Page 89 of Forking the Billionaire

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” I told Oscar.

His mismatched eyes assessed me. “Jules hasn’t been around since Saturday.”

This was Wednesday. From his point of view, my date had been missing for four days without explanation.

“Why do you think I did something?” I asked, genuinely curious. Was I behaving suspiciously? I didn’t think so. I really hoped not.

“You’re a Carrington, Jasper. What am I supposed to think?”

Ah, there it was.

“Default must be that I’m some kind of villain.” I nodded. “I have good old Dad to thank for that.”

“We both do.”

“You turned out all right, all things considered.”

“A head injury and amnesia were to be the best things to happen to me. That’s healthy.”

“Morganwas the best thing to happen to you,” I countered.

He grunted his agreement. “Jules is not your Morgan.”

“No.”

“You didn’t somehow manage to kill her with kindness, did you?”

A bubble of laughter burst from my chest. “How would that even work?”

“You tell me. Niceness is your thing.”

“She’s fine as far as I know,” I said. “I haven’t seen her in a few days, either.”

Again, he assessed me, like if he scowled hard enough, the rest of the story would fill itself in.

“You brought her here because you felt pressured to, not because you wanted to,” he said.

I nodded. “It was a mistake.”

“And she realized this?”

“I told her.”

He blinked. “You?”

“Yes.”

“That’s…very unlike you.”

“I guess,” I said, because it was. If I had to guess before we left how I’d handle the situation here, I would have assumed I’d have ridden it out without a word of my discomfort. Usually I kept the peace, no matter what.

The last few days I’d made a whole slew of decisions that didn’t fit my usual behavior.

Oscar’s one green eye and one brown eye burrowed into my skull. I could feel the questions swirling in his head. He wanted to ask where Jules had gone and what exactly had transpired. He wanted to ask what else was going on with me. Even if he asked, I didn’t have any real answers.

But Gabriel rejoined us.

And Oscar didn’t ask.

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