Page 34 of Deal with Mr. Cruel

Mae shook her head. This hurt. Her brother was ashamed of her, and she was ashamed of herself. Sitting here defending Jonas, she realized she had let herself fall for him again, or maybe she had never stopped falling for him. She bit her lip as she blinked back tears.

Nico softened for a moment as he put his hands on her shoulders. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. Again,” he said softly.

“Again?” she asked curiously.

“You think I didn’t know about before? I saw the way you two looked at each other. Plus, you were never home.”

“I didn’t know anyone knew.”

“Yeah. And I knew he must have hurt you when you locked yourself in your room and cried for weeks.”

Mae remained quiet.

“I didn’t think you’d be so stupid again,” said Nico.

She felt anger rise up. “Stupid? Really, Nico? Coming from the guy who is constantly getting in trouble and has his sister bail him out? Maybe I deserve to be a little reckless. My whole life I’ve spent taking care of you.”

“Mae, I—”

“No. It’s my turn to do whatever the hell I want. I’m done being your mother when I never asked to be.”

She saw the hurt wash over Nico’s face, but she didn’t care. So many feelings were swirling around inside of her that she could barely think straight. She stood abruptly, grabbing her coffee and pastry bag of almond croissants.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I have to go to work and see myhusband.”She walked away, leaving Nico looking at her like a sad puppy dog.

At the office, the entire day she could hardly focus. Anger and sadness consumed her. She was thankful Jonas was in meetings all day because she couldn’t bear to look at him when she felt like this. She somehow managed to get her work done. She could tell Braydon knew something was up, but thankfully he didn’t ask questions. Just after five, she packed up her belongings and drove to Jonas’s, her anger still stewing.

She walked through the door and was surprised to see Jonas sitting on the couch reading the paper with the fire blazing. Why did he have to choose today to follow through on his promise of being on time? He looked up at her and checked his watch.

“Well, look at that,” he said playfully. “I beat you home.”

“Oh, shut up,” Mae snapped.

Jonas looked taken aback. “Okay. Rough day at work?”

“You could say that.” Mae’s voice shook.

“Mae. What is it?” Jonas stood from the couch and slowly stepped toward her.

She threw her purse on the entry table and glared at Jonas. “You told Nico about us.”

“No. He already knew. I don’t know how or—”

Mae held up her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to. He stormed into my office yesterday and tried to fight me.”

“What?” Mae covered her mouth with her hand.

“Yeah. That’s why I was so worked up yesterday.”

“Iaskedyou what was wrong. You should have told me.” Her voice rose.

Jonas nodded weakly. “I know.”

“Nico confronted me this morning. It was awful. We both said horrible things.”

“I’m sorry.”

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