Chapter Sixteen Jake #3
“Jake told me about the first day he met you, but I didn’t believe him when he said you get scary when you’re angry. But yep, he’s right.” His humor is not wanted right now.
“Well, I suggest that unless you really want to see me at my finest, you say what you need to say and then head back over to your side of the fence.” I’m grumbling at him, when really, I shouldn’t be taking it out on Chase, but he’s here and the closest thing to the man I want to yell at.
“Look, Ashley, I don’t know what happened between you two. Jake just told me he needed to go and fix something and that he would explain it all to me soon. But he did give me a message for you.”
I shake my head because Jake obviously hasn’t learned his lesson, keeping the people who love him in the dark.
“Oh, this will be good,” I huff.
“He asked you to trust him and just wait until he’s back. He doesn’t want to do this over the phone or in a message. He needs to be here face-to-face with you.”
I can see Chase is trying to calm me down, but it’s not working.
“Trust him!” I yell. “I did that and look where that got me. With a boyfriend who runs when things get hard. That message was a waste of his breath. I’m sorry, Chase, that you got caught in the middle of this. I just need to be on my own.” Turning and walking away, I hear him behind me.
“Jake’s a good man, Ashley. I don’t know how he fucked this up, but what I do know is that he loves you in a way he has never loved another.”
“Well, he’s got a funny way of showing it,” I reply without looking back.
“One last thing I think you should know,” he calls out to me. “He took Rosie with him. Now, if that doesn’t tell you how much you’ve gotten under his skin, then nothing will.”
Chase’s words stop me at the bottom of my porch as they sink in. Two thoughts are now racing through my mind.
First, that Jake drove six hours through the night with a dog that he claims to find annoying.
And the second is the thing that really has me trying to process how I feel about what Chase said. If he took Rosie, then it means he is coming back. There is no way he would take his grandmother’s dog and then not bring her companion back.
Stomping up the stairs and lifting my hands to my mouth, I yell at Chase, who’s now heading back toward Heatherbrae.
“Well, I hope she shits in his precious truck!” I smile to myself at my retort and then feel utterly crushed by my childish comeback.
Tiff is the only person I can turn to right now.
I don’t care if she’s working this morning.
She can close the teahouse for all I care, but I need to talk to her.
Someone needs to help me make sense of this whole mess, and although she probably isn’t going to give me the rational advice I need, she’s never steered me wrong before.
Maybe she’ll have some magic tea for an angry heart.
Damn you, Jake, now you have me turning to Tiff and her woo-woo and acting like I believe in it.
“Shit.” Tiff looks at me as I come storming through the front door of the teahouse.
“Out the back. Now,” she says, grabbing my arm and dragging me behind her without me even saying a word. “Sit, don’t move and don’t scream when the room goes black.”
As she rushes past me, I see her flick the main fuse on the power box, and the shop descends into darkness.
“Oh no, the power has gone out. Sorry, everyone, I’ll have to close up for the day.
Let me pour your drinks into to-go cups.
” I can hear Tiff ushering everyone out of the shop.
“Yes, I know, Ethel, it’s okay. Rita will give you a lift to church, won’t you, Rita.
I hear they have great cups of tea and biscuits there. ”
I slap my hand over my mouth to stop myself from losing it at her bossiness. Luckily, it’s a Sunday, so the old ladies have somewhere to be anyway.
Slowly, the noises lessen until I hear the front door being closed and the bolt being slid into place and the light switches flicked off. As Tiff heads toward the back again, she turns the mains back on and the light above me comes to life.
“Sometimes I worry about how quickly your brain reacts. Remind me if I ever need an alibi to call you.”
“Like you’d call anyone else.” Pulling over one of the food crates, Tiff sits herself down next to me. “What happened?”
I sigh, and the tears I have been holding off all morning finally start to fall.
Tiff’s eyes harden. “Jake better be scared. I don’t know what he did, but I’m coming for him. Now start talking, woman, because I’ve got a hole to start digging.” She hugs me tight and makes me giggle just enough to slow down the tears.
“I can’t tell you everything because it’s not my story to tell, but what I can tell you is that he fucked up, and he fucked up good.” I wipe the tears off my face.
“No shit, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. And I felt it in my waters last night. I knew something bad was coming and I tried to stop it, but I obviously wasn’t quick enough. Now start at the beginning.” Tiff takes my hand, giving it a squeeze and me the strength I need to talk.
