Dangerous Exes (Page 50)

My phone went off again. I grabbed it and yelled into the phone, “Call me one more time and you’re going to be missing a testicle! It’s over, Jessie, GO TO HELL!”

“Isla?” Goo-Poh whispered. “What’s over? What’s wrong?”

My voice cracked.

And I blurted my sadness all over the phone.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

JESSIE

I’d never seen a small woman move so fast, she was like a ninja. One minute I was opening the door, the next I was fighting off slaps on the shoulder, the face, the stomach.

“Stop. Hitting. Me.” I backed away and threw one of the couch cushions, but Goo-Poh had studied the art of evasion. She jumped out of the way faster than a woman her age should be able to move and kept charging toward me. I almost ran. It wasn’t a proud moment.

“You hurt her!” Goo-Poh calmed herself and stopped charging, then said in a low voice, “So I kill you.”

I believed her.

She wasn’t smiling.

And her eyes were lethal.

She could probably take me out with some sort of secret roundhouse kick to the neck, tearing my artery in half and making me bleed out in less than three seconds, all over my white house.

Sounds like justice would be adequately served.

Let her take the hit.

I was dead anyway.

My soul was crushed.

My heart didn’t even feel like it was beating without Isla by my side.

Empty. I was so fucking empty.

“I love her,” I confessed as I hung my head. “I love her so damn much, I thought I was protecting her, and when I finally got my head out of my ass I realized it was better to come clean even if it meant she walked away from me forever, but she found out first.”

Goo-Poh’s face didn’t flinch. Either she just had a stroke standing up, or she was actually listening to me.

“I want to marry her. I want to have babies with her.” My words tumbled out faster the more I spoke. “I want to build her a fucking house that has color. I want to take care of her, I want to come home to a mess, not this.” I motioned around the room. “I want her brand of chaos. Fuck perfection. I just need her. In my life. By my side. Forever.”

Goo-Poh twitched, I wouldn’t call it a smile, but at least she was alive and showing me some sort of movement, meaning I didn’t need to call 911. “Then you need to fight for her. Be the warrior she deserves.”

“She won’t answer my phone calls, she’s sending me middle-finger text messages, and I don’t even know where she is.” I sighed and collapsed onto the couch, my head in my hands.

“You don’t . . .” Goo-Poh sat down next to me. “But I do.”

“Really—”

She slapped my cheek again. “Yes, now pay attention.”

I swallowed my pride.

Rubbed my cheek.

And listened.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

ISLA

I flipped through the channels like a woman possessed. What the hell was it? Couples week? Even the Syfy channel had a movie on about two aliens falling for each other.

Lovely.

Even aliens got a happily ever after.

I scowled and turned off the TV, then grabbed my phone.

I hadn’t moved from my spot on Colin’s couch.

My ass was making an imprint in the soft leather, the longer I sat, the more I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep.

Tears spilled onto my cheeks again.

I was not that woman.

The kind to let herself get defeated.

I was the kind of woman who got pushed down and jumped back up, guns firing. So why was this affecting me so much? Why was his betrayal so painful? Especially considering everything was set up on a lie in the first place?

I wiped my cheeks as the doorbell rang.

“Colin!” I yelled.

He jogged down the hall and sent me an irritated glance. “Didn’t know that a broken heart also meant broken legs.”

“It’s not my house,” I snapped right back.

“And yet your ass seems to be melting into my couch.” He sighed and unlocked the door, calling over his shoulder, “You’re not that girl, the one who gets sad.”

Hadn’t I just said that to myself?

“Isla!” Goo-Poh’s voice was like a gong going off in the living room as she dropped a dress bag onto Colin’s hands. “You go get the bags.” She left him like that, gaping after her.

He listened.

Men always did when it came to Goo-Poh.

Goo-Poh made her way over to me, and then sighed like she was disappointed. “You look pale.”

She gripped my chin between her fingers and narrowed her eyes. I tried to pull away. Resistance was futile. Luckily I kept my tears in as her eyes roamed my face at least a dozen times. She released my chin and turned to Colin, who was just laying down the dress bag. “Why have you not fed her?”

I love that her assumption was that since I looked pale, my blood sugar was low. Sigh. “Goo-Poh, it’s not his job to feed—”

She held up a hand.

Colin’s eyebrows shot up. “Blaire!” he called out of the corner of his mouth. “Get your ass out here.”

Blaire rounded the corner and grinned. “Hi, Goo-Poh.”

“Your man hasn’t fed Isla.”

Blaire gasped in outrage. “How dare you lie to me, Colin!”

I covered my face with my hands, and Colin made a choking noise.

“You said you fed her!”

“I didn’t—”

I peeked through my fingers while Colin made a face at Blaire that pretty much guaranteed he was going to torture her later. He turned back to Goo-Poh. “Uh, what would you like me to make?”

Goo-Poh straightened. “What are you capable of making that has nourishment for a broken heart and pale skin? We can’t do anything about the loose-fitting clothing, but I do pray one day she’ll reconsider her fashion choices.”

I looked down at my skinny jeans and top. They were Citizen! The woman was crazy!

Goo-Poh cleared her throat. “She must look healthy for the wedding.”

Say what?

My jaw dropped.

Colin looked unsure. “I, um . . . pancakes?”

“Pancakes!” I yelled. “That’s your solution? Pancakes!”

“Lovely.” Goo-Poh pinched his cheek, then slapped it. “You’re a smart man.”

He exhaled like he’d just been taken off death row.

“Goo-Poh,” I said gently, maybe age was finally catching up with her? “I don’t think you understand . . . I’m not marrying Jessie.”

“Yes”—she nodded—“you are. I already picked up your dress.”

I was going to be sick.

Really. Sick.

“Goo-Poh.” Tears filled my eyes. “I’m not marrying a man who betrayed me in that way, I can’t trust him, I’m not walking down that aisle.”

“Yes,” she turned around and said, “you are. Now, Colin, let’s get started on those pancakes.”

She abandoned me for the kitchen.

My jaw was still unhinged.

Blaire looked just as surprised. “What did I miss?”

“She’s convinced I’m getting married still . . . you think it’s because she thinks I’m pregnant?”

Blaire shrugged. “With all the sex you’re having you could be pregnant, you know.”

I glared at her.

“What? Just saying.” She pulled me in for a hug. “What are you going to do?”