Free Wicked Reunion (Wicked White Series Book 2) by Michelle A. Valentine Page A

attempt to wrap my arms around him to comfort him the only way I can. “Jared . . . oh my God. I’m so—”
    “Don’t you dare say it. Don’t you dare!” The panic mixed with anger in Jared’s voice is clear. “If you say it out loud, then it makes it real.”
    Julie bites her bottom lip and reaches out to touch Jared’s shoulder. “He’s gone, son.”
    “No!” Jared roars, leaping to his feet and knocking me back onto my butt in the process. His eyes are wide and have a wild look like I’ve never seen before, and it scares me a bit, but I understand why he’s come unhinged. “Don’t you lie to me!”
    “Son . . . please,” Julie pleads. “This is hard enough.”
    “No! You’re wrong. The army’s wrong. My dad . . . he’s strong. He promised me he would be back. He promise d ! There’s no way that he’s dead! Dad wouldn’t break his word like that.”
    I push myself up off the floor and reach out to Jared, but the moment I wrap my fingers around his biceps he shrugs me off. “Don’t touch me!”
    I flinch but understand his rage and jerk my hand away. Wes wraps his arm tightly around me, as if to protect me from my own boyfriend, and then pulls me back a couple steps. Wes’s attempt to hold me back doesn’t stop me from trying to reason with Jared.
    “Jared, please.” I beg for him to just take a breath and realize that he’s not the only one hurting.
    His eyes snap in my direction and then they zero in on Wes’s hand on my shoulder. His face twists as he narrows his eyes. “Get your fucking hands off of her!”
    My eyes widen as Jared directs his anger over the news we just heard onto his brother, who is only attempting to comfort me.
    Wes lifts his hand off of me and then holds them both up. Wes’s surrender doesn’t mean anything to Jared, because he takes a step closer to his brother. Standing toe to toe, they are nearly the same height, but Jared’s got about twenty pounds or so on Wes. Both men stand there in the kitchen, breathing heavily, neither backing down.
    Jared stares into Wes’s eyes. “Don’t you ever touch her again or I swear to God—”
    “Jared!” Julie jumps up from her chair, trying to stop her sons from coming to blows. “Enough! We’re all upset, and we just need to calm down.”
    His mother’s voice seems to cut through Jared’s anger enough to freeze him in place. After a long moment, Jared simply shakes his head and takes a step back. “This is bullshit,” he yells so loud that I swear the pictures on the walls shake. He takes yet another step back away from Wes. “I’m out of here.”
    “Ja—” I start to chase after him, but again Wes grabs me, locking me into place while Jared storms out of the kitchen.
    The front door slams, and the distinct rumble of his truck engine roaring to life causes my breath to catch. I’m so stunned by the entire situation that my brain isn’t functioning properly to alert me right away that Jared shouldn’t be alone right now, no matter how angry he is and how much he wants to be on his own. He needs someone with him, and it hurts a bit that he won’t let me be there for him.
    I take a deep breath and decide that I’m not going to let him push me out right now.
    I turn to chase after him, but Wes halts me in my tracks. “Don’t, London. He needs time to process this on his own. He’s too worked up right now to listen to reason. I don’t want him to fly off the handle and hurt you.”
    My brow furrows. “He would never—”
    “Not intentionally, no, but Jared isn’t himself right now. You saw that. Give him space. Let him calm down,” Wes says.
    Julie begins crying again as the three of us remain in the kitchen together. Her soft cries fill the room, and my heart instantly begins to crumble as the realization of the situation hits me hard. While I loved Henry, I know that the love I had for him doesn’t compare to the love Jared had for his father. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to face in