Page 9 of Jay

“Back off, Jay. Let her speak,” Liam bites out. “Tell him, Bambi,” Liamencourages.

“Rachel told me that you rejected her, made her feel cheap. And that she could never be the mother of your children… because you didn’t think she was goodenough.”

“Are you fucking shitting me? She really said all that shit to you? And you sit there and say that you don’t who to believe. Holy shit, I believed you thought more of me than that, Penny.” I shake my head. My mind is finding it so fucking hard to wrap around the lies that Rachel has told her best friend. I knew she was pissed at me, but for her to fucking blatantly lie about what actually went down… Jesus fuck! I step back from the table, ready to leave, but Dex’s voicestopsme.

“Don’t.”

“I can’t stay here, Dex. I can’t. The fact that she lied about what happened that final night… I’m so fucking done with that woman. She can stay away forever as far as I’m concerned.” I ignore everyone else in the garden and keep my gaze locked on my brother. I take in deep breaths, trying to control my anger. I close my eyes tight and drop my head to my chest. The lies swirl around my head. I can’t believe she’s done this. I meant what I just said: I am done with her. I need to move the fuck on and start livingforme.

“Jay.” I hear Penny whisper my name, and I turn my head to face her. She has tears slowly running down her face. Our eyes connect and I watch as she rises and comes around to stand in front of me, our gaze never wavering, the sadness showing on her face, and the anger and disappointment showing on mine. I thought Penny knew me,obviouslynot.

“I’m sorry. So sorry, Jay. I don’t know why she made those things up. I know you aren't that type of person. You respect women too much to say the things she’s saying that you did. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.” She looks down at the floor and a small sob breaks through. That’s enough to make all my anger towards herdissipate.

“Come here,” I say, opening my arms for her. She doesn't hesitate, she walks into my arms and hugs me around the waist. Rachel has ripped me wide open, but I can see now that I need to find someone to stitch me back together. She’s now in the past, and I need to find myfuture.

“Stop,” comes the muffled word from Penny, who’s smashed against my chest. I raise my head to see Liam moving towards us. I smirk at him over Penny’s head, and I throw him a wink. Penny must have seen his feet move. She knows her man is a very alpha bastard. I lower my head again and make a dramatic sniffingnoise.

“Damn, you smell good, Miss Moneypenny.” I chuckle and sodoesshe.

“You fucking prick. You wait, Jay Castle. You wait until you have a girl.” Liam's leaves the threat hanging. We all laugh at him and go back to the BBQ. I push the hurt and anger down for today, I don’t want to ruin this get together. Rachel needs to get out of my head, the sooner the better. Now’s the time to sort myself out and find someone to tie me down, both physically and mentally. I chuckle to myself and walk over to the BBQ, where the boys arestanding.

Operation Move On Status:Active.

jay

It’s beentwo weeks since Rachel went to Africa, and the anger is now down to a simmer. I don’t know what I would do if I saw her right now. Penny and me settled things the day of the BBQ. She’s told me she can’t reach out to Rachel because there’s no communication in the village where she’s staying. I try every day to put her out of my head, but she still manages to seep into my mind. Thank fuck for exercise. I’ve picked up running again, it helps clearmyhead.

My feet pound the concrete as I pick up speed, the music pulsing through my earphones. Rock music blasts in my ears, pushing me forward, forcing me to forget everything except my breathing. Sweat is pouring down my body. I lift my wrist and use the sweatband to wipe away the moisture that’s threatening to drip intomyeyes.

I keep up my pace and take the top path around the hiking track. The lower path is for walking and enjoying the day. I don’t want to enjoy the day; I want to forget. I want to clear every thought. I ignore the people running towards me, and keep my eyes forward, focusing on the tree at the top. The path up here is three miles up. I used to go to the gym to get my frustration out, but people tended to want to talk to me, and I got pissed off, hence why I’m back to runningoutdoors.

