“You know what the fuck I’m saying, Whitney. He’s pissed I didn’t tell him what was going on. That I knew and kept it to myself. That I didn’t kick your ass myself,” he says, pointing at Jacob. “Dad is really angry, Whitney and you know Dad rarely gets angry. I’ve never seen him like that. This isn’t just anger. This is pain and hurt and betrayal and that’s why it’s so intense. Who Mom and Dad are has become so heavily intertwined with Jacob over the years. Their friendship is one of the foundations of this family. So yeah, he’s right in that regard, that this changes our entire family. You changed Mom and Dad… forever.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The ride back to my house is quiet, save for the sounds of Whitney’s sniffles and the windshield wipers. Part of me wants to take a detour and pay a little visit to her ex-fiancé and beat the shit out of that motherfucker. How could anyone be so cruel? Maybe he hated Whitney or me or probably us both but to destroy her parents like that so callously and with no regard to their feelings or how this would affect them. What the hell did she ever see in him? “Are you hungry?” I finally break the silence and Whitney pulls her gaze from the window toward me.

“No,” she responds quietly, her voice barely above a whisper and I grab her hand pulling it to my lips.

“You’re going to need to eat something.”

“Can we just order something when we get back to the house? I’m fucking exhausted and I have a headache and I think I need a drink. Several of them.”

“I can make that happen.” She takes a deep breath through her nose and lets it out through her mouth slowly and I can feel the tension flowing off of her in waves. I don’t know what’s going on in her head and it’s driving me crazy. “Can you tell me what you’re thinking about?”