Page 98 of Jacob

“That’s not right.” He waggles his finger at me, dismissing me, almost accusing me of being a liar. “I care. Don’t I?”

“You have a funny way of showing it.” Skye hugs her arms around herself.

Owen takes a moment to himself as he looks out of the windows again.

I step closer to him, no longer caring if he fucking punches me or not. I will fight to the death for her. “Owen, I would never do anything to hurt you.” He keeps looking ahead. “I am in love with her. I hid my feelings for so long. Then I told Skye when we were in London. Something happened between us at the office a few weeks before that. But I swear on my life, I never touched her.” I leave out the part where I made her touch herself. “What started as a spark turned into something bigger. I’ve tried to speak to you so many times, but you kept ignoring my calls, and that’s what I was coming to your house about today, to tell you how much Skye and I want to be together, then last night…”

“I turned up here and told Jacob I love him.” Skye steps by my side, exuding confidence like I have never seen before, and if Owen wasn’t standing there right now, I would kiss her.

“Right.” He turns and throws us both a fake smile. “Well, I hope you’ll be happy together.” He storms past us, heading for the door.

“Owen, p-please don’t be like that,” Skye stammers at his cynicism of us.

Owen spins back around. “Like what? What exactly should I be like? You’ve just told me you’ve been in love with the girl I have spent half my life with. Told me that for fourteen years you’ve harbored all of these feelings for her, but you never acted on it? I don’t believe a word of it.”

I’ve never been a liar. I can’t believe he would think I was lying right now. Screams of frustration bubble in my chest. “Hey, the reason I didn’t was because of our pact. Remember the one we made, no kissing ex-girlfriends or sisters? That’s why.”

He lets out a maniacal laugh. “Fucking hell, you didn’t think we were serious, did you?”

Lincoln runs through the door out of breath. “Oh, thank Christ, you’re both still alive.” Fighting for air, he clutches his chest.

“You knew?” Wide-eyed, Owen asks Lincoln.

“Sort of. Not really. But it’s really fucking obvious. Have you seen the way he looks at her and follows her around like a lovesick puppy?”

Someone kill me.

Lincoln keeps talking, not giving Owen a chance to respond. “I heard you talking. I kept my end of the bargain on our pact.”

“What? That stupid pact we made when we were thirteen?” Owen’s brow wrinkles.

“Fourteen,” I correct him.

“Well, I broke that two weeks after we made it, when I kissed your sister out on the porch at your house.” He looks at me smugly. “Bonus points for the boob squeeze.”

“What?” Lincoln and I both shout at the same time.

Asshole.

“Angela Blackwood too.” Owen looks at Lincoln.

“She was my first girlfriend.” His mouth falls open in shock.

I look directly at Owen. “You’re a prick.”

“It takes one to know one.” He points at me. “And you’re wrong about me. I did care for you, Skye, maybe not how Jacob does, but I did. I always bought you nice things.”

“I don’t need things, but what makes it worse is that Jay bought me those things. You still haven’t given him the money for the tablet and stylus pen,” Skye fires back, getting her point across.

“Fuck sakes, can a guy not catch a break?” He pushes his fingertips into his closed eyes. “Is this gang-up-on-Owen day? Did I not take you to the nice parties my mother threw and buy you nice dresses?” He looks at Skye for an answer.

“You gave me the money to buy something new, but Jay always went with me to the shops to make sure I looked the part. Then your mother would parade other women in my face because she thought they were more suitable for you. Andusually, you would spend it flirting, eye-fucking those suitable women, and Jay and I would end up dancing and drinking the night away. He was always the one who took me home. He cares about me, Owen. He always has.”

He pulls out a chair around my dining table and falls into it. Head in his hands, he mumbles, “What the fuck is wrong with me? How have I not seen this?” He runs his hands through his hair as if distressed. “Is your favorite movieThe Princess Bride?” He looks at Skye, waiting for an answer.

Skye smiles. “Yeah. I didn’t think you knew that.”

“I didn’t. Jay told me the other day.” He blinks with bafflement.

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