Chapter 38
Oh, God, she was going to be sick.
“I’m really sorry, Jodi, but Eleanor shouldn’t have told you that we’d be able to get you set up on direct deposit. We don’t do direct deposit. We should, but we don’t.”
“I understand,” Jodi said hollowly as the implications of what was about to happen hit her.
“I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip,” Anna said, sounding cheerful as Jodi struggled to hold it together.
“Thank you,” she mumbled, hanging up the phone as she sat down.
Her entire body felt numb. Her head was spinning and her breaths were coming fast. She couldn’t believe this was happening. It couldn’t be happening, not after everything that she’d been through. Not after everything that she’d sacrificed so that she could fix her life.
“Tinkerbelle?” Danny said as he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Jodi said, turning around and taking her time picking up her phone, needing a moment to pull it together.
“Are you sure?” Danny asked after a pause.
She nodded, keeping her back to him. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “You wouldn’t be lying to me now, would you?”
“Of course not,” Jodi said, pasting a fake smile on her face as she turned around in his arms. “I’m fine.”
He tilted his head to the side, studying her for a long moment. “Now, why don’t I believe you?” Danny murmured thoughtfully.
“Because you’re paranoid,” Jodi said, standing on her toes so that she could press a kiss against his stubborn chin. “Everything’s fine,” she lied.
“So, I was thinking that once we’re home, that I’d take Jodi out to a movie or something,” Duncan said as they stood in front of the main alligator pit.
“And why’s that?” Danny asked, not really paying attention to his brother or the hundreds of alligators roaming freely in the large pit below.
All of his attention was on the small woman sitting on the bench, staring at the ground and looking lost. Something was wrong.
He wasn’t sure what happened between the time that he’d dropped to his knees and buried his head between her legs and the time that he’d finished his shower, but he was going to find out.
“Because she’s clearly done with you,” his brother said, confirming his fears that he was the reason why she looked so upset.
“Clearly,” Danny murmured absently, running everything that he’d said and did in the last forty-eight hours through his head and although he’d fucked up a lot, he had a pretty good idea where he’d truly fucked up.
He’d not only assumed that she was in love with him without actually hearing the words, but he’d fucked up by telling her that he didn’t love her. He should have never said anything. He’d rushed his game plan and now…
He was paying for it.
She was pulling away from him and he had absolutely no idea what to do to stop her.
“Good. So, you’re fine if I ask her out?” his brother asked, already pushing away from the wall to do just that.
“Sure,” Danny said, facing his brother as he pulled back his fist and let it fly because if there was one thing that little brothers were good for, it was beating the shit out of them when he was pissed.
“Get him off! Get him off!” the hysterical scream disrupted her self-pitying thoughts and had her looking up in time to see most of Danny’s brothers grabbing him by the arms and carefully pulling him off Duncan, but not before he got in another punch.
“I’m telling on you, you bastard!” Duncan yelled while he got to his feet as Danny struggled to break free and go back after his brother.
“Go ahead, you little bastard!” Danny said, pulling free from his brothers’ hold.
“Oh, I will!” Duncan said, glaring at his brother as he stormed off, heading towards the gift shop where their parents disappeared twenty minutes ago. When he saw Jodi, he stopped, grinned smugly and headed straight for her, which was when Danny came after him for a second time.
Really not in the mood to watch this and needing some time to herself while she tried to figure out how she was going to handle this, Jodi got up and walked towards the exit, jumping out of the way when Danny tackled Duncan to the ground, nearly colliding with her.
Shaking her head and managing a small smile when Duncan screeched like a girl and yelled for his mother, she left the reptile park and headed for the bench she’d spotted earlier.
She sat down, leaned forward and closed her eyes as she soaked in the warm Florida sun, hoping that it would help her figure a way out of this mess.
“Are you about to break my son’s heart?” Dr. Bradford asked, startling her a bit.
“Ow!” she cried out when she fell off the bench and landed, rather awkwardly, on a few of the bricks bordering the beautiful rock garden surrounding the gates to the zoo.
