t call me, or text me, otherwise next time it’ll be me that breaks your nose.”
I slammed the door and stood staring at it, my heart hammering in my chest. I almost expected Jake to kick the door or smash it open to get back in and maybe attack me, but when nothing happened after a few moments, I stepped forward and looked through the spy hole.
The hallway was empty, and I sighed in relief.
49–Jory
Placing my head against the door, I started to laugh.
~to him?
Why the fuck had it taken so long for me to stand up to him?
It was because I hadn’t been supported, as I had been by Alex.
Alex
Turning. I raced back to the sofa and picked up my phone, dialing his number.
It went to voicemail, and I frowned. Dialing again, I called his office.
Again, it went to message, and I started to feel sick to my stomach.
I scrolled through my contacts and found another number, dialing it. It picked up after the first ring. “Jolene?”
“Oliver? Is Alex, okay? He’s not picking up his phone, and the office is going to voicemail.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if Alex’s best friend hung up on me. No doubt he would have known I left, to come back to Jake. “He’s alive, if that’s what you’re wondering. But okay? No, he’s not okay, Jolene.”
1 frowned and closed my eyes. “I-
“Did you find out what happened ten years ago?”
I nodded “Yes”
“Good. It’s been killing Alex not being able to tell you. Oliver sounded relieved, obviously he’d been holding it in too. “Do you love him?”
My eyes opened and I nodded again, even though I knew the big man on the other end of the line couldn’t see me, “Yes.” “Then you need to get on the first plane back to New York and tell him. He’ll be at the Jade Dragon from seven tonight. I’ll get a flight for you. Don’t be late. I’ll have a car pick you up when you arrive.”
The phone clicked and I blinked, staring at it.
Picking myself up, I packed everything back into my case and left the room, heading down to the lobby. Checking out, incurring any fees I had to, I looked down at my phone as it pinged.
You have an hour to get to the airport.
I scrambled out of the hotel and took the first cab back to the airport. I was going back to New York; to tell Alex I loved him
