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“Just spit it out, Mare.” Jace’s voice startles a squeak free.
“Wha?What?”
“Whatever it is, you’re mulling over in that head of yours. I’m sure I can guess what you’re going to say, but I’m still not sure if it’s my place to air her dirty laundry. What if I embarrass or piss her off by telling you?”
I understand his point. Jace and Jasmine are like two peas in a pod. “I’ll never tell. Not even Alex, if you don’t want me to. She’s my best friend, Jace. I want to be there for her in every way I can, but I can’t do that unless I know the entire story.” I’m coming pretty dang close to stomping my foot in the car to get my way.
Jace chuckles, “all right, you win. What do you want to know?”
“Everything, and leave nothing out.”
Jace clears his throat, reservations thick in his voice. Our newfound love is the only reason he’s revealing any of their demons. “It’s been going on since we were kids, simple things in the beginning. Margret used to pack my lunches for school, but Jasmine would have to pack her own. She’d pick me up randomly for the day to go shopping, but Jasmine could never go. I didn’t understand or see the differences until I was older. Our tenth birthday is when it really hit me. I was hiding in the kitchen, hoping to get a bit of frosting off the cake the maid was icing, when Margret barged in. She started hollering at the maid for putting Jasmine’s name on the cake. She kicked the maid out, then spent a good ten minutes pealing her frosting name off and smoothing it out, as if it were never there to begin with. I knew then that all those things she’s done to Jasmine were on purpose. I almost refused to go to the party, but Jasmine drug me downstairs, so excited. When she saw the cake was missing her name, my heart shattered at the sorrow clouding her smile. It was the last day that she referred to Margret as mommy or even mom. Margret’s jealous of Jasmine for who knows what reason.” Jace clears his throat and swallows hard. “Now that we’re older, and Margret’s high or drunk all the time, it’s not as hard to avoid her. That’s why Jaz goes with me and Alex everywhere. Margret doesn’t mess with her when I’m there. It’s when she catches her alone is when there’re problems.”
He stops speaking and stares out the window. “Are you okay?” I reach over and touch his arm.
He jolts, surprised at the contact. “I’m good.” He’s swallows too but he’s not convincing.
“What about last week?”
“Last week, a couple of things happened. You only know about the one when she came out and yelled at her, but you remember this last week when she wore my clothes for a couple of days?” I nod. “Jasmine beat me home that day and found all her clothes cut up into strips. Nothing’s left behind. Margret left a note on her door that said she helped improve her social status. It devastated Jasmine. I’ve asked my dad about the divorce. He said he’s working on it, but I don’t understand why it’s taking so long. He loves us, so how can he let this go on? I tell him everything Margret does. I’m half tempted to drop out of school and take Jasmine to live somewhere else. I don’t know what else to do.”
We’re quiet for a while before I break the silence. “I had no idea.” I admit, swallowing around the lump in my throat is challenging, and not until this moment do I realize I’m crying. Poor Jaz. She’s the sweetest person in the world and doesn’t deserve to be treated like that, especially by her mother.
“Hey, now. I didn’t tell you to make you cry.” He leans over to kiss my cheek, taking my hand in his.
“I know. Thank you for telling me.” I wipe my tears off with our joined hands. “Now, the next question, what are we going to do about it?”
