Page 95 of My Fiancé's Brother 2

Me: Chloe said you should go to bed

Jackson: I mean it

Me: She said you should drink lots of water

Jackson: Tell her I miss her too

Me: Ok

CHAPTER 32

Jackson:Coming home tonight. Will be at the hanger at 8 PM

Me: You want me to pick you up?

Jackson: Only if you’re not busy

My body was a bundle of nerves for the rest of the day. Jackson and I had experienced our fair share of differences lately. Add the long distance between us, and I wasn’t sure how things would be when he came home.

He didn’t think that Harper was an issue, but I knew that she was gunning to get Jackson back. He said he was committed to me, but what exactly did that entail? What did his commitment and our marriage matter if his heart longed for her? Did he wish that he was with her?

Fifteen minutes before 8 PM,I parked at the huge hanger. I was nervous. I showed my ID and was directed to a waiting area. There were dozens of people waiting. Most of them were women.Kids ran wild in their pajamas and jackets. I looked around, but I didn’t recognize anyone.

I became acutely aware of being noticed. I had a stupid smile pasted on my face, praying that someone might come over and say hi but no one did. I was too shy to approach any of the groups myself, so I took refuge in the farthest chair away from everyone and spent most of my time studying the floor. I knew people talked about me. I just didn’t know what to do about it.

I wasin the bathroom in a stall when I heard a few women come in.

“I guess we know why someone of Jackson’s caliber ended up being married to someone like her.”

“Yeah, he got duped by the oldest trick in the book.”

My entire body went still as I listened to them talk.

“Remember Macy?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll never forget this. This was years ago, and she was about to have a drunken one-nighter with Jackson. She stupidly suggested that he skip the condom and just withdraw. Instead, he pulled on his pants and walked out.”

“Well smart move on his part since we all know that Macy deliberately got pregnant to get her man to propose.”

“Well looks like the same thing happened to Jackson. I heard that she poked a hole in the condom.”

“Oh God. Poor Jackson.”

“I know, right? And poor Harper.”

I stood frozen in the bathroom stall. What was the obsession with Jackson and his birth control practices? Now more nasty rumors were flying around about poor Alien’s conception. This poor kid. Not even born and the object and scorn of half the base.

I opened the stall door and walked out. Four women stood at the mirror, putting on lipstick and fixing their hair.

Four sets of eyes glanced at me and then avoided my gaze as I stepped up to wash my hands. I didn’t recognize any of these women. That was the crazy part about all of this. Women whom I had never seen in my life were discussing my sex life and spreading nasty rumors about my marriage and unborn child. I was halfway to the door when I realized if I couldn’t stand up for my kid, then I would suck as a parent.

I stopped and turned. “I didn’t poke a hole in a condom. We didn’t use any protection. There wasn’t a single condom in sight.”

No one moved a muscle. Let them stew over that one. I turned on my heel and walked out. Even though my legs shook, I made it back to my seat. I felt exhilarated. The truth might be more shocking than the rumors, but at least I had, in some small part, taken charge of how I was going to be treated. I wasn’t going to run or hide from the rumors that chased me. They could have the truth and how they choose to deal with it was no longer my business.

Two hours later,we still waited. I felt exhausted. I closed my eyes. The chair was so hard it reminded me of the waiting room at the hospital. I was just dozing off to sleep, when I heard someone say, “Here they come.”

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