Ya Allah give me strength, I prayed silently for the first time in so many years.
I knew I was freaking him out. Hell, I was freaking myself out.
"Jasper..." I started to cry softly because this was so hard. I understood then why Skye couldn't say the words. They would be earth-shattering for these two men.
"Jasmine, what are you on right now?" he asked me through gritted teeth.
I shook my head. And then I closed my eyes and just said it.
"Cole isn't Jacob's biological father."
****
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jasper
When Jasmine uttered those words, I felt as if the ground had shifted from underneath me. If I had been standing, I might not have had the strength to do so anymore.
My whole face went slack with shock. My lungs emptied of air so fast, I felt my vision going black. She was looking at me again with wide eyes and shaking her head at me, tears glistening on her cheeks.
"No, no, no," she murmured softly, urgently and rubbed my shoulders, my arms. "Jasper...please, please breathe...it's okay, I'm here. Stay with me."
I tried to pay attention to what she asking of me but my brain was slowly losing its grip on consciousness.
"Jasper," she said loudly and then scrambled to get the bottle of water. She unscrewed the cap with shaking hands and held it to my lips. "Drink this," she whispered, one hand still rubbing my arm to bring warmth back to my skin which was clammy. "Listen to me...I know it's a lot to take in but please don't...don't die on me okay. Come on, Jasper. Breathe."
After what seemed like an eternity, I forced myself to move my jaw and take a sip of the water she was giving me. And then I took another, closed my eyes and inhaled deeply before letting it out, blinking to clear my vision.
Jasmine kept crying but she didn't stop speaking to me or trying to get me to remain warm. She'd done this a few times over the past couple of years and yet, I think it scared her every time.
I didn't deal well with shock. Not anymore. Not since my first stroke. She already knew this about me and now I understood why she'd been so damn anxious.
Oh, God. I clenched my teeth and moved my hands slowly to rub them over my eyes. My eyes, which were filling up with tears now and spilling down my face no matter how much I tried to stop them by rubbing and wiping.
"I'm sorry," she whispered to me and sniffed. "I'm really sorry. But you needed to know. I couldn't just let you leave again. Jasper. Are you okay? Do you need your pills?"
I couldn't speak through the pain as she sat stiffly and waited for me to regain my composure.
"How?" I whispered to her without lifting my head. "How do you know that? Did she tell you?"
"Yes," Jasmine answered quietly. "She's scared and hurting. It's hard for her too. She thinks you'll hate her. So she asked me to let you know."
I sucked in more air. My chest felt constricted, my face so hot and muscles tense.
"She thinks I'll hate her," I repeated in a cold voice, still unable to believe it. "How could she do this? She knew how much I loved that baby-" My voice broke and I buried my face in my hands and just sobbed.
I'd hurt her, yes, but it hadn't been deliberate or calculated. But this...what Skye had done...
Two years of my time with him just gone. My Jacob. My son.
"How could she do this to him?" I gasped with my heart aching so much, I thought it would drive me insane. "To Jacob. To Cole." I stilled and turned to Jasmine but before I could voice my question, I already realised the answer to it.
Cole didn't know. Cole would never have kept Jacob from me. He wouldn't have hurt me like that. This was all Skye. She ruined everything.
"Jasper...you promised me you wouldn't hate her," Jasmine said firmly. "This is a chance for you to make things right with your family. Be in Jacob's life. This isn't the time to be bitter."
I was burning up from the inside and I stared at the wall in front of me with a fierce expression, clenching my fists.
"She could've punished me some other way. She didn't have to bring Cole or my son into this," I said coldly.
"Her son too. And she loves Cole just as much as you do."
"Whose side are you fucking on right now?" I asked her angrily.
After the initial shock and bewilderment faded, all I could feel now was my anger.
"I'm always on your side, Jasper Wells," she told me in an assertive voice. "I know it isn't fair and that it sucks. People fuck up. We're all human at the end of the day.” Saying that, Jasmine put a hand on my cheek. "You have a lot of making up to do."
My eyes were probably glittering. I could almost feel it, the sharpness and energy filling them up. Two years worth of regret and pain...
Oh yeah. I had a lot to make up for. And so did Skye Madison.
****
Chapter Twenty-Three
Skye
I switched off the lights in my office and locked the door before going over to the reception desk and placing my purse and phone on the counter. Everything was quiet inside the gallery. Peaceful. I hurriedly walked the corridors just to check if the rest of the place was in order.
It was almost seven p.m. I was anxious to get home now and just be with Cole and Jacob again. If I was going to lose the two people who meant everything to me, I might as well prepare myself
