The Anatomy of Jane (13 page)

“Don’t look at me, I’m ugly.”

That hurt. How? How can she think that?

“I’ve seen ugly people. I’ve seen pretty people who think they aren’t ugly. Jane Chapman, you are breathtakingly beautiful.”

“You can’t like two people equally,” she whispered as I leaned into her.

“Watch me.” I wanted to kiss her lips, and I was sure she wanted me to, but instead I kissed her forehead.

“Door open,” said the automated door, and we both turned and watched as Maxwell came inside. His blue eyes looked between the both of us.

In a flash, she was on her feet, giving him a quick ‘hi’ before running up the stairs and back into her room.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he walked into the kitchen. “I think she just might like you more than she likes me.”

Handing him my wine, I leaned against the island and stared up at Jane’s closed door. “If she likes me, she has to like you, because you’re part of me.”

“How is it so easy for you to say stuff like that?” he asked, downing the remaining wine.

“That’s just how it is,” I replied. “That’s just who I am.”

“Yes?” she asked, opening the door.

I lifted the breakfast tray for her. “You didn’t eat last night.”

“You made me breakfast?” She stared at it skeptically.

“No, Wesley did. He had to go because of a kitchen emergency or something.” Part of me had a feeling he had left us on purpose.

“Thank you. You didn’t have to bring it up though. You guys have already done so much,” she whispered, her eyes dropping as she took the tray from me.

I stood there for a second, not sure what to say.

“I’m spoiled, I will concede that fact,” I blurted it out. She stared at me as if I were an alien. I felt like one because I couldn’t shut up. “I do not like sharing. I do not do well with others. Dating is a pain in the fucking ass for me. Everyone is trying to put his or her best foot forward, pretending to be something they aren’t. Some people have resting bitch face. I have what Wes calls ‘resting asshole personality’. For him, people just melt in his hands. It is goddamn annoying because even I do it. He is a people person and I’m the Grinch.”

“Um….”

“What I’m saying is…”
What the fuck are you saying, Maxwell?
“He likes you. I like you. I don’t know how to open up to people like he does, and so…so…don’t go falling just for him. Okay?”

She stared as a smile slowly spread across her face. “You know everyone loved the Grinch at the end of the movie right?”

I snickered at that. “I never finished it.”

“What? It comes on every year.” She gasped at me like I had insulted her personally.

I shrugged. “I’ve seen clips and pieces but never the whole thing.”

“I’m a movie aficionado. Hearing this pains me.” She pouted.

“Last thing you need is more pain. It’s on Netflix, so I’ll watch it—”

“Brilliant.” She nodded, walking past me with the tray.

“You want to watch it now?” I followed her.

She paused on the stairs, glancing up at me. “Do you have anything else to do?”

No, I didn’t. I went down the stairs and she followed behind me.

“Are you one of those people who talks during movies?” I asked her when she sat on the couch.

She froze with the glass of orange juice resting on her lips. “Is that a problem?”

“No, I do it too. It drives Wes insane.” I grinned as I sat beside her.

She laughed. “I get so emotionally invested I have to say something.”

“I understand,” I replied, leaning back after starting the movie. Her eyes were immediately glued to the screen. “After this will you help me with something?” I didn’t look at her, just watched.

“What?”

“Wes’ birthday is tomorrow. I’m crap at planning things like that. We can’t go out and it’s my fault, but…”

“Sure.” She nodded without hesitation and giggled the moment the Grinch came on the screen.

She is beautiful.

Why did I come here?

It was the first thought that went through my mind as I stood outside the door. I tried to come up with a reasonable explanation, but I didn’t have any. I did have a lot of selfish, unreasonable ones, though. The first, I didn’t want them to forget me. Yes, I had tried to quit. Yes, I’d said I wanted to walk away. But that horrible night of the beating, when the only two people on my phone were Allen and Mary, I realized I didn’t want to be forgotten. I wanted more people to care. It was selfish, I know. My second reason was Mary kept stressing me out. She was amazing and she wanted to help, but it felt like she was proud of the fact that she could repay the favor of when I helped her. I didn’t want to stay there. I couldn’t go to Allen; he was the reason this had all happened. So, I came to their door, but I wasn’t at all sure what I was getting myself into.

Now that I was there, I felt like I was crumbling. They were so sweet. They both cared and I felt…I felt happy to be there, but there was a part of me that knew that good things didn’t happen to me.

“Jane.”

“Huh?” I looked up and Max was no longer watching the movie but watching me.

“Sorry, what?”

“Are you all right? You stopped talking.”

“Yeah…sorry—”

“Jane, you say ‘sorry’ too much.” He lifted my chin to cup the side of my face. “What were you thinking about?”

“You,” I said honestly, reaching up to grab his hand, but I didn’t push it away. That was the problem. “And Wesley. Most importantly, me. I told you. I’m selfish. I came here because I wanted someone to care about me. And I’m happy here.”

