Free AllTangledUp by Crystal Jordan Page B

tight?” She smiled again, but doubted
it reached her eyes. She slid her sunglasses on for a little bit of protection.
Her chest felt so constricted, she wasn’t sure how she was managing to breathe
through it.
    “Yeah, the cabin is closed.” He didn’t offer her a smile in
return, barely glanced at her. “Nothing more to do here. This visit is
officially over.”
    A pang went through her. Over. It was over. Why did that
hurt so much? “Okay. Bye then.”
    “I’ll see you at work tomorrow. Goodbye, Lola.” He nodded,
turned, climbed into his car and drove away.
    She stood there for a long time, watching his taillights
disappear. Then she slid into the driver’s seat of her Mustang, gripping the
wheel so tightly her knuckles hurt.
    Her cell phone blared and she jolted. It took her a moment
to react, to dig out the phone and answer the call. She had to clear her throat
twice before she could squeeze words out. She kept her tone as light as she
could. “Hey, baby sister.”
    “What’s wrong?” The question was sharp, and Lola sighed. She
should have known better than to try to fool her family. They knew her too
well.
    She swallowed, pressed trembling lips together. “Man
trouble.”
    Her sister hummed sympathetically. “Were you stupid, was he,
or a little of both? So I know if you need nice mommy or mean mommy.”
    “It was all me.” That weight in her chest, the huge iceberg,
seemed to crack, breaking open her heart. “Oh, Casey, I fucked up big this
time. I fell in love with him.” And then she laid her forehead against the
wheel and sobbed.
    * * * * *
    Jesus, he felt like a zombie in one of those bad horror
movies. Dragging through the motions, half-dead. Jesse stood in the break room
of Kasen’s Kustom Automotive and sucked down his fourth cup of coffee for the
day. It wasn’t even noon yet. His eyes felt gritty and he’d slept like shit the
night before. His bed had felt empty without Lola in it. Funny how quickly he’d
gotten used to her soft curves pressed against his side at night.
    Pathetic. Just like his dad had been after his mom bailed.
But Dad had managed to survive and so would Jesse.
    “You all right?” Dean came in the room, shutting the door
behind him. Concern shone in his gaze.
    Jesse didn’t even have the fortitude left to lie. His cousin
would have seen through it anyway. “No.”
    Nodding, Dean poured himself a cup of coffee. His voice was
far too casual when he spoke again. “Lola looks worse than you do.”
    “And why would I care about that?” Jesse snapped, then
winced. Way to play it cool, Kasen. He clenched his jaw. “Look, this time it’s
not my fault. I didn’t do anything to hurt her.”
    No, it was Jesse who’d been hurt, and he suddenly had a lot
more sympathy for the women he’d walked away from over the years.
    His cousin didn’t ask for details of what had happened, and
Jesse was grateful. Dean set his mug down on the counter. “You going to be all
right working with her? We can talk to the network if it’s going to be a
problem.”
    Jesse thought about it, he really did. But he couldn’t do
it. He knew Lola had worked hard to be the producer of Revved Up , and
she was more than qualified for the position. It would hurt her, when she
hadn’t done anything other than keep up her end of their deal. It wouldn’t be
right or fair. While the knee-jerk reaction for him was to shove her out of his
life, or hurt her the way he was hurting, he just…couldn’t. That was the bottom
line—he’d rather slit his own throat than cause her pain.
    “No, I can handle it.” He met his cousin’s eyes, so the
other man would know he was serious.
    The empathy in Dean’s gaze was almost more than he could
deal with. Dean had had a rough time of it before he and Andi had finally
gotten together. Jesse somehow doubted that kind of happy ending was in his
future, and it still floored him that he even wanted such a thing. But Lola had
knocked him on his ass from day