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“What the fuck is he doing here?” I hissed in a low tone before taking another drag out of my third cigarette since I got here, not bothering to look at them.
“I brought him here so we can stop the bleeding,” Francesca replied.
“Be my guest,” I mumbled before abruptly getting up from my seat and heading for the door as they helped Jax sit on the couch.
“Matt, wait.” I felt Francesca’s hand grabbing my arm before I heard her voice. She followed me out of the office and closed the door behind her before speaking again, “Can you tell me what the hell happened?”
“Your little boyfriend over there? He’s a Naoki. He’s Hiro’s son. Better ask him what’s happening.”
“What? He’s not my boyfriend.”
“You fucking ran to him, Francesca,” I shouted, motioning to the closed door where Jax fucking Naoki sat bleeding onto the Italian leather of my couch. “You didn’t even bother looking at me. It was clear as fucking day that I wasn’t even on your mind.”
“Matt, his nose was like an open faucet. Come on, I was just trying to help.”
“He’s a fucking Naoki, Francesca!” I shouted again, trying to make her see the reality in front of us. “Remember? The ones that are after you. The ones that tried to make you believe I cheated on you. He’s here to take you with him, and I don’t see you all that bothered about it.”
“Jackson would never do that. It’s not him, I’m sure. He would never hurt me.”
She seemed so certain, so quick to vouch for him.
“He wants you unharmed, remember? Just as Gio said. Makes perfect sense now. And since you hold him on such a high fucking pedestal, maybe you should ask him who got me arrested by planting a fucking brick of coke in my car. Who got me expelled from college. Who made my father think so lowly of me that he told me he preferred I had been the one–” I was still yelling by that last sentence but couldn’t find it in me to finish it.
She didn’t deserve my truth. Not now, anyway.
“That’s not the person I know. Jackson is my friend. He helped me through the worst part of my life.”
“I don’t even know what that part of your life was. You don’t speak to me. How can I ever help you, or be with you, or even fucking understand you if you don’t trust me? How can I ever live up to that?” I asked in exasperation, pointing to the shut door again.
He would always play a bigger part in her life because he was on the inside, and I was just a spectator.
“It’s not like that. He just happened to be there. And he stayed, came hell or high water. So excuse me if I think of him as a good person and tried to help him.”
I’d never felt this way in my whole life. I fucking hate it.
I glared at her, wishing I wasn’t here right now, looking straight into her eyes, letting her see how much she had crushed me, taking my time before I answered.
“You helped, alright. You helped me see exactly where I still stand with you.” I turned around and left her standing there, with no intention of coming back any time soon. “Liam or Max can take you home, if your precious Jackson doesn’t beat them to it. Better yet, they’ll take you to the airport and get you both a plane ticket to Detroit. Here, it’s on me.”
Without another word, I threw my credit card at her and left.
Chapter 30
Francesca
Matt left me standing in the hallway alone, his Platinum Amex thrown at my feet.
Any other day, that action would have revolted me. The humiliation behind it didn’t even register as such. It came from a place of hurt, not belittling. Plus, today, I deserved it.
I had no idea that they knew each other, never mind all the bad blood between them. And somehow, I made it look like I’d chosen Jackson over Matt.
The disgust in Matt’s eyes wasn’t enough to hide the pain I saw there, too. My heart was squeezed so tight in my chest that I couldn’t even say anything to stop him as I tried to make sense of the situation.
It was hard to believe that the Jackson I knew would be capable of any of that. I didn’t doubt Matt, yet a part of me was certain Jackson wasn’t here to take me. He would never hurt me like that.
Jackson had been there to help me after Eric. He was there the day my brothers took me to that church, holding my hand as I watched the man I loved get married to another woman. He wiped my tears and after some time, managed to make them dry up completely.
I wasn’t in love with Jackson, and he never was in love with me. But he was the only friend I had at the moment. He was the only person who managed to pull me out of the mud, having nothing to gain from it. Nothing at all. Not even my dearest cousin Amelia managed to patch me up since, at the time, that was something I didn’t have the strength to do on my own.
