Splintered Oak (Winsor Series Book 3) (15 page)

Bruce stood and walked to his desk casually. I watched as he picked up my folder and read the contents in it. “The same Andrew Summers who is your cousin’s father? The same one who she accused of trying to marry her off as part of a business merger? The same one who barged into your apartment and attacked your cousin’s husband? You regret punching
him
?”

I gritted my teeth as anger surged throughout my body, causing both of my hands to clench into tight fists. “How do you know all of that?”

“Your cousin and her husband gave their testimony on your behalf, Jake. I’ve got your entire life etched out in black and white right in front of me.”

I watched as he set down the folder and made his way back to the seat across from me. “Jake, as you know, participation is part of the process. In my mind, participation is not just telling me what you think I want to hear. If at the end of the six months you sit here and want to punch Andrew Summers, I will still gladly sign your release. I just ask for one thing while you’re in here—complete and total honesty.”

I nodded and stared at him, still trying to decide if I could take him at his word. I had yet to meet any man who hadn’t disappointed me in one way or another. Everyone always had some kind of hidden agenda.

The silence continued until Bruce began again. “Why are you here?”

This time I didn’t hesitate. “Because I don’t want to go to jail.”

“Do you regret assaulting Andrew Summers?”

“No.”

Bruce smiled before sitting back in his chair, looking completely relaxed next to my tense state. “Here’s how it will work, Jake. I’m going to ask questions and you are going to give me honest answers just like that. You get one timeout per session. If I approach a subject you just can’t deal with, say ‘timeout’ and we’ll move to something else. Use it wisely, though, because you only get one. That sound fair to you?”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” I agreed, forcing myself to lean back in the chair as well and try to relax. I had to admit, knowing I had an out did make the conversation seem a little less intimidating. Even the room seemed to get cooler.

“So, was that day the first time you wanted to hit Mr. Summers?”

I let out an audible laugh. “No. I’ve hated that guy for as long as I can remember.”

“Why is that?”

“Because he is a bad person. He’s a cheater, a liar, and he abandoned his family. He has no problem shattering people’s lives and then walking away without even a glance back.”

Bruce nodded and rubbed his bare chin. “What about your father, Jake? Does he feel the same way about his brother-in-law?”

My shoulders tensed as I considered using the timeout option. My father? He was the king at walking out on people. Glancing at my watch, I realized that I still had forty minutes with this guy. “I wouldn’t know,” I finally said. “I’ve never met my father.”

Bruce nodded again. “Okay. And what about you, Jake? Are you a one-woman kind of guy? Never cheated? Never lied? Never shattered anyone’s life?”

I stood in indignation, his massive build the only thing keeping me from grabbing his shirt. “Don’t compare me to him! I’m not married. I don’t have a kid to take care of. I’ve never promised a girl I would love her forever and then walked away,” I realized that I had described both Andrew Summers and my father. Oh well, they were both idiots.

Bruce waited until I calmed down and then pointed at the chair again. I slowly sat down, working to get my breathing under control.

“What are your relationships like, Jake? Long term? Short term?”

“I honestly don’t see how any of this is relevant,” I scoffed, glaring at him.

“Well, you don’t have to, now do you? I’m the one who gets to ask the questions.” Bruce smiled at me again and waited for my answer.

“I date casually,” I admitted. “I mean, it’s not like I’m incapable of a relationship. I have been in love before. It just never stuck.”

Bruce’s eyebrows shot up. “Really, and who was the lucky girl?”

I scowled at him, regretting I ever said anything. “Avery,” I choked out.

“What did you love about her?”

I threw my hands up in frustration. “What is this? Punked or something? I mean, seriously, I thought this was anger counseling, not some kind of slumber party.”

Bruce dropped his head and laughed heartily before answering. “Anger, love, hate, it’s all the same Jake, just manifested differently. Your hesitation to answer these simple questions are what’s making me ask more. What’s so hard about talking about a girl you once loved? What, you want to go back to talking about your father?”

I shook my head and sighed. I definitely didn’t want to go down that road. I stood again, somehow unable to sit still. My skin crawled as if little ants were all over me and the room temperature seemed to keep rising. “She was perfect. Kind, smart, willing to do anything for you,” I began, feeling the pain in my chest return a little as I pictured Avery’s face. “She had this innocence about her, you know? The kind of girl who was untouched by a man, so she loved unashamedly, pouring into you like this unending stream of water.”

“She sounds great,” Bruce offered.

“She was.”

“But you aren’t together anymore. Why is that?”

