“Honestly, I just found myself recalling the earlier times in our marriage. You know? When times were good,” he said, running his fingers across his beard as his eyes nervously flitted around my office.
Jacob was assessing and calculating. I knew now how his mind worked, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he was taking stock of everything I owned.
“Look, I have a business to run, and the last thing that I want to do is sit here and shoot the shit with you. So, please, tell me what it is? Is it your gambling or your drinking? Which one has run you to the poor house? Will your amount be something that I can afford, or will you ask me to approach my parents again for another loan? Which one, Jacob? Huh?”
Despite my determination to remain cool, I’d lost it in the few seconds he’d played with me.
Jacob closed his blue eyes against my onslaught, worked his jaw back and forth, and twitched his lips. Pulling his hands over his face, I noticed how pale he turned when he removed his hands.
“Neither,” he said, rubbing his hands up and down his pants legs.
“Okay, then what is it?” I asked in a slightly calmer demeanor.
“I’m sick, Peyton. Okay?”
“Sick?” I said, not comprehending what he was saying.
“Yes. I’m an alcoholic, and I need help. I really wanna change and kick this habit.”
I swallowed, unsure of what to say. Because honestly, I didn’t know if I could trust Jacob or not. Was he running another game on me? Was this just another ploy to get money?
“Jacob, do you know how many times you’ve said this to me? Do you—”
“Peyton!” he said in a firm tone.
His face was red, and his jaw bristled with frustration. “I’m not shitting you, okay? I know that I took you through a lot in our marriage, and the things I did were...” he shook his head.
I refused to let him off the hook. Jacob needed to put into words the hell he’d taken me through.
“They were unfair. The cheating, drinking, gambling, lying, stealing...it was all wrong. And I knew at the time you deserved better than I was giving you. But I’m an addict, Peyton. And I just can’t stop those things no matter how much I want to. I’ve been gambling and drinking since I was sixteen. By the time we met, they were getting out of control.”
“Yet, you hid it so well,” I said in a biting tone.
Rubbing his hands together, he said, “I know. I was a pro at it. Just a chip off the old block,” he said with mocking laughter.
I knew that Jacob’s father, Frank, was an abusive alcoholic. He’d spent years beating Jacob, his mother, and his little brother. To this day, his mother hadn’t found the courage to leave the marriage. The only thing that changed was that now that Jacob and his little brother were older, his father tried to hide it from their eyes. Because if he didn’t, they were liable to beat the crap out of his dad if either of them saw so much as a bruise on her.
And yet, she covered for him and claimed he’d gotten much better. I knew differently. One Friday night, when we’d visited them for dinner, I helped her to clean the kitchen. When she pulled up her blouse sleeves to wash the dishes, fresh purple and red bruises marred her arm.
And when I’d spoken up, she’d shushed me and told me I had no idea what her life was like. The worst part was that she’d made me promise not to tell. Marilee said that if I did, it would only make her life worse.
And that I believed.
“You could have been different,” I said, focused on the not so distant past. “It was up to you to change. To make a choice. Look at Logan. He’s a successful realtor with a loving wife and two beautiful children.”
“Whose asses he beats on a daily just like my old man did us.”
His words took me off-guard. I would never have suspected that from Logan.
“You’re lying,” I said.
“Yeah? Try asking Traci that the next time you see her.”
Well, we both knew that wouldn’t be happening. For one, I was no longer in their lives. And two, I wouldn’t be traveling seventy-five miles to Reidsville where they lived.
I swallowed back the sick feeling of disgust that washed over me. Jacob’s family was screwed up. Why did he and his brother follow the sins of their father, I have no idea. I was only thankful that I’d escaped.
“Look, what does any of this have to do with me?”
“Peyton, I need help, and I don’t have anyone else that I can turn to.”
“For what, Jacob? You don’t have me either.”
“Please. Just hear me out. I know that I don’t deserve your compassion or kindness, but you can’t help it, Peyton. That’s just who you are. Is it wrong for me to play on that? Maybe, but selfish bastard that I am, I can’t help it now. I need you, Peyton. I need someone to be here for me to help me deal with this illness.”
“And what exactly is it that you’re asking of me, Jacob?”
I wanted him to get better, and I didn’t want to see him suffer anymore. But why did he think I held any responsibility to him for this? We were divorced and happily so.
Jacob knew that I did have a tender heart, and I’d cry over a dead dog on the side of the road. But this was beyond me. What did he want from me?
“Peyton, I lost my job.”
And therein lay the problem. Now we were getting somewhere.
“I haven’t been able to find another, and I know that I need to clean up my act. I don’t have any insurance or money to check into a rehab.”
“Jacob, I don’t have any money if that’s what you’re asking of me. I can’t place you on my insurance policy because we’re no longer married. This place has all of my free funding tied up, so I’m not sure how I can help you.”
Stretching his hands out at his side, he said, “I just need a helping hand, Peyton. Maybe a place to stay for a few while I attend some free AA classes so I can get a job.”
Shaking my head, I said, “I’m sorry. I know this sounds cruel, but there’s no way I can help you. Staying with me is not an option.”
