I stepped toward him and he snapped, “Don’t! Don’t come over here and look at me with pity in your eyes. Don’t pity me, Cassie! I don’t deserve your pity. And I don’t want it. Just leave me the fuck alone.”
“That’s enough!” I cried out with a sob. “I can’t do this anymore!” Clutching one hand to my mouth, I broke down, tears of frustration falling without warning.
Jack narrowed his eyes and spit out, “I knew it! I knew you were weak.”
His voice burned me like venom from a snake bite, and I steadied my shaking body against the counter.
He doesn’t mean it.
He doesn’t mean it.
He doesn’t mean it.
It was easy for your head to know the truth, but try telling that to your heart when it was too busy shattering to hear.
Trembling, whether from heartbreak or anger, I wasn’t sure, I swiped at my wet cheeks and said, “I just meant that I can’t deal with your attitude anymore. Dean is coming out here, so you’d better get your act together.”
I’d wondered how I was going to tell Jack that Dean was coming out. Thankfully, he’d just given me the perfect opportunity.
“What the hell do you mean, Dean is coming out here? When did you two plan this little bullshit charade?” he demanded, slamming his unopened beer down on our coffee table.
He’d already gotten himself a beer? What the hell?
“Today. I can’t deal with you like this, Jack. You’re mean. You’re just plain mean.”
His good hand balled into a fist before he looked away. “Don’t know what you think bringing Dean out here is going to do.”
“Yeah, me either.” I sighed before walking away. It seemed like that’s all I did lately, walk away from him instead of to him. I wondered if he truly thought I was quitting, or giving up. It probably looked that way in his eyes. But the truth was, I just needed to leave him alone, give him space before I said something I’d regret. We were clearly making each other miserable, and I didn’t want to make it any worse. Being away from him was the only way I could think of to stop the fighting.
Tapping my foot, I waited in baggage claim at JFK for Melissa and Dean. Tempted to bring a super-embarrassing fake sign congratulating them on the birth of their sextuplets, I’d nixed that idea and waited empty-handed instead, an anxious smile plastered all over my face. Melissa’s head covered with bouncy curls appeared first, followed by Dean’s muscular frame towering over her.
When Melissa caught wind of Dean’s impending trip, she invited herself along, claiming she still hadn’t seen our place yet and it wasn’t fair if Dean saw it first. Even though she’d been to New York a hundred times before, it had been years since she’d last visited. I said yes immediately, but reminded them both that we only had one guest room, so no fighting over the bed and the couch. In the end, they each agreed to share the one bed and I secretly wondered if I could cast a love spell on it before they arrived. I might have even searched for one online.
Hell, I think we were all tired of waiting for the inevitable coupling that should be Dean and Melissa. But maybe it was just inevitable to all of us on the outside? Especially since no one really knew what had happened between them.
Melissa looked around curiously as she grabbed me with both hands. “No Jack?” she asked and I breathed out a sarcastic sound.
Dean eyed me with sympathy. “I’ll kick his ass, Sis. It’s all good.” Then he wrapped his strong arms around me and gave me a tight squeeze.
I shook my head. “It’s definitely not all good, Dean. It’s not even close to all good.”
The three of us walked side by side toward the baggage claim carousel. “Is it that bad?” Melissa asked in a low voice.
I nodded. “I’ve never seen this side of him.” Unable to compare Jack’s current personality to any of his moods I’d witnessed since knowing him, I turned to Dean. “Has he ever been like this before?”
Dean shrugged. “Not that I can think of. I mean, he was a wreck when he lost you, but he wasn’t a dick. The things you’ve been telling me don’t sound like my brother at all.”
His words actually relieved me. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Why?”
“Because then this isn’t really a part of him, you know? It’s just something he’s going through right now.” I nodded to myself before continuing. “And I think I can deal with that if I know for certain it’s eventually going to come to an end.”
“Well then, you’d better pray he can pitch in six weeks.”