She just didn’t know anything anymore, and she might never have the answers because the only person she wanted to talk to right now was no longer on this earth. Pain radiated through her entire body.
With Blake being Justin’s father, he was the one with all the rights. She had none. Even though he was her brother, even though she loved him more than any other person on this earth, she had no rights to him.
But Blake wasn’t a stupid man. He knew the bond Jewell had with Justin. He knew that Justin wouldn’t just want to throw her away. So he’d done the one thing that would ensure he earned Justin’s love — he’d married Justin’s sister. And he’d slowly built a relationship with the boy. It was more than clear to Jewell that her brother loved Blake.
When all was said and done, she would be the one who was disposable. Had Blake told her any truths at all? Right now, it didn’t appear to be the case. She just didn’t know anything anymore, except that she was lost, and she felt more alone than she’d ever felt before.
Jewell knew they had an amazing sex life, but that wasn’t enough. He would eventually grow tired of her, and then she would be the one shoved out into the cold. She would lose the man she loved with all her heart, and she would lose her little brother, the only family she had left.
Despair flowed through her, and as she made her way back to the home she now shared with Blake and Justin, she had no idea what she was going to do. She had nothing.
When she’d said this to McKenzie, her only friend in this world had given her the key to her Jewell’s old apartment, which Blake had allowed McKenzie to use when her house was being remodeled. She and Blake had gone into business together, and she tried telling Jewell to talk to him, that she was sure he had an explanation.
Jewell knew Blake, though, knew him well enough to know that he might be a great business partner, but he wasn’t a great husband, at least for her. Maybe to someone else he would be, but he never could be all that Jewell wanted, because what she wanted was his love.
And Blake didn’t love her.
When she got back to Blake’s house — she no longer felt it was hers — she opened the door and looked inside. None of this was hers. She hadn’t picked the home, hadn’t bought the furniture, hadn’t made it a home. No, she was nothing more than a guest here.
When Blake came around the corner, he had a smile on his face, but it quickly vanished when he saw her expression. Jewell decided to push back her sadness and face him. There really was no point in dragging this out, in prolonging her agony. Neither one of them needed an emotional meltdown.
“I was worried when I came home and you weren’t here,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her and leaned down to kiss her lips.
When she didn’t respond, he drew back, worry etched on his brow. He was a fantastic actor, she thought.
She hadn’t rehearsed what she was going to say, so when the words came out, she was as surprised as he was. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice was flat, distant, but she watched his eyes.
And in that moment, she knew their marriage was over. He knew immediately what she was talking about. The pain rushing through her was trying to escape, but she suppressed it. There was no reason to make a scene. There was no reason for them to even talk about this.
It was over.
Her brother belonged with him — legally. Though she knew that no one would love Justin more than she could, that didn’t matter. She’d fought and fought the courts. They didn’t care. Blake was the boy’s biological father, and he could provide a better life for Justin than she could. It was very black and white, wasn’t it?
She needed to escape before she fell apart.
“Jewell, we need to talk. Let’s go in the living room and I’ll explain,” Blake said, reaching for her. But he could see that she couldn’t tolerate his touch right now. At least he was giving her enough respect to allow her to back away without chasing her.
“There’s nothing to say, Blake. You found out that Justin was yours — more yours than mine — and you did what anyone would do, whatever it took to have him. And you can give him so much more than I can.” She almost choked on those last words, and she had to stop.
“That’s not true, Jewell. Justin loves you so much. You are his world, his everything. He needs you…” He stopped when she held up her hand.
She couldn’t hear this, couldn’t take his lies.
If he really felt this way, he never would have kept this from her, never would have deceived her like this, never would have gone behind her back and stolen her brother from her.
“It’s over, Blake. You don’t need to pretend anymore.”
Jewell turned and walked back out of the house. Nothing in it was hers — nothing. She didn’t know what she was going to tell Justin, didn’t know how to explain any of this to him, but right now she wasn’t in any way capable of telling him anything without falling apart.
Her world had once again flipped upside down.
Chapter Thirty
Damn!” Tyler said, sitting back with a stunned look on his face. “How in the hell did you keep this from us?”
“I don’t want to be the one to say I told you so, but…” Byron left the sentence hanging.
“I didn’t tell you because…hell, I don’t know why,” Blake said.
He’d never sat down with his brothers before and poured out his heart. It just wasn’t something they did together, but Jewell had been gone for three days, and she refused to talk to him. She’d called the house and had spoken to Justin, and her brother — his son — was none the wiser to what was going on.
Blake didn’t know how to tell Justin, and he didn’t know what to think of what Jewell had done. “Maybe she’s relieved,” he told his brothers. “She’s felt so much pressure to take care of her brother, and maybe now that she knows he’ll be taken care of and loved, she is throwing up her hands and she wants to be free.” He’d just admitted his biggest fear.
“Probably,” Byron grumbled, but even he didn’t look convinced.
“I don’t think so,” Tyler said. “She loves you, Blake, and she loves Justin. There’s no way she would walk away unless she thought she had to.”
“I don’t know what else to think,” Blake said with a heavy sigh.
“Think deeper. What exactly did she say? How did she act? What have you done lately?” Tyler fired off those question.