AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smile and nod, letting him press his lips to mine. But what Warren doesn’t say is,but you have to stop letting your mother control you.
It was a hard thing to break, no matter how necessary.
Chapter Forty-Six
“And if you ever find your world falling apart, you can come to mine.”
-f.e. marie
Warren
Monday the office is bustling, everyone seems to be in a fucking hurry today and it makes my brain hurt.
I’d spent the weekend drawing and ravishing Jane’s body and not much else. I had to get to work on the portraits I had planned for the show, new ones that I was really looking forward to doing.
I was using mostly family and friends to get it done. I had some of everyone from the festival up in Fall Springs. I took pictures of everyone, I had Chris and April, I had Alex, Graham’s girlfriend’s little girl who’d wrapped everyone around her finger over the course of the weekend. I had one of Dad and I even had one of CT, standing next to a horse while he was tacking it up.
But the weekend was over and instead of doing what I loved, I was dodging bustling people and coffee trays. I hit Jane’s floor and the noise got worse.
Rolling up to Lisa, I put on my most charming smile and said, “How’s it looking, Lisa?”
“Not too shabby, Warren.” She tapped the newspaper. “People are having a field day though, including that girlfriend of yours.”
I cock my head in surprise. We hadn’t actually gotten around to telling the office about us, mostly because we wanted to keep it professional and I tried not to let it bother me.
“What’s going on?” I pick up the paper and turn to the earmarked page.
And my stomach falls.
On the page is a large photo of Jane and Jasper, his arm wrapped around her waist and smiles on their faces.
But it’s the caption that makes me want to punch something. Or someone.
“Heirs of Leads Energy and Pierce Family Foods engaged.”
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
I don’t look at Lisa as I storm into Jane’s office, my hand curling around the paper until it crinkles.
“—my point is that you had no right to print that without my permission!” Jane yells into the phone, pacing back and forth on her plush rug. She’s so into the conversation she’s having that she doesn’t notice my presence. “Well, who told you that?… She did… Well, it’s wrong. I’m going to have to take legal action here.”
Finally, she glances up and finds me, her eyes widening and falling to the paper in my hand before her shoulder slump. “You’ll be hearing from me,” is all she says before hanging up the phone.
She walks up to me and her eyes are distressed as she looks up into my enraged face. “It’s not what it looks like.”
I hold up the paper. “It looks like my girlfriend is engaged.” I work hard to control the anger in my tone, but it’s not easy.
“They completely took something out of context, or someone told them that, but I had nothing to do with it.”
“You let him touch you,” I tell her and her face falls slightly. I don’t know where the restraint I’m having is coming from but I’m pretty impressed with myself.
“That’s as far as I let him go, if that’s what you want to know.”
“Janie.” I shake my head sadly. “When will this end?”
“What do you mean?” she asks, her voice full of worry. The chewing she does to her lip also betrays her emotions.
“When are you going to stand up to your mother and put an end to this bullshit?”
