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“Let’s not drag this out any longer than necessary. What have I done this time?”
She opens a cabinet drawer in front of her, takes out a thick plastic folder, then slams it in front of me. “Sign this and go.”
“Go?” I riffle through the pages, hoping to find some clues as to why she sounds so ticked off. The title page reveals everything.
Termination of Contract
Parties: (1) Venom Guitars Inc., represented by Juliette Davenport
(2) Jacewell Edward Blackmore
Names of our respective lawyers are also included, but—
“Termination of Contract?” I read her name on paper again. “Since when do you have a deciding power in Venom Guitars?”
I asked out of pure, genuine curiosity, but Juliette rests her weight on her hands on the edge of the counter and glares at me. “Since Shane gave me half the company. We’re married, remember? I guess you prefer not to. You prefer to lie to me that everything is great. That you and Shane are best friends. That I’m not ruining your life—”
“Slow down.” I get off the barstool. What is happening? “You’re not ruining my life. Where did you get that idea?”
“I’m going to be in the living room.” Shane gives Juliette a tender kiss on the cheek before he leaves. He’s not stupid. He knows to remove himself from the equation. I’ll give him that.
Juliette sighs. “I honestly believed we could make this work. That you’d get over me and come to terms with—”
“I am over you!” I’m still bleeding internally over Laurel in ways I’ve never suffered in terms of Juliette.
The thought stuns my consciousness into dropping out of the matters at hand for a second.
The truth is, I’ve been telling myself I’m over Juliette for many months now. I had to be, and so I decided to be. This is the first time I’m feeling like I’m actually telling the truth. I say I’m over her, and there’s no pressure rising inside my chest, no tension seizing my jaw—
“Then what was all the yelling at Briar’s party about how you still have feelings for me and how you have to tolerate Shane for my sake?”
She might’ve as well slammed me against the bamboo floors at thekwoon. My face even smarts in that same way as when it meets the rough, sweat-drenched fibers of the kung fu training space. “What are you talking about?”
“No. Uh-uh.” She shakes her head. “Don’t even try to pretend you have no idea. Your shouting bout with your new girlfriend—”
“Briar said no one could understand a word.” Why did I believe her? All right, maybe she was truthful. Maybe she hadn’t picked up on the reasons for my argument with Laurel, but Juliette had heard.
“I followed you,” she explains, much to my relief and new anguish. Not everyone had heard after all. “Naive little me. I was worried. It looked like you hurt yourself jumping for your guitar, but you wouldn’t listen to anyone even though you probably should’ve seen a doctor that night.”
“I put somedit da jowon it.” The Chinese remedy does wonders for post-training bruises. “And I never said I still had feelings for you.”
“Jace!” Unlike Laurel, Juliette doesn’t try to conceal any emotions. Her face shows every single one of them—all her sadness, all her pain, all her disappointment. “Sign the papers and leave. Venom Guitars will survive without you, and I won’t be blamed for your misery. Go. You don’t owe me anything. I’m your bothersome little neighbor from the house across the street. You may have cared for me, in some ways, but I get it. I do.” Her voice breaks, and she wraps her hands around her middle, so round with her baby. “I knew, I always knew this day would come. You told me we’d stay friends, but I shouldn’t have clung to that hope.”
“Juliette—”
“No, Jace.” She picks up the folder, rounds the breakfast nook, and sticks the papers into my hands. “Our friendship aside, I can’t let you ruin Shane’s dream. You have no idea how hard he’s working to make it happen. What if you exploded at him somewhere important? You didn’t have enough self-restraint or any consideration for what it would cost Shane when you explained it all to Laurel. At a party full of your common friends—Shane’s potential clients and supporters. To you, Venom Guitars is a chore for the sake of your friend. I don’t need it, and I don’t want you to ruin anything with your resentment. You will never forgive him. For him stealing your Project Viper spot, for me—” She draws a long, tear-laden breath. “We’re out. You told me to never worry about you when it came to Shane, remember?”
I do. When she told me they got engaged, she was so worried she’d hurt me, and I told her to never wonder twice about me again. I promised I wouldn’t cause any trouble.
That’s why I’m holding legal paperwork telling me to butt out of everything dear to Shane, and by default dear to her. She’s cutting me out.
“Juliette, I will fix this. I will…” Words escape me. Her tears eviscerate what’s left of me and leave no room for any doubts that I’ve wrecked everything in the most spectacular manner.
Juliette sniffs again. “You will do nothing.”
“Jules.” I drop the folder onto the nearest flat surface and try to hug her.
She thrusts an elbow into my ribs, causing me to choke on my own breath. “No. I’m done being a fool for you. In three months I’ll be a mother, Jace. You have no idea how stressed out I am about it. I don’t need you contributing. Go.”
