“Oh.” She frowns. “I could have sworn that was it. Although, I was expecting you to show up with Parker though, not Jacob.” She moves around me to hug him and reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Hi hon. Did you guys come together?” she says, looking more confused before moving toward the kitchen. “Well let’s eat, and you can tell us your news. Or… are we waiting for Parker?”

“Parker and I broke up,” I blurt out and given that everyone in the room besides my mother is aware of this fact, no one reacts. Everyone is silent while they wait for my mother to get on the same page.

She turns around and looks at me and blinks her eyes several times. “What?”

I let out a sigh and take a step closer to her. “Parker and I broke up.”

“That’s the story you’re going with?” The voice is cold and angry and isn’t from anyone in the room that was previously here. But it’s a voice I know well.

Fuck.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Parker is standing at the entrance to my living room, being held up by his crutches staring at me with a look of rage that I’d never seen before. He looks unshowered, wearing jeans and that same black hooded sweatshirt from last night making me wonder if he’s been up all night wondering how best he could set fire to my life. His posture is tense, his hands balled into fists and a scowl so intense on his face that I actually feel that saying if looks could kill, I’d be dead.

Jacob wasn’t as close as he’d been before after my mother hugged him and inadvertently put space between us and I can already sense him moving back toward me even though I’m sure he won’t touch me given the precarious situation we’re currently in.

“Parker, please don’t do this.” My heart is pounding in my chest and I feel my knees buckling. Why is he here? How did he even know we’d be here? FUCK!

“What’s going on?” My mother snaps her head back and forth between me and Parker before realizing that she still needed to be a good hostess even if it is to my injured ex-fiancé. “Please sit, I… I am so sorry about the accident. Are you okay? How are you feeling? Would you like something to drink? Or food? We’re about to eat.”

He leans against the wall, foregoing my mother’s invitation to sit. “Oh? Well, I would love to join you.” Chloe and I lock eyes and I feel like everything is happening in slow motion. Brace for fucking impact. “But I do feel like some things need to be cleared up first.”

“Parker, can I talk to you alone?” I stop him and begin moving toward him despite hearing a growl from behind me.