The Beauty in Eternity

Chapter 82.

We stop at Jake's place to collect Mason's things. His 'things' being two shirts, a toothbrush and a bottle of whiskey. Classy.
As we climb out of the car Jake's door opens, and a familiar blonde haired bombshell stumbles out.

Mason looks at me with a smirk on his face as she finally notices us walking towards her, all of us stopping in our tracks. Her eyes widen and she almost drops her purse. "Oh, hi." she stutters. An actual stutter, and strangely it feels great.

Mason looks between us with a look of sheer pride plastered on his face. He reminds me of a proud father. A proud father of a daughter who beat up her middle school bully.

"Angel." I sneer, kissing my teeth.

"I'm.. I'm just on my way out." she mumbles, gently and slowly sliding past us.

I smirk at the sight of her scurrying away from me, her heels clicking against the ground as she fumbles for her keys. She flashes me a glare over her shoulder before climbing into her car and driving off. Mason begins to slowly clap, shaking his head with a grin on his face. "I've truly never been prouder."

"Come on." I roll my eyes.

As we walk inside Jake's eyes widen, too. "Hey, Amara." he smiles nervously.

I cross my arms against my chest. "To answer your question, yes, she did see her." Mason laughs, finding the whole thing beyond amusing.

Jake lets out a sigh and guilt is clear on his face. "Mason, don't you have something to do in the other room?" I hint with raised brows.

"No." he shrugs.

"Mason." I warn.

"Fine."

I walk towards Jake and give him a gentle shove, making him stumble backwards onto the couch behind him. "Explain."

"She's really trying, Mar. She took some time away, to think. She came back and we spoke about it, she cried and apologised." he tells me. He sounds like he believes it, but I sure as hell don't. And deep down, he doesn't either.

I take a seat beside him and cross my legs. "Jake, she's an abuser. Crocodile tears and a fake apology will only last so long."

"Amara, I know what I'm doing." he shrugs his shoulders. "You forgave Mason."

"Woah," I hold my hand up to silence him with wide eyes. "Mason and I have been through a lot of shit, and he hurt me, sure—but he has never and would never lay a hand on me. Mason and I's issues had reason, and never crossed the line into abuse. I know you're protecting her but don't you dare use Mason and I's situation as a comparison—because he's nothing like her." I snap defensively.

His face falls in guilt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I really didn't," he sighs. "But I do know what I'm doing."

"Really? Because I'm not sure that you do," I tell him softly. "You were so cautious to forgive Mason for what he did to me, and in reality it's nothing compared to Angel."

"How can you be so protective of everyone else around you, yet so lenient when it comes to your own pain?"

He stays silent, as though my words finally got through to him. "Mason hurt me, Jake. Bad. You seen it for yourself, and it made you so angry—but we hurt each other, and our situation was one of a kind. There is no excuse when it comes to Angel."

"Jake, I drew the line at her laying a hand on you. I will support you, always. And you can come to me, always. But I don't support this. I don't support her."

"I know." he nods.

"I love you, but you need to see through her."

He nods again, before pulling me into a tight hug—one that speaks more than anything he could say right now. It's never easy to get out of a situation like this, but I will do my best to help.