Chapter Twenty-Six #4
She was light. Lighter than she should have been and she couldn’t help but think that Jameson was the reason for her ease. He was showing up for their daughter, careful with Daisy, careful to hold the line. He clearly wanted her; he had said as much, but he hadn’t pushed and that mattered.
After her lipstick was refreshed, Daisy reached for the door, only to hear a familiar nasal voice behind her.
“You screwing him yet?”
Daisy’s mouth dried. “Leave me alone, Harley.”
She didn’t.
“You really think he’s different?”
Daisy turned halfway. “Not that I care what you think, but yes.”
Harley’s laugh scratched along the walls.
“You were always a stupid girl. Guys like Jameson don’t change.
Sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll—once they’ve had a taste, it’s in their blood.
Soon he’ll get bored with playing house and be back on the road.
I’ve seen it my whole life. It’s the only thing that’s sustainable, the only thing they ever truly love. ”
“Why would I listen to you? From what I hear, he fired your ass.”
“He may have fired me, sweetheart,” she said sweetly, “but that didn’t mean he stopped fucking me.”
Ice washed through Daisy. “You’re lying.”
“Am I? Ask him yourself. I know his memory was foggy during that time, but trust me, guys don’t forget a girl like me.”
She shoulder-checked Daisy as she left.
Daisy breathed until the room stopped tilting. When she stepped back into the ballroom, Jameson saw her immediately and waved, that boyish grin aimed only at her.
She couldn’t make her mouth obey, so she went to the bar instead.
A minute later, his hand found the small of her back. “Everything all right?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“Harley. She cornered me in the bathroom.”
Daisy took his hand and pulled him toward a quieter hallway.
“I’m sorry she keeps bothering you. I’ll make sure she doesn’t—”
Daisy interrupted. “Did you keep sleeping with her after I left?”
He flinched. “What?”
“Was it one night, or—”
His jaw tightened. “No.”
“No, it was, or no, it wasn’t?”
Jameson rolled his lips together and begrudgingly whispered, “No… I didn’t stop.”
Her fingers fell from his. Hurt flashed hot and cold and somehow both at once. Words charged to her tongue and died there. Her heart literally ached. So she did the only thing she could.
She walked away.
She refused to look at him for the rest of the evening. Childish, maybe. But she was furious.
And while she knew her anger was directed at actions committed in the past, she couldn’t help but question those decisions.
Harley had undermined them at every turn. She literally set up the appointment that would have erased their daughter. And he’d still gone back.
For months.
“Daisy, please don’t shut me out,” he said softly.
“Don’t talk to me right now.”
“Darlin’—”
She flinched at the word.
“Please.”
Anna and Lenny appeared, breathless. “Why aren’t you two dancing?” Anna demanded.
They both said nothing.
“Okay. I don’t know what crawled up both your butts, but we’re taking this party somewhere else.”
“Where?” Jameson asked, voice flat.
“The Mint Club,” Lenny answered.
“I don’t feel like it,” Daisy said. “I’m just going to head back.”
“Uhh, this is also my divorce party,” Anna reminded, cupping Daisy’s cheeks. “You’re coming. End of.”
Well. Okay then.
The Mint Club was exactly what it promised—mint-green light, chandeliers like dripping jewelry, bass thick as honey. In VIP, the tension from the car rode with them.
“What happened?” Anna whispered, so only Daisy could hear. “I saw you talking to his ex-wife—was she awful?”
Daisy shook her head.
“Then what?”
She stared at the back of Jameson’s head. “He kept sleeping with Harley after I left.”
Anna’s eyes snapped wide. “You’re kidding.”
“He admitted it,” Daisy said, sinking into the plush seat.
Anna’s face softened. “I’m sorry, Double D. I know you’ve let some of that go, but hearing that… it’s brutal. I’m sure it drags everything back up. What do you need? How can I help?”
“You can get me a strong drink.”
As if summoned, Lenny leaned over. “Ladies want something? Champagne, cocktails…?”
“Vodka tonic,” Daisy and Anna said in unison.
Their go-to when they wanted to get properly wasted. They shared a knowing smirk.
“Well, all right then,” Lenny said, flagging down the bottle girl. “A bottle of Dom and two vodka tonics.”
“And water for me,” Jameson added from the other side, earning a pointed look from Daisy.
The vodka burned pleasantly. Daisy ignored the men and let Anna pull her onto the private dance floor.
She wasn’t much of a dancer, so she let liquid confidence do the rest. The music caught her and, for once, she let it.
She moved with the rhythm, laughing when strangers brushed past, trying to keep Anna in sight and losing her to the crush anyway.
It didn’t matter. For a few songs, she let herself be—unguarded and totally weightless.
Soon after Anna disappeared into the crowd, a pair of hands slid to her hips. When she turned, she found a chart-topping rapper grinning down at her. “Didn’t think a pretty thing like you should dance alone.”
She was too starstruck to answer. She nodded. He leaned, voice in her ear, his own single pounding through the club. She tried to focus on anything but Jameson.
