Page 109 of Not In The Contract

Devon had another meeting with Paula, but seeing the faces of my friends staring back at me I was glad that she hadn’t come with me. Whatever had happened, it wasn’t good. Looking around at the morose faces of my friends set my teeth on edge, and I suddenly hoped I was very, very wrong about the wake.

Hayden saved me the trouble. “We heard that Jamie has been stepping in where she shouldn’t,” she explained, and I could practically hear the walls around my fragile heart flying up. “And we’re not happy about it.”

“Turncoat,” I spat at Taylor, who shrugged my accusation off with ease.

“You’re the one keeping things from your best friends,” she pointed out, not bothering to spare me a glance.

“It wasn’t Taylor,” Cam interjected, and I narrowed my eyes. “Elliot found out from Devon.”

Well, fuck.

“So, this is what, exactly?” I huffed, trying my best to ignore the unease pooling in my gut. “An intervention?Again?”

“We wouldn’t have to keep having these if you’d just listen from the start, Alex,” Cam said. “We’ve asked the girls not to be here specifically because of this.”

“It’s so unnecessary.” I sighed, wishing I could evaporate like my patience. “We could be having a lovely brunch as usual but all you lot want to do is pry where you don’t need to.”

“We do,” Taylor insisted. “You’re running yourself ragged and it’s obvious that Katya’s been trying to reschedule your meetings. Not that you allow her to, but that’s an issue for another time. So, spill it.”

“Spillwhat?” I hissed, bristling and uncomfortable.

I’d come off such a high after last night, after fighting every urge to ignore Devon to take care of my sister. Only to walk head first into the viper’s pit.

“What the fuck is going on?” Reid emphasized. “I thought you’d set boundaries with Jamie.”

“Evidently not,” Taylor intoned. “Considering Jamie was at the office a few days ago.”

“What the hell for?”

“For her party planning, of course,” Taylor told Hayden, and they both burst into fits of laughter. “I told her I wouldn’t be able to make it.”

“God, she must have taken that one on the chin like a champ.” Hayden snorted.

It soured the acid on my tongue, forcing white hot flames of resentment into my lungs until I was sure I’d breathe fire.

“I wish you could have seen her face,” Taylor cackled, and even Reid smirked at the idea.

If I’d been in a better mood, I might have joined in their merriment.

“I told her I had a business to run,” Taylor continued, unaware that I was inches away from storming out. “And she left, just like that!”

“But why are you stuck planning her birthday yet again?” Cam asked, her voice carrying over the others.

I leveled her with a glare but she barely flinched. “She asked me to,” I answered through gritted teeth.

“Oh, how valiant of you to plan your adult sister’s birthday party while also running several billion-dollar projects,” Reid drawled. “Do you ever think about things rationally?”

“Not where Jamie is involved,” Hayden answered for me. She turned narrowed eyes to me. “And it’s going to get worse the longer you let it go on.”

“What do you want me to do?” I snapped. “Ignore her? Leave her alone again? YouknowI can’t do that, so why do you insist on doing this?”

“We’d like you to give a shit about yourself,” Reid said. “I get that she’s your sister, but you won’t ever be happy chasing after her and begging for forgiveness that she can’t give you.”

“She’s my only family!”

“Then what the fuck are we, huh?”

Silence descended on the table, the suddenly empty air ringing hollow and painful.