But then he was there, putting his arm around her shoulder, standing tall and strong by her side like her very own personal pillar of strength.
My eyes narrowed with hatred and I slipped the ring on Layla's finger. Cheers erupted all around and my brother, Alex's voice was the loudest. When the noise had settled, I kissed Layla's cheek and put my arm around her shoulder as well.
"Thank you so much for coming here tonight and sharing this beautiful occasion with me," I said loudly, making sure my voice carried towards the back. Towards her.
"I don't know what else to say except that Layla is the best thing that has ever happened to me," I continued, looking right at Jasmine. "I never knew what true love and happiness could feel like until I met her. I wish I had met her before. It would've saved me a lot of trouble."
Everyone from my side of the family laughed and many of them turned to look at Jasmine. She didn't even flinch, just kept her gaze on me. Her dark gaze which was getting angrier by the second. Like she couldn't wait to get me alone so she could punish me for my deliberate insults.
I shook off that thought firmly. She had no power over me now. She broke my heart and left me to die. I wasn't going to give her any more importance than that.
"So thanks again all you awesome people for showing up." I smiled. "And that includes you too, Jasmine," I mocked her, causing more people to glance her way and then laugh. Shit, what was I doing? It was like my mouth had no control at that moment.
Seeing her with Jasper like that...
Fuck.
"Thanks for being such a good sport," I told her with a wink and lifted my glass of mocktail which Zoya's husband had handed to me. "Please do stay for the rest of the party. I don't think anyone would care to bother you now."
She still didn't look away from me. Her lips never lost that slight smirk and her eyes never lost their dark glow. I was the one who glanced away uneasily. The old Jasmine would so want to get back at me for this. I missed her even though I didn't want to.
....
When I went to bed that night, exhausted and alone, I cried a little thinking of all the things I'd said to her in front of so many people and how gracefully she had borne it all.
I shouldn't feel bad for her, right? After all the pain she had given me, she deserved a little hell in return.
****
Chapter Sixteen
Cole
Skye was seated at the kitchen counter the next morning, painting her toenails with one foot propped up on the adjacent counter stool, her chin resting on one knee. She made such a pretty picture with loose strands of her blond hair kissing her cheeks as she focused on her task. Jacob was playing on his plastic jungle gym at the far corner of the living room while watching cartoons and I was making toast. It was a perfect lazy Sunday scene.
We'd cried so much, she and I, upon reaching home after the engagement party. Jacob had fallen asleep in the car and we finally had had the time and opportunity to just let it all out. We didn't actually say anything to each other though. Seeing Jasper after all this time had been overwhelming for us both in different ways. She'd locked herself in the bathroom and cried while I'd just gone to bed and allowed my tears to spill as much as they wanted until my nose had ended up blocked.
Even now, there were dark circles under our eyes. Eyes which were bloodshot and stinging from all that crying. But we'd put on a brave front for Jacob. I placed two slices of toast on a plate and went over to the fridge to get some butter. Skye spoke so softly that I almost missed what she said.
"He looks different now."
I shut the fridge door so hard that she jumped and blinked at me with wide eyes.
"Sorry," I mumbled and placed the butter on the counter. "Yeah. He's...lost some weight."
She resumed painting her toenails. "His face is different, too. There's like...I don't know...a haunted sort of look in his eyes," she said, almost to herself. "They're not glittering anymore."
I couldn't believe that she was talking about him like this. My heartbeats were starting to speed up just wondering how the hell I was going to handle this very, very sensitive subject. One wrong word and she'll burn me alive. Right here in this kitchen. No questions asked.
"He's looked like that ever since he left us," I told her and bit my lip. Maybe not the best reminder at the moment. God, I felt so torn. What was the right thing to say in this kind of situation?
"Did you talk to him at the party?" she asked after a minute.
I paused in the middle of chewing my toast and regarded her warily. I didn't want to lie to her. She'd been lied to a lot and after listening to her last night at the library...
She had never really vented to me about Jasper's betrayal after that first night long ago when I'd told her about Jasmine. Since then, she'd just spoken of her hate for him and gotten angry with me over my inability to break ties with him. But she'd never just cried and allowed me to see how hurt she was all this time. She kept giving me the impression that she thought he