I ran my hands through my hair, sitting down again. “I was stupid. It got to be too much for me and I walked away.” As my words filled the air, I could see what Bruce had tried to do. I felt my jaw tighten as anger surged through me. I was not Andrew Summers…or my father.

Bruce waited a second and then watched me closely. “And when you walked away, was she still untouched?”

Pain surged like lightning as guilt descended on me with such force I wanted to scream. I glared at him, my breathing steady and deliberate. I’d never felt such an urge to attack as I did in that moment. Only I didn’t know who to attack. Bruce? Myself?

“Timeout.” The words were like an echo through the silent room.

Tension hung in the air, but Bruce stayed true to his word and gave me a moment to recover. He moved onto safer subjects like where I grew up and how old I was when my mom got sick. He asked me
a little about Aunt Diana and how I felt about her taking us in. I slowly began to relax until Bruce finally stopped and looked at his watch.

“Time’s up, Jake. You did good today.” He walked over to his desk again and brought me back a card. “I have a wrestling gym I run a few miles from here. Several of the guys there have been where you are, and it’s a great place to let off some steam when you need to. You should come by some time. It’s question free,” he promised with a pat on the back.

I took the card, but doubted I would ever use it. I wanted nothing more than to get as far away from Bruce as I could, and didn’t see me going anywhere near him outside of what I was required to do.

Suddenly feeling imprisoned, I bolted to the door. “See you next week,” the guy at the desk called before I loudly slammed the door shut. The air felt heavy and I kept replaying his question in my mind.

And when you walked away, was she still untouched?

I kicked my front tire and cursed. Not satisfied, I kicked it again and cursed some more. I
was not like my father!

Agitated and ready to explode, I drove to my condo. The empty place just added to my frustration as I stared at Naomi’s closed door. Was that how she saw me? I went to the liquor cabinet and grabbed my favorite bottle of whiskey and took two shots before slamming the glass down on the counter. Still not satisfied, I cursed again, and got back in the car.

I drove straight to Issy’s place, needing something to make sense. The guard saw the look on my face and buzzed me through without a word. I rolled my neck, knowing I needed to calm down. The whiskey worked its way through my system, and I could feel my heartbeat slow just a little. Issy would confirm I was nothing like my father.

16. HESITATIONS

NAOMI

Time ticked away at a pace slower than molasses. I looked at my watch one more time—still ten minutes to go. Being that history was my passion and love, I whole-heartedly expected this third century history class to be fascinating. Unfortunately, it was a lot less intriguing and a lot more tedious.

My twenty-page research paper was almost finished, though, making the last few days in the library completely worth it. I noticed the students around me packing up, bringing me out of my thoughts and putting a smile on my face.
Finally!

I mentally went through my checklist as I walked across campus. The meat was already slow cooking and I just needed to run by the store and pick up some last minute ingredients. It was weird since I was just cooking for Jake and Issy, but I’d had these butterflies in my stomach all day. That feeling that I forgot something or that something big was going to happen had made me edgy and fidgety all morning. I assured myself it was just the tension between Issy and Jake that worried me and tried unsuccessfully to push the anxiety aside.

Lost in thought as I walked briskly through the quad, I barely heard Jonathan’s voice as he approached me.

“Naomi,” he called again, jogging up to me when I finally stopped. It was an odd sensation seeing him again after kissing the other night. I was still tryin
g to process how I felt about the moment and his continual phone calls weren’t making it any easier for me.

This is your best friend
, I reminded myself. The one who taught me to drive because Alex got too exasperated when I couldn’t learn how to use the stick shift. The one who would stay up all night with me to help study for a critical test.
Jonathan was someone I cared about.

“Hey, I’ve been trying to reach you for days.” He stopped in front of me and shot me one of his beautiful smiles. “You’re not avoiding me are you?”

I couldn’t help but return his smile despite my anxiety rising to another notch. “No. Not consciously, anyway. I’ve been working on a research paper.”

He reached out and took my hand, moving it back and forth in his. “Have you given any more thought to what we talked about?” he asked as he tugged on my hand to move me toward him. “I can’t even step on the football field now without thinking of you.”

Heat shot up my cheeks. Jonathan’s forward persistence was new for me, and always seemed to catch me off guard. “I’ve thought about it. Probably more than I wanted to,” I admitted.

“And?” We were now within inches of each other, and he was moving and adjusting my hair as he watched me intensely.

I swallowed hard and looked around, fully aware we had an audience. “Maybe we could just take things slow. I mean, we haven’t really been around each other in a year and even before that, we lived very separate lives.” I wanted to believe Jake’s words from the other night didn’t impact me, but deep down I knew they did. The reality was that I couldn’t defend Jonathan’s reputation because I had truthfully never been around him when he was out with his friends.

