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His eyes widened while Evie listened intently to what I was saying. “A couple weeks before her twenty-second birthday, I was going to give it all up for her, but I started questioning if it was right or wrong. I found myself at the bottom of a bottle of Jack and ended up at her apartment. Tessa was in her bed, and one thing led to another. However, I don’t remember a damn second of it. A month and a half later, Tessa showed up at my condo to tell me she was pregnant.” I paused to let my words sink in.
“And the only reason I married her was to keep my relationship with Evie from you. Tessa found out about Evie and me. She knew you were her brother, and she was going to tell you if I didn’t make her my wife. You’ve said it yourself several times, Jax. I was just trying to do the right thing by her. Except, it wasn’t the right thing for my child, but it was the right thing for Evie not to lose you to me.”
He stood there, contemplating what I had said before he asked, “How did she know about Evie and me?”
“I have no fucking idea.”
“Don’t try me, Caleb! Not right now!”
“Or what?” I countered, cocking my head to the side. “You’re going to punch me again? It’s not going to change our past. It doesn’t matter how many times you hit me. It won’t change anything! I’m done pretending like she isn’t my whole fucking world!”
He shoved me, and since I was expecting it, I didn’t budge, which further triggered the fury in his blood.
“How could you lie to me? I trusted you with everything! Including my baby sister!”
“Jax, enough!” Evie ordered, stepping in front of me. “I’m not a baby! I’ve never been a baby! I didn’t need Caleb’s protection then, and I don’t need it now! You need to back up and just stop. I’m not a child. I can make my own decisions. I understand you thought you were doing what’s best for me, but for one second, you never considered what I thought was best for me. You blame our father for not protecting me. Well, I blame you for overprotecting me. This could have been avoided. All these years of pain and lies, if you’d just let go of the image of me that you had in your mind.”
“What do you want from me, Evie? I didn’t have a family until I met you. You loved me unconditionally right from the start. You fought our own father so I could be in your life. What did you expect me to do? Huh? Just forget the fact you didn’t have anyone else but me?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Of course not. I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for me. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for you. I love you, Jax, but I can’t take this anymore. If I want to be with Caleb, then it’s my choice. Solely my decision. Not yours or anyone else’s for that matter. I don’t tell you how to live your life, and it’s not fair you won’t grant me the same respect. What have I ever done for you not to trust me?”
“I trust you, Evie.”
“You have a shitty way of showing it.”
“You think this is the best way for me to find out? Through fucking extortion?” He grabbed the folder out of my hands. “I’m fresh out of one scandal, and now I have to deal with this? When you could have just fucking told me the truth?”
Caleb chimed in, “And what would you have done, Jax? What would you have said if I told you I was in love with her back then?”
“Fuck!” He tugged his hair away from his face as if he wanted to tear it out. “I don’t know! All I know is right now I want to fucking kill you!”
“You would have wanted to kill me back then too.”
“Not as much as I want to kill you right now!”
“Jax, please,” Evie pleaded. “You need to calm down. This isn’t helping anyone. You’re only making things worse.”
“I’m making things worse?” he mocked. “I’ve seen pictures of my best friend’s dick inside of you like you’re a fucking whore—”
“Caleb, no!”
My fist flashed past Evie’s face to crush against her brother’s jaw.
“Oh my God! Can we please stop hitting each other for one fucking second?!”
“Don’t you ever call her a whore!”
She gripped onto my arm. “Stop it! You’re as bad as he is!”
“I can’t stop thinking about how many times you were alone with her! I was supposed to protect her, but all I did was hand her right to you! Do you have any idea how sick that makes me?”
“You know that’s not true.”
“Caleb, I don’t know shit. I don’t know you at all.”
“Fuck, Jax! What do you want from me? I’m telling you the truth! You want to hate me? Fine. Be fucking livid with me! But don’t take your anger out on Evie. She loves you. You’re the only family she has. She doesn’t deserve that. She’s done nothing wrong. I hate that this is happening. I hate that I can’t do anything about it. But please, don’t blame her for this.”
“I don’t know how to get past this.” He shook his head, disappointed. “How did I not know what was going on between you two? I love Evie more than anything in this world, and I couldn’t see it? How many times were we all together and still I was so fucking blind?”