“When I look over the last few years of my life, it’s hard for me to believe how badly I’ve screwed it up. I was recently diagnosed with pancreatitis six months ago. Took me a couple of months to come to grips with the fact that my drinking was creating health concerns. Then I was angry for another couple of months, and these last two...well I’ve decided to get the treatment that I need. If there’s any chance of me surviving, I can’t run from it.”
“And drinking?”
“Well, I’ve cut back some.”
“Some?” I asked, getting angry.
“It’s not as easy as you think, Peyton. I wish it were. Do I drink all day every day? No. But I still have one or two a day.”
My eyes narrowed as I wondered just how serious he was taking his approach to treatment.
“And what is it that you want from me again? Because I hear you saying you need someone to be there for you. I hear you saying that you’re ready to get treatment. But I also hear what you’re not saying. That you’re not completely committed because you believe you’re immortal. You don’t buy into your mortality, so I don’t know what all this means for you. Like what does me being there for you even mean, Jacob?”
Sighing, he said, “It means someone to drive me to my doctor appointments when I’m no longer able to do it. Dropping in and checking on me from time to time.”
“Checking on you? Where?”
“Here in Summer Cove as soon as I can find a place to go.”
“You’re moving to Summer Cove?” I asked, shocked.
Jacob wasn’t from Summer Cove, but Durham, which was almost two hundred miles away. He’d never lived here and didn’t have family here.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re here, Peyton. I told you, I’ve got no one. Mom’s got her hands full with Dad, who has health issues now, and Logan’s got his own family. You’re all I’ve got.”
“But, you don’t.”
/> “Peyton.”
“Jacob.”
We stared at one another in a stalemate, and as it usually happens, my conscience started getting the best of me. Feeling the ice melt around my heart, I had to take one more stab at it.
“What about the women you slept with? The one I found you in the bed with? Where are they now, Jake? Can’t you call one of them?”
Shaking his head, he replied, “I told you then that they meant nothing. I was serious, and I’m ashamed to admit it, but I barely knew those women.”
Tears pricked at my eyes, but I refused to let one fall.
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better how, Jake?”
Dropping his head, he ran his fingers through his hair and blew out a breath. When he looked back up at me, his eyes were red, as was his nose.
“I told myself when I came here that this wouldn’t be easy. And that if you tossed me out on my ass, you’d be right to do so, but I never imagined that you would.”
“Jacob, what do you want me to do?” I plead, pushing down tears of my own, seeing his emotions rise to the surface.
“I just want...” he bared his teeth and shook his head. “I need you to say you’ll support me while I go through this, Peyton. Not financially. But just having someone, I can count on, to talk to, let me come to stay until I can find a place of my own and take me to the doctors when I can’t make it happen myself.”
“Damnit, Jake! You have no right to ask this of me!”
Jacob stood and walked to me. Pulling me up from my chair, he wrapped me in his arms. I tried pulling away because that was the last place that I wanted to be.
“I’m sorry, Peyton. I never really told you that I was sorry for disrespecting you. That I was sorry for taking you for granted. I’m...I’m sorry for hurting you. Please forgive me.”
Shaking my head and wiping the tears from my eyes, I said, “I don’t know that I can, Jake. This isn’t easy for me!”
A hard knock resounded at my office door before he had a chance to respond. We both looked up startled. I only hoped our voices hadn’t gotten so loud as to signal trouble to my staff or the volunteers working on the store.
Standing, I pressed my palms down my thighs and glanced at Jacob before quickly making my way to the door. Pulling it open, I was surprised to see who stood on the other side.
“Bishop? H-hi.”
“Hey, you good?” he asked, poking his head into my office.
Bishop’s eyes landed on Jacob, and the concern that was etched on his face quickly turned into a deep scowl.
“Umm, yeah. I was just...I was just finishing up a meeting. Is there something that I can help you with?”
“Not really. I dropped by to check on the progress of the place. G and I just finished with the wedding planner, and I thought I’d see if you were good. I know there’s only a couple weeks or so left,” Bishop said.
Not once did his glare leave Jacob’s face, and Jacob returned the glare, but a curious gleam lit his eyes. I know he wanted to know who Bishop was.
“Everything’s just fine. I couldn’t expect any more than they’re giving. The crew you and Bryce assembled are amazing.”
Bishop slowly nodded his head and turned his gaze back to me. “Yeah. I’m glad to hear that. By the way, Bryce said, give ‘im a call sometime. He’s waiting.”
The words came off almost like an order, and I didn’t know how to handle that. I wasn’t accustomed to this side of Bishop, but I also didn’t want to question it. Not right now. Maybe Jacob needed to think that I had a life now and that he was intruding on it. Perhaps that was all he’d need to push him back beyond the boundaries of safety.
“Um, sure. I will,” I agreed.
“Cool. All right, I’ll let you get back to your meeting. If there’s anything you need at all, give me a shout out. I mean anything. Before I head home, I’ll be at Cook across the street,” Bishop said, referencing the same diner I’d shared a cup of coffee with his brother just seven weeks earlier.
