Page 113 of Fierce-Jax

“I haven’t,” he said. “I’ve wanted to give her time and space. I assumed she was in love with the guy and it was hard to talk about.”

How do you say that you worry you might not measure up to the man she had a child with?

Or even voice those fears when there wasn’t anything he could do to change it.

It went back to what he’d always said. Change it, which he couldn’t do.

So he accepted those feelings as his own rather than bitch about it.

It was hard, but not in the way he’d thought after what he’d found out.

“Your mistake was to assume that,” Trent said. “Not to say I wouldn’t have done the same thing.”

“I know I messed up. And I haven’t talked to her since I left on Friday. I have no idea where things stand or what she is telling Gianna. I think of how upset Gianna is going to be if Dillion and I end things.”

“Whoa,” Roni said, putting her hand up. “Back up. Dillion started out saying that there was nothing wrong with your relationship. That she felt the same way as she had been. Don’t put words or thoughts in her mouth or head that aren’t there.”

His sister was right. “I figured you’d hand my ass to me on a platter coming here.”

“You wanted your sister to,” Trent said. “As part of your punishment for what you said.”

His brother-in-law was smirking. “I’m not so hard to read. Why didn’t Dillion know or understand how upset I’d be over this news?”

“I’m sure she knew you’d be upset,” Roni said. “Or at least stunned. But she still told you. She could have told you it’s none of your business and gone about figuring it out on her own, but she didn’t. She told you what was going on. That means she needs support or help and you took it personally. Do you know what the next step is?”

“No,” he said, feeling more dejected. “I didn’t give her a chance to say anything else.”

“I’m sure she’s just as emotional as you,” Roni said. “As a mother, you put your child first at all times. I’m positive that is what she’s been doing. She’s independent and strong-willed. She might try to work it out in her head on her own but knew it was time to bring you in on it.”

“Only because I asked what was going on,” he argued. “I knew something wasn’t right for days. I could see it.”

“But you gave her time to process things. If she still didn’t want to tell you, she wouldn’t have,” Roni said. “She would have said it was personal and she was taking care of it.”

“I thought of that too. She didn’t fight me all that hard to tell me what was going on.”

It was nothing more than a token of reluctance.

Putting off the inevitable.

“Give her credit for that,” Trent said. “It’s not an easy position for her to be in.”

“I know. I probably should make the first step. I need to apologize. I’m so used to being the one on the receiving end of being hurt and shocked that things aren’t working out. That I fell first or deeper.”

“You were shocked over this, but it has nothing to do with your relationship. You can’t hold something against her she needed time to process for the past few days. Or that she wasn’t sure how to tell you either. Everyone has fears and secrets,” Roni said. “If you think Trent knows everything that happened between Jeff and me, that is wrong. Not that I’m keeping it from him, but I don’t think about it until something comes up.”

“There is no way she wasn’t thinking about this,” he said. “She told me that someone shot and killed him. I told her I looked it up.”

“What was her reaction to that?” Trent said.

“Nothing really. Just that she said there wasn’t much to read, right?”

“Which means it didn’t bother her you did that,” Roni said.

“Because she knew there wasn’t anything to find,” he said.

“What are you so mad about?” Roni asked. “That she isn’t as perfect as you thought? Or that you’re not?”

“Ouch,” he said, his hand going to his heart. “You play dirty.”