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While Griff is in the shower, his phone dings beside me and I notice an image attached to a text. It’s of a girl. Naked. A sickening ache spreads through my chest. This will be my life if I let this happen and once it’s final, there’s no going back.

I cry into my hands, trying to find the courage to stand up for myself and end this before it’s too late. I want to call Jace and beg him to save me. Most of all, I want the courage to do it myself. I need the courage to do it.

I pick up my phone and send a message to Jace, unsure if he’s going to answer me or not.

CHAPTER26

I hate Tennessee

JACE

I really do.

I miss you.

That was the text message Abbi sent me the other night. I miss you. Ifuckingmiss you? That’s all she has to say? I don’t know how she got my number, but do I care? You knew I was only days away from doing it myself.

Did I reply?

No. I didn’t. My reply is going to come in the form of me stealing her from him.

I have a bigger problem today. Sevyn and a wedding cake she’s trying to eat. “Don’t touch it,” I tell her, thinking of destroying it myself. I’d love to drive my fist through this motherfucker.

Sev stares at the wedding cake, her chin propped up on the counter. “It should be black.”

“I agree.” Did I mention my mom’s a baker? Minor details here. I didn’t think it mattered. But it matters now. She made Abbi and Griff’s wedding cake. Just my luck, right? Naturally.

I stare at the cake, glaring. I adjust the strap of my splint on my shoulder away from my neck. How’s my arm? I can finally feel my fingers, but use of it yet? Nope. Still months of recovering for me. I can’t work on my house. Hell, I can barely perform my job most days.

My parents, sister, Rhett, his parents, they’re all leaving for Nashville tomorrow for the wedding and here I am with a three-year-old staring at Abbi’s future in flour, water, and sugar.

Before I can stop her, Sev sticks her hand in it and takes a handful out of the damn thing.

“Sev,” I gasp, taking a hold of her hand before she can take another chunk of the cake. I watch her lick her hand off. “Shit.”

She smiles. “It tastes yummy.”

“I’m sure.”

How the hell am I going to fix this?

Fixing it would have been never allowing this cake to be made. Looking around the kitchen, I find a spatula on the counter and attempt to fix the hole in the cake. It’s useless and only makes it worse.

Taking Sev’s hand, I lead her out of the kitchen. “Come on, kid. We gotta hide.”

She trails close behind me but doesn’t ask questions. In the living room, I notice Rhett leaving Josie’s room, her following behind him with her bags in hand. “Time’s running out, bro,” Josie says, smiling at me, and then her eyes drop to Sev who apparently still has frosting on her lips. “Did you eat the cake, little girl.”

“No. I tastes it,” she says, holding onto my pinky.

Josie shakes her head. “I’ll never understand why Barron trusts you with his kids.”

I sit down on the couch. “And I can’t understand why Rhett likes you.”

“I never said I liked her,” Rhett teases, pulling her hair and smiling.

“Oh, there’s no like involved in what we’re doing.” Josie winks.

I make a gagging sound. “Stop.”