The Truth About Fairy Tales Read Online Free PDF Page B

held me in place.
                  “Stay here,” he told me when I tried to pull away. “Stay here and let me handle this, Maggie.”
                  He got out of bed and reached for his clothes giving me only a cursory glance before he left me alone feeling like the biggest cheat in the world.
                  I heard them arguing as they moved away from the bedroom door. Jackson had taken his nephew downstairs. Ben’s hurt was clear. Although I couldn't hear what he said, I didn’t need to. As always, Jackson’s voice came to me sounding calm and unmoved—lacking in any emotion at all. He didn’t feel anything by his nephew’s pain or what had taken place between us.
                  It was then that it hit me—the truth. This whole night had all been part of his plan. Very well played out and very precisioned. I’d fallen right into it without a second thought. Without any of the expected fight. This was all part of Jackson’s well-designed plan to get rid of me. He didn’t need anything from my past to defeat me. He’d accomplished it all in his bed.
                  I grabbed my clothes, my fingers trembling so much that it was impossible to fasten them. I heard the front door slam hard and knew Ben had stormed out without even waiting to hear my side.
                  When Jackson came back, he seemed surprised that I wasn't waiting quietly in his bed.
                  “What are you’re doing?” I finished buttoning my blouse and forced myself to face him.
                  “What does it look like? I’m leaving. You got what you wanted…”
                  He didn’t let me finish. Jackson pulled me close, his fingers threading through my hair, forcing me to look at him.
                  “You leave when I say you leave, little bit—not before.” And then he kissed me and picked me up and carried me back to his bed. And he was right. I did exactly what he wanted. Jackson Riley was like a drug for me.
                  Sometime much later, he leaned over me again, his fingers holding my chin still so that I didn’t miss the triumphant look in his eyes.
                  “I think you just accomplished what no amount of my arguing with Ben ever could. Congratulations, little bit, you are your mother’s daughter after all.”
                  While I tried to recover from that devastating blow, he got out of bed and tossed my clothes back to me. “Now you can get dressed.”
                  “What?” I was that little girl again, his words stunning and hurting me all in one fatal sweep.
                  “Get dressed. I make it a rule not to let any of the women I sleep with spend the night here. It keeps things—uncomplicated that way. Sorry to inform you, little bit, but you certainly aren’t going to be the exception to that rule.”
                  Jackson pulled on his shirt and buttoned it, looking down at me. I couldn't keep the hurt from my expression. I could almost believe I saw his expression soften as he looked at me because he added, “Get dressed and I’ll call you a cab.”
                  To my utter shame, I was forced to dress with Jackson watching my every move. But I didn’t have to take his charity and I certainly didn’t need to see him again.
                  I walked past him with as much dignity as I could muster and should have been thrilled to hear the urgency in his tone when he called my name and asked me to wait.
                  I didn’t bother answering. I walked out into the rainy Austin night and away from him before I started to cry.
                  I'd embarrassed my grandmother and myself. I’d behaved exactly as he’d expected me to. Exactly like my mother. In Jackson’s opinion, there was not one single bit of difference