Page 40 of Until Waverly

“You wouldn’t believe me anyway,” I said, trying to shield myself from him. For the next eighteen years of Alandria’s life, he would be a fixture. After that, who knew? Jackson could cut ties and go be happy with that woman who’d gazed at him so adoringly.

“You’re not even trying,” he replied. “I would have been there every day, Waverly. I’d have helped you. Taken care of you.”

I snorted.

I remembered that day all too clearly, even if my mind was a muddled mess. The woman had been gorgeous. She wore one of those chic silk wrap dresses showing off her perfect figure. Her heels were from the new Louis Vuitton collection. She swished her hair, just the impeccable way to draw his attention to her neck and face.

I mentally shuddered in regret.

She was everything I wasn’t.

I couldn’t say I understood anything about the Banks men. After all, I barely talked to Ireland, other than she was my brother’s wife and the mother to his son. I hadn’t even seen the boy. Never got to know any of them other than cursory bits of information. God, I couldn’t believe how stupid I’d been. The Boom was like that, though. The instantaneous need building inside of me had allowed me to make some stupid mistakes over the last year and some change.

“Don’t worry about us,” I said. “We’ll be fine.”

Chapter13

Waverly

He snorted. The derisive sound hurt my ears and my heart. “You’re doing such a bang-up job of it.” His lip curled cruelly. “Can’t even move around your apartment without thumping into a wall. Don’t even have a dishwasher to sanitize Alandria’s bottles. She doesn’t have her own room, but you’ve got this?”

He stood then and paced.

“I’m doing the best I can,” I said. “Please don’t raise your voice to me while I’m laid up.”

He glanced at me, and for a second, I saw a glimpse of the old Jackson. Not this angry, mean version of him. “You could have told me. I would have helped too. I’d always do whatever I could, even if you didn’t want me.” That cost him. I saw the rejection in his eyes and didn’t understand how he could thinkIscorned him when he had precluded me by seeing another woman.

“You’re right. I should have told you, Jackson.”

“So why didn’t you?” He didn’t raise his voice or step any closer to me. He was even toned, raking his fingers through his hair while he continued to pace. “What did I do that was so wrong?”

I swallowed around the lump in my throat, unable to speak. If I said anything, I would have to face the elephant in the room—the other woman. I couldn’t do that yet. I was broken and battered because some man lost part of his family after a drunk driver hit his wife’s car. I was the victim. Not Jackson. Sure as hell not the woman he’d been cavorting with at Flame. The fact he couldn’t admit to his betrayal left an awful taste in my mouth.

“It just wasn’t meant to be,” I said, not willing to say how I truly felt or what I’d seen. It wouldn’t matter either way.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll accept that answer for now. However, why didn’t you tell me about Alandria? Our relationship, good or bad, took a back seat the minute that test turned positive. I should have been here with you every step of the way. I feel like I have missed everything, and now I’m trying to bond with a baby who looks like me, has a temperament like Ireland’s and burps like her Uncle Hunter. Shit smells like her Uncle Landon too.”

I bit the inside of my cheek so not to laugh. This wasn’t a heartwarming reunion between us. This was a bitter discussion of our transgressions, and I was getting a nasty headache from it. My gaze wandered to the button positioned by my hand. I could push it. Give myself a round of morphine. Drift off and forget about our tête-à-tête for a while. But that was the coward’s way out. No matter what happened between us, Alandria was the priority.

“We should set up visitations and requirements for her staying with you more.” I kept the tears and heartache at bay because I’d been over this moment several times in my mind. I’d rehearsed what I’d say to him as I handed over the custody arrangement. I didn’t want his money, but Alandria deserved to be with her father. Jackson was a good person.

He just had shit morals.

“Visitation and requirements for me seeing my daughter?” He pulled a face, the twist of his features in disgust, set off alarm bells in my head. Did he want to take my daughter away from me? “Waverly, what are we doing here? Are you still confused about the incident? Has anyone been in besides the doctor to evaluate you?”

The change in subject gave me whiplash. Why was my mental status—oh, was that what he’d use to keep Alandria away from me? This awful concussion and the fact I’d had what amounted to a combative panic attack? I shook my head, then wished I hadn’t. Wincing, I exhaled slowly, willing the jackhammer throbbing to stop so I could think clearly.

“I’m fine. Dr. Jay said I could go home today or tomorrow. I’m going to agree to his offer. I’m not an invalid. I can care for Alandria and myself.” Defiance filled me. No way in hell I’d allow him to keep my daughter. He’d have to fight me for her.

“You can’t even sit up on your own,” he said, but there wasn’t any heat to his words. “You’re not returning to your apartment alone, Waverly. I don’t think you caught onto that part yet.”

“So, what? You want to keep Alandria with you, and I’m staying where? My parents’?” My heart pounded. Anger shot through my veins, causing the dull ache in my head to become a ripping torture. “Over my dead body.”

Jackson held up his hands, staring at the monitor to my right. The beep of the machine chirped a hard, fast, though steady rhythm. “You need to calm down. I don’t know what your mind is conjuring, but none of it is true.”

Yeah, right? I’d seen him. I knew what he was capable of. “Jackson, if you don’t leave me and Alandria alone...”

“What are you talking about? I’d never leave you alone! Neither of you.” He stared at me with such disbelief it took my breath away. I didn’t understand. “Something isn’t right, Waverly. I don’t know what it is or how to fix this. Maybe I need to leave so you can get more rest, or maybe the doctor needs to reevaluate you.”

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