Page 26 of His Secret Betrayal (Cedarwood Valley Duology #2)

Luke

“ W here’s your better half?” I taunt my brother, smirking as I stroll past him where he’s leaned up against his truck, waiting on me.

Jax’s face remains stoic, giving me a completely unimpressed look.

But I’ve known him for too long, so he can’t fool me.

His eyes twinkle with amusement as he straightens, walking beside me toward the boat dock.

When I was younger, it used to bother me that Jax and I looked nothing alike.

Now I understand why: I take after Evelyn, and he takes after Dad.

Whereas I have shoulder-length, dark blonde hair, his is cut short and jet-black.

He’s taller than me, and his skin is a tad darker from the time he spends out in the sun.

A small scar runs through his eyebrow from the time I accidently got a little too enthusiastic with a fishing pole, and the hook lodged into his skin.

But the one thing we do have in common are our emerald eyes.

“Maddie said we should bond today,” he murmurs, using air quotes and curling his lip in apparent distaste.

I smirk. “You know she hates fishing, right?” Honestly, I don’t blame her for not wanting to come.

It’s February, which means it’s so cold my balls are currently trying to shrivel up inside me.

Fishing this time of year isn’t ideal, but it’s our tradition to spend the anniversary of Dad’s death doing what he used to love.

As we get closer, a small fishing boat bobs on the water, ready for us with a cooler of snacks and two thermoses sitting atop it.

Two fishing rods lean against the inside of the boat.

Behind that is Cedarwood Valley Lake. This time of year, with no other living being around for miles, there’s a peaceful stillness in the air.

The water, although slightly murky in winter, spans across the land as far as the naked eye can see.

Along the opposite shoreline is a line of pine trees.

Overhead, the sun is so bright that I’m forced to squint, the light bouncing off the surface of the water.

Honestly, I could kind of picture it on the cover of a book.

A big, goofy grin breaks out across Jax’s face. “Yup. She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to take her fishing over the summer and change her mind.”

I roll my eyes as we climb onto the boat. “And just how are you going to do that?”

He sounds a little too smug when he murmurs, “A gentleman never shares his secrets. ”

My fist connects with his shoulder. “Dude! It’s still fucking weird when you talk about my ex-girlfriend that way.”

He rubs the spot where I slugged him, a reluctant grin on his normally stoic face.

When I initially found out Jax was sleeping with my ex-girlfriend behind my back, I was both livid and deeply hurt.

At the time, Maddie and I were going through a messy breakup.

Like an idiot, I was trying to win her back and going about it all wrong.

But when I saw how much it tore Jax up to feel like he had to pick between us, I felt like an asshole.

I know now he didn’t do it to hurt me. The man is head-over-heels in love with, smitten, and obsessed with Maddie.

Now that the hurt and anger have subsided, I love seeing how happy they are. They were only together, officially, for a few months before Jax decided to put a ring on it. Still, it can be weird as fuck to see my brother making swoony eyes at my ex.

As we prepare the boat to launch for our annual fishing day, we pass the next few minutes in comfortable silence.

As always, my mind drifts to simpler times, back when my dad, George Parker, was still alive.

Because I was eleven when he passed, many of my memories of him are fuzzy now.

But I do remember hours spent on this boat with him and Jax, Dad patiently teaching me how to hook a worm.

Jax, being ten years older, has more memories of him than I do.

“I actually have something I wanted to talk to you about,” Jax says suddenly, breaking our silence. He shifts in his seat, being uncharacteristically fidgety.

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense.” I shoot him a teasing grin as I peer over at him, my feet casually propped against the side of the boat where I’m munching on a beef jerky stick.

“I was wondering if…” He clears his throat, his cheeks turning pink. “I was hoping you would agree to be my best man at the wedding. ”

I go still. “You want me to be your best man?”

His head snaps up, his eyebrows furrowing as he studies me. “Unless it’s too weird for you. I don’t want to put you on the spot or anything—”

“Fuck yes, I’ll be your best man!” I make a whooping sound, and Jax visibly relaxes.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure how involved they would want me to be with the wedding given my history with Maddie.

We haven’t really spoken about it, and even though I knew they would never exclude me, some tiny part of me had been afraid they didn’t truly want me there.

Jax smiles. “Thanks. I appreciate it, man.”

