Chapter 5 #2
For six years, I’ve done my best to keep away from the fucker, after his accusations, and I need to continue doing so.
I fist my hands, his words echoing and the need to grab my piece intensifies.
He accused me of using Granny for her wealth, the same wealth she has left solely to his sister, not that he knows that.
I didn’t even know Jas had a brother until he confronted me that day, three days after Jas left.
He clearly knew who I was to his sister, I could see the fucking disdain in his eyes, and yet he still opened his stupid mouth with the disgusting accusations.
Don’t kill him. Fuck I really want to shoot him.
“Logan, you’re not leaving, are you?” Granny asks sadly, and I give her a smile as I lean down and kiss her forehead.
“I need to get to work,” I lie, and I swear the woman just rolled her eyes at me.
“Liar,” she calls me out, “you just don’t want to hit my grandson.”
I swear she knows me too fucking well.
“He accused me of trying to bed you, Granny, for your wealth even when he knew who I was,” I remind her, and she winces.
She knows I’ve hated the fucker ever since he opened his mouth, probably hoping to get a reaction outta me so he could have me arrested.
Unfortunately for him, I know how to stay cordial, especially growing up with a mother like mine, and I’ll continue to play nice for Granny when we accidentally meet, like we have done today.
“You don’t have to go because I’m here,” the fucker says, and I shake my head.
“I’ll see you next week, love you,” I say to the woman who has become family to me.
She nods sadly and mumbles, “Love you too, my boy,” before I turn around and walk past the dick looking stupid in his three-piece suit, but pause when he says, “She didn’t just break your heart, leaving the way she did, she broke my best friend's as well, they were engaged, Tank, she was using you.”
Using me? Seriously, he thinks that his sister could get away with using me? That she would see me for two years if she were engaged?
Fucking idiot.
“Brady!” Granny snaps, and I just chuckle as I look at the idiot who furrows his brows at my reaction.
“Your mother was forcing the engagement,” I inform him, because clearly he’s clueless. “Jasmine never wanted him, never even touched him.” He opens his mouth, most likely to spew whatever lies he was told and I take a step closer to him and admit, “I took her virginity.”
His eyes widen confirming my thoughts that he’s been lied to and I state, “It was my name she tattooed on her ribs, it was my home she was living in for just under two years. So whatever your mother or fuck even your friend has said, they were never together and she was never going to end up with him. She was mine and I was hers so no, she didn’t break his heart, she broke mine, she broke Granny’s and she broke Reginald’s and it was me that she placed Granny’s care in when she left, it was me she trusted despite leaving the way she did. ”
His eyes race between mine with confusion, trying to find any deception, but I shake my head and wave a finger to Granny and walk away.
The idiot needs to open his eyes, his mother is a lying bitch.
***
I take a swig of my beer as I look out in the garden, the flowerbeds that Jas planted all dead, just like my fucking heart a few hours later, Simba and Coby sniffing around the yard.
There’s a family party going on back at the clubhouse, but I just, fuck, I barely spend any time there, even before Jas left me. I was rarely seen at the club, rarely spoke to the brothers unless we had church and I was needed for some reason or another.
Wherever my mother was, I tried not to be because most of the time, Lyndsey or Kate was with her. I always revert back to the memories of Mama burning me, dressing me in fucking dresses, forcing me to keep my hair long and my resentment towards my father builds every fucking time.
It’s been fucking years, and neither woman will stop and Mama…
Fuck, she’s deranged to think I would forget about how she treated me growing up, before she finally decided to stay far from me, before Dad began my training to take over from him, completely blinded by what his wife had done, before he decided to forget I existed again.
The burns on my back itch with the memories that plague me, my screams deafening me and I quickly take another swig of my beer while eyeing my arm, Jasmine’s name in full view.
I fucking miss her, but a large part of me, after finding out she rang Granny, believes we’re over. The part that was clinging on for dear life, finally letting go, and it hurts so fucking much that I can’t breathe.
She won’t be back, I know it, deep down I do, and she won’t fight for me, for us, she won’t call me and confide in me, to let me help her with whatever scared her away. We’re over, and that is a real hard fucking pill to swallow.
Six years of hoping and praying, and that one call to Granny, wanting to make sure I’d moved on, proves we are done.
“Fuck,” I choke and drop my head as my eyes water, and I breathe heavily, trying to control my emotions, the epiphany suffocating me that I feel like I can’t catch my breath before I hear my back door open and I try not to groan as I squeeze my eyes tighter.
Fuck’s sake.
“What can I do for you, Dad?” I ask, exasperated.
I’m too fucking tired for an argument, and besides, he should be living it up with his quick fuck like he always does after church while Mama plans a wedding that won’t be happening.
So why is he here?
I really shouldn’t have given him a spare key in case of emergencies, especially when I barely say two words to him.
“For you to finally talk to me, son,” he says as he takes a seat beside me, and I shake my head.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I mutter, and I look out at the yard, the dead flower beds always catching my attention as the dogs sniff around them and the sparkle in her eyes burn through my soul as the memory invades my mind.
“I love you…”
Her whispered declaration haunts me, just like the memories of her and I drop my head again.
“Oh, there is, and the fact that Lyndsey was yet again at the fucking clubhouse is making it harder to ignore everything, Lo,” he mutters in return.
“She was just a way to escape Mama pushing Kate on me, Dad, don’t look too much into it, it meant nothing, and the cougar just wants her easy life back after I told her husband about our affair,” I placate, and he snorts as my lips twitch.
Yeah, I guess it is funny when you think about it.
“Is she the reason why you’re never at the club and only show for club business despite family days being mandatory? Why you never speak to me, or the brothers?” Dad asks softly, and I clear my throat.
“One of the reasons,” I admit quietly, not willing to say anything else as I look back at the garden bed while taking another swig of my beer, as my phone buzzes.
“Let me guess, your mama?” Dad confirms, and I hum, not bothering to check my phone, already knowing it is indeed her.
Forty-three times she’s tried calling me today, despite knowing that Tuesdays I go radio silent to spend time with Granny, yet she won’t stop calling.
Shocker right?
“She’s pissed I dodged another family event where she’s invited the leeches, fuck, she’s pissed I haven’t spoken to her in six years after she tried giving me an engagement ring and demanded I give it to Kate.
Not that I spoke much to her before that anyhow,” I admit before taking another swig of my beer and he sighs but he doesn’t reply, instead I can feel his eyes on me as silence comes between us and I know he’s seen my arm.
“Who is Jasmine, son?” he asks carefully, caution etching his tone, “I haven’t wanted to pry for quite some time now but nearly two years after you got that tattoo because yes, I noticed it since day one even though you believe I never paid attention.
You’ve withdrawn from yourself more than usual and honestly, I feel like I’m losing my son, so who is Jasmine? ”
“She’s my past,” I rasp, refusing to look his way as I admit, “and it’s time I try to move on from it even if it hurts.”
Emotions choke me, but I try to swallow them as my dad wraps his arm around my shoulders and whispers, “I’m so fucking sorry, son,” knowing how much Jasmine must have meant to me for me to ink her name on my body.
A brother doesn’t ink a woman’s name onto his skin unless he sees her as his forever, it just happens that my forever didn’t see me as hers.