BEAUTIFUL BROKEN MESS (Broken, Series #2)(129)

“She what...?” I begin to panic.

“Jace, she’s been living here for months and all of her clothes are still in her suitcases. She wears them, washes them, and puts them back. She tiptoes around this house without touching a thing. If she has to use anything, she immediately washes it or stashes it away as if she were never there,” Quinn adds.

“I really hope you’re making this shit up. My heart is about to bust out of my chest,” I say in alarm.

“She’s lonely, Jace. Lane’s been gone all the time. She won’t go into town unless she absolutely has to, because she’s too afraid of what people will remember about her from high school. Today she told me she was glad she finally found a job because she’s running low on funds.” With that, she eyes me and continues, “Now, I only know what Cole makes, but you have to be making more than that. So why is the girl running low on money?”

“What?!” I holler. When Chloe squirms away from the elevated sound of my voice, I immediately apologize and begin rocking her back and forth. “Quinn, I swear to God we have a joint account.”

“Does she actually spend money out of that account?” Before she can ask another question, I wiggle my phone out of my back pocket and bring up our bank app on my screen. Swiftly, I scroll through every transaction. Mine. Mine. Mine. I slump down onto the couch with Chloe snuggled into my chest.

“Wait, last week she bought something...” I say and then look at it further. “Dry cleaner. Shit, that was for me.” How did I not know she wasn’t even using our bank account? “She’s going to leave me. She’s absolutely going to leave me,” I say in a defeated tone.

“No, she’s not. That’s not why I’m telling you this. I just think this has to do with how she grew up. You need to make her more comfortable. This house was your plans, your ideas, and you want her to spend your money...”

I quickly interrupt, “Our money. If anything, it’s hers. I don’t want it without her.”

She nods her head and softly says, “I’m glad to hear that. But you need to remember that she’s never known a relationship like that. I’m done stressing you out. She’ll kill me for saying something, but I figured you didn’t even notice.”

“Because I’ve been at the office every single day,” I grumble.

“You need to at least have some rest days every week, Jace, or even you will burn out,” Cole adds in. “What happens when you have a kid? Are you going to be that dad that’s never around? I had that dad, and trust me, it sucked. Your dad took time away, you can too.”

He has a point. My dad was home every day by dinner and all day during the weekends. I’ll never forget the time he spent with us, building the Camaro with Jax and hitting the heavy bag with me in the barn. I look down at a now-sleeping Chloe and realize I can’t become the guy I’m on track to become. I want to hear about Audrey’s day over dinner, not a sleepy, half-awake conversation late at night. I want to wake up next to her on Saturday and Sunday mornings and be able to share the day with her.

“I’ll fix this,” I inform them, “and she doesn’t need to go work for some random company. She can work at the office with me if she really wants to get a job.”

“I knew you’d be reasonable about this,” Quinn responds, while patting my leg. “But if I know Audrey, she’s not going to take some pity job from you. She earned a graduate degree. Let her be an adult, Jace.”

“I need to see my fiancé.” I kiss each of Chloe’s cheeks and stand slowly to walk her back over to her bassinet.