I see Cassie up ahead of me, bending over, puffing out heavy breaths. I met her through Dex. She has a wicked tattoo on her right thigh, it’s a peacock sitting on a cherry blossom branch. It’s full of colour, and I am damn fucking proud of my brother for the design. I’ve only seen her twice. Once in Castle Ink, and a few weeks ago in town. I saw her and asked how the new ink was doing. It was the same day that everything with Rachel went to shit. Cassie is beautiful, any guy can see that; she has a natural beauty about her. Her straight blonde hair sits just above her shoulders. She’s toned to fuck, and I can see how she keeps herself in shape. Besides the thigh tattoo, she has a floral eye between her shoulder blades, and four small paw prints on her rightwrist.

Closing the distance between us, I see that she’s bright red. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail, but some wisps are sticking to her sweat-covered neck. Her tight running leggings fit her perfectly toned legs and arse to perfection. Her very ample breasts are encased in a bright green tank top, her black sports bra showing in places. God, they look fucking amazing. Fuck, I shouldn’t be thinking like this, it wasn’t that long ago that I thought Rachel was the one to settle down with. I shake my head and step up toCassie.

“Hey, Cass. Are you okay?” I ask. She turns her head to look at me, but keeps her body bent over, dragging in deep breath after deepbreath.

“Oh hey, Jay. Yeah, I’m good. You know, just trying to breathe like a normal human being. How about you?” I chuckle at her answer. She’s a kooky little thing. I watch as she takes in a deep breath and straightens up. Her nose ring winks at me in the sunlight. Sweat is covering her body, making her look even moretasty.

Jesus fuck, Jay, get your head onstraight.

“Do you have any water?”Iask.

“No, I’ve run out. I was going to fill up my bottle when I got to the top.” There’s a small building at the top of the trail, where you can have a sit down and rest or maybe use the toilets. You can also buy hot and colddrinks.

“Here, have some of this.” I thrust my water bottle at her. She doesn’t argue with me. Now most girls would worry about germs and shit, but not Cassie. From what I’ve gathered from our brief meetings, she’s pretty laid back. Not a fussy girl. I like that. She takes a big gulp from the bottle and hands it back to me, wiping her mouth with the back ofherhand.

“Thanks, Jay, you’re alifesaver.”

“No problem. Happy to help a damsel in distress.” I wink at her. She scrunches her face up, looking cuteasfuck.

“Damsel? Me?” She looks at me like I’ve grown a second head. I shrug and offer her the trademark Castle smirk that has women dropping theirknickers.

“That,” she lifts her hand, pointing a finger at my face, and swirls it around, “will not work on me, Mr Castle. Nosiree.”

“You think so, huh?” Fuck, what the hell am I saying? I should not push this, it’s way too soon after Rachel leaving. Hell, I need to get away from her, she’s making me see and feel things that I surely shouldn’t. I straighten up some, and step around her. “Anyway, I’d better finish my run. I have a few appointments today. It was nice seeing you again, Cassie.” I run up the path, away from her. I can’t be feeling these things yet; my heart is still healing from recent events. It wouldn’t be fair on Cassie if I start something with her now. I push my body harder than before, forcing all thoughts out of my head. Making myself concentrate on mybreathing.

Sweat is pouring down my body, soaking through my sleeveless t-shirt by the time I reach the top, but I don’t stop. I quickly turn around and make my descent. I know that I’ll come across Cassie again, but I need to just nod my head in acknowledgement and carry on running. ACDC’s ‘If You Want Blood’ blasts through my ears as I reach Cassie. She’s looking right at me as we close the distance between us. I see her little blonde ponytail swish back and forth with each step, and her breasts… Holy fucking shit. Even with her sports bra on her breasts bounce with each step. I swear my tongue is hanging out of my mouth. How the fuck can a woman look so elegant and sexy as sin when running? Me, I look like a sweaty homeless beast. I know I’m sweating profusely, and my hair is slicked to my head. My clothes stick to me and are drenched withsweat.

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