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I lose the battle with myself and the floodgate of tears flows free. The sobs are uncontrollable as I finally release the pent-up anger and sadness I’ve been holding in for days.
I didn’t do anything to deserve this. I was good to Magdalene, and even better to Jacob. If nothing else, I regret the day I confronted Asher Jordan. I should have reported him and left it at that, but I didn’t. My big mouth led to this heartbreak. I did this to myself.
“Jade… Jade, please say something,” he says. “Don’t cry, please don’t cry.”
My mouth opens and closes several times, but I can’t bring myself to say more. Instead of any words coming out, I sit there on the edge of the bed, sobbing.
This is wrong, all of it. I thought I could handle confronting him, but I was wrong, this hurts too much.
“I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry, Jade,” he says in a soft voice.
I hear him, but his words may as well be falling on deaf ears. His apology is hollow in my opinion. This is the second time I’ve been in this same position with him apologizing and it has officially gotten old.
Sorry doesn’t fix my broken heart or get my job back. Sorry doesn’t repair the shattered relationship I now have with Magdalene and Jacob. Sorry doesn’t do a thing for me right now.
Chapter 32
ASHER
My plan is going to hell in a handbasket, and I can’t bear listening to Jade sob into the phone like this. She needs me, and she needs me now. I don’t know what made me think I’d be able to smooth things over on the phone, but I was dead wrong, and I need to enact a new plan, because I need her too.
I head over to the elevator and push the button for Jade’s floor, with no set plan in mind other than getting to her.
“Jade? Hello? Can you hear me?”
She’s no longer yelling at me, but I know she’s still there because I can hear her crying in the background. This isn’t what I’d envisioned. Listening to her cry and hearing the pain in her voice is like a knife twisting in my heart. If I’m hurting this bad, I can only imagine what she’s going through.
Clearly Magdalene has lied to her about the details, but I hope Jade lets me clear the air and set the record straight.
I bulldoze my way out of the elevator and head down the hall in search of Jade’s room. Once her door comes into view I close the distance in two fast steps.
“Jade!” I scream her name and pound on the door with my fist. “Please open the door!”
My fists pound the door over and over, until suddenly it flies open, and there she is, with her red tear-stained face. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail and her eyes are puffy.
Everything unfolds within a split second, even though it feels like a lifetime. I step forward and wrap my arms around Jade and to my surprise she doesn’t fight back.
“I’m sorry,” I say over and over like some type of meditative chant.
She buries her face into my chest as she sobs loudly. “How could you betray me like this?” I hear through the cries.
I tighten my grip and rock her back and forth slowly.
“I didn’t,” I whisper. “I didn’t betray you. You mean too much to me, and if I don’t know anything else, I know I would never betray you, at least not on purpose.”
“But Magdalene said—”
“Magdalene is a liar,” I proclaim boldly. “I’m going to tell you the truth if you just give me a chance. I know it probably won’t change your mind about the situation, but I still want you to know.”
I lead Jade over to the bed and we sit on the edge, facing one another.
“Yes, I dated Magdalene, but it was brief, nothing serious. She was a part of the social circle I’m in and one thing led to another on a few of those dates,” I say.
Jade grabs a tissue out of the box on the nightstand and dabs at her eyes. “Go on,” she says. “Tell me everything.”
I exhale and run my fingers through my hair. “There was no real chemistry between us so I stopped seeing her and stopped taking her calls. She thought she would get back at me by dating a friend of mine. Heath was just looking for a good time, but he got more than he bargained for.”
“That’s for damn sure,” Jade says under her breath.
“Magdalene ended up pregnant, and I’ve asked her on numerous occasions about Jacob’s paternity. She said he wasn’t mine, but the dates were too close for comfort, so I set out to find the truth once and for all. Let me be clear though, I didn’t decide that until after I started seeing you. I didn’t go into this with the intentions of using you to get to Magdalene or Jacob.”