“But?”

“But…I’m not good with happy. It’s Wednesday, and on Wednesdays I clean Mrs. Crofton’s house and walk her three terriers: Bailey, Coco, and Gus. But instead, I’m curled up on the couch watching the Grinch. I’ve never taken a day off in my life…but I want to. I want to stay here with you guys, and I’m even tempted to suck up my pride and just marry you. It scares me. I know can’t just sit around all day. I can’t just be here, but I’m so confused.”

“You don’t have to figure it out now.” He brushed my cheek gently just like Wes had. “You don’t have to sit around all day Jane. You can go out and see if it what you want to do. You can learn how to enjoy living instead of just working. What are you passionate about? Where have always wanted to go or see? I bet you’ve never asked yourself those questions because you didn’t have time to. By staying with me, with us, you can.”

He made it sound so simple…so fun. “But what happens when this fascination you and Wes have with me fades away?”

He frowned at that and his hand dropped. “Have you ever watched a movie from the end?”

“What?”

“Have you ever started a movie at the end?”

“No.”

“Then why start a relationship like that? I have no clue what will happen next week, next month, or next year. All I have is right now and right now we want you here. Isn’t that enough?”

My heart felt like it was drumming against my chest. “I’ll think about it.”

What would I be if I wasn’t Jane the maid or bartender / manager / accountant / stripper’s assistant? I had no idea, but now I was curious.

Chapter Eight

“Aren’t roses a bit cliché?” He frowned as the saleswoman packed up the flower petals, and I grabbed as many damn candles as I could.

“Clichés become clichés because they work!” Jane said while I started looking over the birthday cards for Wes. We decided to leave the penthouse after we had finally figured out what to do. However, Wes had the worst timing and came home. Neither of us could make an excuse other than I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, and Max had offered to take me. I could tell he felt like something was up, but I said nothing. He was going to be at the restaurant until the evening in any case.

“Is that everything, ma’am?” The woman behind the counter looked up to me happily. I was glad she didn’t react to the bruising on my face; I hoped that meant it was finally getting better. The week before, I could barely feel my own face. It was scary.

“Do you have any balloons?” I leaned over the counter to see.

“No balloons,” Max cut in, giving her his card.

I frowned. “You can’t have a birthday party without balloons!”

“May be if you’re five.”

“I can be five.” I clasped my arms together and leaned into him, giving him the best puppy dog eyes I could muster. “Please?”

He glared at me and I could tell he was grinding his teeth. “Add a couple of balloons.”

“A dozen please.” I turned back to her. She snickered, reaching for the two different sets.

“Regular or helium?”

“Helium,” I said.

“Regular,” Max answered at the same time, and before I could try again to persuade him otherwise, he reached for the regular ones. “How would it look if we get home and get busted with helium balloons?”

“Fine.” I threw my hands up jokingly and he shook his head while signing the receipt. In the back of my mind I couldn’t help but notice how he had said
when
we get home
. It was only my second day and he was calling it my place. I disliked how much I enjoyed it.

“Do you have anything else on that never-ending list?” he asked, taking the bag.

I reached for my notepad. “Flowers and candles, check. Birthday card, check. Groceries, double check, because I’m not going to forget how confused you looked when walking down the aisle.”

“I was not confused, the store was just not properly organized,” he muttered a little embarrassed. A grown man in his thirties and he’d never even done his own groceries. What a life, man.

“If you say so,” I replied as we got back to his car.

He hadn’t driven the Ferrari, which I was thankful for; instead it was simple black Mercedes, and I hated that I was using the word ‘simple’ to describe it. He opened the door for me before putting the things in the trunk along with the groceries.

“Okay, we should have enough time to set up and prepare.”

“You do know I could have hired someone—”

“Not romantic!” I cut him off before he could even say it. “He knows you’re rich. It doesn’t count if it’s easy! What did you do in previous years?”

He shrugged. “We usually just…”

“You usually just what?”

“You sure you want to know?”

This felt like a trick question, but I was too damn curious. “Fine, what?”

“He’s into BDSM. I like it some of it, but I don’t get off on it like he does. On his birthday, I let him go crazy,” he replied, and I couldn’t look at him any more. Instead, I just stared straight ahead as he drove. The BDSM wasn’t the problem; it was the fact that I had seen them both naked, and I’d even seen him with a ball in his mouth. Now I was getting flashbacks.

“I tried to warn you.”

“No, you didn’t! You knew I’d walk right into that.”

“Are you blushing?” He laughed at me and I grabbed my ears.

“Shut up!”

Luckily he didn’t push it, which allowed me to calm down. Leaning back into the seat, I went over the list again.

“This year I’m sure he’ll love what we are doing,” I said softly, smiling to myself.