All Jacked Up (Rough Riders #8)(11)

“How is it my fault?”


“You’re in my car, ripping on my music choices.” He expelled a heavy sigh. “Can you just not talk for the rest of the drive?”


“Fine.”


A minute later she dragged out her iPod and sang along. Loudly. By the time Jack parked behind her building, he almost wished he hadn’t asked her not to talk.


Keely appraised him coolly. “Want me to stay in the car with you while you call your mother?”


“For what? To hold my hand?”


“Fuck off, Jack. I thought Doro would want to talk to me, but you can deal with her on your own.”


Just as she grabbed the door handle to get out, Jack hit the automatic locks. Keely faced him again, fury in her stiff movements. “Let. Me. Out.”


“Sorry. And yes, buttercup, I’d like it if you stuck around when I called her.” He offered her a winsome smile. “My mother adores you. She hoped you and Justin would end up together.”


Keely redirected her eyes away from his. “Yeah, well, I hope to hell she doesn’t know why that one didn’t work out.”


“It didn’t work out because you broke up with Justin.”


No answer.


Her long pauses never boded well for him. “Keely?”


“You’re wrong. Justin broke up with me after you told him to ditch me.”


Jack silently repeated the numerical sequence of pi to the fifteenth digit before he spoke. “Are you really blaming me for my brother’s stupidity?”


“Partially.”


“Why?”


She spun toward him. “I don’t know why Justin told you about our New Year’s tryst with his friend Logan. God knows I never would’ve told any of my brothers about my sexcapades. I’m assuming Justin wanted to…impress you or some damn thing. All I know is Justin told me that you told him I wasn’t the woman for him.”


“What?”


“Justin didn’t come right out and admit he was calling it quits because of the threesome, but he hinted pretty strongly that my slutty behavior—which he enjoyed immensely while we were in the moment, mind you—was why he was breaking up with me…after talking to you.”


“For f*ck’s sake. Justin is an idiot.”


“You didn’t say any of that shit to him?”


“What I said was he should know you weren’t the woman for him because it didn’t bother him to watch his buddy f*cking you. I said if Justin loved you, he should’ve thrown Logan out the goddamn hotel window for daring to put his hands on you.” Jack remembered being extremely pissed off because his brother had Keely McKay in his bed and wasn’t man enough to keep her satisfied, nor was he man enough to call the shots.


Comprehension dawned in her eyes. “You’re serious.”


“Completely. That dumbass took it totally out of context and you blame me.”


“Not entirely. I mostly blamed Justin.”


“Good. He couldn’t handle you anyway, could he?”


“Nope.” She gifted him with a flirty grin that made his balls tighten. “You think he’ll be upset by our engagement?”


“Probably. But he won’t freak out as much as your brother.”


“Which brother?”


“Carter.”


Keely snorted. “Carter is a *cat. You oughta be worried about Cam; he’s always armed. Plus, he knows we had an…incident at Colt and India’s wedding reception.”


No wonder the guy always glared at him. “Did you tell him what happened?”


“Are you kiddin’? I haven’t told anyone the embarrassing truth. All Cam knows is that I was unhappy and it was your fault.”


“Fantastic.” Jack jammed his hands through his hair again. “We really have to call everyone tonight, don’t we?”


“Yep. And since your folks didn’t reproduce like rabbits, your list is considerably smaller than mine.”


“My mom and dad always wanted more kids. It’d be easier on her now if she had more family around…” Guilt popped up. Again. Followed quickly by sorrow. Again.


She smoothed her hand up his forearm. “I’m sorry about your dad, Jack. Marvin was very sweet to me the couple of times I met him.”


A hollow emptiness expanded in his chest whenever his dad’s name was mentioned. “Thanks.”


“As long as I’m apologizing… I’m really sorry I was such a jerk two years ago at my family picnic.


When I saw you moping around, I thought it was because I refused to talk to you. I had no idea it was because your dad had died. After Macie chewed my ass, I went looking for you to express my condolences, but you were already gone.”


“It’s okay. Maybe you can run interference for me with Macie when she finds out I own the Sandstone Building. I imagine she’ll rip me a new one.”


“Deal.” She gestured to his phone. “Get crackin’. I’ll hang out until you’re done.”