The Weakness in Me (13 page)

Suddenly, a thought popped into his head.
Her scream hadn’t been panicked, like she’d woken up from a nightmare. It had been primal and erotic. He recognized the way she’d screamed his name, instantly, hadn’t he? She’d screamed his name that way more times than he could count over their years together.

His mouth popped open in shock as he looked, again, at her closed bathroom door.
“Did Sammy just have a sex dream about me?” he laughed to himself as he stood from his seat on her bed, still astonished at the interesting turn the morning had just taken. A slow grin settled on his face that there was hope for him, after all. He just hoped that she’d continue along this train of thought, and wouldn’t get freaked out about what it all could mean. He hoped that as she continued to heal, this meant he had a chance to make up for their past.

**

Across town, Jamie tore out of the parking lot of Jason’s condo complex as she saw he wasn’t home, again! ‘
How dare he think he can avoid me!’
she huffed to herself as she picked up her cell phone and hit her speed dial. She cursed when she heard the voicemail pick up and ended the call. After driving a few more miles closer to home, she picked up the phone again, trying, at least, four more times before she turned onto her tree-lined suburban street.

“Missy?”
Jamie confirmed when she finally heard something other than voicemail on the other end of her phone as she pulled up to her house. Slamming the door to her green Volkswagon, she stalked into her house with her cell phone glued to her ear. She’d attempted to reason with Jason, for the sixth time in two weeks and all for nothing. He wasn’t answering the door for her, nor was he taking her phone calls. Today, he wasn’t even there. All because of that bitch! She finally decided that desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Yeah?
What’s up, Mrs. Wright?” she asked, sounding as sweet as pie. If she weren’t already furious, it would have warmed her heart to hear Missy sounding so pliant. After all, Missy’s cooperation was exactly what she needed today. Instead, Jamie threw her keys across her living room upon entering the white one story ranch, two doors down from the pink two-story craftsman she saw in her nightmares.

“I caught him coming home from spending the night with
her
two weeks ago! I’ve been trying to reach you,” Jamie spat in to the receiver, walking to the wet bar on the boundary between the living room and kitchen and poured herself a shot of whiskey. She knew names weren’t necessary, Missy always understood exactly what she was trying to say. “I need to stop this before it gets out of control! I let it get too far last time and I can’t let that happen again,” she said, pouring and downing a second and third shot, before sinking into the cracked powder blue leather couch with the rest of the bottle.

“What do you think would work?
” Missy asked, before letting out a slight yawn. “Cause I don’t think he’ll let me get close enough to him this time,” Missy said, reminding Jamie that Jason’s precious
Sammy
would do everything in her power to keep the petite blonde as far away as possible after what happened last time. “He seems determined this time to not let anything ruin his perceived second chance.” Jamie could almost hear Missy rolling her eyes at the thought of them reconnecting.

“I don’t understand why he thinks she walks on water.
She’s not perfect, you know?” she growled, taking another swig from her bottle, letting the warmth wash over her.

“I know!
I don’t understand either! I’m so much better than that uptight prude. He’d be so much happier with me. Can you imagine how beautiful our children would be?” Missy said, growing wistful at the end of the thought.

“You would!”
Jamie lamented, setting the whiskey on the pink art deco coffee table and walking back to the bar. “You are both blonde, with blue eyes! So beautiful!” she sighed, deeply and pulled a stick of patchouli incense from the drawer under the single sink, before adding, “Now, how are we going to get rid of this bitch again? I can’t believe we even have to go through
this again! Doesn’t she see how much she’s hurting my baby?” Lighting the incense, she inhaled, looking for the strength Sven said it would bring and finding only agitation at how far she had to go to cleanse her family of the Castle family. How was she the only one who saw how poisonous they were?

“Are you sure they
spent
the night together? Are you sure he wasn’t just babysitting over night? Maybe it’ll be easier this time. She doesn’t seem all that interested in anything more than friendship with him,” Missy said, absently.

“Oh, that’s just wha
t she wants us
and
him to think,” Jamie let out a sarcastic laugh. “But I know she can’t wait to get her hooks back into him again! After all, she needs a new daddy for that little brat of hers,” she nodded in agreement with her words, clutching the bar to keep from throwing something. “I don’t think they are sleeping together…
yet.
But believe me, she was
mourning
last night and Jason just had to be there for her, it
is
coming, and soon,” Jamie snarled. “She knows exactly what to say to make it seem like it’s all his choice, too.”

“Okay, whatever you say, Mrs. Wright.
You’d know him better than anyone,” the blonde conceded, sweetly. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I think it’ll be easier to get to him after she goes back to work and they aren’t together all the time anymore.
Kelly told Mrs. Franklin that Samantha can drive on her own now, so she doesn’t need him to chauffeur her around, either,” she barked Sammy’s mothers name, kicking off her hemp sandals and pacing the carpet in the living room. Kelly, now that was another Castle woman who didn’t deserve the husband she’d had, it was any wonder she eventually drove him away. She was never home when he needed her to be there for him, and that’s why after thirty years, Jamie was still married and Kelly wasn’t.

“Okay
?”

“He’s been hinting about a movie he wants to see with his sisters in a couple weeks,” she continued, moving down the hall toward the office to look up the chick flick he was trying to convince his sisters to see with him.
“Once I find out when they are going, I’ll let you know,” Jamie lowered her voice as she passed her bedroom, knowing her husband would never approve of her plan. Luckily, he’d worked a graveyard shift and if she were quiet, she knew he’d be asleep for another two hours, at least. “Then you can run into him in the theatre. I’m sure whichever sister goes with him will tell
Sammy
and she’ll get mad all over again.”

