Beholden (The Belonging Duet, #2)(29)

I smile and snuggle into her. “You’re such a good friend. If I brought you, it would’ve made him feel threatened. Plus, I really don’t think he’s violent. I think he’s in deep shit and is trying to find his way out. If he needs money, those two rings should effectively shut him up. Enough about Neil, what do you want to talk about? Mark?”

She slaps my leg and hops up, refusing to answer my question. After a minute, she returns with wine and two glasses. I open the bottle and Ashton launches into a long rant about her job. It’s great sitting and talking like we did when I was still staying here. I tell her about what my days are like, trying to catch up on the missed work and how Elle and I are still front-runners for the new position at CJJ.

“How’s Mark?” Ashton asks after a few minutes of silence.

The smile slowly forms across my face as Ashton pretends to pick lint off her pants. “Mark? Do you mean the adorable ex-SEAL who lives in Virginia?” I question, deciding to play coy.

“Oh, don’t be so stupid! And adorable isn’t the adjective I’d use for that piece of meat.”

I laugh so hard I’m clutching my stomach. “Meat? Oh my God, Ash. You’re a hot mess.”

“Bite me, twunt. Have you talked to him since you’ve been back?” Ashton’s entire demeanor shifts to being interested.

“You and that stupid word.” I giggle and take a sip of wine. “Jackson talks to him daily. Have you called him?”

She shifts around looking uncomfortable and grabs her glass. She wipes her finger around the rim while I wait for her to answer. “He’s called me a few times but I haven’t answered. He’s really hot, and I don’t know, like I said, he lives in Virginia and I’m not about to start chasing a long distance relationship.” Ashton looks up. Her eyes are probing me to give her answers.

I grab her glass and put it on the table. “Ash, you don’t know what the future holds any more than I do. Neither one of us is twenty-one anymore. Mark’s a good guy. He was there for me in Germany and we became good friends. I think he is about the only man in this world that could handle you. Plus, he really is hot.” I slap her arm and get up. It’s been over a half hour and I told Jackson I’d be back in an hour. Which already isn’t going to happen. “I gotta run.”

Ashton stands and pulls me in for a bone crushing hug, “I miss you. Tell your boyfriend to get his ass better so I can have my Biffle. Although, I wonder if he’ll return you.”

I laugh and hug her back. “I’ll be back. I don’t think we’re at that stage yet.”

“You tend to be a little behind on these things, my friend,” she says, throwing up a pillow so I can’t hit her.

“Why would anyone want to come back to this abuse?” I chide.

She scoffs. “You love it!” she yells as I start to walk away. “Don’t forget about me.”

“Like you’d ever let me,” I say as I close the door laughing.

Now time to deal with another headache. Hopefully he won’t be in too bad of a mood by the time I tell him this story.



“Jackson,” I call as I open the door into the apartment already bracing myself for what I’m sure is going to be one hell of a fight. Good thing he can’t really move around too much. At least I can run easily.

“In here!” he responds from the kitchen. Great. He’s around sharp objects.

I smile as I see the mess before me. He has noodles all over the stove, parts of what look like red peppers on the floor, and every ingredient you can name strewn around the counters. “Well, this looks interesting,” I say trying not to laugh.

“You try doing this with one arm and one leg. I have no idea if anything is edible, but it has to be better than the dog food that nurse you hired made for lunch.”

My smile doesn’t falter as I walk over and grip his cheeks and give him a kiss. He drops the item in his hand and grabs my neck refusing to let me end the kiss. Fine by me. I’ll kiss him all night if it delays the inevitable battle coming. Jackson releases me and looks at me skeptically.

“So, where were you?” he wastes no time in asking as he picks up the knife to continue whatever cooking mission he’s attempting.

I sigh and steel myself for his reaction. “I went to Neil’s to return the rings.”

The knife clangs against the counter and he lets out a deep menacing sound from his chest. “You’re f*cking kidding me, right? Because you wouldn’t possibly go see the man who cheated on you, grabbed you, and basically stalked you for weeks.”

This is going well already.

I stand toe-to-toe with Jackson. I did what I needed to do. Whether he agrees with it or not, I don’t give a shit. I protect him the same way he protects me.

“Yes, I did. I gave him back the only thing left. It’s done. He’s out of our lives, and I expect we’ll hear from Gretchen soon that Neil’s backing off from his bullshit lawsuit.”

“I guess you’re not kidding! Goddammit, Catherine, I told you to stay away.”

“As your publicist, I needed to get rid of the threat to your company prior to your launch. If you think about all of this, he was playing a game he could win. He knows me, and my number one priority is Raven and you. So you can be an * or you can say thank you. Which by the way … you’re welcome,” I say, refusing to let him get a word in.