Three's A Crowd. (Now Published On Amazon)

Chapter Thirteen.

Jasper

The small, pale yellow apartment coming into my line of vision as I pulled up in our driveway brought a contented smile to my face. It had been such a busy day today. I had had two photo shoots, both taking place out of the city and a meeting with the big dogs at Vogue Italia. They wanted to hire me as a photographer for some controversial piece about aging models and I was thrilled at the prospect.

Cole was the first person I had texted as soon as I closed the deal but he had not replied for so long and I was pretty sure he was sleeping. I quietly made my way inside, careful not to disturb him because of his long hours today and headed into the kitchen. There had not been time for a proper lunch and I was wondering what to make for dinner when I spotted the plates in the sink, the opened bottle of wine and half empty jug of lemon juice. Cole didn't drink wine so it must have been for...

The door to Skye's bedroom opened and Cole emerged from inside with an armload of laundry. We stared at each other for a moment, my jaw hanging half open at the fact that he was doing Skye's chores. What the fuck? The girl had perfectly working hands and feet. Why did my boyfriend feel the need to coddle her so damn much?

He did not smile at me or throw me one of his affectionate greetings. Instead he jerked his head towards the counter and said, "Adalina made us dinner. Don't worry about the mess, I'll get around to it tomorrow. It's been a long day."

Tell me about it. I opened my mouth to ask him what Skye was doing and why she was not helping him after he had been working so much but he stalked off in the direction of the laundry room before I could say anything.

Angrily, I went over to her open bedroom door and marvelled at the organisation and lack of clutter for the first time since she had moved in. She was lying sideways on the bed with her eyes closed so I could not berate her for her laziness but just then, her eyes opened and she looked right at me.

A strange expression came over her face. Something like...fear and it threw me off so much, I remained silent before retreating to my own room. Why was she giving me that kind of look instead of lording it over me that Cole was acting like her personal slave boy?

Fuck. I did not have time for all this drama. I just wanted my partner here with me so I could ask him how his day went and tell him about mine while we watched movies and shared drinks or something. I missed that so badly. When it was just the two of us and we had all the time in the world. Cole did his best to make sure I did not feel left out so I could not use that as an excuse to argue with him. I did not want to argue with him. I just needed him with me. Right now.

When he walked into the room a minute later, wearing nothing but jeans and looking all sweaty and sexy, my first instinct was to grab him and kiss him but he appeared so grim, unlike his usual self and just threw a folder beside me on the bed causing some pictures to spill out.

I froze in the act of removing my shoes and looked up at Cole with dread curling around my heart.

"Explain this," my boyfriend simply said to me and stood there with his arms folded and a blank expression.

My throat closed up. I did not know what to say. He knew about the pictures? Shit. I should have burned those a long time ago. Why the fuck was I stupid enough to keep them in my collection?

"When did you take these?" he wanted to know, still not letting up on his stiff posture.

I exhaled a frustrated breath. "It was a long time ago, Cole," I mumbled, finally jerking off my shoe. I hated being cornered. Especially over something that meant nothing to me.

"How long?" he grated out while I untied my other shoe lace with short, angry movements.

"It was...a few days before you met her."

Cole was silent, most probably shocked at my answer before he started pacing the floor.

"So you knew who she was the day I brought her home for the first time?" he hissed, careful not to raise his voice because I got the feeling he did not want Skye to hear this conversation.

"No," I argued with a scowl. "I didn't know who she was. I was working at the hotel during that weekend I went away and I saw her there."

He stopped pacing to narrow his green eyes at me, his glasses shining in the bright bedroom light. "And you just decided to take her pictures?" he demanded incredulously. "Without her knowledge? While she was barely dressed."

I huffed out another breath. "Cole, I'm sorry. I looked okay. She was...there was something about her and...I felt like capturing the moment."

He shook his head at me. "Then why did you keep it a secret from me? I don't mind that you looked, Jasper. Hell, I know what must have drawn your attention better than anybody else. But why did you never mention it?"

"Because it wasn't a big deal, okay," I snapped. "It was a random thing. I forgot all about it until I saw her again and then it just didn't matter anymore."

His gaze went to the offensive pictures then. Damn it. I regretted keeping those. I loved how they had turned out, how they represented so much beauty and mystery. But that was before I knew what a pain in the ass she was. And now Cole believed I was hiding something.

"Baby-"

"What do you want me to do about this, Wells?" he asked me quietly.

I sighed. "Just ignore it. Throw it away. Burn it. I don't care."

He studied me, drawing his own conclusions. I could sense his brain working overtime.

"I'm not sharing her," he finally stated determinedly. "I already made that clear in the beginning. And you agreed to it. She isn't like all the other girls. The only reason I brought her here to live with us was because I trusted you to stay away."

"Jesus, Cole, I get it," I hissed at him angrily.

"Are you sure?" he shot back. "Because I get the feeling you're not being honest with me. Or yourself for that matter. I promised her she had nothing to worry about from you. If she knew what your thoughts were-"

"You're being completely ridiculous," I countered, snapping off my socks and then starting on my shirt buttons.

Sex was not going to fix this but he was being so damn stupid right now and I was so angry that fucking it all out of our systems was probably the best way to go right now. I could not keep explaining myself to him.

"Maybe I am being ridiculous. But it's just hard for me to digest the fact that you kept these in your personal collection for so long. And you never labelled the file or used it for any of your portfolios so can you blame me for being suspicious?"

I did not want to talk about this anymore so I refused to respond. Saying nothing, I removed my shirt and then my trousers draping them over the chair before sitting back down on the bed, too angry to approach him for sex now. Just what did he think of me? I would never betray him. Never hurt him like that. Not like he did to me.

After a minute, Cole walked over and stood in front of me, making my heart leap with crazy hope despite the situation. I thought he wanted to embrace me, kiss me hard in a punishing manner. Show me how he could not bear the thought of my attention going towards somebody else. But what he said next made everything go cold inside.

"I'm spending the night with Skye, okay. She's upset. She needs me."

I sucked in a painful breath and slowly lifted my face to his, unable to believe this was my lover. My partner of six years. The guy who once told me he was crazy about me even though I acted like an asshole most of the time.

"Okay," I managed to choke out quietly because words failed me then.

He started to leave but then paused and returned to open the bedside drawer and retrieve a pair of headphones from inside.

My mouth went dry as he placed them firmly next to me on the bed before flicking me a meaningful glance. Silence fell between us then. The emotional kind where nothing could penetrate it or break it. I felt numb as I watched him leave the room closing the door softly behind him.