Jonathan’s face fell, but he didn’t move back. “I can go slow, Naomi, but I can’t go back to just being your friend if that’s what you mean. I’ve already fallen too hard.”

I looked around again, feeling more and more exposed having this conversation in the middle of the quad. I didn’t want to hurt or disappoint him, and I knew my mom would die if she found out I hadn’t even given him a chance. “I don’t know what I mean,” I finally said. “This is all new for me. What do you normally do with girls you are interested in?”

Jonathan smiled again and then shot me a look of understanding. My inexperience with boys was no secret to him. “Honestly, I haven’t found too many girls that are worth pursuing. Most of them these days are too wild or too forward, or honestly just not attractive to me. But, on the rare occasion there is someone who’s the whole package, like you, I ask her out and I get to know her better.”

I knew I should find Jonathan’s honesty refreshing, but sometimes he would just say things that irritated the mess out of me. “And what category was I in before? The too forward one or the just not attractive enough one?” I moved back and pulled my hand from his, crossing my arms in defense.

He looked stunned at first, but then slowly pulled me close to him again. “You were in a category all by yourself, Naomi. Perfect and untouchable. You’re the type of girl a man marries, and I wasn’t going to chance ruining my friendship with you when I knew I wasn’t ready to be everything you deserved.”

Okay, so those words were pretty much perfect. Why was I hesitating? Jonathan was a good man. He was caring, honest, and came from a good, solid family—a family already entrenched into my own. I knew he would be the type to provide a good home and stay committed. He was everything I always thought I wanted.

“Just give me another chance. You’re being careful and defensive,” he continued. “I totally get that. But I’ve known you for twenty years, Naomi. Doesn’t that entitle me to at least one official date?”

I chuckled and shook my head in defeat, knowing I really didn’t have any concrete reason to say no. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

A smug smile moved across his face as he pulled me in for tight hug. I hesitated at first, but the familiarity of it soon took over. I care
d about him. I had forever.

“There’s a party this Friday,” he explained as he released me. “It’s just a mingle thing with the players, coaches, and their families. Will you come with me?” He gave me his puppy dog face and that was the breaking point.

“Of course,” I agreed, caving.

“Awesome!”

We heard his name being called from across the quad and we both glanced in that direction. A group of guys and a few girls were waving us over.

“Come on. This is a great chance to meet everyone,” Jonathan urged, taking my hand.

I looked at my watch, time starting to run ahead of my carefully planned schedule of events. “Okay, but only for a few minutes. I have plans tonight, and I need to take care of a few things this afternoon.”

Stopping mid stride, Jonathan halted our progress to frown at me. “Plans with who?”

Why did I suddenly feel nervous again? “Issy and Jake. I’m making them dinner.”

Jonathan started walking again, but was much more stiff, and his grip had gotten tighter. Before we even made it ten feet, he stopped us again, looking fully irritated. “Naomi, those are not the kind of people you need to be hanging around with,” he said scowling. “Everyone at this school knows Issy and what kind of girl she is. I don’t want them associating that behavior with you. And I’m not even going to start on how I feel about you hanging out with Jake. We’ve beat that dead horse.”

Something that felt a little like righteous indignation welled up in me. “Issy’s changed. She’s not like that anymore. She’s married now and doesn’t even drink.”

“Ha,” he scoffed, shaking his head as he returned to pulling me along with force. “People like Issy don’t change. They go through phases.” When we were within ear shot of his group of friends, he stopped us again. “Let’s just drop it til later, okay? Come to lunch with us. I’ll have you back in plenty of time to make your dinner.” His eyes were still alight with anger and his body was completely tense. I didn’t want to make a scene, and I certainly wasn’t about to have a confrontation in the quad.

“Okay, fine. Whatever,” I conceded.

He nodded and then gave me a smile as his face switched immediately to his relaxed, charming demeanor. Pulling his arm around my shoulders, I was guided into a crowd of people, meeting and shaking hands with a smile on my face all while my stomach remained in an array of knots. Jonathan didn’t outright call me his girlfriend, but his words and body language certainly implied it.

A group of us settled into Jonathan’s SUV. He shot me a proud smile and patted my leg before putting the car in drive. I glanced at my watch in dismay. If I blew Jake off again, he was going to kill me, and honestly, I wouldn’t blame him.

17
. the FINAL STRAW

JAKE

The elevator opened as I called out Issy’s name before even looking around. She turned around to look at me, completely startled by my entry. My eyes didn’t stay on her for long, though, because standing right next to her was a ghost. A beautiful ghost with long golden hair and ice blue eyes that had haunted my dreams for months.

