7. Julie
7
“ D id you fuck him?” Jacob’s hands dig deep into my skin, but I roughly shove out of his grasp.
I’ll be damned if I let him hurt me one more time. I’m not going to kick his groin right now, but only because I don’t need my boss to see me go all ninja mode on my ex-boyfriend. I still want him to extend my contract.
I’m thinking kicking a guest in the balls is not going to improve my reputation with potential clients.
“Jesus Christ, Jacob. Are you dead set on giving me a heart attack?”
“Answer the question.” His voice is thundering, almost as impressive as his glare.
But after years of dealing with this man, it does fuck all with my emotions other than piss me off something fierce.
Fuck. Him.
I step into his space, malice tightening my cheeks while I literally feel my panties soaking from the juices still flowing from my still eager harlot of a pussy.
Great .
“Who I fuck or not is not your concern,” I hiss, casting my eyes from left to right to make sure no one overhears.
“It is if you’re fucking my brother and start blabbing about shit you’re not supposed to.”
NOPE.
I can’t.
I just fucking can’t have this conversation.
He’s staring back at me with an intensity that used to shrivel me, but now it only fuels my frustration.
I’m angry and my thighs still clench, my entire lower body flustered from almost exploding three minutes ago, and I will not fucking deal with this.
“You’re paranoid.” I step beside him, shaking my head while I make way to the grand entrance of the venue.
My heels tap onto the shiny floor at an even pace, but inside a fucking hurricane is brewing around my organs.
What the hell is happening?
It’s like the moment I opened my front door today, I’ve been in a parallel universe. My ex-boyfriend is pretending to be my boyfriend to piss off his brother. Jason turned from my friend to an asshole like his brother, I had an orgasm in a public restroom at a work event. Correction; almost had an orgasm.
Fuck. We could’ve been caught! That would have been a great look.
The humid air knocks me in the face, almost as much as I sense my ex-boyfriend breathing down my neck like a fucking dragon when I reach the sidewalk and, thank fuck, a taxi is waiting in front.
“You know I’m getting really sick of chasing you.” Jacob’s heavy steps trail behind me and I whip around to jam my finger in his chest.
“Then stop! Fucking stop! We broke up, Jacob! We are done.” My volume is low, but the words are spit like venom.
I told him I’d give him what he wanted. Even fucking moved to the other side of the country to make it easy for him. What fucking more does he want?
A fucking kidney?
I’d probably give it to him if it would guarantee he’d stay out of my fucking life.
“We are not done until I tell you we’re done.” His broad hand roughly pulls my elbow back as he manhandles me.
“Let go of me.” But this time, his grip stays firmly where it is.
“Are you fucking Jason again?”
I wince at the amount of pressure he’s digging his nails into my skin, putting in all my energy to make it seem less than painful, and keeping a straight back.
“Keep your voice down! This is a work event!”
“Answer the goddamn question!”
“No! And what do you mean again?!”
I know he’s not as smart as his little brothers are, but is he really that fucking dense? Isn’t it clear from all the death glares Jason is giving me? He should take fucking credit for it; he’s the one who ruined it.
Besides, Jason and I slept together once. There’s no way he knows about it because we met up in a hotel in Charlotte weeks after Jacob and I broke up. There’s no way he knows and Jason sure as hell wouldn’t tell him.
Unless he used it as ammo to piss him off.
Fuck, did he?
“We had a deal.” Moving closer, he squashes my muscles like they are made out of spaghetti, and I jerk back.
“You’re hurting me.”
But he doesn’t care, and just inches farther into my face.
“We had a deal, and you better keep your end of it, or you’ll regret ever meeting me.” His blue eyes darken, his frown growing deeper and deeper as he bares his teeth like the animal that he is.
I noticed it too late, wasted way too many years on him, but now that I’m wide awake, I see it.
I see what a beast he can be, gaslighting everyone around him until you go up in fucking flames and he can take what he wants.
I snap my elbow back, but all it does is force a jolt of pain to shoot through my bones. “Let go! You’re hurting me!”
I’m seconds away from saying the hell with this and kneeing him in the balls, but then movement catches my eye over his shoulder.
Jason appears right behind him, hands balled into fists, teeth showing in a snarl.
“I don’t care how many potential clients I’ll lose, but I will rip your head off if you don’t let her go, right fucking now.” His voice is collective, calm, and gravelly, but the lethal expression that’s fallen over his face widens my eyes.
He’s not the aggressive type, he doesn’t fight. He’s the peacemaker, the reasonable one. For Hunter, for Jensen, even for me and Charlotte back in the day. But right now, I believe every word of his threat.
Jacob rapidly twists his head over his shoulder, his eyes rolling to the sky when he registers both his brothers standing behind him. Mia and Ford trail right behind them, witnessing this embarrassing situation with uncertainty in their wide eyes.
“Stay out of it. This is between me and my fiancée.”
Oh, puh-lease. I’m not wearing his ring, nor have I ever worn his ring. No one will believe we’re engaged.
“Shut up, Jacob,” I hiss, trying to break free from his grasp once more.
Jason takes a step to charge, but Jordan holds him back and takes his place instead. His tousled blond hair falls in front of his forehead, his blue eyes trained on his big brother as he squares his shoulders in his black tuxedo.
Man, has he grown up.
“Not if you’re hurting her, it's not.” Jordan shakes his head as he steps into our space, putting his nose right beside his brother's glaring expression. “Let her go, because I ain’t got nothing to lose, and I will fucking raise hell.”
“I’ll be right there with him, big man. Might want to step down,” Ford rumbles.
I’ve met the man once, but he’s standing there with squared shoulders and a look I imagine he normally brings to the ice.
