“Jasper, I…” But she couldn’t find what she wanted to say. The room flipped over in her vision and she closed her eyes. Her stomach pitched.
She heard Jasper call her name.
Then her mind went black.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jasper tucked Hollyn into bed, making sure she was lying on her side and had a full glass of water nearby, and then he kissed her forehead. “Get some rest, wild child.”
“I’m never drinking again,” she mumbled. “Hurricanes are Satan’s work.”
“You’ll start feeling better now that you got rid of most of it,” he said. “But I’ll check on you before I leave, all right?”
She muttered something but was already pulling the covers over her head with a groan.
Jasper stood and turned off the lamp before leaving the room. He took a deep breath before making his way down the hallway and into the living room. Cal had kicked off his shoes and was sitting on top of the blanket on the sofa bed, ankles and arms crossed. Probably still a little drunk himself because his shoulder tic was quiet.
Jasper cocked his head toward the hallway. “She’s almost asleep. She spent some quality time hugging the toilet, but that was probably for the best. And no dogs were harmed this time.”
“I could’ve taken care of her and put her to bed,” Cal said, tone flat.
“I’m sure you could’ve.” Jasper sat in an armchair across from the sofa. “I’m sure you’d happily curl up next to her and make sure she was all good for the night.”
Cal’s jaw flexed, but he didn’t deny it.
Jasper ran a hand over the back of his head. How did he end up in this spot? Maybe he should’ve drunk more tonight. He was way too sober for this kind of conversation. But he also wasn’t going to sit here and hold his tongue. That was a skill he didn’t possess. “So does she know?”
Cal’s expression remained stoic. “Know what?”
Great. Dude was going to make this extra difficult. Jasper let out a tired sigh. “That you love her.”
Cal snorted. “She already knows that. I tell her all the time.”
“You know that’s not what I mean,” Jasper said, leaning forward and bracing his forearms on his thighs. “Let me rephrase. That you’re in love with her, that you want her.”
Cal looked away, his posture tight, his fingers flexing against his biceps. “Is this the part where the new guy challenges me to a fight or some shit? Because I could fucking take you, man.”
“Right. That’s what I feel like doing after a night out—brawling with a drunk guy for no good reason. How about we use our words?” he said using a kindergarten-teacher voice.
Cal gave him a look that said he’d probably feel better just taking a swing. But Jasper wasn’t here to fight. He didn’t have a problem with Cal per se, and he’d been in enough fights as a kid to know it didn’t get anyone anywhere except a date with a swollen fist and an ice pack.
“Okay,” Jasper said. “How about this? I know you and Hollyn dated in college. I know it was serious enough that you were her first and only before I came along.”
Cal’s expression flickered with surprise. Oops. Well, if Cal hadn’t yet figured out that he and Hollyn were sleeping together, he knew now.
“But,” Jasper continued, “she said you both decided that you were better off as friends. She made it sound mutual.”
“It wasn’t,” he said, tone clipped.
“Oh.” Well, that made sense. This guy was still nursing a broken heart. “So—”
“I broke up with her,” Cal said, cutting him off.
Jasper blinked. “Wait, what?”
Cal let out a frustrated breath and shifted on the bed, making the metal frame squeak. “I broke up with her, all right? Not because I didn’t love her. But at the time, I thought it was for the best.”
Jasper clasped his hands between his knees. “Why?”
Cal reached over to the side table and grabbed a bottle of wine Jasper hadn’t noticed earlier and took a deep swig. He gave Jasper a look like he was deciding between throwing something at him or ignoring him completely. But when he put the bottle down, he sighed like he was exhausted, and some of the fight went out of his expression. “Because we were kids. Because it’s hard to tell what’s what when you have so little experience. I didn’t want to be her boyfriend by default. I didn’t want us to end up married at twenty-one and wondering if we’d missed out on something.”
Jasper grimaced at the thought of Cal and Hollyn married.
“So I told her we were better as friends, and I’ve encouraged her to get out there and date. As much as it sucked to think about, I wanted her to be with other guys. I’ve dated other women. I wanted us both to experience some life outside of the bubble we grew up in. But I always hoped that…”
The truth landed on Jasper. “That afterward, she would come back and pick you anyway.”
Cal gave him a look that confirmed Jasper’s conclusion as he gulped a little more wine.
A little flare of possessiveness went through Jasper, but he tamped the feeling down. “Have you told her any of this? Is that why you’re here?”
“No, I’ve been willing to wait. I promised myself when she finally started dating that I would keep my mouth shut and see it as progress, but tonight…” Cal plunked the wine bottle on the side table and shook his head. “It’s killing me to stand by and watch some smooth-talking actor sweep her up just to use her for his own agenda.”
Jasper’s jaw flexed, his sympathy for the guy morphing into irritation. “I’m not using her.”
“Right,” he said dismissively. “You’re looking to find a woman to settle down with. You totally seem like the type.”
Jasper’s hands, which had been loosely clasped between his knees, clenched. “First, don’t pretend you know anything about me, because you don’t. And second, this relationship is new, man. No, I haven’t bought her a ring and named our future children, but I’m not leading her on to get a damn review. I like her. We enjoy being with each other.”
“You like her?” Cal huffed. “You enjoy her company?”
Jasper didn’t know what the guy was expecting him to say.
When Jasper didn’t respond, Cal’s lip curled. “You have no clue, do you? You have no idea how she looks at you when you’re not paying attention.”
Jasper’s stomach flipped. “What?”