Page 94 of Maxwell

“Look, I don’t have a whole lot of family that I can count on. My mother lives her life in a bottle. My father doesn’t give a crap about me. He got me the job that I have, and as far as he was concerned, his job is done. My half-siblings don’t really talk to me because our mothers are in competition with each other for some strange reason. There are only a handful of people that I can count on in this world, and Maxwell is one of them. And I might lose that.” Emotion filled his voice, and he cleared his throat. “I will never forgive myself if I’m the reason he’s not happy. Would you please call him? If you don’t want to flat out forgive him, at least talk to the man.”

Though Jasmine listened to every word he said, she waffled on whether she could believe him. He certainly sounded sincere. “I’ll think about it.” That was all she was willing to offer.

His shoulders slumped. “Thanks for listening.”

“When was the last time you talked to him?” Jasmine asked hesitantly.

“Almost a week ago. We had a big fight. He hates me.” Jayson grimaced.

“He doesn’t hate you.”

“No, he hates me,” he said confidently.

“I’m sorry, Jayson, I... I need time.”

Jayson slowly nodded. “I understand. What you saw was probably shocking, and you don’t know what to believe. For what it’s worth, I want you to know how sorry I am for what I did. You weren’t supposed to get hurt. I know it sounds lame, but I wanted to remind Maxwell of who he used to be. But that man loves you. I’ve never known him to behave this way when he was in a relationship, and I hope you give him another chance. I don’t know if I could handle knowing I’m the reason he lost the one woman he ever truly cared about. Take care.”

Jayson walked away slowly, and Jasmine watched him for a bit before she resumed her trek to the building.

“Hey, Jasmine.”

She turned. Jayson was standing between two cars.

“When you talk to him, would you do me a favor? Don’t answer, but think about what I’m about to say. Tell him I’m sorry, and I hope he can forgive me. Because I want to be friends again. I miss my brother.” He climbed into an almond-colored Denali and started the engine.

Jasmine kept walking and let herself into the building.

When you talk to him... He assumed it would happen, but she wasn’t so sure. At least not anytime soon. When she had told him she needed time, she had meant it. If for no other reason than she had to catch up at work after her abrupt absence for a week.

“I miss you so fucking much. Tell me what to do. Tell me, please.”

That was the last message she had received from Maxwell before she finally blocked him. The voicemail had sounded good. It had sounded heartfelt and genuine. But she knew better, right? After all, she’d been here before, and past experience had helped her develop a thick skin.

There was no denying what her eyes had seen at the condo, but that hadn’t been the point of Jayson’s visit. The point was to take the blame for what had happened.

Could she trust that Jayson was telling her the truth? As he said, Maxwell was his boy. His brother. It wouldn’t be hard for him to lie for Maxwell.

Jasmine let herself into her apartment and leaned back against the door. “I don’t know what to do.”

She may not know what to do, but she knew what not to do. She would not rush into a decision concerning Maxwell and his guilt or innocence. She didn’t need to. She was in the self-preservation phase of the breakup and had two main goals over the coming weeks.

The first was to catch up at work.

The second was to hold onto her sanity and not let heartbreak destroy her.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“Have a good weekend!”

“You too. See you all next week.” Maxwell waved to the rest of the doctors heading to their cars as he walked across the almost empty parking lot, backpack thrown over his shoulder. He had a half-mile walk to the West End station, and from there it was a straight shot to Midtown where he would pick up his car and drive home.

He had been back at the Morehouse clinic since he left Bright Futures Pediatrics almost two weeks ago. Fortunately, he had already contacted the administration about volunteering for their mobile clinic, doing health screenings and performing other services in underserved areas. When he told them he had more time available, they were appreciative and brought him on immediately.

The work was as fulfilling as the six-month stint he had done before joining the staff at Bright Futures, but it couldn’t fill the emptiness inside him. An emptiness he couldn’t escape, no matter how hard he tried. Most nights he lay in bed in the dark, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Sometimes, he stretched his hand across the cool sheets, as if she would magically appear and all would be well.

He also missed his friends. Lincoln had sent a text about a double date, but he’d given a lame excuse about why he couldn’t do it. If Lincoln had talked to Jayson recently, by now he probably knew the real reason why.

He missed Jayson, though he was still angry at him. The day after the incident, he had asked him to come over, and at first Jayson had insisted he hadn’t known Maxwell was so serious about Jasmine. But the picture became clearer when Jayson pointed out that Maxwell had brought Jasmine to the last party. He’d been annoyed by all of the time they had been spending together and had wanted Maxwell to come alone, without her, so they could party ‘like old times.’