“Damn it,” Dr. Bradford cursed, rushing to her side to help her to her feet. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Jodi said, biting back a wince because she just wasn’t strong enough to get through the embarrassment of having her boyfriend’s father seeing her ass for a second time in less than a week.
He helped her up and when he gestured for her to sit down, she shook her head, deciding that it was probably for the best if she didn’t put pressure on the fresh cuts marring her ass at the moment.
“I’m fine, really,” Jodi said, pasting that fake smile that she’d been using all day back on her face.
Her hopes that he would walk away disappeared when he sat back down on the bench, folded his arms over his chest and settled in for the long haul. “Are you going to answer my question?” Danny’s father asked, watching her closely and making her frown in confusion.
“Didn’t I just answer your question?” Jodi had to ask, because she was pretty sure that she’d just answered him.
His eyes narrowed on her. “Not that question. I want to know if you’re about to break my son’s heart.”
“Okaaaay,” Jodi said slowly, really not sure where this was coming from. “Why exactly are you asking me that question?”
“Because you’ve been ignoring him all day and you’ve been acting like you’d rather be anywhere but here.”
“I’m not ignoring him,” Jodi answered, rubbing her hands down her face at the reminder of how screwed up her life was about to become.
There wasn’t any money in her bank account to pay her credit card bill tomorrow, which meant that she was going to get hit with late fees and her interest rate was going to be raised to thirty-four percent if she was lucky.
It also meant that her credit score was about to take a hit.
Basically, this meant that this mistake was going to add months if not years onto her plans to pay off this debt.
It was just a depressing thought to know that the reminder of what the jerk had done to her was going to follow her a hell of a lot longer than she’d planned. She’d hoped to be rid of the debt, rid of the memories, and rid of him soon. She just wanted to move on with her life and-
“Is this about your ex-fiancé?”
“What?” Jodi asked, taken off-guard.
“Your ex-fiancé? You remember him, don’t you? Average height, a bit of a weight problem, thinning hair, below-average looks, a real loser, who left you with over fifteen thousand dollars worth of debt and emptied your bank accounts the day before he dumped you. That fiancé,” Ethan said evenly.
“How did you-”
“You’re the first woman that my son has shown any interest in since he came back. I made it a point of knowing everything about you,” Ethan explained with a warm smile.
“Oh,” was the only response that she could handle at the moment as the mortification that she’d hoped never to experience again came rushing back. He knew…
“I considered taking the boys and beating the shit out of him, but they would have just gotten in the way,” Ethan said with a shrug as he looked up and met her gaze. “So, I did it myself.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Jodi asked, positive that she’d misheard him.
“He cried,” Ethan said, looking thoughtful for a moment. “I was embarrassed for him.”
“You beat him up?” she asked, hoping that she’d misheard him because otherwise, that meant that he’d-
“I kicked the shit out of him,” Ethan admitted with a shrug. “He had it coming.”
“Ummmmm,” Jodi said, no longer sure how she should respond.
“I gave him the option of paying you back, but as I’m sure that you know, your ex, besides being a piece of shit, is also horrible with money. He’s in serious debt so I doubt you’re ever going to see a cent from him. I’m sorry.”
“I already figured that out,” Jodi said even though having it confirmed made her feel worse because now she knew that there was absolutely no hope that he’d act like a man and take this responsibility away from her before she-
“I paid off the debt and replaced the money as an early wedding present,” he said with that warm smile that made her feel absolutely horrible and for a good reason.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t marry your son,” Jodi said weakly as she took a step back. “I’m going to return the money and pay back the debt with interest as soon as I can, but,” she said, pausing to lick her dry lips, “I can’t marry him.”
“Then maybe you should have told me that last night when I proposed,” Danny said, making her realize that he’d been standing there listening.
“But, it’s fine, Tinkerbelle. I can take a fucking hint,” he said, giving her a mock salute as he walked off, leaving her standing there realizing that there were worse things than being screwed over by the man she’d promised to marry.
It was watching the man that she loved walking away.