Page 47 of Jolene's Justice

“I can imagine.” Her eyes dropped to where her hand lay on his arm and nibbled on her lip. “How did none of us know you were going through that? You found out about this recently, right?”

“Just over a year ago. After the stunt she pulled at the gala, I was done. I was ready to do whatever it took to get free of her.”

She abused that lip some more, and he wanted to pull it free of the mistreatment. He let it go, understanding that she needed to do it while processing her thoughts.

“How?” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. His gut twisted. The pain he’d felt wasn’t hers, but here she was, becoming emotional about the shit he’d gone through. At that moment, he knew he loved her. It was so different from how he’d felt about Angelica. Light-years different. This was what real love was. The type of love his parents had. He’d do whatever it took to protect that love.

“How what?” he asked once he could speak past the lump that had formed in his throat.

“None of us knew. None of us noticed. How is that possible?”

He took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. He brought it to his lips, kissing it before answering her question. “After almost fifteen years, I became an expert at hiding things. I’m the class clown, remember? It was how I learned to cope. How I learned to hide. With humor. Nobody looked too deeply at the class clown.”

“God. That’s so sad,” she said as a tear slid down her cheek. He reached up and swiped it away.

“Maybe. But it was my defense mechanism. I couldn’t stand the thought of anybody discovering the truth. I couldn’t bear the shame. It was a bitter pill to swallow, especially after finding out how badly she’d played me. It was easier to hide.”

“Now I want to go back and pay closer attention.”

“I wouldn’t have let you see anything.”

She ripped her hand from his and bracketed his face. Her jade eyes narrowed, focusing on him intently as she studied him. “Promise me you won’t hide from me anymore.”

“Jolie—”

She jiggled his head as her focus on him intensified. He would have found it amusing if he didn’t know that laughing at this moment would make her mad.

“Promise me.”

She was so serious, her voice trembling with those two words. It sobered him immediately. He laid his hands over hers and looked deeply into her eyes. “I promise.” And he meant it. There were no more secrets between them now. It was a promise that would be a breeze to keep.

“Good,” she declared. “Now kiss me.”

“With pleasure.”

Chapter 20

Theroomwasstilldark due to the storm that raged outside when Finch slipped out of bed early. The pile of discarded clothes on the floor taunted him. An irritating voice in his mind that sounded suspiciously like his ex-wife called him out for the mess. He bent and picked up the clothes, folding each item and placing them in neat piles on the corner of Jolene’s dresser. He shook his head at himself as he straightened one pile until it was aligned perfectly with the edge of the dresser. He really needed to find a way to exorcise that voice. There were long stretches of time when he was with Jolene that the voice was non-existent. He hoped to have more moments like that.

Walking away from his need to tidy the room, he decided he wanted to do something special for Jolene. She’d listened to everything he’d confessed last night, and there hadn’t been an ounce of judgment. Her questions were driven by her desire to understand. To truly know him. To know what he’d gone through.

It had humbled him when she’d taken on his pain as her own. The memory of it was vivid in his mind. He could still see her face, the way her eyes had softened as she took his hand. He could hear the gentle cadence of her voice as she spoke. The weight of his pain lifting as she drew it from him was a physical sensation of release and relief. It was an overwhelming moment, one that he would never forget.

The rain continued to pour, drenching the world in a monotonous gray. He glanced out the window in the kitchen as he made breakfast. The relentless rain made the outside world look bleak. But inside, he felt anything but bleak. For the first time in fifteen years, he felt . . . good. The future looked bright, and it was all because of the woman he’d left curled up in bed. He was anxious for the toast to pop so he could go back to her.

Once everything was done, he put it all on a tray he’d unearthed from deep in a cabinet and carried it up the stairs. The door creaked as he pushed it open, and Jolene stirred. She blinked at him, pushing her hair out of her face. God, she was adorable.

As she sat up, her features remained inscrutable. “You made me breakfast in bed?” she asked.

He wasn’t sure how to interpret her expression and suddenly grew nervous that he’d done something wrong. “Yeah,” he replied, not knowing what else to say. He’d found with Angelica, it was best not to say anything at all.

He placed the tray down on the bed.

“You made me breakfast in bed,” she repeated, this time as a statement.

“Is that . . . is it okay?”

Jolene got to her knees on the bed in front of him, causing everything on the tray to teeter dangerously. With a gentle grip on his face, she pulled his attention away from the tray and toward her. “You made me breakfast in bed. Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before. Know this, Finch. I will never complain about you wanting to do something special for me.”

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