Love Song Series Box Set (6 page)

I slam the door and walk back to the party, doing my best to forget that train wreck of a mistake.

Jase

She
’s back. At first, I was pissed as hell. Pop had already told me all the fucked up reasons why Julie kept Jenny from me. Pop and my brothers claim to be part of the reason she did it, but I don’t care. I want her to tell me why she kept my daughter away from me herself. I don’t want their excuses. I want the real reason, but the way Julie reacted when I got angry at her made my heart drop down into my stomach. If I ever come across the bastard that did this to her, I’ll fucking gut him.

I can
’t believe how much she’s changed. My Julie is gone. In her place is the sexiest woman I have ever seen. Her long brown hair now has sunny highlights running through it. She no longer wears it straight. Instead, small waves roll down her back. Her gentle curves are now more pronounced. She has the body of a damn sex goddess.

I lean on the office desk, still reeling from my orgasm, and consider what just happened. Sex with Julie has always been amazing, but that was fucking spectacular. The amazing feeling didn
’t last long. When she said that shit about being a slut, anything good washed away. I remembered just how shitty my life is.
Fuck!
I should have known she would bring Becca up! Of course she would. I fucked up, and I’m going to have to pay for it now.

I thought this reunion was going to be easy
; well, not easy, but not this damn hard. I figured I had spent the last nine years in hell. I lost my woman, have been alone for all these years, and didn’t even know my little girl. Isn’t that enough punishment for one man?

Couldn
’t we just yell at each other a bit? I’d tell her how fucking sorry I was and mean every damn word of it. She could explain why she kept Jenny away, and I would figure out a way to get past it. Then, we’d work through our shit and get back together. This time, I’d put a damn ring on her finger and never let her go. Doesn’t look like any of that’s going to happen in the near future. Why does this shit have to be so hard? Oh yeah, I fucked it all up.

Fuck!
I shove my hand through my hair and think back to all our years together. Most of the time, she was just a girl, but I swear I knew she was the one for me as soon as I laid eyes on her. I was just a kid then myself. We were all over at Mack and Angie’s for a cook out. Brandon and Julie had just moved in.

When we got there, she was out back in Will
’s tree house. That was our place, just for us boys. As soon as Will saw where she was, he flipped out. He started screaming at her to get out. As she climbed down the ladder, I noticed the tears in her eyes. For some reason, it made me angry. I ended up punching Will in the nose.

When Mom asked me why I hit Will, I told her that he made the little girl cry. She said it was good that I stood up for people that were smaller than me, but I still shouldn
’t go around hitting people. I told Mom that I knew she was right, but if Will hurt the girl’s feelings again, I would still have to hit him. She asked why, and I told her that I was going to marry that girl someday, so it was my job to take care of her. Mom just smiled and gave me hug. She never fussed about me hitting Will again.

Mom adored Julie. She treated her just like she was her daughter. Mom would be so happy to know we had a daughter together, but she would be so damn mad if she knew what I
’ve done.

I
’m zipping up and about to head back out to the party when I hear yelling. I race out and see Becca and Julie in a showdown. Fuck!

Chapter
4

Julie

I walk out of the office with my head held high, even though I feel like shit. Everyone is in the garage now, filling up their plates. No one even looks at me, so I don’t think they heard Jase and me.
Thank God!

Everyone seems to be having fun. Jenny is having a blast playing horsey with her
Uncle Matty, Kristen and Shane are throwing ice at each other, and Bethany is laughing at them all. I start to call out to them, but stop when I hear someone walk through the garage door. I turn my head, and Becca is standing three feet in front of me. She looks me up and down, then flashes me a nasty smile. “Look who’s back, the sweet little Julie.”

My body fills with tension as soon as I hear her voice. I want to shout at her, scream and blame her for everything that has happened in my life.
Instead, I straighten my spine and say, “Hello, Becca.”

“
Hello, Becca,” she mocks. “Is that all you’ve got to say to me.” Before I have a chance to respond, she starts to laugh. “I should’ve known you would try to play nice. Good little Julie wouldn’t want to cause a scene.” In that moment, my anger boils to the top, and I feel the urge to smash my fist into her face. I can’t do that though. I refuse to allow my daughter to see me in the middle of a catfight, so I turn my back on Becca and walk over to Bethany. “Can you take Jenny out back for a little while?”

She looks to
Becca and back to me. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

“
I just want her away from here. She’s seen enough fighting in her life. She doesn’t need to see this.”

She reaches out and gives my arm a quick squeeze then goes to Jenny.
Taking my daughter from Matty, she leads her out the back door. I give them a minute to get away from the door before turning back to Becca. “What do you want?”

“
I just wanted to say hi. We used to be friends.” She motions toward Kristen then back to me. “We were all best friends.”

“
Yes, you were one of my best friends, but you are also the woman that slept with my man. I think that cancels out the friendship.”

“
Oh please, you were both so young. You never would have been together in the long run. How I see it, I did you both a favor,” she says with a sneer on her lips.

“
Oh really? You think keeping Jase apart from his daughter was a favor? You think he appreciates that?” I know she didn’t keep Jase and Jenny apart, but I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out.

Her face goes pale when I mention Jenny.
“Daughter?” she whispers.

I lean into her and
paste on my own sneer. “Yes, Becca, mine and Jase’s daughter!”

She
stumbles back against the wall, momentarily lost for words. She stares at me for a moment, then an evil smile creeps across her face.

“
Did Jase tell you that the time you caught us wasn’t the first time? We’d been screwing each other for almost a year behind your back!” she says, ending with a sarcastic laugh.

