Page 18
Chapter Eighteen
Griffin’s Beach Jamie
O ne week. That’s how long it’s been since the news about Nina came to light. It’s also how long it’s been since Jamie last saw Undertaker.
He hasn’t come home to sleep since their night in the clubhouse. Phone calls go unanswered, and she just gets a text response of k when she texts him to tell him she’s home.
Her fears of not really being loved feel as though they’re coming true, and she fights the tears as she walks through the front door of the house she used to share with her boyfriend.
It’s not just the physical intimacy she misses. What she longs for are the feelings of being safe and cared for. He doesn’t tell her he loves her anymore. She’ll text it since he doesn’t answer phone calls, and he just never responds. It’s hard not to believe it was all just a game she’s lost.
“I can’t keep doing this,” Jamie whispers as she stands in the bedroom.
She doesn’t have much in the house, so she packs what she has and loads it into her car. If she’s wrong—which she prays she is the entire drive to the clubhouse—she’ll bring everything back to the house and unpack them without Undertaking ever knowing she was planning to leave.
Please don’t disappoint me, Frances. Please be in Church. Somewhere you can’t have your phone on you.
Walking around to the back of the clubhouse, she slips in quietly and walks down the hallway until she sees him standing in the main room with Brock.
A rolling cork board stands between them, and Jamie recognizes the pictures of Nina pinned to the board.
They’re the same photos Undertaker has in his phone.
She can’t blame him for wanting to find the man who killed his ex. If she hadn’t looked through his phone, she’d just assume it all ties to his best friend. She knows Aaron meant everything to him, and losing him was difficult.
“Except losing Nina,” Jamie says under her breath.
The jealousy makes her angry with herself. She’s jealous of a dead woman, but it’s impossible not to be when she’s certain Nina holds the heart of the man Jamie loves. Everything feels like a gigantic lie, and she can’t pretend nothing’s wrong anymore.
Pulling out her phone, she calls Undertaker. “Please, Frances, pick it up. See it’s me and answer. Tell me how focused you’ve been but you’ll be home soon.”
The phone lights up on the table behind them, and Brock points at it. “Need to get that?”
Undertaker picks it up and silences it after glancing at the screen. “No, it’s nothing important.”
The phone almost slips from Jamie’s hand, and she runs outside before the sob escapes in the empty hallway. Her cover would be blown for sure, and she needs to leave. It’s done. It’s all over.
Running to her car, she takes off, not entirely sure where to go. There’s no going back to her father’s house. After he and his stepson tried to kidnap her, their relationship completely crumbled. Not that it was solid to begin with.
“Seems like a running theme in my life,” Jamie says as she blinks the tears away. “He wanted to be my entire world, and now I have nothing.”
The only place to go, at least right now, is the hotel. She can get a room to stay all by herself, but first, she needs a drink.
“Hey,” a familiar brunette says from behind the bar. “I’ve seen you around.”
“You, too,” Jamie says as she fights the urge to break into uncontrollable sobs right there. “I’m Jamie.”
Snapping her fingers, she points at Jamie. “Undertaker’s girl.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Tilting her head, she sets a glass of water in front of Jamie. “Are you okay?”
“I’m pretty sure my relationship is over,” she says. “But I live with him. I don’t know what I’m going to do. There’s nowhere to go but here.”
“Are you positive it’s over?”
The tears fall as she slides the water back to her. “Yeah, I’m sure. Any chance I can get something stronger?”
She grabs a bottle of vodka from the shelf behind her. “Straight or mixed?”
“I don’t really care, honestly.”
“Straight it is. I’m Marnie, by the way. My dad’s a member in Summerville,” Marnie says and pours the vodka into a shot glass.
“What are you doing in Griffin’s Beach?”
A second shot is poured, and they clink glasses before shooting the alcohol back. It burns, but Jamie kind of likes it. A temporary distraction from her pain.
“I’m here because I chased after the only man I’ve ever really loved, and he doesn’t want me anymore. I made a couple of mistakes and hurt him, and he refuses to accept my apology.”
Her eyes widen. “Tell me it’s not Venom.”
“Why?”
“His ex-girlfriend is nuts. Cinder something. She tried to take on Lex, and it did not go well. It was kind of cool, though.”
Marnie chuckles and pours them another round. “I heard about that. Yeah, it’s Venom. I was scared about how my father would react, and I pushed him away. Terrible things were said, and I’d give anything to take them back.”
“I’m sure you can get him to forgive you.”
“No, he made it very clear there’s no second chances. Lex thinks he’ll come around, but he told me he doesn’t love me. Never has.”
Her heart breaks for the woman, which feels crazy because it’s already in a billion pieces. “I’m sorry.”
