AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What happened?” Lucas leans back against the bar.
“I’m not exactly sure.” Or not sure what to tell them. They don’t know about her past, and I’m not about to bring it up. Only Kellan and I know the truth. It’s up to Jess to tell my brothers, as well as anyone else. “She has major trust issues. And well, she found out I’ve been paying for her therapy, and she got mad, claiming I was being manipulative.”
Garrett’s eyebrows jerk halfway up his forehead. “You were paying for her therapy?”
Evie puts the three filled glasses in front of us. We thank her, and Garrett pays for this round.
Lucas looks past me to the guy sitting not far from us at the bar. “Let’s go over there.” He tilts his head at an empty table far enough away that we won’t have to worry about people overhearing our conversation.
We grab our beers and take our seats at one of the sturdy round tables near the cornered-off section with the pool tables. The dim lighting where we’re sitting matches my mood.
“So, you were paying for Jess’s therapy?” Garrett nods for me to explain.
“I knew it was the only way to get her to go in the beginning. I wanted to remove as many obstacles as possible that would prevent her from getting the help she needed.”
“Fair enough. But doesn’t your company medical plan cover it?”
“She wasn’t my employee when she started therapy. Because I didn’t want her to know I was paying for it from the very beginning, I couldn’t exactly switch her over to my company’s plan. I’d initially told her the state was covering the cost.”
Both my brothers wince.
“She believed you?” Garrett lifts his glass to his mouth.
I turn my beer on the cardboard coaster, condensation trickling down the side of the glass. “Yup. Every. Single. One of my lies.” My frustration and lack of regret at helping her soak through each word.
“How did she figure out you were paying for it?” Lucas asks.
“I found out the other day she’d quit therapy. When I returned to my office this afternoon, Alex Wilson was interrogating her about Violet and Sophie’s disappearance. Jess has a bad history with cops, and that’s part of the reason she has PTSD.”
“What kind of bad history?”
“It’s not my place to tell you.” I take a long sip of my beer. “But it’s enough that Wilson’s presence in my office was clearly freaking her out. After he left, I brought up how she’d quit therapy. Except, I shouldn’t have known about that.”
“So you had to ’fess up to paying for it,” Garrett says, filling in the blanks.
“Yup.” And true to her word, Jess wired me the money a short time ago. I only accepted it because I knew it was important to her that she pay me back.
Lucas picks up his glass. “So, you and Jess are really over?” Behind him, an older couple takes a seat at a table for two, but they’re still far enough away they can’t hear us. The country music playing through the speakers also helps with that.
I return my attention to my brothers. “In her mind we are. I’m not ready to give up on her yet. I understand why she’s scared. Her past hasn’t given her a good reason to trust men.”
“And where does Kellan fit into all of this?” Garrett asks.
“What do you mean?” I keep my voice even, not wanting to give anything away. Especially not the part where it pisses me off Jess trusts him more than she does me. Always has, it would seem. Given how much they have in common when it comes to their families and spending time in prison, it’s not hard to see why. But that doesn’t mean I have to like she has confided in him instead of with me.
“You think we haven’t noticed how close they are?” Lucas replies. “What? You think she’s into him instead of you?” The last bit comes out with the equivalent of an eye roll in his tone.
“They have a shared history.” Close enough to one. “He understands her in a way I’ll never be able to. But both have made it clear to me they don’t see each other as anything other than a friend.”
“You don’t believe them?”
“No, I believe them. But something’s going on with her, and I bet Kellan knows what it is.”
“So ask him.”
I throw Garrett a Do-you-really-think-that’s-gonna-help? glare.
Garrett isn’t fazed by it. “You’ve got nothing to lose.”