“Okay, Bishop. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks,” I said with a tight smile.
Slowly he backed out of the office, but not before glaring at Jacob once more. Jacob, who was no longer paying either of us attention but wincing instead.
“What?” I asked as soon as the door closed.
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head.
“What is it? I saw you making that face when you thought I wasn’t looking, Jacob.”
“I know that I have no right to ask this, but who was that guy?”
Sighing, I said, “He’s a good friend.”
“Are you involved with him?”
Frowning, I said, “No!”
“I’m sorry. I had no right to ask, but I couldn’t help myself. He just seemed a bit...overprotective.”
“Everyone around Summer Cove is like that. Especially when someone whose wronged one of us comes around.”
Sighing, he said, “I know, Peyton. And I wish that I could erase all of that, but I can’t. I need you. Please.”
“I can’t promise you anything, Jacob. Except that I’ll give my best. Okay?”
“That’s all I ask,” he said with a nod as he stood.
“I’ll be at the Bellevue Inn. But I’ve only been able to rent a room for a week. Do you think you can have an answer for me by then?”
“Sure, Jacob.”
Briefly, he asked about my store, and I gave him an overview of the last year and a half before I walked him out. I quickly made a beeline back to my office to keep away the curious stares and prying questions that inevitably came in small towns. Questions that would start with my staff.
CHAPTER 18 – BRYCE
DAMN. I HAD IT BAD, and there was no reason to keep denying it. I wasn’t fooling anybody but myself. This shit wasn’t cool at all. How the hell did I find myself in this stupid ass place like those dumb motherfuckers I wrote about in my books?
Yet, nothing else could explain why I was standing in Summer Cove in the doorway of Peyton’s office. Leaning against the doorframe, one hand shoved in my pocket the other toying with my keyring while I waited for her to conclude her call.
She’d left her office door open, and I’d taken it upon myself to head straight back there. Everyone else was busy putting the final touches on the store. It was looking great. The funny thing was, I hadn’t been here to give any more input, but the store looked exactly as I’d envisioned it in my head when I’d made all the suggestions for improvement.
Complete with a coffee bar and a stage for live music, poetry readings, or whatever the hell else she wanted to do. Hell, she could put a stripper pole up and attract a large audience.
Ari wasn’t happy with my ass at all. I’d canceled out on a book signing at the last minute, pleading sick. She was pissed, as was the bookstore owner that I’d bailed on. He’d threatened lawsuits for breach of contract and a dozen other reasons.
I’d simply told Ari to handle it. That’s what she got paid for, and she’d done just that. I would get the details later, but for now, I needed to make my presence known in Summer Cove.
From the moment Bishop called to say Peyton and her ex-husband seemed a little too comfortable for his liking, I knew I needed to get my ass in gear. Now two days later, here I was in the flesh.
“Sure. That will work out perfectly for me; I don’t have anything on my schedule for that time. Okay...no problem, honey. Same here.”
Her laughter tinkled and made me jealous. For some reason, I had the impression she was talking to a man.
“All right. I’ll see you soon,” she said, ending her call.
When Peyton turned around and saw me leaning against the doorframe, it was as if she’d seen a ghost. Wide, frantic eyes stared through me, and her heart-shaped lips formed a perfect “o” as her face went pale.
“Hi.”
“Uh...hi. What’re you doing here?”
“Just checking in on how things are coming along.”
An ironic laugh
escaped her throat. “That makes two Lexington brothers in two days. Sure it doesn’t have anything to do with me not following through on your brother’s command to call you?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
I closed the door behind me and took a few steps into the room and stopped just at the edge of her desk. I needed a barrier of protection remaining between us with the way that I was feeling.
Possessive. Protective and shit.
“And if it did?”
“I’d say that he has no right to lay down commands like that, and you have no right flying in to enforce them. Or making demands on me because I’m sure that’s what you’re going to do.”
I stared at Peyton for a moment because she knew me well. She wasn’t like other women who only guessed at my reactions or how I’d behave. Peyton had years of knowing my every move and the reasoning behind it.
“Peyton, what the hell is this, huh?” I asked, my arms spread wide at my side.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“My last name ain’t Bradley or Parker.”
“What?”
“All these damned games you’re playing with me, you must think I’m Milton Bradley or one of the Parker brothers. That shit that you pulled on me before I headed up out of here hasn’t set well with me. And I’m not cool with sitting back acting as if it did.”
“Only you did, Bryce. For seven weeks, you’ve been cool with it.”
“Is that what you think? Do you think that’s why I blew your phone up?”
“You didn’t come back to check on me,” she said snidely.
“I had obligations. Hell, I’ve got one now that I bailed on! Why did you push me away, Peyton? What was it? You couldn’t handle what was happening between us? Always afraid to take a risk where I’m concerned, right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bryce,” she said, turning away from me and staring out the window behind her desk.
I closed the distance between us. My hands at her waist caused her to jump and then stiffen her body.
Undeniable: A Friends To Lovers Romance (Love Desired Book 4) Page 12