Shrugging, Marnie walks over to the till. “I have never felt pain like I did when he said that, and I’ve just kind of been going through the motions of life since.”
“How much do I owe?”
“I got it. I’m clocked out, but I’m more than happy to hang out. The only friend I have here, if you can even call her a friend, is pregnant and can’t drink with me.”
“I could use a friend who isn’t also friends with Undertaker.”
Sitting beside her, Marnie grabs the vodka and pours another round.
“You’d think I’d stay away from this considering I just had food poisoning that put me in the hospital, and then I got some bug from being in the hospital.
This is only the second day I’ve been able to keep food down, but fuck it. Tell me what happened.”
“His ex-girlfriend died,” Jamie says, then quickly remembers she’s not supposed to tell anyone anything. “Anyway, he’s really hung up on it. Which, I understand. It’s a whole thing with his dead best friend.”
“Tough spot to be in for the new girlfriend.”
Shooting the shot back, Jamie focuses on the feeling as it goes down her throat. The way it briefly dulls the ache in her chest for a moment. “I know it was probably wrong, but I looked through his phone.”
“Was he talking to her?”
I really should have drank more in college. Marnie’s a pro, and I can’t keep up.
Another shot gets tossed back, and Jamie’s head feels lighter. “No, they’ve been apart for over ten years. But he has over a hundred pictures of her on his phone. Which means he’s transferred them with every phone for the past thirteen years.”
“Do they have his best friend in them?”
Another shot.
“Only a few. Most of them are half to fully naked pictures.”
“No!”
“And a sex tape where he tells her he’ll never love anyone but her.”
Another shot.
“I mean, all guys say things to the women they bed that they don’t necessarily mean afterwards,” Marnie says.
“He called her the same nickname he uses for me. The one I thought was cute, but hearing him call her that in the video feels like a dagger. I mean, how many times has he watched it since we’ve been together?”
Another shot.
“Oh! And,” Jamie says, her words beginning to slur, “he has exactly one picture of us together. One I all but forced him to take. But he has a hundred naked pictures of her.”
“Fuck, that sucks. I’m sorry, babe.”
“He has been so preoccupied that he hasn’t spoken a word to me in a week. And he hasn’t come home from the clubhouse. This really hurts, Marnie.”
Another shot.
“If you don’t want to stay here, I have an apartment with an extra room. We can drown our sorrows together,” Marnie offers.
“I’ve spent so much of my life begging people to love me, and he knows this. He hasn’t thought about me once, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“I feel like you did something. Tell me you scheme. I love it when women scheme.”
Jamie can’t hide her smile. “Yeah, I guess, kind of. I went to the clubhouse and called him. Watched his phone light up, and he silenced it. Again. Then he told Brock it wasn’t important.”
“Asshole!”
She laughs even as the tears fall. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“I can see how much you love him.”
“He wanted to be my world, and I didn’t even hesitate to agree,” she says in a whisper. “I was supposed to be his, but I think I’ve always been a runner-up. His ex is dead, but she still managed to take him from me.”
“You look pretty young. I mean, I’m not old, but you’re kind of young to be in the club life without growing up in it. Maybe this is a good thing in the long run.”
Sniffling, Jamie shoots back another shot. As her head continues to feel lighter, her chest feels heavier. Drinking seems to be causing the opposite effect she chases.
“It was kind of a fluke. And before you ask, he was my first. My first and only, obviously.”
“Oh, the first always has you by the pussy,” Marnie says and giggles. “I need to stop shooting these.”
The comment hits Jamie as hilarious, and she laughs hysterically. “Me, too.” She calms down and rests her elbow on the bar top as she turns to Marnie. “Do you still love the guy you gave your virginity to?”
“Um… kind of? Mostly, I hate him now. He’s a total jerk, and he was bad in bed.”
“Undertaker is great in bed.”
“So is Venom. You’d think by looking at him he’s the hard and fast type, right?
” Jamie nods, and Marnie looks off as though watching a sad movie on a giant screen behind Jamie.
“He’s not. He’s surprisingly gentle and loving.
Takes his time and never cares how long it takes me to come.
Plus, he saved me a couple of times, which really adds to the sex appeal. ”
The pain in her voice scares Jamie. From what she knows, they ended their relationship a while ago, and Marnie still feels the pain. Which tells Jamie her own won’t subside anytime soon.
“Let’s go home before we’re too drunk to walk. My place isn’t that far from here,” Marnie says. “I can help you carry your bags.”
“Can we drink at your place?”
“Obviously.”
At least Jamie has somewhere to go now. And someone to talk to. She feels so isolated after this past week, and she really needs someone to lean on.