He shook his head. “She confuses you? Tell me you didn’t do anything else to hurt this poor girl.”
I swallowed hard. “I um . . . I tried to stay away from her, Dad. I honestly did, but every time I would look at her, she would be looking at me. I thought we could make it work.”
His face fell. “What. Did. You. Do?”
I dropped my hands to my knees as I tried to bring air into my lungs. “It was in Paris. I couldn’t take it any longer. I needed to tell her how much I wanted her and loved her.”
“Loved her?”
“She skipped lunch and I went to her hotel room.”
“Oh mother of God, I’m not liking where this is going. Did you say you loved her?”
I dragged in a deep breath. “Yes, Dad. I said I love her.”
He swallowed hard and motioned for me to keep talking. “I told her I didn’t think I was good enough for her and she said it was nonsense. She asked me to make love to her and . . . and . . . I did. I made her mine.”
Standing up, I turned to him. “I told her I loved her and she told me she loved me and always would. That freaked the hell out of me. Afterwards, I ran into Cammie who told me Taylor would never be happy with me and I freaked out.”
“Who is Cammie and define you freaked out?”
“Cammie is the girl I slept with that I told Taylor about.”
He nodded his head. “The freaking out? What did you do?”
“I told Taylor things between us wouldn’t work and she got upset.”
He let out a curt laugh and walked away from me as he said, “I would imagine she would be upset seeing as you just had sex with her. Tell me, was she still a virgin, and please for the love of all that is good in this world say no.”
I frowned and shook my head. “I did what I thought was best. If I kept acting like everything was okay, we would have grown apart and you know I’m right. She would have been in Austin and me here. How would that have worked, Dad? I mean, when I talk to her I can still feel—”
He opened the door to the truck, grabbed something and then slammed it shut before walking over to me.
“When you talk to her? You still talk to this girl?”
“Of course I do. I love and care about her.”
His mouth fell open. “Listen to what you just said. You have toyed with this girl’s heart, Jase. You took her virginity, told her you loved her and then five minutes later told her things wouldn’t work out, yet you still talk to her?”
“I love her, Dad! I can’t help the way I feel.”
My father scrubbed his hands down his face and moaned. “That poor girl. If I was her father I’d hunt you down and shoot you in the balls.”
I moved my hand and adjusted myself. The very thought of being shot in the balls made my stomach turn.
“I said I messed up!”
He shook his head and pointed his finger at me. I’d never seen my dad so mad before. “No, Jase, you didn’t mess up. You fucked up. You royally fucked up.”
I closed my eyes and silently cursed myself. “I know and I feel like I can’t function right. My sleeping is off, I never feel like eating, and yesterday she said she had a date.”
“Good. I’m glad she had a date. You can’t take something like that from someone and then change your mind. You deserve whatever punishment she gives you.”
My mouth snapped shut as I stared at him.
“She is moving on. Jase, if you have no intention of making a future with this girl, you have to let her go.”
I’d never in my life felt the urge to cry. Except for when my mother accidentally dumped my fish into the garbage disposal. I actually cried then. Poor, Shark. He didn’t stand a chance.
“I can’t let her go.” Turning away before the threat of tears turned into a water show, I shook my head. “I can’t let her go, Dad.”
His hand gripped my shoulder as he squeezed it. “Jase, you either love this girl enough to let her go, or you go after her and drop down on your knees and beg her to forgive the stupid ass way you handled things. If it’s meant to be, love will figure out a way.”
With a slight push, he mumbled something about the apple not falling far. “Come on, let’s get this stuff put in the truck and get back to the house. Your mother will have dinner ready soon.”
The entire ride back to the house I stared out the window. My heart told me what I should do, if only my head had the same plan.
Taylor
“How was the date?”
Gazing down at my beautiful niece, Charlotte, I smiled and said, “It was okay.”
“Okay? That’s it?”
With a shrug, I made baby sounds while Charlotte stared off into space. “Yep. That’s it.”
“Huh.”
Glancing over my shoulder, I stared at my sister. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
With a shrug of her shoulders and a smirk, she replied, “Nothing. It’s just you haven’t really been the same since your little encounter with Jase in Paris.”
The mention of his name had my body reacting. “I don’t want to talk about him.”
“Huh.”
“Ugh. Stop saying that, Meg!”