My chest expands at their threats on my behalf, and Jacob slowly turns his head until he’s nose-to-nose with his little brother. They breathe each other down, nostrils flaring, and even though Jordan is a couple of inches shorter than his big brother, he makes up for it with the lethal glint in his eyes.
“Don’t test me, Jacob,” he whispers with an authority I’ve never seen from the kid I’ve known since he was twelve.
Jacob’s grip loosens, and I quickly pull free, stepping backward while I never drop my gaze from the two brothers about to go head-to-head.
Jordan flexes his fingers, drawing them into fists, while Jacob’s steel-blue eyes shift to snakelike slits. I dart my eyes at Jason, his vision planted on his two brothers, matching the rock-hard features they both hold.
My chest tightens. Their mama would whip all three of them over the head if she saw them turning against each other like this. But then again, I wonder if she knows all the shit Jacob has pulled over the years.
“Taxi, miss?” Turning around, I find an older man giving me a friendly expression like he’s my fairy godmother. He glances at the stare-down in front of us, then offers me a look that’s silently asking me to take the escape route he’s providing.
“Yes, please.”
Without a second guess, I turn toward the open car door.
“Julie, don’t,” Jordan calls out, and I meet his worried frown with a reassuring smile. “I’ll drive you home.”
I have no doubt he means every word of it. I also have no doubt the four of them drove up here together, and I can’t handle being cramped up in a car with Jason, the bitch from high school, and my new client. Let’s not make this night any more disastrous than it already is.
I’m about to open my mouth, when Jacob steps away, ready to round the taxi and get in on the other side. Each step is traced by Jason and his eyes grow bigger by the second before Jacob disappears out of sight and his gaze aligns with mine.
Can this night get any worse?
“Thank you.” I smile at Jordan, though the corners of my mouth feel heavy. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”
Jason takes a step forward, tension etched in his spine. “You’re seriously leaving with him? Are you out of your mind?”
Jason is ready to murder his brother on the pavement, though he looks like I might be the next best thing. Jordan slaps his palm against his brother’s chest and Jason holds back, fuming.
I hate how they both look at me like they feel a sense of responsibility to keep me safe, while my actions scream mind your own business. I appreciate it, but I can’t exactly tell them I don’t have a choice. Jacob’s shit is at my place, and they might not be able to see it, but he’s literally twisting my arm.
“You have my number.” Jordan gives me a pressing gaze, and I give him a curt nod, then get in the car, casting my eyes down as we drive away.
This night can’t get any worse.
“God, those two get on my nerves.”
I whip my head to the side with a glare. He rubs a hand over his puffy face, eyes bored and giving me a look that says am I right? This man is the whole reason behind this fucked-up night and he has the balls to sound annoyed.
“Shut up, Jacob.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
This has to stop, or he will ruin everything. It’s bad enough he destroyed my life in North Carolina; I can’t let him fuck up whatever little life I’m building for myself over here.
I find his gaze, done with his bullshit. “You want a piece of the pie, you made that clear, and the fact that I moved to the other side of the country is proof that I’m giving it to you, right?” My jaw tics as I point my finger at his blank expression. “But if you ever touch me like that again, I will tell them everything, consequences be damned.”
I mean it. I gave him what he wanted, but if he’s going to follow me around, determined to destroy whatever I’m trying to rebuild…well, there is no use. Might as well let it blow up in my face.
“You wouldn’t break my mother’s heart,” Jacob sputters, then chuckles. “Or your dad’s.”
“Don’t fucking test me, Jacob!” I snap.
“Calm the fuck down, Julie.” His eyes narrow, that devilish gleam returning.
“No, I fucking mean it!” I ignore the taxi driver’s worried eyes burning into my cheek from the rearview mirror. “You hurt me once. You will not hurt me again.”
“This again.” The motherfucker rolls his eyes at me. “I was drunk and you’re overreacting.”
Drunk?! I don’t care how drunk he was. It doesn’t even fucking matter. He broke me that night, and I will not let him trample over whatever is left of me.
“You hurt me, Jacob.” I fucking growl this time, making sure he’s able to burn it into his thick head. “Do you hear me? You. Hurt. Me. ”
Giving me an expression as if I’m crazy, he lifts his hands, palms up.
He’s a fucking psychopath.
“I will sign,” I start. “I will sign, but after that, we are done. You’re taking the next flight back home, sort the paperwork, and tell my father we broke up and that I’m not coming back. I will sign everything, but this ends NOW. You don’t chase me. You don’t stalk me.”
“I never stalked you.”
Now I’m rolling my eyes because him being here is literally him stalking me, but I know it’s no use. It’s like talking to a fucking wall.
“And you will not tell your brothers we are still together.” I continue, rubbing my sweaty palms to the gold sequins of my dress. “We are not.”
My relationship with Jason is beyond fucked up, but I will no longer lie about my relationship status with his brother. I have no illusions we can work shit out and be friends again, but now that we’re working together, I’m not gonna make it worse either.
“You’re gonna fuck him, aren’t you?”
He really doesn’t know when to stop, does he? He just keeps pushing and pushing.
I slice him another glare. “And you sure as shit are not gonna be asking about who I fuck or not fuck, because it’s none of your fucking business.”
Jacob lowers his slick voice, a snarl forming on his lips. “If you tell him and he comes for me…I will destroy him. And I will sell my share of Bradford Real Estate to the highest bidder.”
I believe him. I have no doubt Jacob has no issues dragging down my father or his brother as collateral if he doesn’t get what he wants.
“Keep him out of this, Julie. Not a word,” he threatens, and I roll my lips, then give him a look of death.
Asshole.
“Not a word.”