AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why didn’t you guys say something?” Milly asked, wiping some tears—and a little snot—on the back of her hand. “You just let me keep lying.”
“First, we wanted to see how far the lie would go,” Gennie said with a mischievous grin.
“First, I wanted to knock his teeth in,” he said.
“But good sense prevailed,” Gennie said to her husband. “It was just too exciting to resist, which was why I kept talking about babies and weddings, just to see how far you two would go with it. I must say, you were both extremely committed.”
“That was you spreading the rumors? To, what, ferret me out?”
“Couldn’t let you have all the fun with such a juicy lie,” Gennie said. “But then … ” She clasped her hands to the nonexistent pearls around her neck. “Then we saw that kiss on the porch and, yowzah, the sparks there went far past pretend. So, Peggy and I decided to play along, knowing you two would figure it out.”
Milly choked on air. “Peggy knew?”
“You and Jax are both terrible liars. You practically had hives covering you from head to toe.” Gennie reached over and lifted Milly’s sleeve. “Isn’t that interesting. No hives now. Why do you think that is?”
“Because now you know the truth.”
“A minute ago, you said you loved him, and yet not a single hive.”
Milly yanked up her sleeve, then groaned. It was even worse that she thought. She hadn’t just talked herself into a fake love, she’d really fallen hook, line, and sinker for a guy who wasn’t willing to fight for her. “I’m such an idiot.”
“No, sweetie,” her mom said. “This is a textbook case of how men are stupid. Sometimes they need a little space to come to terms with the fact that they’re already sunk.”
“He doesn’t love me,” she whispered through the humiliation.
“Sweetie, you know better than that,” Gennie said. “So does your heart.”
“My heart is as flat as a pancake rolled by a steamroller. And even if he does love me, it’s not enough for him to give this a try.”
“Then he’s an idiot,” Howard said.
“No, honey, he’s a man.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Take Life by the Balls
Accept no refunds on love.
Jax plunked his room key down on Lucas’s desk.
“What’s this?” his brother asked.
“I’m heading out,” Jax said as if that had been the plan all along. His once-in-a-lifetime angel was gone, and that was all on him. “With the Cup being over, I figured I could use a few days to familiarize myself with the next mountain.”
“So this has nothing to do with you and the logistics coordinator?”
It had everything to do with her. He couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Milly’s face when she’d walked away. Or the feeling in his gut to watch another person he loved disappear on him. Then again, this was what he’d asked for, wasn’t it? A clean break.
And what kind of man implies a woman would give up her life for him? Another thing she was right about was that he ran from confrontation—just like her ex, which made Jax a grade-A coward. And he couldn’t stand one more minute to pass with him and his brother at odds. A new leaf he could attribute to Milly.
Milly would be proud—if she were talking to him.
“This has to do with us.” Jax yanked the chair out and took a seat. “This stupid fight has gone on long enough. I’m leaving and I can’t go unless we fix this. I refuse to go unless we fix this.”
Lucas sat back in his chair, body language pushing a solid ten in the pissed-off category. “So, you help out with one event, then you bail early? And here I thought you’d changed.”
That made two of them.
