Page 41 of Traitorous Lies
“I told you I got it, I understand. Your family has been targeted over and over again, and I hate that you’ve all been in danger. I agreed to send you a swab so that you can do a DNA test and prove your stepsister isn’t related to me. I don’t know what else you want from me, Jax,” she said wearily. As angry as she was and as much as she’d love to rant and screamat him, reality was she was tired, embarrassed, humiliated, and feeling stupid. All she wanted was to go home.
“I just want you to know Inevermeant to hurt you.”
He was so imploring, his voice so sincere, his dark eyes practically begging her to believe him, but the problem was she wasn't sure what to believe when it came to this man anymore. Her trust in him had been obliterated.
Maybe if she hadn't been used because of who she was in the past it would be easier to get over. Jax’s way of using her might be different than the other men who had hurt her, and she wasn't lying when she said she got why he’d done it, but in the end, it made her feel the same way.
Like she wasn't a real person.
She was only something to be used for what value she could offer.
It wasn't okay to treat her that way, and she wasn't going to allow herself to be put in that situation. Jax might be sorry now that he’d hurt her, but that didn't undo that hurt. Neither did understanding where he’d been coming from.
If she was overreacting, then that was her prerogative. Protecting her feelings was also her prerogative, after all, it wasn't like she had anyone else there to do it.
“Whether you meant to or not, youdidhurt me,” she told him. “You used me, reduced me to nothing more than my last name, and I'm so sick of that happening. I meant what I said in France, Jax. I don’t want to see or hear from you again.”
With that, Monique straightened her spine, turned around, and walked away.
It was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do, but it was the right thing to do for herself.
Chapter
Eleven
November 6th
5:05 A.M.
“You just going to let her walk away?” Connor asked from behind him.
“Hell, no,” Jax said, spinning around to find that all four of his brothers had followed him off the plane. “I’m not going to make the same mistake you did with Becca all those years ago.”
When Connor’s eyebrows all but flew to the top of his head, Jax winced, that hadn't come out the way he meant it.
The problem was, he was so messed up over losing Monique that he couldn’t think straight.
No excuse, though. His brothers had hopped on a plane the second they lost contact with him, leaving behind the women they loved who had all been through traumatic ordeals these last few months. The absolute least he owed them was some respect and gratitude.
“Sorry, man, that came out wrong. I just meant that I learned from your mistakes, and I don’t intend to repeat them,” he explained.
“It’s okay, Jax, I get it, and I'm glad you're not going to repeat the mistakes I made. But …” Connor trailed off looking around at the others asthough to ascertain that they were all on the same page before continuing. “Isn't it kind of fast to have developed feelings for her? You only met her six days ago.”
“Cooper fell for Willow in Egypt in a matter of days,” he reminded them, looking to Cooper who nodded.
“I did. We spent a lot of intense moments together, and seeing how brave and strong Willow was no matter what Tarek threw at her made it almost impossible not to fall for her.”
He hadn't had much of a chance to talk through what happened with his brothers in detail before Monique found them in the forest, one thing his girl did not have was a good sense of time, he’d left her alone for no more than thirty minutes or so before she came after him. They also hadn't had a chance to talk on the plane because Monique was right there, and he wasn't comfortable sharing the details of what they’d gone through while she was able to overhear.
“Monique and I also spent a lot of intense moments together,” he reminded Cooper and the rest of his brothers. “And she’s every bit as brave and strong as Willow, or any of the rest of the women you all love, and I respect the hell out of all of them.”
“She’s the Kerr princess,” Jake told him doubtfully, and Jax found himself getting annoyed.
This was exactly why Monique was angry with him. She was so used to being used and judged based on who her family was—something she had zero control over—that she just couldn’t allow people in her life who did that to her.
“You know nothing about the real Monique,” he growled at them, daring any one of his brothers to disagree.
“Thing is, do you? Do you know who the real Monique Kerr is, or was she fooling you every bit as much as you were fooling her because she needed you to stay alive?” Cole asked, not unkindly, more like he was just looking out for a brother, and Jax couldn’t be angry at him for that.