“Avery?” I whispered, my mind flooding with all the memories of us together. Memories only magnified by the conversation I’d just had with Bruce. Memories of the night that changed everything. Memories of her fear when I demanded she take me back. And worst of all, memories of her walking away when I needed her the most.

Realization gripped me as Bruce’s question hung in my head. No, she wasn’t untouched, but neither was I. I thought time had taken it away, but as I stared at her big blue eyes, I knew it hadn’t. I still needed her. Still wanted her.

She hesitated under my stare, cautiously moving from the kitchen and towards her bag sitting on the couch. “Hi Jake. I was just leaving, so she’s all yours.”

No, she couldn’t leave. This was fate. I knew it. “How are you?” I choked out.

She smiled and picked up her bag. I watched as she nervously tucked her hair behind her ears. A motion so familiar to me, I wanted to reach out and do it for her. She looked rattled, just like she always did around me. I still got under her skin; I could feel it. I took a step toward her, wanting so much to just touch her. She had been mine once, and I still felt that possession of her. I had seen every part of her, inside and out.

“I’m good, Jake. Really good.” She waved at Issy who seemed to be watching things unfold with catlike intensity, waiting for me to snap.

Since I purposely blocked her, Avery attempted to walk around me, her body language still screaming at me that things between us were far from over.

Unable to stop myself, I grabbed her free hand, forcing her to turn and look at me. “Avery…wait,” I begged, needing more than just a moment to be next to her. “I just want to talk to you.”

My grip tightened as she attempted to casually pull her hand away, fear starting to show in her eyes. It was the same look she gave when I begged her choose me, when I told her I loved her and needed her. When my demanding lips found hers so she would be reminded of the electricity and longing that existed between us. I had to fight the urge to do it again—to do anything that would replace that frightened look with the one she used to have for me. She once loved me, adored me even, and I knew she would again if she would just stop being so afraid.

The hard scrape of metal across my palm forced me to look down at our adjoined hands. That’s when I saw it. Clear as day sat a diamond ring on her finger. My head darted back up, my eyes pleading for it not to be true. “You’re going to marry him?” I whispered, the reality of the situation crushing the last bit of hope remaining in my heart.

Avery tried to hide her discomfort, but I could see it all over her face. I didn’t care. My grip tightened, refusing to let her go until she answered my question.

“Next month,” she admitted, and then looked up at Issy for some kind of help. “Issy’s my maid of honor.”

Ice shot through me, paralyzing my movement as I stared at her. Issy’s soft touch on my arm enabled me to let go of Avery’s hand, but I still couldn’t move as I watched her disappear behind the elevator doors, taking with her the future I was once sure I would have.

“Jake, I was going to tell you,” Issy began, bringing me from my state of shock. “I was just waiting for the right time.”

Fury, of a measure I had never known before, surged through me like a current finally free of all its confines. As I stared at Issy’s concerned face, every feeling I had stuffed down since her return came bubbling up with nothing to stop it.

Shaking uncontrollably, I pushed her aside and grabbed the glasses they were using and threw them against the wall, shattering both. The sound of tiny shards of glass hitting the tile floor calmed me a little, but it wasn’t enough. I had to get out of there.

She grabbed my arm as I attempted to push past her again.

“Jake, stop. Talk to me!” she begged.

I pulled my arm away in disgust, tears pressing on my eyes when I saw hers. “Talk to you? I don’t even know you. Everything I thought you were is a lie.  How could you do it? Knowing how I feel about her. How could you stand up for her as she marries another guy?”

Tears were falling freely down her cheeks now, only making the moment worse. “I’m sorry, Jake. I didn’t think it through.”

“Of course you didn’t, Issy, because I’m no longer a priority to you.” I looked around her perfect condo, representing her picture perfect life and knew I was going to lose it if I didn’t get out of there soon. “Go live your perfect life, Issy. You are officially free of your troubled, damaged cousin who is so temperamental that you have to lie to his face every day just to avoid a scene.”

I backed up, brushed my hands together for effect and then threw them up in the air. “You’re free. Go do whatever it is you do now.”

I turned and slammed the elevator buttons, refusing to look at her. I could hear her cries as the door shut, but for the first time in my life, I didn’t care. My best friend had died that dreadful night in the hospital six months ago. New Year’s Eve had changed everything, had done more than just send Issy off to her father’s. It had ruine
d her. I just couldn’t accept that fact until now. I didn’t know this person.