Page 67 of Dr. Stone
He chuckled, “I must say, I didn’t pin you for a Jack Daniels kind of girl?”
I sank onto the small sofa lounge, the space softly glowing under solar lights and the trickle of my little fountain blending with the waves.
“I like a little whiskey now and then,” I said, curling up on my side and pulling in a throw pillow to my stomach.
“You look pretty damn hot right now, you know?” he laughed. “What the hell are you trying to do to me?”
“Oh, please,” I rolled my eyes. “And you’re trying to get off the subject we were discussing before I put Brandon down.”
He shook his head, pointing at me with the same hand holding his glass. “That white button-down shirt, your sleeves rolled up like that, four buttons undone, and those cut-off jean shorts? All I can say is holy shit, gorgeous…”
“Careful,” I teased. “Duke might be sound asleep in his bed, but if he hears you coming onto me like this, it might just wake him up.”
“Well, that will beyourfault,” his forehead wrinkled in humor.
“Mine? I beg to differ, sir,” I played back.
“Yup,” he took a longer sip this time. “Your sexy ass has been tempting me since we got here, and you said you wanted to change into something morecomfortable.”
“This is comfortable,” I said. Oversized cotton button-downs were my favorite articles of clothing to lounge around in. “What did you think I was changing into, sweats?”
“To prevent anything crazy from going down between you and me tonight? Yeah, I thought that would be your choice.”
I shook my head and took the glass he poured for me. After a sip and feeling the warmth of the whiskey searing down my throat, I exhaled. “I’ve spent too many months in sweats,” I smiled at him. “In fact, this lounge furniture hadn’t been used for over a year until about a month ago.”
“I’m sorry you went through such a hard time,” he responded. “Do you mind if I ask what happened?”
“Not at all,” I said while my eyes drifted toward the shoreline. “I was in a relationship with Brandon’s father, Jonathan, for five years. Then, I found out I was pregnant, and when I told him—well, that was the last I saw or heard from him.”
Jace’s expression became unreadable, and even though I was surprised by how numb I felt talking about it, I also knew I had no desire to dig too deep into that mess. There was no point. That chapter had already done its damage, and, in a way, it had set me on the path I was meant to take.
He looked at me for a moment, then shook his head. “You know, there are some serious assholes in this world—including the guy I used to be when it came to women—but fuck.Thatis next-level bullshit.”
“I agree,” I said with a faint smile. “And as if that blow wasn’t enough to bury me in a year-long depression, he was in another woman’s arms within a week of walking out.”
He exhaled, “How can anyone fucking hurtyoulike that?”
“Up until recently, I wouldn’t have had an answer to that,” I said with a dry chuckle. “But now that I’ve finally made peace with it, I’ve realized what everyone else already knew…he never treated me right. He was selfish and controlling. My self-esteem was shot to shit long before he tossed me aside like trash. I hate thinking about who I became in that relationship because he was constantly in a shitty mood, and I was always bending over backward trying to fix it.”
“Sounds like he was just a miserable asshole,” Jace said, taking a sip of his whiskey. “People like that usually hate their own lives, and they end up projecting all their shit onto the person who brings light into their world.”
“Misery loves company,” I said with a faint smile. “And yeah, maybe you’re right. When I first met him, I was probably thehappiest I’ve ever been. It’s like he made it his mission to snuff that out. Little by little, he chipped away at it until I actually believed I deserved to get walked out on, like it was my fault I got pregnant.”
“Your fault?” he questioned in disbelief.
“Yep,” I sucked in a sharp breath of salty air. “His exact words were,Had you been more responsible and checked when you were ovulating, this nightmare wouldn’t have come to ruin us.”
“Come toruinus? Are you fucking with me?” he said incredulously. “Who fucking has the nerve to say some theatrical bullshit like that? What, the fucker couldn’t figure out how to use a condom?”
I laughed. “I was on the pill, but it’s never a one-hundred-percent certainty, you know?” I shook my head. “He blamed my body for rejecting the pill or some stupid shit.”
“I honestly don’t even know what to say to this,” he answered.
“He was a disgusting man,” I said. “I see that now. Back then, I didn’t because I was stuck in the nightmare, constantly trying to please him and smooth things over to keep the peace and make him happy. Now that I’m out of it, I can look back and see it clearly. Honestly, after the way he started treating me just a few months into the relationship, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he’d go so far as to blame me and my body for getting pregnant, like I did it on purpose to trap him. It was just another way for him to twist the knife.”
“You haven’t seen him since?” Jace questioned.
“Neither hide nor hair,” I said. “I’m sure he just used it as an excuse to end things. The chick he left me for was probably around while he was with me, and perhaps my getting pregnant was the best excuse for him to leave?”