Which worked—until it didn’t. Because suddenly Jameson was there, eyes flat and burning.
“Get your hands off her.”
The rapper lifted his palms. “My bad. She your girl, Kingston?”
“Yes,” Jameson said, too fast for Daisy to correct. He laced his fingers through hers, pulling her down a dark corridor, away from the noise.
“Let go,” she snapped, yanking. He released her hand, then braced an arm against the wall beside her, caging her without touching.
“You’re drunk,” he said.
“And you’re an asshole.”
“What were you doing? Letting him put his hands on you like that.”
“I can dance with whoever I want. I’m a single woman.”
“Be angry at me, fine.” He bit out, “But don’t make yourself a headline.”
“Oh, that’s rich. Why do you care who I dance with? Maybe I was trying to get lucky… just like you got lucky with Harley.”
“So that’s what this is,” he said, voice rough. “Payback for a mistake I made nine years ago.”
“Mistakes, Jameson. Plural. You made mistake after mistake when you climbed back into bed with that horrible woman! Did you ever once think about me—what I was going through after everything you did? The answer’s no. You didn’t. You probably never thought of me again.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Oh really? I know I was the only person on that tour who cared. The only one who told you the truth. The only one who loved you enough to sacrifice everything. And what did you do? You threw me away like trash. You traded me in for someone shinier, sexier—”
“I came for you!”
Daisy’s darting eyes stilled and locked on him. “What?”
“I came for you the day after you left. First flight I could get. I came to beg for your forgiveness, Daisy, to salvage whatever was left of the best thing in my life. But when I got there, your dad said you were gone to New York. He told me that if I ever loved you, I should let you go. Damn near demanded it. And you know what? He was right. I wasn’t good enough for you then…
and maybe I’m still not. But I’ve been fighting like hell these last few weeks to prove I’m not that kid anymore. ”
Daisy blinked, unsure her voice would work. He came for me?
She was still trying to process it when he added, “And don’t, for one second, believe I forgot you. Every single day these last nine years, there hasn’t been a morning I’ve woken up or a night I’ve gone to sleep without wishing you were right beside me.”
“Why?” The question escaped, thin as a thread.
He stepped in, stopping just short of her mouth, the world narrowing to their breath, to their pulsing hearts. “Because, Daisy, how the hell is a man supposed to live without the other half of his soul?”
Then, he kissed her.
The floor slipped away. The world stopped.
His mouth was heat and apology and want, his hand at her jaw angling her closer until there was no space left to argue.
She rose into him, fingers in his hair, the taste of vodka swirling and relief making everything inside her go soft.
He groaned when she took the kiss deeper, and the sound arrowed through her.
For a dizzy, impossible moment there was only them. The years apart collapsing into now.
When a door banged open at the end of the hall and voices spilled into the dark, they broke apart, breathless, foreheads still pressed together.
For a moment, neither spoke, the thrum of the club muffled under the sound of their racing hearts.
Daisy almost laughed at the recklessness of it, and Jameson’s answering grin told her he was thinking the same thing.
By the time they made it back to the table, Anna and Lenny were gone. Two texts lit up her screen:
Anna: We’re out, Double D. I caved… Lenny’s a hunk. Sending the car.
Anna: Have fun with your band boy ;)
Daisy tilted the phone so Jameson could see. He huffed a low laugh and squeezed her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
The car ride home was quiet. Strangely, she wasn’t replaying the kiss on a loop.
She felt… calm. Clear. She had feelings for him—undeniable now—but what they meant was messier.
Nostalgia or new? She knew the real answer and shoved it aside.
He had broken her once. They couldn’t pick up where they left off.
Their lives and their priorities were different now.
“Talk to me,” Jameson said, voice low in the dark. “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
She slid closer, looping her arm through his, resting her head on his shoulder. “I don’t feel like talking. Let’s just… be.”
He kissed the crown of her head, his lips warm and unhurried. “Okay.”
They stayed like that in the quiet purr of the car until it rolled to a stop in front of the house. Jameson didn’t release her hand as he led her inside, guiding her up the stairs. Her breath caught when they walked past her bedroom and reached his. He pushed the door open and waited.
Daisy didn’t move. Her feet rooted to the floor, her pulse hammering in her ears. He turned back, a silent question in his eyes.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“Can’t or won’t?” His voice was gentle, not accusatory, but it still sliced through her.
She let out a shaky breath. “A bit of both. If it were just me, maybe I’d risk it.
Not think twice about the consequences. But it’s not just me anymore.
Amelia deserves two present parents, not a soap opera.
If I go to bed with you tonight, there will surely be fallout.
And I can’t drag her through that. Not again. ” She swallowed hard.
Jameson’s hand lingered in hers, unwilling to let go. His eyes searched hers, desperate, soft, but pleading. “Then what does this mean for us? The touching, the kissing, the… feelings?”
Daisy held his gaze, though it hurt. The simplest truth was the hardest to say. “It means nothing,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “For now… it has to mean nothing.”