Take Me 2

Chapter [11]

The songs for this chapter are:

-My Dilemma 2.0: Selena Gomez

-Forget Forever: Selena Gomez

-Slow Down: Selena Gomez

My fingers shake as I hold the phone close to my ear as if pressing the device closer to me will make her voice appear louder and less weak.

"Pattie?"

"Hi Selena," her and I let out a matching sigh, not in annoyance or disapproval, but in unison as our adjoined pain.

I smile for what seems like forever in the last week, "How did you get my number."

"I found it in Justin's phone." Justin's mom explains and I bite my lip.

"I have a new phone." My brow furrows. Is it possible that my number didn't change?

That means Justin and I are only a call away.

But who am I kidding, my mother most likely deleted his number from my contacts. I am stupid to think she wouldn't.

My heart sinks.

Pattie says, "Oh," there is silence but not the kind that makes you wonder what to say, instead I rest my hands lighter against the steering wheel and relax. The connection to Justin's mom, Pattie is still here and it makes me feel as if Justin isn't really that far away.

My Jay is so close, but so far away.

"Okay," Pattie says after a minute, "I need to ask you something, just woman to woman and you need to tell me the truth, okay?"

I nod even though she can't see me, "Alright."

"Did Justin ever tell you about Jeremy's affairs?" Her words tumble out quickly and my jaw gapes.

Well, it should be expected. Sometimes I know too much when I shouldn't know anything at all.

"Yes," I drag out my one word waiting to hear Pattie's reply.

"Did you know Justin and Asher are not his only children?" Her voice cracks when she says Asher's name and my heart snaps.

As I pull into the high school parking lot, the image I had pushed to the furthest part of my mind suddenly came rushing forward.

Jeremy's other children: Jaxon and Jasmyn.

"Does Justin know about them?" My voice drops to a whisper as if someone besides myself could hear this conversation.

Pattie sighs, "No."

"Then why do I know?"

"I don't know why Justin's father told you, but you can't tell Justin." Patties voice is firmer than I've heard in a while and I want to curl into a ball.

I don't want to hold anymore secrets.

I don't want to hide something about Justin's family, from Justin. He has as much of a right to know as anyone else but here his mother is telling me he can't know.

"Why not?" I ask cautiously.

"It is not a good idea to bring anything else into this mix now." Pattie says almost too calmly and I grab my bag and step out of my car, clutching my phone tighter than before.

I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding, "What do you mean; a mix now?"

"It's Asher," Pattie whispers, "We are preparing to set a date for his funeral."

My feet stop.

My hand falls down to my side, my backpack nearly dragging on the ground and my mouth falls.