Page 95 of Jase

I thought I’d seen every expression Jase had to give. I’d seen him happy, sad, angry, curious. This emotion, this one was different. He was beyond worried. Beyond furious or nervous. He was defeated, slightly pale. He looked sick, and from what I’d witnessed earlier, whatever Jase was keeping to himself was out of protection for me. A million thoughts kept repeating. Ones I didn’t want to face. Ones I was too afraid to think about, and the more time that ticked on without him approaching me about it, the worse my own worry grew.

“How is it? You’re very quiet. Do you not like it?”

Jase stopped cutting into the last of the chicken breast, glancing up to me as if he’d only just realized I was still in the room. “Yes. It’s very good. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s okay.”

“It’s not. You made dinner all by yourself while I worked. I haven’t said two words to you the entire meal. There’s no excuse for that. I’m an asshole. It really is very good.”

I outstretched my hand across the table, watching as he put down the utensil to hold it. The contact had him breathing out deeply. It was neither a comfort or relief to see how hard he was taking this secret. “Are you ready to share the bad news? I think you’ve held it in long enough. It’s time for me to take on the burden too. What is it?”

“Kody.” His eyes lowered from mine, resting blankly on the table before me.

“It’s Tiffany, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“It’s the reason Rush’s lip was bleeding. You hit him while I showed Tiffany where my restroom was. He did something to her. He crossed the line, didn’t he?”

Jase’s eyes closed as he reached for our hold with his other hand.

“No. That’s not why I hit him. He hasn’t done anything to her that I know of.”

“Then what is it?”

That was not the answer I had expected. I’d been preparing myself for hours on what could have possibly upset Jase so much. It obviously revolved around Rush, but if not Tiffany, then what?

“Do we have to talk about this right now?” His lids opened. He lifted my hand, leaning forward to place a kiss on my fingers. “I’d much rather take you to bed and hold you.”

“Hold?” Faster my thoughts spun. He hadn’t used that term since I’d gotten home from the hospital. “This is about me. You’re worried whatever this is will upset me. What is it? Is it the news? Did they say something again?”

“No.”

“But you’re not denying it’s about me.”

“No.”

My breath was ragged as I sat straighter. Sweat was beginning to coat my palm as Jase held on with a steady grip.

“Is it more blackmail stuff? Another video of us together?”

Jase let go of my hand, moving to the chair next to mine.

“I didn’t receive another email, no.”

“Then what is it?”

“If you knew the information I had was going to hurt you, would you still want to know?” At my mouth opening, he lifted his hand cutting me off. “You don’t ever have to hear this. I could make it disappear and for all we know, that might be the end of it. We could take that chance. We could pretend this day never happened.”

“But it did. You hit Rush. I saw him bleeding. Why would you do that? What does he know about me that made you angry? Did he say something bad about me?”

“No. Quite the opposite.”

My head reared back a little. “Opposite? So, it was good, but you hit him?”

“It’s the way he said it. Just.” He stopped, groaning as he rubbed down his face. “He discovered something about you on accident. Something that I don’t want you to know about only because it’s going to devastate you. Kody…Fucking hell. You should know. You have that right. It’s just, God I hurt for you.I’m angry for you.”

“Then let’s be angry together. What is it?”