Page 72 of Shameless

Surprisingly, I agree with him. “He’s right, Luls. And I’m not gonna lie, I’m enjoying Evan being stuck between your mom and my ex.”

“Karma is a bitch, but so are Jasmine and Tiffany.” Crew says, with more insight than I’d like to give him credit for. “I just say Evan deserves them both. I hope he hooks up with Jasmine and can’t get rid of her. No offense.” He says to me.

“None taken,” I scowl, because agreeing with Crew is seriously starting to fuck with me. “Maybe taking a spin on the Jasmine ride will keep him distracted and away from you, Luls. It’s notlike most men aged eighteen to forty in town haven’t had a turn with her anyway.”

There’s bitterness in my tone and Lula takes it the wrong way.

“Are you jealous of Jasmine?”

I take Lula’s hand, pulling her away from Crew’s arms. “No, I’m just stating the obvious. When I started hooking up with Jasmine, Mom warned me about her reputation. I should have listened.”

Crew’s words make me wonder if he’s just curious or if he’s playing Devil’s advocate here. “Why didn’t you? Listen, I mean.”

I don’t owe Crew James an answer, but at the same time, I don’t want Lula to think that I have any residual feelings for my ex. “Because I didn’t see why people were so harsh in judging her. Sure, Jasmine made a mistake when she cheated on her ex. But she told me she was young and made a mistake getting married the day after high school graduation. What she did after she got divorced was no one else’s business. I hate that we’re still judging a woman who openly enjoys her sexuality. If a single guy enjoys hooking up, people don’t judge him half as harshly as they do with a woman. That rubbed me wrong and when Jasmine showed interest in me, I thought why the fuck not? I was trying to stay away from Lula and obviously I wasn’t planning on getting her pregnant.”

Crew considers my words. “Right. Though I guess the town folks weren’t judging Jasmine too harshly after all, since she cheated on you too.”

I agree with him again. This is starting to get weird now. “In the end she did me a favor. I married her because I thought I wasn’t good enough for Lula and I was just fooling myself that I couldever love anyone else. I confused my love for Jenna with the chance to learn to love Jaz.”

Lula’s gaze meets mine. “I hate what she did to you, but in a way if she hadn’t, you and I wouldn’t have had a chance.”

She’s right and my heart overflows with love for her. I lower my head to touch her lips with mine.

I don’t even think that we’re out in public, with half the town in attendance at the club.

“Hey get a room you two,” Crew chuckles.

I nip at Lula’s bottom lip, reluctant to let her go. “You have no idea how much I’d like that. But Jenna is here today and I can’t just pawn her off to Mom.”

If agreeing with Crew is surprising, what happens next is almost surreal.

“Where is Jenna now?” he asks.

“At the bouncy castle. I was getting lunch while she’s in there. Mom already fed her.”

Crew smiles at Lula, but his words are directed to me. “I just got a text from Mom, she went to see Rikki this morning at rehab. She just got here. I know she wanted to meet Jenna. How about we find your mom and we take Jenna to the kids’ slip and slide or something? That should buy you twenty minutes.”

I feel a little guilty to do that, but there’s no harm in spending a little time with Lula. Things have been crazy and we haven’t had a minute alone since the night of the storm at Twinberry Cove last weekend.

“Sounds good, if you don’t mind.” I double check, almost expecting Crew to take back his offer. “Chances are she’ll still be in the bouncy castle in twenty minutes, but in case she isn’t, I would be grateful if you, Tilly and Mom were with her.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Crew nods. “Let’s just say that you owe me one.”

Usually just the idea of owing Crew anything would be enough to make me reconsider, but I’m dying to have Lula in my arms even briefly. “Thanks,” I bite out.

His smirk is irritating. “I’m gonna come find you in twenty minutes, so you better hurry. Tick tock.”

16.A Deal With The Devil

Lula

My fingers are laced with Jules’s and he’s walking fast, dragging me along, just shy of running. We cross the pool area and my stepbrother ignores anyone who tries to get his attention, like a man on a mission.

“Jules, Lula.” As we round the corner out of the pool gate, we bump into Dad coming from the opposite direction.

“Tom,” Jules stops but doesn’t let go of my hand. “What are you doing here?”

Dad’s eyes settle on our joined hands for a second, and I brace myself for what I’m pretty sure will be a third degree interrogation.

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