The Anatomy of Jane (26 page)

“Are we going to talk about this or are you just going to keep barking at—”

“No. I’m not talking about it. I’m leaving for a week. I don’t need your permission to do that. I invited Jane. She said yes. Granted she was drunk at the time. However, if she wakes up and feels like explaining it to you, then that is her choice. Goodnight Maxwell.” With that he walked out of the room.

“Where are you going?” I followed after him.

“My home.” He grabbed his jeans and shirt off the couch and left.

Turning back to Jane, she just laid there, in the center of my bed, her hair over her face, snoring lightly.

What the fuck just happened?

Chapter Sixteen

“The sun…it burns…” I groaned, pulling the sheets over my head and rolling myself into a ball. My head was aching to the point where I was sure it would split.

“It’s already past noon.”

“What?” I sat up and saw Max standing above me, a glass of water in one hand and two tablets in the other. Taking them from him, I threw the pills into my mouth and drank. “Thanks, I can’t believe I slept that long.”

“You didn’t. I just needed you up. It’s still early,” he replied, putting the glass on the nightstand.

I would have said something about him being a jerk or would have fallen back on to the pillows, but the look in his eyes as he sat down beside me told me something was up.

“What is it?”

“What happened last night Jane?”

The moment I tried to think, I felt the throbbing inside of my head. Sitting up more, I reached for the glass of water and finished it.

“Last night sucked.” I frowned, rubbing my eyes and looking around for Wes. “Where is Wes?”

“He needed to get something from his place. He’ll be back soon. Did my mother say something last night?”

“She knows about Wes. She wants him gone and she wants me to help with that.”

“You?” He looked surprised and amused. “What are you, a hit man?”

“It’s not funny.” He really didn’t get it. “She promised to welcome me with open arms. She told me she didn’t even care if I took you for half of your money so long as I’d at least give you children. She wants to push Wes out, have parties, family events, and a giant wedding and make sure Wes isn’t there! She wants to throw me in the middle of you two.”

“She’ll try and then she’ll realize Wes isn’t that easy to throw off. I’m sorry she upset you but—”

“I also got a threat from your bitchy producer, Scarlet,” I snapped. I wanted him to be so upset he’d go and tell his mother to mind her own damn business.

“Scarlet?”

“She must have had someone watching me and caught a picture of Wes and me kissing at the park.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “I told you both to be careful.”

“That’s what you’re upset about?” I yelled, rising out of bed. “The fact that Wes and I got caught?”

“Yes! You’re supposed to be my fiancée; the last thing I need is for anyone to doubt you Jane! We have a plan—”

“Then we need a new one!”

“Jane!”

“No! We aren’t birds. You can’t just lock us up here and bring us out whenever you need us. Wes is a human being. Maybe he can stand all the shit your mother throws at him, but he shouldn’t have to! And me! I like you both! I’ve said that from the start. Max without Wes is not the Max I want and vice versa.”

“Jane, this isn’t a game!” he hollered into my face, so pissed off that his eyes looked fierce. “We can’t all just go out holding hands and pretending that it’s okay! Me being gay or bisexual is one thing. Me being in a relationship with two people at the same time is a whole other thing! In the real world there are consequences and social norms that I’m sorry we have to conform to. You can either bitch about it, or you can find a way around it.”

I wanted to punch him so badly.

“Jane.”

Both of us turned and there was Wes, dressed in a casual sweater, dark jeans, and boots.

“Wes.”

“Can you get dressed? We have a plane to catch. You said you had a passport, right?” he asked, putting a few shopping bags Irene and I had bought at the door.

“Yeah, from when I went to Mexico. Wait. Where are we going?”

He moved to get my suitcase, which I still hadn’t unpacked. “To meet my mums, remember?”

“Oh.” Our conversation from the night before flooded back into my head.

“Yeah, I think it’s best we all get some space.” He noddedm looking to Max. Max only rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Okay.” I nodded and reached into one of the bags to pull out a random peach-colored sweater and a pair of jeans from my suitcase. “I’ll be right out.”

“I’ll wait downstairs.”

“Wes what are you doing?” I asked him when we both stepped into the living room.

“I told you I’m going to—”

“Visit your mums, I know, I heard you the first time. But what is really going on? You’ve never just run away!”

He clenched his hand around the handle of Jane’s suitcase. “I keep speaking to you yet you don’t seem to be listening to me!”