I straighten, practically bouncing in my seat as I start spewing questions. “So, have you guys picked a date? Will there be a bachelor party?” I waggle my eyebrows. “Can I host a bachelor party?”

His lips just barely twitch. “July 20, exactly five months from now, and there will be no strippers.”

I frown. “What’s a bachelor party without strippers?”

“Do you know what Maddie would do to me if she found out I was in the same room with a half-naked woman?” He shudders.

“She can have a bachelorette party with her own strippers then, and you guys can call it even. Easy solution!”

“If anyone’s going to shake their junk in her face, it’ll be me,” he growls.

I laugh. “Seriously? The cave-man act?”

A dark look passes over his face. “Remind me to never tell you about the time I found out Maddie was going on a date with another man,” he mutters.

I shudder, deciding I probably don’t want to know when it comes to them. “You two take being possessive over each other to a whole new level. ”

His face immediately breaks out into one of those dopey, dreamy smiles that’s reserved solely for Maddie. “Yeah, I know where my lane is, and I’m sticking to it.”

“You two make me gag,” I mutter.

“Are you going to bring a date?” he asks.

I immediately picture Alek in a tux, and my stomach gets a swoopy, fluttering sensation.

But then I think about having to come out to Jax, to admit that I think I’m bisexual— or something —and my mouth goes dry.

I know he would support and love me no matter my sexuality, so why does the thought still make me nervous?

Maybe because of all the people in my life, he’s the only person I’ve ever admired.

“I’m actually seeing somebody now,” I hedge.

His eyes light up and, for a moment, I think I’m going to tell him. It makes my heart hammer and my palms sweat, but it’s on the tip of my tongue.

“That’s great! Who is she?” he asks.

It’s the she that makes my chest constrict, some dark part of my mind wondering if the truth would disappoint him. I turn my face away so he can’t see the way my smile slips. “I’ll introduce you two later. It’s still pretty new.”

The guilt of keeping yet another secret from my brother is like a rock sinking to the bottom of my stomach.

It makes me go tense all over, that familiar weight returning to my shoulders that’s been absent all week since Alek brought me to his home.

My phone chooses that moment to begin ringing, and the familiar ringtone that only belongs to Evelyn makes my skin clammy.

Silently cursing myself, I scramble to grab the phone, nearly dropping it in the process as I hit the ignore button and stuff it into my pocket .

Based on the way Jax’s forehead furrows, he saw the name “Eve” displayed along the top. “Your girlfriend’s name is Eve? Is that short for Evelyn?”

Fuck.

I hate Evelyn for putting me in this situation and constantly having to come up with more lies to cover my tracks.

“Um, just Eve.”

He gives me a skeptical look. “Her name is just Eve?”

I nod.

“That’s really similar to Mom’s name,” he says slowly.

I laugh, although the sound comes out a little panicky as my heart rate triples. “Funny coincidence, isn’t it?”

He studies me for a long moment before frowning and turning back to watch his fishing line. “Yeah,” he mutters.

As the seconds tick by, each feeling more awkward than the last, I begin to wonder why Jax never talks about her.

He would have been fairly young when Evelyn died—abandoned us—but he should still have some memories of her.

And, just like Alek predicted, the time away from Evelyn this week has given me some perspective.

Unfortunately, it’s also giving me a lot of questions.

“Why don’t you ever talk about her?” I ask quietly.

Jax sucks in a deep breath, giving me a sidelong glance that tells me I’ve taken him by surprise. “Mom?”

I nod. “You and Dad never talked about her.”

He looks away, making some adjustments to his fishing pole. I wait while the silence stretches between us. Most people would assume he’s ignoring me, but I know Jax well enough to recognize when he’s trying to gather his thoughts.

“I guess we wanted to protect you from the truth,” he finally admits .

That statement makes my chest tight, everything inside me going cold. “What do you mean?”

“She wasn’t a good person.”

“In what ways?” I push.

He hesitates. “Are you sure you want to know? Because she’s gone now, and I know you probably have this image in your head of what a mother should be like, but…that’s not how she was.”

“Tell me.”

Maybe I need to know the full, ugly truth so I’ll stop hoping one day I’ll come home and she’ll be the mother I’ve always dreamed of. Maybe he can help me accept that sometimes reality doesn’t always live up to our dreams.