“Screw you, too,” Pepper snapped. She caught her hands in the front of Jack’s shirt, staring up at him pleadingly. “Jack. Tell my brother that you trust me. That you don’t think I’m being childish, and that you believe I didn’t mess up your car.”
“Pepper, give me ten damn seconds to do something without ordering me around,” Jack snapped, aware that he was out of line, but he was tired, and the entire situation had put his nerves on edge.
Her face went completely white. “I’ll get it fixed,” she whispered. “I promise.”
“It’s just a car,” he said through clenched teeth.
“But I know it means a lot to you.”
When Parker muttered something in the background, Pepper whirled on her brother again. “Would you fucking stop that?”
“What? I didn’t do anything.”
As their voices once again rose in anger and accusation, Jack resisted the urge to slam his fist in the already crumpled back end of his car. He was no stranger to screaming matches—his parents had engaged in plenty of them before his mom had packed up and walked right out the door.
Jack threw his hands in the air, his frustration boiling over. “Would you two just shut the hell up?”
The siblings froze.
“Jack—” Parker started.
“Seriously, just shut up,” he growled. “Do you two not realize how good you have it? How lucky you are to have each other? I see you going at each other’s throats and I want to slap some fucking sense into you! You have no goddamn idea what it’s like to…” He stopped abruptly, his throat closing up as the memories closed in.
His gaze drifted back to his dad’s car, the only measly possession, other than the couch in his office, that his father had bothered giving to him.
Pepper followed his gaze, speaking in a cautious tone. “Jack, I promise, I didn’t mess up your car. I—”
“Jesus Christ!” he interrupted. “Not everything is about you, Pepper! Or you—” He shot an angry look at Parker. “Fuck the car. Fuck your bullshit fighting. Fuck. This.”
Breathing hard, he pushed past both of them, nearly slamming into Dean, who’d been lingering on the sidelines, his eyes wide. Jack didn’t blame his buddy for looking shocked. He didn’t normally lose his shit like this, but he’d reached his breaking point, and at the moment, he needed to be as far away as he could from Pepper and Parker’s arguing, and the car, and most of all the goddamn memories.
Ignoring the concerned voices behind him, he squared his shoulders and stormed around the building. Fuck everything.
He hailed a cab and headed home.
Chapter Fourteen
Pepper stared at Jack’s retreating back. Stricken. And absolutely stunned by what had happened. She’d never heard Jack raise his voice in anger before. Never seen him this upset.
She slowly turned her head back to Jack’s Aston Martin, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that his fit of temper had nothing to do with the car.
Oh no, it was about so much more.
“I’ll go talk to him,” Parker said quietly, all of his bluster faded.
Her hand flew up to stop her brother from taking another step. “No,” she told him. “I will. And if you argue with me right now, so help me God—”
To her surprise, Parker instantly backed down. The shame flickering in his eyes was unmistakable. “You’re right. You go.”
She didn’t bother dwelling on her brother’s sudden one-eighty—or the fact that he’d actually uttered the words you’re right for the first time in…well, ever. She was too worried about Jack at the moment. Her laidback, flirty Jack, whose face had held such devastation before he’d raced off that her heart was aching for him.
Dean jogged back to their side just as Pepper prepared to dash into the building to track Jack down. “He’s headed home. Just heard him catch a cab.”
“You didn’t try to stop him?” Parker asked.
The look Dean gave Parker could have flash frozen a year’s supply of fish. “You really think I was about to order him around when he’s already over the edge?”
Her need to go comfort and confront Jack grew by the moment, along with her helplessness.
Then Parker shocked the hell out of her. He caught her by the hand and tugged her toward his car. “Come on, I’ll drop you at his place.”
The ride was silent for the first couple minutes, nothing but the faint buzz of wheels spinning under the car.
Parker let out a huge sigh. “I keep screwing up, don’t I?”
“It takes two to tango,” she admitted. “I’m not the easiest person to get along with at times.”
“Actually, you’re pretty easygoing. I…” He clutched the wheel tighter, the platinum ring Lynn had given him shining like a bit of moonlight in the glow of the streetlights. “When you were gone it was easier to think of you as a grown-up. Having you around—I just want the best for you, and I forget you can take care of yourself. It’s wrong. I’m sorry.”