“You aren’t making sense! One minute everything is fine. The next I come home and you’re telling me that you and Jane are running off together.”

He clenched his fist at me, biting down on his jaw hard.

“I’m ready.” Jane rushed down, looking between us.

“Fine,” I sneered. “Do whatever the fuck you want, but if you think I’m just going to wait here—”

“Jane, we’re going to miss our flight,” Wes said, and
he
had the nerve to tell
me
I wasn’t fucking listening to him.

She frowned, looking at both of us. Walking over to me, she kissed me, and I couldn’t bring myself to kiss her back or push her away.

“Don’t say any more shit you’ll regret. We’re coming back, and we’re all going to have to own up to our words,” she whispered, kissing my cheek when she let go.

I immediately missed her.

“If you go, I’ll get a new maid.” I frowned.

“She’ll never be as good as me.” She winked, turning around to leave.

Wes didn’t even bother looking back. The asshole just took her shit and walked to the door. “Don’t stuff your face with junk food while I’m gone.”

“I was eating long before you, and I’ll eat long after.”
What the fuck was that?
I hadn’t wanted to say that, it had just come out, and like that, they were gone.

It felt like they had both slapped me across the face. What the fuck was wrong with them? Why now? Was everything fine? Why the fuck were they making everything more complicated than it needed to be?

“Screw them,” I whispered, turning back to look at the view of the city. “Screw them both.”

Who knew? Maybe this was what Wesley had wanted all along, and if that was the case, being pissed solved nothing. And it wasn’t actually sudden. From the moment he had met her, maybe he had already thought of this.

Then were the last four years a lie, too?

Heading back upstairs, I peeled off my clothes one by one, throwing them wherever. By the time I got naked and entered the bathroom, I noticed both their toothbrushes were gone.

“Fuck them,” I whispered and yet my chest burned.

What was this?

He stared out the window and his whole body was stiff. We’d been in the air for about an hour, and yet he still hadn’t said a word. So, I did what I always did when I felt awkward: I started to ramble.

“I’m an orphan, so do you know how I got my name?” I asked him, and slowly he turned back to look at me.

His green eyes softened as he leaned back in the chair. “How?”

“Well, Jane isn’t really that special, as in Jane Doe, for an unknown female. One of the police officers who found me said I wouldn’t stop shaking and crying, kind of how his kids got when they didn’t have a Chapman’s strawberry ice cream cone. They didn’t like any other strawberry ice cream but Chapman’s. Chapman’s was the best; it made them feel better no matter what. So, he called me Jane Chapman. I’m glad it’s a better story then saying he found a crack baby in some corner somewhere. Of course, they didn’t call me Jane Chapman at the hospital. I was Baby Doe or the Fremont Ave Baby. However, one doctor said I was going to need a real name, and they all started to call me Jane Chapman. The cop who found me, Officer Hershaw, wanted to adopt me, but his wife was too sick. He came and visited me almost every month until I turned six. Sadly, he was gunned down at work. So, I’m very passionate about my name. I even looked up the meaning of ‘Chapman’ and it means ‘merchant’. I hated that definition so I changed it in Wikipedia once to mean strawberry ice cream.”

He laughed, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. “I’d say you taste more like mint chocolate chip, but strawberry works, too.”

“Don’t tease me. We’re on a plane. No mile-high club for you.”

“Max and I have been members since 2012.” He brought him up in such an instinctual way, I was sure he didn’t even want to or thought he would. It just happened.

“Are you okay?”

“He’s spoiled,” he muttered, not letting go of my hand. “And a twat.”

I giggled softly at that. “Is that why you’re leaving? You hope he’ll be less of a twat, that he’ll come after you?”

“
Us
, Jane.” He looked me in the eye and the corners of his lips turned up. “He’s used to getting his way. He’s used to everything and everyone revolving around him, so he doesn’t understand how much people sacrifice for him. He needs to be alone. Maybe it will help him see the stick shoved up his own ass. Besides, you’re irritated with him, too.”

“I don’t matter—”

“Don’t you dare say that.” He gave my hand a little squeeze. “You do matter. You matter just as much as he does.”

Thank you,
I thought, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it, so instead I put my head on his shoulder. Both men were both so stubborn; I really didn’t know how things would work out.

Chapter Seventeen

“Jane,” I whispered to her, brushing her hair back. “Jane. Baby, wake up.”

Her eyelids fluttered open and I saw her beautiful hazel eyes. She smiled from ear to ear when she focused. “Hi.”