“
No, he didn’t mention you at all. He must not think you’re worth the breath it takes to utter your name.”

Pain flashes through her eyes before she draws back and slaps me across my face.
I don’t even flinch at the pain. “If that’s the best you’ve got, you should just walk away. I’ve spent a long time with a man twice your size. Believe me, he hit a hell of a lot harder.

She starts to draw back again
, but stops when Kristen rushes across the garage. “You stupid cunt!”

The words barely leave her mouth before she
’s sending her fist into Becca’s face. I watch her destroy Becca for a few moments, and then I step forward to pull Kristen away. My fingers graze the side of Kris’s arm before I’m grabbed around the waist. I look up and see Jase holding me.

“
Get your hands off me.
Now!
” I yell, but he doesn’t. “I swear to God, if you don’t remove your hands, I will kill you. Do not ever touch me again, you damn bastard.” With that, he lets go of me.

I spin around to face him.
All the anger I was feeling toward Becca comes rushing out at him, directed on the one person that is responsible for hurting me the most. “Our whole relationship meant nothing to you, did it? It was all just one big-ass lie. You screwed around on me for over a year? Was Becca the only one?” I don’t give him a chance to answer. “Did you not learn anything from what your pop went through?”

His head drops down
, and when he lifts it back up, I see pain in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Julie. I don’t have an excuse, but I’ll do anything to make it up to you. You have to know how much I’ve always loved you,” he says, moving forward.

I step back and put my hand up.
“No, you can have a relationship with your daughter, when you clean yourself up, but you and me will never happen again.” I start to walk away, but turn back to Jase and add, “I hate you.” He looks like he’s been punched in the gut, but I don’t care because at the moment, I mean everything that I’ve said.

I look over to where Matty is trying to calm down Kristen. He has his arms around her and is whispering in her ear.
“Matty, can you take Jenny and me home please?”

He lifts his head and says,
“Yeah, babe, give me five.”

I turn back around to
Becca, who looks even worse now than she did before. It looks like Kristen pulled some of her hair out before they were pulled apart. “You’re twenty-eight now, right?” I ask.

“
Twenty- seven,” she says with a sneer.

“
And you are still acting like a sixteen year old.” I shake my head. “I don’t hate you. I just feel sorry for you.” Then, I walk away.

Jase

I watch Julie walk to Matty’s truck, and my heart starts to pound. Fear slices through me, and I have to fight to catch my breath. It feels like I’m losing her all over again. I can’t let her go. I can’t lose her again. What if she runs away and I don’t see her for another nine years? Hell, no! That is not happening.

I
start to go after her, but my step falters when I catch sight of Matty coming around from the back of the garage. He’s walking side by side with a little girl, their hands linked tightly together. When my eyes finally travel to the child’s face, my knees lock, and something coils around my heart.

I have never seen anyone or anything more beautiful in my entire life.
Light brown hair, beautiful blue eyes and a gorgeous little smile; in no way did the picture do justice to the angel before me. She is perfect, absolutely perfect.

She
leans her head to the side, almost touching her shoulder, and stares at me intensely. She starts to open her mouth, but Matty says something to her and draws her attention away. She nods her head and starts walking toward the truck, but stops after just a few steps. I want to scream, to shout, to knock Matty on his ass for taking her attention away from me.

I stare at her as she continues to walk away, but there is a shuffle to her step before
she slowly comes to a stop. Then the beautiful little girl does the most wonderful, amazing thing in the entire world. She simply turns around and faces me again. She smiles, puts up her small hand, and waves.

“
Bye, Daddy,” she shouts to me then turns and walks away.

I want to go to her, but my legs are
still locked in place. It’s as if I’m standing in five feet of concrete, anchoring me to the ground. I look down to my feet and take a deep breath, doing my best to fill my oxygen-deprived lungs with air. That is my child. I cannot believe that beautiful little girl is my daughter. That’s my Jenny. I lift my head just in time to see Matty’s truck pull away.

Becca
walks over and stops in front of me. “Wow, you guys have a kid together? You never told me that.”

My throat is clogged with emotion, so I merely nod.

I can feel Becca’s eyes on me before she says, “Wait, you didn’t know did you?”

I finally jerk my eyes toward her and shake my head.
“No, I just found out.”

“
Wow, I thought Julie was a saint. Didn’t think she’d do something so horrible as to keep a child from you. That changes everything, doesn’t it? Everyone thought you were the bad guy, but now they have to know how much of a bitch she is. A woman doesn’t hide a kid. That’s just wrong.”

She
’s right; it is wrong, but I don’t like hearing that shit come out of her mouth. “Don’t talk about Julie. You have no idea why she kept Jenny from me.”

She keeps looking at me, waiting for me to give her more
, but I can’t. I ain’t telling her shit. “You need to go home, Becca.”

A
sexy smile spreads across her face, or at least that is what she is going for. To me, it just makes her look sleazy. “Wanna come home with me tonight?”

I jerk away and stare at
Becca. I look at her. I mean, I
really
look at her for the first time in years. I haven’t got a fucking clue what I ever saw in her. Sure, she’s hot. Even with a fucked up nose and puffy eyes, she’s good lookin’. She has light brown hair and pretty green eyes. She’s not a classic beauty like Julie, but she is pretty. That’s it though. She’s like a shitty Christmas present; pretty on the outside, but when you open it up, it’s just a pair of damn socks. Did I really throw my life away just to fuck this woman?

“
Stay away from my family, Becca, and stay away from me,” I say, and then I walk away.