Page 125 of The Last Second Chance
“Baby.”
“Don’t say anything to me. I can’t even look at you.”
Jax went against his better judgment and wrapped her up in his arms, forcing her head against his shoulder. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs and Jax felt like the lowest human being on the planet.
“I’m so sorry, Jojo. I’m so, so sorry.”
She pushed away from him, shoved him back a step. “You made me think there was something wrong with me. That you left me because I wasn’t enough. I didn’t deserve to spend my life thinking that, feeling that. You owed me more than disappearing in the middle of the night when I needed you most.”
“I’m so sorry, Joey,” he said again. “I was scared. I thought my dad could lose everything because of me. I thought your dad would ruin your dreams. I screwed up and you and my family were paying the price.”
“He wouldn’t have done it. I would have talked to him and he wouldn’t have done anything. No lawsuit, no sending me away. But you didn’t even give me the chance. You decided everyone was better off without you and you abandoned us all.”
“Joey, it was the worst fucking night of my life. You almost died and I thought I’d destroyed everything my family had spent years building.”
“It was the worst night of my life, too. When the men that I believed in, men that I loved decided I was too weak to make my own decisions. I’ve never been weak. But I may have been stupid.”
“You’re not stupid.”
“I let you back in without knowing the truth. It never occurred to me that my father pulled any strings to get you out of my life. And I never had a clue that your dad knew and kept your secrets. So maybe I’m stupid.”
“You’ve never been stupid a day in your life.”
“I need you to do something for me,” Joey said, crossing her arms.
“Anything. Name it, Jojo.”
“I need you to leave me alone.”
He was already shaking his head. “No. Absolutely not.”
“I can’t face you or him right now,” she said, jerking her chin toward the door that separated them from her father.
He grabbed her arms. “Joey, I love you. You are my life. I’m not walking away again. Not even if you ask me to.”
“I need time.”
“Jojo, I can’t do that.”
“You have to,” she said, shrugging out of his grasp. “This time I’m the one walking away.”
She didn’t go far, but when she shut the office door behind her, he felt her shutting the doors of her heart.
He reached for the doorknob.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” April unzipped her baby blue parka.
“She needs to listen to me.”
“Jax, sweetheart. She’s not going to hear anything you say right now.”
“I love her, April. I’m not leaving her again.”
“I know you’re not. But you’re not going to get through to her right now. Any convincing you try to do is going to come across as you trying to make decisions for her again.”
Jax kicked at the wall, frustration and fear curdled in his blood.
“I’m not going to lose her again.”