“I have no idea what you just said, but anyway, here goes.” Taking a deep breath, I start at the beginning—if you can call it that.
Jake
“Block your ears, Rosie, because I can tell you now, there is about to be a lot of yelling and plenty of swearing.” Lifting her head off the center console she has been using as a pillow, she looks confused, and I don’t blame her.
I’ve had hours to get this conversation right, and I know within the first minute, it will probably all go to shit.
The phone call connects, making my stomach clench as my blood pressure rapidly rises.
“Jake.” Beckett’s gruff voice echoes around me.
“Hey, Beckett, how are you?” I’m trying to keep my voice as upbeat as possible.
“Fine. Why are you calling me at 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning? What’s happened? Is it Gran?”
It always baffles me how this man manages to talk in such a monotone voice, devoid of emotion.
“No, Gran is fine,” I reply and then take a deep breath before continuing, “I’m calling because I need your help.”
“You.” He coughs. “You haven’t wanted any help from me since you were about ten years old. And the last few years since I told you some home truths you didn’t want to hear, you’ve hardly spoken to me. So I can’t imagine that this morning will be any different.”
“Which is why I didn’t ask for help earlier, and my pride has come back to bite me on the ass,” I grumble.
There is a noise in the background, and then his voice gets clearer and louder.
“Fuck, you weren’t joking when you said you needed help. I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting that. Are you okay?” And for the first time in a very long time, his voice sounds different, less robotic, like a person who genuinely cares.
“I will be, but I think I need your help to make that happen.”
“Okay, talk to me.”
I must admit this wasn’t the reaction I imagined, but I’ll take it.
“Have you got a few minutes? And promise not to lose your temper until the end, where I’ll give you exactly five minutes to let loose and tell me how stupid I’ve been.
But after that, what I’m about to tell you stays between us, and you don’t hold it over my head for the rest of my life.
” I’m trying to set down some ground rules, but I already know it’s not going to make any difference.
“What the fuck have you done, Jake?”
“Now that’s the Beckett I was expecting,” I reply, and then, not giving him a chance to say another word, I start talking and lay it all out for him. By the time I finish, I have heard him growling and sighing at the appropriate places, but just like I asked, he hasn’t said a word.
“And I can’t lose her, Beckett. I love her, and this time I know it’s forever. I just need to fix this.” The weight I have been carrying for the last year all of a sudden feels like it’s starting to shift.
The silence hanging between us is unnerving, but I can still hear him breathing, so I just wait.
“You’re lucky we aren’t in the same room.”
If he thinks I would be that stupid, then he doesn’t really know me at all.
“Understood,” I reply.
“And besides being furious with you, I’m kind of hurt that you didn’t think you could come to your own brother with this earlier. But I think that’s a conversation for another day, because we both know it’s time to sort this shit out between us, but not now.”
His words settle in my chest, and I silently agree that we need to talk, like really talk about everything I have let build a wedge between us all these years, and I’m sure he has the same list of things that he needs to air.
“I’ve just booked a flight. Pick me up at the airport in five hours. Nobody rips off my baby brother and gets away with it. And don’t worry, we will have you back on the road to Heatherbrae as quick as we can, then you can go and grovel on your hands and knees to win back your girl.”
I can hear him moving and assume he’s packing his computer and whatever else he needs.
“Beckett.” There is a slight quiver in my voice.
“I know, brother. I don’t need your thanks. A video of you on your knees begging for forgiveness will be payment enough.” He starts laughing in a way I haven’t heard in years.
“Asshole,” I murmur before throwing my head back and joining in, and shit, it feels good to let go.
“It’s in our genes. Now get some sleep and I’ll see you soon.”
He ends the call and I don’t dare tell him that I’m just coming into Sacramento now and the only place I’ll be sleeping is in this truck, in the airport parking lot with my trusty guard dog, Rosie, while I wait for him. I don’t want to give him another reason to yell at me.
I take a deep breath now step one, opening up to Beckett, is done. I’ve survived, so far.
And funnily enough, I already know that step two won’t be as easy as this, and that’s saying something after step one involved dealing with my brother.
Step two, explaining all this to Ashley, is going to be the hardest thing I’ve had to do, and I don’t think it will be pretty.
But that’s one of the things I love about Ashley.
Her strength to stand up and fight, even if it’s with me.