Page 29 of Love Unbound
“I brought you all breakfast,” Jodi said merrily and smiled, holding up the two bags. “I’ll just put them on the table, there should be plenty. And I wanted to see Free for just a quick second.”
She made to move past him, but he sidestepped quickly, blocking her path into the house. Jodi raised quizzical eyes to his, tilting her head slightly in confusion.
“Uhh… Jodi, honey, that’s really nice of you, but you don’twant to go in there right now,” Shane said and cast an anxious glance backward. “We all had a lot to drink, and Free’s not feelin’ too good.”
“Bachelor parties tend to do that to everyone. You don’t look that bad,” Jodi teased, winking, though her heart had started racing. “As long as everyone is fully clothed, I think I’ll be okay. I’ll just be quick—”
“Jodi,” Shane said a bit more forcefully and stepped backward into the house, using the door as a shield. “As your friend, I’m telling you, you don’t want to see Free right now.”
“What’s going on?” Jodi whispered, her breath coming in quick, shallow puffs now. Anxiety had begun to claw at her chest. “Is something wrong? Is he okay?”
“Just— just trust me, Jodi. Please,” he begged quietly, and when he looked into her eyes again, she saw what looked like pity in his soft brown eyes.
Jodi shook her head slowly, her eyes never leaving Shane’s. Understanding dawned, and she was sure her stomach was going to climb its way out of her throat. Her heart thundered in her ribcage, making her feel lightheaded. “He didn’t… He wouldn’t have…”
“I’m sorry,” Shane whispered miserably.
“No,” Jodi whispered gruffly and pushed past Shane, dropping the bags of food by the door. She strode down the hall to the bedroom that she knew was their guest room. Shane followed close behind her, doing his best to get in front of her to stop her. She dodged him and shrugged off his hands, flinging the bedroom door open, not caring that it crashed into the wall noisily. Jodi came to an abrupt halt, and Shane ran into her from behind.
Free moaned at the commotion and turned over in bed, opening his eyes. When they lit on Jodi, his head fell back against the pillow before he rolled into a sitting position. Whenhe did, the other occupant in the bed stirred. The blonde-haired woman mumbled something that sounded like “Go back to sleep, baby” and Jodi couldn’t move.
His eyes were full of agony as he stared at her, holding the sheet to his lower body. “Fuck.”
Chapter 20
All the air in Jodi’s lungs rushed out and she felt like she was going to faint. Without a word, she turned and walked out of the bedroom.
“Jodi!” she heard Free shout, then the linens rustling, followed by a loud thud and muffled cursing. The commotion must have woken the other guys up, because several men she didn’t recognize stood awkwardly by, peering out of other doors and around corners. Moving past Shane and shrugging off his consoling hand, she kept her eyes down, too humiliated to look anyone in the eye.
Breaking into a run when she hit the porch steps, Jodi almost made it to the Jeep before Free caught up to her. “Jodi, stop!”
At the touch of his hand on her shoulder, she came out of her misery induced fog. She spun and faced him angrily. His left cheekbone beneath his eye was bruised, which surprised her momentarily, not having noticed it until now. She realized that his jeans had been hastily pulled on, as they were still unbuttoned, and he was bare-chested. She could see the band of his black boxer briefs above his jeans. His feet were bare, and he was out of breath from sprinting to catch up to her.
“You. Complete.Ass!” she railed, punctuating every word with a hard shove into his chest, pushing him back and making him lose his balance in the gravel. “For someone pretending to give a shit about me, not wanting to hurt my feelings by sleeping with me, you sure do get around a lot with other women! You’re a fucking asshole, Freeman! Ugh!” she shouted, clenching her fistsat her sides.
“Jodi,” Free growled, taking a step closer.
She backed away and pointed a finger at his bare chest. “Get away from me,” Jodi whispered fiercely, blue fire shooting from her eyes. Spinning on her heel, she made it two full strides toward the Jeep before he caught up with her. She made to open the door, but his hand shot out, holding the door closed. “Let me go, Freeman!”
“No, not until we talk,” Free snapped, bending his face close to hers, the blue-green of his eyes luminous.
“I have nothing to say to you anymore,” she snarled, yanking on the door handle, but it didn’t budge with his strength holding it closed. “Let go!”
“Not until we talk,” he repeated in a growl, wrapping the fingers of his other hand around her upper arm and hauling her away from the car door, placing himself between her and the Jeep.
“Damn you, Freeman Thorp!” she shouted when he released her several feet away. “You could have had me the other night! I wanted you to stay, I wantedyou! You walked out on me! Then you camebeggingme for forgiveness, with that load of crap about how you feel about me. Just to turn around and fuck some other womanthe next day!” she cried, mortified when tears stung her eyes. Unable to stem the tears, they fell down her cheeks. “Dammit, whyher? Why notme?”
“Number one, I wasn’t pretending, and my feelings for you aren’t a load of crap. Number two, I didn’t fuck anybody last night. And number three—” he snarled, cutting her off when she went to open her mouth to argue, “—I had just found out you’remarried, Jodi!” Free shouted, throwing his bare arms out wide. Her heart stopped, then thundered back to life painfully. Pointing one accusing finger at her chest, he bellowed, “You love to crucify me for all of my wrongdoings, but yet you nevermentioned that you’re married! I had to find out fromyour husband!”
“I am not married,” Jodi seethed, swiping at the tears sliding down her cheeks. “My divorce to that narcissistic bastard was finalized three months ago, though I’m sure he failed to mention that. We’ve been separated for over a year. This is what Josh does, Free. Hethriveson causing drama and making my life hell.”
“Why did I have to find out from him, huh? Cornered me at the bar last night,” Free snarled, sweeping his arm out to point in the general direction of town. He laughed bitterly, his aquamarine eyes fierce, his chest heaving with fury. “Here I was, spilling my guts out to you about how I feel about you like some big dumb idiot, and the whole time you’re hiding that fucking bombshell! So, yeah. I was angry as hell, and got really fucking drunk last night, Jodi.”
Staring up into his face, twisted with anger and pain, Jodi couldn’t stop the tears that continued to track down her cheeks. Her shoulders started to tremble from trying to hold back her tears, and she sobbed once, one hand flying up to cover her mouth before more could follow. Taking a half step away from him, she turned so that she could hide her face. Her shoulders began to shake in earnest, and another broken sob escaped her. Wrapping her arms around herself tightly, she cried mournfully.
“Jodi,” he whispered after long moments, his voice thick with emotion. “Jodi, please don’t cry. Yell at me, scream at me. I can handle anything but your tears.”
She heard when he took several steps toward her, felt when he placed his warm hands on her shaking shoulders. Shrugging away from his touch, she took a shuddering breath. He wouldn’t let her go easily, though, as he replaced his hands on her shoulders gently, putting light pressure on her arms until she turned so that she was facing him. Embarrassed, she refused tolift her eyes to his.
