Page 24 of The Love Audit
“Nah, man.” I shook my head. “This isn’t about that.” That wasn’t entirely true.
“Then what’s it about?”
“I’m trying to reconcile the Jasmine we grew up with and this person I’m pretending to be married to for a damn job. Is this what my life has come to? Am I not better than this?”
“D, I told you going anywhere near Jasmine Morgan was a bad idea.” That wasn’t quite how I remembered it. “Then you told me you had to compete with her to keep your job. Then you told me you’re living with her and pretending to be her husband.”
“‘Living with her’ is a reach” was all I could muster in reply.
“Now you’re gonna sit there and tell me you’re shocked things got complicated? What do you want me to say? Surprise, motherf—” he added in a terrible impression of Samuel L. Jackson.
“I didn’t want you to say anything,” I interrupted before he could finish. “You called me, remember?”
“Well, punk, do you want my advice or not?” He laughed. Despite his teasing, I always wanted his advice.
“I’m gonna get it anyway.”
“It’s too late to back out now. You gave your word. It’s one of Dad’s most repeated rules.”
“And one he didn’t follow when it mattered.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?”
“The point is you need to figure out why you allowed yourself to get this deep with Jasmine Morgan when you could have walked away at any point.”
“You’re acting like I chose this,” I spluttered, jumping to my feet.
“Didn’t you?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tora’s attention shift away from the duck pond. He bolted toward the rear entrance of the library, and I followed his gait.
“Hey, handsome,” Jasmine greeted, crouched at the entrance with a stack of books balanced on her lap. She scratched Tora behind the ear with one hand and looked up, her eyes scanning the yard until they landed on me. Her expression shifted from soft to annoyed in an instant.
“D?” Chris’s voice buzzed in my ear. “Hey, D? You still there?”
“I gotta let you go,” I whispered, ending the call without waiting for his response.
“Don’t end your phone call on my account,” Jasmine quipped, not bothering to look at me. “I promise not to share any more of your embarrassing childhood moments.” She smirked and stood to face me.
“Whatever you said about me was overshadowed by the drunken spectacle you made of yourself that night, so I’m not worried.” The smile slid off her face, giving me a not-so-small sense of satisfaction. “And not that it’s any of your business, but that was Chris on the phone.”
“CJ?” Her eyebrows perked up. “How’s your brother?”
“I would tell you, but I don’t know if that would qualify as crossing any of the boundaries you established this morning.”
“Really?” She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes.
“Really.” I mimicked her head tilt, raising an eyebrow.
“You two are always making eyes at each other,” a female voice called from behind Jasmine. I looked up to find Kitanya, Eric’s wife, standing in the library doorway.
“Honey.” Jasmine’s demeanor switched instantly as she spun around, whipping me in the face with her hair. “You remember—”
“Kitanya, of course.” I stepped around Jasmine and extended my hand after wiping it on my shorts. “Sorry, you caught me mid-run.”
“Oh yeah.” Kitanya nodded. “It’s a hot one today.”
