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That he seemed clueless only pissed me off more, and I welcomed the anger, gladly letting the emotion overtake me so my pain could take a back seat.
Mixed in with the long list of stupid messages from my ex were a few from Aunt Emmie, all of which asked me to call her as soon as possible. I loved my honorary aunt, had been thankful for her when she appeared in my life after I first became friends with Lucy. I was still thankful, and it wasn’t just because she had been responsible for so much of my success so far. She always let me know she had my back.
And while I would have loved to hear her voice in that moment—or better yet, have her hug me—I didn’t think I could make it through a phone call with her without breaking down all over again.
A tap on my door had me lifting my head to find Caleb standing in the doorway. “If they show up, you don’t have to face him. I won’t let him in the house if that’s what you want.”
I thought it over for a moment, but I shook my head. I might not want to face what Jace did, but it was better to just get it over with so I could move on with my life.
Right then, I wasn’t sure how that was possible, or even where my life was going now. For three years, my life coincided with Jace’s. We loved each other; we would always be together. The music world was ours for the taking. I would write him a number one hit song, and we would both get a Grammy for it one day. Or so I’d dreamed.
Now, I didn’t know where I stood in the world without him beside me. The idea of writing another song made me sick to my stomach. And I hated him for making me feel that way about the one thing I’d always had a passion for.
“No,” I told Caleb. “I need to talk to him. I want answers, and only he can give them to me.”
The doorbell rang an hour later, and my heart started pounding painfully. I stood, my chin lifted proudly, and went to answer the door myself.
Chapter 3
Jace
The drive from Charlotte to Wytheville felt like it took forever, but Gray got us there quicker than expected.
After getting that fucking cake, I would have taken off then and there if Kassa hadn’t stopped me. My little sister refused to let me go alone and threatened to turn Gray loose on me if I even tried to drive myself.
I let her take charge, using the drive to text and attempt to call Kin the entire way. She didn’t answer, not once. And the texts were viewed but never replied to. That she wasn’t answering, wasn’t screaming at me, told me more than she probably wanted me to know. She was pissed, sure, but she was hurting more.
I didn’t know what happened between the time I kissed her goodbye at the airport on Thursday and now, but that cake scared the ever-loving fuck out of me.
You lied. Again. I’m done.
I didn’t know which lie she’d found out about, but I would confess them all to her tonight. There was no way I was going to lose her. Not now, damn it. Not when I’d finally gotten everything sorted out and I could finally come clean to everyone.
A familiar golf course came into view, and I realized we were already in Kin’s neighborhood. My knees began to bounce, and I tried to breathe deeply, hoping to calm my racing pulse. I needed to keep my cool, tell her the truth, no matter how much it hurt the people I cared about the most.
Gray pulled the rental into the long driveway. A few lights were on inside the huge house, letting me know Kin was still awake. I jumped out of the back seat of the car and jogged up the walkway. Pushing down on the doorbell, I waited, my palms sweating with how nervous I was.
I expected Caleb or Carter to answer the door, so when it opened and Kin stood on the other side, I nearly dropped to my knees then and there. Her beautiful blue eyes were swollen, her nose pink from crying. She had on a pair of shapeless sweats and a matching top that swallowed her.
She’d never looked so beautiful to my aching eyes.
I reached for her, needing to hold her, to make everything better. Fix what I’d unintentionally broken. But she took two steps back, the pain in her eyes replaced with a glare that damned me straight to hell, and my knees grew weak.
“Baby, please, just talk to me,” I begged.
She crossed her arms over her chest and my eyes lingered, noting she wasn’t wearing a bra. Fuck, now wasn’t the time to get a hard-on. That fast, no matter the situation, she could make me want her. I craved her night and day, couldn’t get enough of her, but I couldn’t allow my dick to get in the way now. This was too important. She was too important.
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“I asked you, point-blank, if there was someone else.” Her voice cracked. “You said no. You promised me, Jace!” She turned away from the door, marching toward the living room.
I hurried after her. “There is no one else, Kin! I don’t even know what you’re talking about right now, but if you would give me a minute, I’ll—”
“Eden Smith!” she screamed the name at me, and I felt the color drain from my face. Her eyes lit up knowingly. “More to the point, her son.”
My gut twisted, because I could hear Gray and Kassa coming in behind me. Caleb appeared on the other side of the living room, coming from the direction of the kitchen. His normally good-natured smile was gone, and in its place, an intense hate directed straight at me for having made one of his favorite people cry.
“Wait…” Kassa said hesitantly from right behind me, and I wanted to hit pause on everything around me except for Kin so I could explain everything to her without my baby sister finding out anything. “Did…Did you just say Eden?”
