“Belle –”
Belle cut him off, “This is absurd, purposefully hurtful and I’m sorry to tell you, Miles, I’ll not keep it from Jack. What you’ve said to one woman he cares about, about another woman he cares about cannot stand. You’ll deal with him and, what’s worse, he’ll deal with you.”
On that, she bent, snatched up the rug and began to stomp past him but he caught her bicep, bringing her up short.
Goodness gracious, not this again.
She snapped her head back and hissed, “Take your hand off me.”
“Don’t be a fool, Belle. With the loss of that baby, your hold on him has slipped,” he clipped back, not having convinced her to believe any of his venom, he went in for the kill.
And she could not believe he did it or the way he did.
Therefore, with a vicious twist, she pulled her arm free, shouting, “Take your hand off me!”
She took one step away, he began to lunge toward her but stopped and both their heads whipped around when Jack’s voice cracked through the wind like a whip.
“Miles, right now, step the f**k back!”
Both Jack and Yasmin were coming their way, Jack’s face thunderous, his strides wide and Yasmin was racing on high heels on the uneven path to keep up, her face pale.
Belle just stared at Jack who she hadn’t expected to be home for at least another half an hour and who, as usual, was right there when she needed him.
She did this while her breath came fast and the rest of her attention focussed on not screaming bloody murder.
“I arrived at the house ten minutes ago,” Yasmin called. “I saw Miles going to you. I called Jack right away but he told me he was nearly here,” she puffed. “Now, he’s, well,” she stopped next to Jack who stopped three feet away from Miles, eyes glued on his brother and she threw a hand out at Jack lamely before she finished, “here.”
“Belle, you and Yasmin go to the house,” Jack growled, his enraged eyes still on his brother.
Before either of them could move, Miles informed Jack, “Yasmin was the one to tell Belle that you wanted a crack at her,” and after he spoke this semi-lie, Belle watched Jack’s back shoot straight.
“I did not!” Yasmin cried.
Miles looked at Yasmin. “She overheard you talking to Mum in the hallway that morning.”
When he imparted this information, Yasmin’s eyes flew to Belle, light dawned, her face paled and she whispered, “Oh God, no.”
“It’s okay, Yasmin,” Belle stated swiftly then added truthfully. “It was rude for me to eavesdrop.”
Yasmin clearly wasn’t thinking about Belle being rude. She sounded horrified when she replied, “I’m so sorry, Belle.” Her eyes moved to Jack. “And Jack, I had no idea –”
She didn’t finish.
Miles had looked back to Jack who never tore his gaze from his brother and spoke over her. “You thought it was me. It was not me. It was Yasmin.”
“And who told Yasmin it was me who wanted a crack at Belle when those words, Miles, came from your f**king mouth?” Jack asked, his voice low, rumbly and very, very angry.
Oh dear.
Belle needed to do something she just didn’t know how.
Or, in fact, what.
“Miles did, of course,” Yasmin whispered before Belle could figure it out.
“She misheard me,” Miles stated quickly.
“She did not,” Jack ground out. “You lied in an effort to cheat during a ridiculous, one-sided competition that I cannot f**king believe we’re still discussing months after the drama was over and only f**king weeks after the woman I love was shoved down the goddamned stairs and lost our child as a result.”
Miles’s torso swayed back and he whispered, “You love her?”
“Jesus, Miles, what do you think this is all about?” Jack asked, planting his hands on his hips.
“You love her,” Miles repeated in a whisper.
Jack didn’t get a chance to respond.
Unfortunately at this juncture, Joy was racing up, calling out, “What’s happening?”
“Belle, take Mum and Yasmin to the house,” Jack ordered, his eyes still locked on his brother.
“Please, no fighting,” Joy begged, arriving and immediately getting close to Jack so she could wrap her hands around his upper arm. “We were all getting along. Let’s not go back to fighting.” Her eyes moved to her younger son. “Please Miles. Especially not now.”
“I didn’t come to fight,” Miles told his mother. “Because Belle is sensitive, I took the chance to incur Jack’s wrath in order to warn her, after what’s happened, to tread cautiously.”
Really, Belle thought in disgust, eyeing Miles, it was high time to stop being meek and mild if her sensitivity set her up for this type of kindness.
“We’ll finish this, once and for all, between you and me,” Jack clipped then again ordered, “Belle, take Mum and Yasmin back to the house.”
Belle thought this was a capital idea and started to move but Joy asked, “Tread cautiously with what?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Miles answered. “She refuses to heed my warning.”
“What warning?” Joy pushed as Belle got close and grabbed her elbow, trying and failing to pull her away.
“It doesn’t matter,” Miles repeated, his eyes on his brother.
Belle froze when Yasmin stated softly, “You took me away from him. I participated but you did it and you did it purposefully. Now, you’re trying to take Belle from him too?”
“What’s this? What are you talking about? What’s going on?” Joy demanded, her hands giving Jack’s arm a shake.
“Belle, get Mum and Yasmin back… to… the house,” Jack growled.
Belle pulled gently at Joy’s elbow, she resisted and Yasmin ignored all of this and asked Miles, “Why would you do that? What could possess you?”
At this, Miles’s head turned slowly to Yasmin. “Possess me?”
“Yes,” she answered quietly. “I’ve known you both what feels like my whole life and Jack has never done anything to deserve this. So yes, when you behave like this, Miles, what possesses you?”
“He sees something, he takes it,” Miles replied and Yasmin shook her head.
“He didn’t take me. I gave myself to him. The same with Belle.”
“He sees something, he takes it, even if it doesn’t belong to him,” Miles went on stubbornly.