Molly's Man (Haven, Texas 4)

“I consider you family—my only family. I don’t want to see you mess up what could be a really good thing.”

Jake thought about walking away but he considered the interfering bastard family as well. And as much as he pissed him off, he wouldn’t turn his back on family.

“I’m worried about you. I’ve been concerned for a long time. You’ve completely closed yourself off. You never smile, never relax—until Molly came along. She lightened you. She brought you back to life. You love her, don’t you?”

Jake winced. He did.

“So why did you let her go? Why aren’t you fighting for her?”

Jake turned to him. “I didn’t let her go. I didn’t even know she was leaving.”

“She just left? She signed a contract with you.”

Contracts were very important in Saxon’s world.

Jake sighed. “She had a good reason, I was an asshole.”

“That goes without saying.”

Jake scowled at him.

Saxon shrugged. “You are not the most open and easygoing of people.”

“And you are?”

“Ah, but this isn’t about me.”

“She found pictures of Rebecca, and I didn’t handle it well. I wouldn’t talk to her.” He winced. “I promised her I wouldn’t do that, wouldn’t shut her out and I did it anyway. So, if anyone broke the contract, it was me.”

He wasn’t worthy of being her Dom. Not when he couldn’t give her what she needed.

Saxon sighed. “Well, I might have had a part to play in this mess.”

“How?”

“I overheard her asking Lila whether she knew of a woman in your life before. Lila didn’t know anything.”

“So you filled in the blanks.” Jake scowled. “That wasn’t your place.”

“I thought I could reassure her that while Rebecca had been important to you, so was she. I told her you hadn’t reacted to any woman but her since Rebecca’s death. That she’s special to you.”

“So why would that make her run?” Jake asked.

Saxon frowned. “I don’t know.”

“I was going to make things up to her, to ask to be more than just her training Dom. To explain about Rebecca and why I reacted the way I did. I realized I was feeling guilty about my feelings for Molly.”

“Rebecca wouldn’t want that.”

“I know. That’s the conclusion I came to as well. Too late because she’d already given up on me.” And that ate at him. He hadn’t expected her to just desert me like that. He’d thought she would fight.

Like you’re doing now? Haven’t you just given up?

“You’re just going to let her go then? You’re going to work out and snap at everyone in sight because you feel sorry for yourself? Apparently, you gave out a record number of tickets yesterday.”

“Not my problem people want to break the law; they deserve a ticket.”

“You tried to give Joe Lyons a ticket for biking on the footpath.”