Page 76 of Bourbon Breakaway

She startles awake but quickly sees it’s me. Her eyes aren’t welcoming like they usually are. Her gaze is deep, and that haunted expression I worked so hard to get rid of is back. She’s been worrying all day.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

She doesn’t answer.

“What’s on the driveway? Did you run over something?”

She pushes herself up to sit and draws her knees to her chest. “Chloe was here.”

My heart all but leaps to my throat. “Here?”Fuck.

She nods.

I ease myself alongside her and wrap my arm around her, but she wriggles like she doesn’t want it there, so I pull it back.

“You know I was going to talk to you tomorrow.”

“Oh, were you?” She says it like she’s not so sure, and it’s a sucker punch.

Jolie, as long as I have known her, has never questioned what I tell her.

I inch closer, my thigh connecting with hers. “I was. You know that.”

“Is that all we were going to discuss, Ashton?” She’s cold, and her walls are up.

And it’s no wonder. I know the kind of fork-tonguedcreature Chloe is. She has a way with words. A way of sneaking into the one crack of vulnerability in your armor. Of finding your Achilles heel.

“Joey… we have a lot to talk about.”

“Pzzt…” She stands, shouldering me, forcing me to get out of her way.

She heads to the kitchen, and I follow her. She fills a cup that was left by the sink with water and takes a long, deep drink. “A lot to talk about is putting it lightly.”

I don’t really know where to begin. But I hate where this is starting. “I should have warned you Chloe might come.”

“Yeah, you think?” She raises her voice. “That was… literally the worst ambush in the world, and you could have prevented it. I’m fucking pissed at you, Ashton! How could you let that happen? Don’t you give a shit about me?”

“I didn’t know about our picture being on fan sites until I arrived at the arena today. I had no clue she’d know about us until hours ago and I’d already left here.”

“Did you ever think of actually leaving me a voice message?” She’s escalating.

“I did. I thought about it but I didn’t think she’d come here right away.”

“Well, you vastly underestimated that woman.” Anger glimmers in her eyes, and her words cut deep. “Just like you did when you told her about Fletcher.”

Those words shatter over a decade of secrecy. Something untamed releases into the dark between us, because now, she’s not the only one who’s feeling out of control. Chloe didn’t come here just to pull one of her ice-bucket tantrums. She stormed in with wicked fury.

She told Jolie about my brother.

“Is it true?” She softens for a moment. “Is it true about your mom? And… Fletch?”

My nose stings when I recall the day. It was a day that Jolie herself was with me. “Do you remember prom night?”

She shakes her head, clearly wondering where I’m going with this.

“You kept calling me a space cadet. My head was gone. That was the night I found out. I was…” I swallow hard. “I was looking for a bow tie in my dad’s drawer, without asking because at that point, I had my own ties and I didn’t want him telling me off for forgetting mine at college. I rummaged around, and while I did, a false bottom popped out of place a little.” Thinking of that night still makes me sick to my stomach. “As any young guy would, I was curious about the things my dad might hide and, well, it was a bunch of shit I took more than a moment to understand. Patronage affidavits. Paternity tests… contact information for some guy in Mexico, and my brother’s name and year of birth on every single, confusing document.”

Jolie softens with sympathy but doesn’t touch me. “Ashton…”

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