Sea Breeze 01 - Breathe

resolve to stay away from you. He couldn’t handle the jealousy. For the first time in his life, he wanted something he could not have, and he fought it for you. I watched him. But then he caved, and when he did, it was the beginning of the end. I hate him for not being strong enough. I hate him for hurting you. But more than any of that, I hate him because he stole your heart and I don’t think it’ll ever be the same.”
    I didn’t want to fight with Marcus. He had come to get me out of the darkness when no one else had. He was a friend. My first friend ever. I knew he would never understand that I didn’t regret one moment I’d spent with Jax. The pain I was enduring now was worth every moment of the time I’d spent with him.
    So I touched his arm and turned away from his sad face. “You’re right about one thing. My heart—he took it with him.”
    The next few days, my darkness slowly faded. My memories began to brighten the darkest spots. I couldn’t go back to Jax’s house and work. My time there was over. After a week of being home, Jessica came to my room.
    “If we’re going to eat, we need money. No one is going to hire me when I’m ready to give birth at any moment. I know you’re hurting, but you’re going to be starving and hot if you don’t find a job.”
    I had been expecting this. I knew our cash was low, and Jessica was right, she couldn’t work. I was the able body around here. She brought me a piece of paper.
    “Call Ms. Mary. She said she could get you a job if you wanted her help. What she can get you is going to be tons better than anything you can find on your own. Also, the Stones left all their summer employees severance pay since they were all laid off a month and a half early. Ms. Mary said she was mailing the check.”
    I flinched, and Jessica sighed and sat down on my bed. “I know thinking about him hurts, and you’re so full of pride that taking money from him is hard for you, but right now, with me about to have a baby, we need this money.”
    I pulled my knees up under my chin. “Yes, but the family left early because of me. Why should they have to pay me because I forced their departure?”
    Jessica sighed and shook her head. “You didn’t do anything wrong but fall in love with a rock star. I can’t say I blame you—he was a hottie—but a relationship with someone like him was impossible from the beginning. They left early, and you lost your job because of it. They owe you like everyone else.”
    I shook my head. “No, they owe me nothing!”
    Jessica stood up. “Well, regardless of what you think, we will take the check and pay our bills, fill our kitchen, and go buy diapers. Stop being so selfish and open your eyes to the facts, Sadie. We are about to have another mouth to feed, and no amount of your whining and wallowing in self-pity or pride is going to supply our needs. So stop it and move on.”
    Jessica turned and left my room. One thing I agreed with was that we needed money. So I got up and got dressed because I was off to find myself a job.

Chapter Sixteen
    JAX
    I sat on the bed in my suite and held my phone in my hands. Ms. Mary had just called and told me she had gotten Sadie a new job. One she could work at even after school started back up. She’d said Sadie had looked good the last time she’d seen her and that she was spending a lot of time with Marcus.
    The idea of her falling in love with Marcus and moving on made it hard for me to breathe. I closed my eyes and buried my head in my hands. She was going to move on. Maybe not now, and maybe not with Marcus, but she would one day. And our time together would be nothing but a memory for her. One she would probably work hard to push away.
    Tears stung my eyes and I let them fall. There was no one around to see me cry, and I needed to cry. I needed to mourn. I’d lost it all. My chance at ever really being happy. I’d found it for a moment with Sadie, but now it was gone.
    SADIE
    Ms. Mary was well connected. For three weeks I’d been doing the filing at a local lawyer’s office. Apparently, Ms. Mary’s neighbor worked for a lawyer, and the lawyer needed someone to assist his secretary. With Ms. Mary’s glowing recommendation, he hired me and was paying me exactly what I had been making before. When school started, I would go directly to his office after school and work until six each night. Mary Ellis, his secretary, was around Jessica’s age and easy to work with. I enjoyed the