Page 87 of I Love My Mistake
AMBER
Chapter Thirty-Eight
When I watched Jess leap out of her chair after Mark who was chasing Nico, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What a mess. But if I could get out of the mess I’d gotten Josh and I in, I felt I could help fix this, too. Especially since Mark had helped me. I feel like I owe him one. Two if you count my boyfriend punching him in the face.
So I reached across the table and grabbed Chris’s hand. “Stay here. Trust me.”
Josh – knowing the three us more than any other man on the planet (save for David, maybe) – held a supportive hand on Chris’s back and agreed with me. “Just give this a minute. Don’t react just yet.”
I agreed, looking from Josh to Chris. “Josh should know. He reacted without knowing…”
“Amber.”
“Sorry.” I looked at him thinking, I really like this new let-him-be-the-man thing. Josh has become so much sexier to me now.
Chris looked from one of us to the other, his face somber. “I’m not a child, guys.”
We both released Chris. “Sorry.” “Oh, sorry, man. I just thought...”
He nodded and put his elbows on the table, bringing his hands together in a fist-prayer position, his light brown hair falling over his forehead. “So, she didn’t date that guy. But she did…” He stopped himself and closed his eyes against the possessive jealousy that Josh and I could plainly see.
“Chris. You’re very smart, so I’m not going to lie to you. She saw Mark briefly, very briefly, but it was before you and you changed everything. You know that in your heart, right?” Chris, looking grim, blinked an affirmation. It was better than nothing. “You have nothing to worry about. What’s happening now is more between Jess and Nicole.”
Chris frowned. “And how is that?”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Seriously? Have you ever met women?”
Chris smiled, in spite of himself. Josh took a drink of his Guinness, shaking his head. “Great, so I’ve gotta go!” Picking up a napkin I’d wiped my hands like I was going into surgery, threw it on the table and asked Josh, “You’ve got this?”
Josh raised his eyebrows. “Chris isn’t a child.”
“Right. Sorry.”
And this is where I am now.
Running out of Angel’s Share. “Josh has Chris hostage!”
Mark and Jessica are in a childish standoff and poor Nicole is running off, looking insanely upset. “Nico!” I twist back to the anti-lovebirds. “What’s happening?”
Jessica is pissed as hell. Just like I thought. She’s jealous, and this is not going to be easy. Jealousy is a terribly hard problem to fix. It was so clear how important Nico is to Mark, and that had to hurt. Mark throws me a look - can you believe this – and rushes off to talk to Nico.
I look at Jessica, a little helpless here, my hands out, imploring. “I didn’t know he was that guy. You never told me his name! You just said you’d slept with some guy who was in town for only one night. How could I know?”
She wraps her arms around herself. “What are the odds?”
“I know, right?”
Her brown eyes are fierce as she hisses, “Amber, she can’t date him.”
Oh, Jess. My heart breaks for you, but it breaks more for Nico. “I don’t blame you. Well you know Nico – she doesn’t get attached very often.” I take a dramatic pause. Sorry Nico… this is for you. “Well… except for that guy.”
Jess faces me, confused. “What guy?”
“Well, you know. Michael. She fell in love with him. And it turned out he was married.” Oh God… now she’s upset she didn’t know! “Remember?”
She stares at me, appalled. “He was married? She slept with Mark and a married man? What the fuck?”
Oh shit.