“Um, and if that doesn’t work?” Missy asked, unsure.

“That’s just phase one, honey. Have you lost your faith in me?” Jamie said, surprised that Missy didn’t grasp the many facets needed to keep Jason from Samantha. “It gets a little tricky after that, though. He took my key to his house…or he thinks he has.”

“Oh?”
Missy sounded taken aback at the confession.

“You think I’d give that up without having a copy in my back pocket?” she cackled
, softly. “I just have to make sure that none of his neighbors catch me coming and going or he’ll have his locks changed, and we’ll be back to square one.” Jamie let herself pout at the fact that her son still chose that bitch over his own mother.

“I like the way you think, Mrs. Wright,” Missy laughed.

“I can’t wait until you are my daughter in law, honey,” Jamie said, pulling up a blank word processor document to catalog what she had planned so she didn’t miss a single point.

“Me either!
My divorce’ll be final next month,” the blonde squealed into the receiver. “Plus, Chester’s friend is starting to bore me now, too.”

“I thought that was a misunderstanding,”
Jamie said, disapproving.

“Oh, it was, but I figured if he thought I was already screwing his best friend,
” Missy chuckled. “Well, there’s no harm in turning fiction into fact. I mean, the damage had already been done, right?” The slight bitterness in her voice gave Jamie the impression Missy had really cared about Chester and was nursing a broken heart with his best friend. Poor girl! She deserved better!

“Yeah, I can’t believe he was so inconsiderate to force you into that situation in the first place.
It’s a good thing it didn’t work out, honey. You deserve better!” Jamie said, trying to comfort her.

“You are so sweet!” Missy said.
“What’s the next step? Tell me everything! I can’t wait!”

As she started to detail the tiers of the plan to drive a wedge between Samantha and Jason,
again, Jamie was grateful to have someone in her corner on this. Someone who saw that green-eyed temptress for what she was! Even her daughters wanted Samantha and her baby boy back together! How could her entire family not see how wrong she was for him? Why was she always the one left to clean up the mess?

“So, Sammy, who’s asked you to Homecoming?” Missy asked, sitting with her legs crossed in front of her on the green comforter set covering Samantha’s twin bed, popping a piece of her trademark pink bubble gum.

“Um, Garrett and Joel,” she sighed, leaning back in her black leather computer chair.
“But Jason said we could go together, if I didn’t want to go with either of them,” she finished answering before starting to type her English paper again. “Can you believe Mr. Johnson assigned us a ten page research paper in the first two months of school?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“Mr. Johnson is a hard ass, but I think he’s bitter about getting stuck teaching a couple of sophomore English classes, so he’s going out of his way to be extra assholey
. I guess his seniors have to write a twenty page paper,” Missy offered, now lying on her pillow and staring at Samantha’s ceiling, making no move to start the homework she’d promised her mom they’d be doing if she allowed them to hang out after school. It took everything she had not to roll her eyes at her best friend’s lack of educational ambition. Suddenly, Missy rolled onto her side and looked at her friend, wildly. Samantha started at the possession she saw in her friend’s eyes before she spoke again. “You can’t go with Jason,” Missy whined, changing the subject back to the dance.

“Why not?” Samantha’s brow furrowed at the declaration.

“Because! Then
I
can’t go with him,” she whined again. “Can’t you go with Garrett? He really likes you and he’s SOOO cute!”

“Maybe?” she said, confused.
“Why do you want to go with Jason?” the question came out harsher than she’d anticipated.

“Gordon asked me to go with him, and I’d hoped that I could have Jason for this dance to get him to back off,” Missy explained, but the words sounded hollow to Samantha.
Hearing the pinging of rocks against her bedroom window, she startled and looked at Missy. “Who’s that?” she asked, opening her soft green curtains, and chuckling as she looked into the front yard. “Speak of the devil,” she finished, shooting Samantha a smirk over her shoulder.

With a heavy sigh, Samantha walked to her window and opened it.
“What do you need Jason?”

“Let me up!” his neck craning back to see her in the window from her front lawn.

“My mom’s not home and you know the rule, Jason!” she told him, shaking her head.

“Then come down and let’s go to the park!” he offered.

“Sara had band after school, so I’m the only one who can watch Jessy,” she reminded him. “And before you offer, she has too much homework for me to bring her with us,” she said, shutting down what she knew would be his next words.

“I don’t have to be home until five, Jason.
Let’s go,” she heard Missy say as she heard her front door open. Samantha’s mouth popped open in shock at her friend abandoning her for her best friend.

“Um,” Jason said, looking up to Samantha again, before looking toward his house and finally answering, “Sure,” even though he sounded wary of the situation.
“You sure you can’t come, Sammy?” he asked again.

“Um, yeah, sorry,” her words tasting sour in her mouth at the thought of Jason and Missy hanging out without her.

“Suit yourself, Samantha,” Missy called up to her. “If my mom calls, can you cover for me?” she whispered, loudly. “Thanks! You’re the best,” she grinned and walked away with Jason before Samantha could answer. She couldn’t understand why she wanted to rip Missy limb from limb over an afternoon in the park with Jason. It didn’t make any sense.

She’d decided that she wanted to accept Garrett’s offer to take her to the dance before Jason told her they could go together.
Had she, secretly, wanted to go with Jason all along? Missy’s transparent crush on her best friend had made her feel even more territorial over someone that wasn’t hers. But Jason
wasn’t
like Patrick! She didn’t ask permission! Did she? Was that her just asking for permission and she was stupid enough to let them walk away together? Groaning, she flopped, face first, onto her bed and tried to decipher her feelings for someone who was supposed to be like the brother but wasn’t.