I handed the paper back to Marcus and stood up. “I’m not hungry anymore. I need to get back to work.”
He grabbed my arm when I walked by him. “He does not deserve you.”
I didn’t want him to see my face because tears were threatening to fall at any moment.
“I’m not a part of his world. He has another life outside of his life here with me,” I choked out in a whisper. I pulled free and started back to the house.
Marcus came up behind me and grabbed my hand. “Stop, Sadie.”
I stopped, but didn’t turn around. Tears were rolling down my face, and I didn’t want to humiliate myself.
“I know I have said this before, but you’re worth more than what he gives you. You’re beautiful, and smart, and kind, and funny, and you don’t care if your hair is messed up or if you break a nail. You’re not too busy to play chess with an old man, and you’re raising your mom and never complain.” He sighed, took my face, and turned it toward him. “Why can’t you see how special you are?”
I kept my eyes downward.
He wiped my tears. “I should kick his ass for making you cry.”
I shook my head. “I chose this. It is my choice. I chose him. I can’t help what my heart feels.”
Marcus clinched his jaw and nodded before dropping his hands and stepping back as if I’d burned him. He was such a good guy. I hated that the truth hurt him so much.
I closed the gap he created and reached up to touch his face. “You’re special, too, and one day someone is going to steal your heart and become one lucky girl.” I dropped my hand and turned to walk away.
“But what if she already has, but her heart is taken?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and then turned to glare at him. “Then she isn’t the right one.”
He walked toward me in one long stride. “But what if she is wrong?” he asked, right before his mouth came down on mine.
I was stunned at first, and then I panicked. I couldn’t be doing this. I put both my hands against his chest and pushed him away before turning and running. I ran straight to my bike and peddled home as hard as I could.
The phone rang. I’d just reached my road and was out of breath from peddling so fast. I pulled over, sank down against a tree, and took a deep breath. I needed to answer this. I would talk to him about the actress when he got home, but I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions while he wasn’t here to defend himself. Even if the pictures were rather incriminating.
“Hello,” I answered
“Where are you?” Jax voice sounded hard and strained.
“Uh...” I realized it was two in the afternoon, and I was almost home. How could I explain this?
“Well, I’m pulled over on the side of the road talking to you,” I said in the lightest tone I could muster.
“Why are you not at my house?” His tone sounded a little less hard, but still very strained.
“Well, um....” I did not want to lie, but I did not want to tell the truth either. At least not over the phone. “I’m going home early.”
He paused for a minute, “Are you going to tell me why?”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes, I think you need to.”
“I have a headache.” It wasn’t a lie.
“Jason just called me. He witnessed something from his window about thirty minutes ago.”
I sighed and laid my head back against the tree.
“This is something I wanted to wait and discuss when you got home.”
“It can’t wait. He said you were crying and he said...he said Marcus kissed you.”
The last part sounded so hard and angry I feared for Marcus.
“There is a lot more to it.”
“Then tell me.”
I knew this wouldn’t end until I told him everything. “Marcus’s sister Amanda saw pictures of you online taken last night with Baily Kirk, and you were really very friendly and touchy in them. You seemed happy. I had a hard time with the photos, and Marcus said a few things about our relationship I didn’t want to hear, and I cried a little. He stopped me and tried to console me, and I started to leave again and he just...he just kissed me.”
Jax didn’t say anything for what seemed like a lifetime. “He’s fired, and I am on a plane coming home now.”
“Jax, no! He, he...I think he is in love with me.”
Jax let out a hard laugh. “I know.”
“Well, he is just worried about me, and he was trying to convince me someone like him would be a much better match for me.”
Jax hissed. “He’s fired now! I told you I wouldn’t fire him unless he said something against you, and he did. He tried to convince you I didn’t love you.”
I sighed. I couldn’t stand this. It was all my fault. “I didn’t kiss him back, and I pushed him away quickly. No harm done.”
“I know you didn’t, and I know you pushed him off. Jason saw all of it. He also saw you run like hell and fly down the driveway on your bike at a breakneck speed. He called me immediately and told me. I walked out of a photo shoot and called my pilot. I’m on my way to you now.”
“You have explained the photos to me before. I just wasn’t prepared to see it first hand, and reading the reporters words weren’t much fun either. I tried to handle it without getting upset.”
Jax sighed, “Every one of those photos were taken last night by her publicist. She is going to be in a new movie, and they needed the buzz. They told me what to do in all of those pictures.”
Relief washed away the pain, but guilt still weighed on me because Marcus was going to be out of a job.
“Thanks for explaining everything to me.”
He chuckled this time, and it was the warm sound I loved so much. “Wait up for me. I will see you soon.”
“I will.”
* * *
Chapter Thirteen
Jax didn’t have to fire Marcus; he quit. Ms. Mary said it was for the best and for me not to worry. Marcus would be going back to college in a few weeks, and he probably needed this time off to get prepared. However, William quit, too, and it left Ms. Mary with a problem. No servers.
“I’ve seen two applicants today, and only one is suitable. But he is going to need some help for his first time.” Ms. Mary stood over a pile of resumes in front of her.
“I’ll do it tonight. I know how. The one suitable applicant can help me.”
Ms. Mary cut her eyes at me and frowned. “I don’t know about that. Master Jax won’t like it much. He’s already grumbling about you working out in the sun, and he made me promise not to make you touch shrimp or oysters again since he found out how much you hate them.”