Halfway to the kitchen it became clear he was in there…and he was laughing. How could he be laughing when I felt as though I never would again?
I pushed my way through the kitchen door and found them sitting around the kitchen table. Phoenix and Liam were shoveling pancakes into their mouths while Mia was perched next to Liam sipping her bottle of water.
“Thalia, Mom saved you some pancakes in the microwave,” Liam told me shoveling food into his mouth as though he’d never been fed.
“Thanks. Morning, Mia, Jack.” I chanced a glance at Phoenix who had my panties wet. I nearly stumbled, because after last night I sure as hell never expected him to look at me like that again.
His eyes lit with mischief, but I thought it best to ignore him, at least while I warmed my breakfast up.
With a coffee poured, I retrieved my pancakes from the microwave before I walked over and took the seat beside Jack.
Our thighs rubbed together under the table while I tried to get the chunks of food down my parched throat. Sitting so close and touching Phoenix wasn’t the wisest move I’d ever made, but my body and heart craved him.
“Thalia, we’re going to go and hang out around the lake today and maybe go swimming. Do you want to come?” Mia smiled warmly at me, which seemed strange. I may be one of her bridesmaids, but she was anything but nice, usually.
“Ah, maybe I’ll hang around here today. I don’t swim. Sorry.” I shrugged my shoulders and carried on eating, as my throat seemed to have relaxed some.
“You don’t need to swim, you could just stay on the bank and watch us,” Mia replied relentlessly.
“She said she couldn’t swim. Leave it alone.”
“Jack. I was just thinking about her being alone, that’s all.”
“She won’t be alone,” he quickly glanced at me then back to Mia, “I have some work to do in one of the fields on the tractor so I’ll be around.”
Phoenix’s statement was met by silence.
“Um, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Liam frowned looking between the two of us.
“No, but it’s what’s going to happen.”
As I finished eating, I looked up to see Mia staring at me with a worried look on her face.
Standing up, Liam pushed his chair under the table and placed his dirty dishes into the dishwasher before taking Mia’s hand into his. “Come on Mia, let’s head out.”
He pulled her up from the table and after saying goodbye, both Mia and Liam disappeared from the house and a few moments later we heard Mia’s car starting up and disappear into the distance.
Being alone with Phoenix wasn’t the best decision I’d ever made. As soon as I knew he was staying around I should have changed my mind and gone with Liam. “I can’t keep doing this with you. It hurts too much.”
He clasped my hand in his. “I know… It hurts me too, but I can’t stay away and I’m sick of trying. Mia knows it’s you I want and she knows, that I know, it’s Liam she wants. Everything is just so damn tangled right now, but I’m working on a solution…and that’s all I’m going to say.”
I brought our joint hands up to my mouth and kissed his knuckles, before I met his eyes. “I don’t want you to stay away. I miss you and it hurts not seeing you around.”
“I wasn’t lying about working in the field, but I want you to come with me on the tractor…please.”
Grinning, I teased, “Are you begging me to come with you?”
He smirked. “I can pretty much guarantee that I won’t have to beg you to come with me,” he whispered.
Blushing, I smacked him on his arm as I stood and loaded the dishwasher with my dirty dishes before turning back to him, and answered, “I’d love to spend some time with you.”
Chapter 45
Jack
I’d woken up this morning with the nerves gone. I was excited about my day with the first order of business being to head home to Thalia.
I still had trouble understanding why Lewis would force his only child to marry someone she didn’t love. I had no doubt that he loved Mia, so forcing her on to me when she loved Liam didn’t make any sense.