Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 647(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 647(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
I’m already busted, but I try to act as if it isn’t a big deal. “Are you sure there were only seven hundred and fifty-nine? Last count was seven hundred and ninety-three, and there were another three deliveries before I was informed you had moved.”
“I did move…” She takes a quick breather to calm the edginess in her voice. “But somehow the meal kits still found their way into my possession.” I smile. It doesn’t linger for long. It turns into full-blown chuckles when she mutters with a sigh, “My father is threatening to charge me room and board since my freezers take up more space than me.” Half of Portland would hear her huff. “Don’t laugh. He was serious.” When she giggles out her last word, I laugh even louder. “You’re an asshole, Caleb.”
The tension on my shoulders melts away when I repeat, “Never denied it, Jessie.”
A couple more seconds pass before she murmurs, “Although I appreciate the gesture, I don’t need the meal kits anymore. My family is taking good care of me.”
Now I understand what her father meant about not wanting her to pick between us. Jealousy isn’t something I should feel when she talks about her family, but for some stupid reason it is.
I want to be the person who takes care of her. I just don’t know how to do that since I’ve never been taught.
I guess honesty is a good start.
“I had a run-in with your father today.” I lick my dry lips before confessing, “It was in the bathroom of a church.”
“Oh, Caleb.”
Since she didn’t mean to express her sorrow out loud, I continue as if she never spoke, “He told me to call you. Mentioned that you haven’t been the same since I left.” I wait for her to deny his statement or at the very least, get angry. When that doesn’t happen, I ask, “Is that true, Jessie?”
“I… um—” A whoosh sounds down the line before Jess’s voice is replaced with Heidi’s. “Jess needs to go. Her date arrived early.”
And with that, she hangs up, leaving me more concerned that she’s finally had enough of my shit than learning all my dirty secrets.
CHAPTER 52
CALEB
It took a bit of searching, but I found the invitation Jess mentioned. It was in the last box I placed in the moving truck three months ago, so it was the first one I stuffed into the attic. I tried to encourage Octavia to take it to Jack, but just like I couldn’t force Jess to take the steps I should be taking since I walked away from her, I couldn’t make Octavia do Jack’s either.
He owes her a massive apology, he should be on his fucking knees, but instead of begging, he continuously denies my request to speak to him, leaving me no choice but to storm into his office like I don’t know he pays his security detail well enough they’d take a bullet for him.
“I don’t mean to intrude.” That’s a lie. It’s one of many I plan to tell while confronting a man who is merely trying to keep his secrets hidden as desperately as I once was mine. “But I figured if she told you my name, you’d refuse my request to speak with you.”
Marissa greets me with a smile as if we’ve met more than once. She’s seated around a large boardroom table across from Jack’s desk with two older-looking men in tailored suits. “It’s fine. Come in. We were about to finish up anyway.”
After gathering up her belongings, Marissa shows the men out.
The door has barely closed when Jack snaps out, “You need to make this quick. I have another meeting in ten minutes.”
“This won’t take ten minutes.” I place an invitation to Chains, an exclusive BDSM club, onto his desk before saying, “We heard you were looking for one of these.”
“We?”
Although I could include Jess in my reply, I keep her out of it. Jack has kept his secret hidden for so long because he controls a vast majority of the worldwide media. Jess is a journalist who couldn’t survive the flames if I tossed her into the inferno with me. “Octavia and me.”
After a quick swallow, he asks, “What is it?”
“Open it and find out.” As stubborn as ever, he snatches up the envelope and rips it open. The groove in the middle of his brows smooths when he realizes what it is. “Where did you get this?”
Anger attempts to take hold of my features, but I tuck it away. Jack protected Octavia that night, so although he is partly responsible for Silas’s reintroduction into her life, he doesn’t deserve the anger I feel when I recall how close she came to answering for our grandfather’s charges.
No one deserves the burden of that anger other than my grandfather.
Not even me.