Lahat ng Kabanata ng Red Riding Jack: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 29

I walked into the kitchen and instantly smelled the delicious Christmas food. Surprisingly, the room was busy with people preparing for the holiday. Bertha, of all people, stood near the counter, sipping on a glass of juice. As our eyes met, she put down her drink and began to walk towards me.I released a sigh as I already knew what was to come. My body tensed, and my eyes widened as her arms wrapped around me. "Merry Christmas, Amanda," she said, a grin on her face."Wh-?"I looked at her in confusion, my eyebrows furrowed as I wondered what she was trying to get at. Bertha never liked me, so why was she being nice to me now?"Would you look at that," Charlotte walked over to us with a smile. My face softened at how happy she looked. "My daughter-in-law is finally getting along." She placed her hand on her chest and looked at us happily.Before I could say anything, Bertha's phone rang, and she excused herself. I raised a brow as I watched her walk away, skeptical of what she was pl

Sweaty bodies, cheap perfumes. Fuck, I missed this. I took a swig of my drink, gulping it down in one go, and my head instantly began to spin as my hips moved with the beats of the song.I laughed with Bertha as we held each other and danced. "My legs are killing me! Let's take a break!" she yelled over the loud music, and I nodded, stumbling our way to the bar."Who knew it'd be so fun with you when you aren't being such a bitch!" I giggled, and she laughed. "Yeah, well, you could also be a bitch at times," she shrugged, and we both laughed."Handsome!" Bertha called to the bartender, and he smiled at her. "Two more shots of vodka!"I placed my head on the table and groaned. "Fuck. I'm so drunk right now.""Let's have one last drink and go home," Bertha laughed, and I raised my head to her. "Fine!" I groaned, took the drink from her, and downed it."I'm going to head to the bathroom real quick, then we will be on our way!"I waved her off as she walked away and ran my hands through m

“What did you do?” I gritted my teeth as I met Bertha at the hallway. She turned to me, eyes swollen and rushed to hug me. I stumbled back and frowned then pushed her away.I scoffed and shook my head. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” “It’s not what you think, Amanda! I swear. When I came back to the bar you were already gone!”I chuckled, my eyes glaring daggers into her head. “You drugged me.”“W-what? What are you talking about, Amanda,” She frowned moving forward while I took some steps back. “I should have known everything you were saying about leaving Jack for me was bull shit. You wanted me to cheat so he would leave me”Bertha stared at me for a few seconds before a low chuckle escaped her lips. She wiped the tears that had formed around her eyes. “Like I said, Amanda. I didn’t do shit.” She stepped forward and pointed her fingers at me.“Don’t blame me for what you did. You spent the night out with God knows who and you’re trying to pin it on me?” She scoffed and

**Amanda’s POV**There was a party. Tonight. The only reasonable dress that I had was the one Jack got me for our date. All that was left were just jackets, trousers, and shirts. I took in a deep breath and ran my fingers through my hair. Now this was something else that I had to worry about. There was a knock on the door, and I frowned and dropped the shirt that was in my hand on the bed.I walked to the door and pulled it open, and standing before me was Charlotte. I sucked in a breath, and a smile played on my lips. “Hi!” I chirped and stepped backward, letting Charlotte in the room.“Oh, Amanda! We live in the same house, but I hardly ever see you,” she said while I chuckled awkwardly.Her eyes moved to the pile of clothes that were on the bed and back to me. “Would you like to go shopping with me, Amanda?”*****I couldn’t say no. I mean, I tried, but Charlotte definitely didn’t let me. She said we needed some “we” time, so I agreed. We both walked around the mall as we looked fo

Amanda’s POV:Ethan.My gaze moved from each man as I wondered what the hell was going on. “Jack?” I called, and slowly, his eyes were now on me. I took steps away from the man—Ethan—and stood next to Jack.“Is something wrong?” I asked, placing my hand on his bicep. “Do you know him?”“We’ve had a brief encounter.” I turned to see Ethan walking towards us. He stretched his hand towards Jack. “It’s nice to see you again, Jack,” he added with a smile on his lips.Jack’s brows furrowed a little before he took Ethan’s hand. “What are you doing here?” Jack asked him suspiciously. “You never mentioned to me that you would be coming to my family’s party when we met,” he said, and Ethan chuckled.“Well, I didn’t know that you were Mrs. Hawke’s son. I got an invite to the New Year’s Eve party just this afternoon, and since I was going to be in town for a while, I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea if I attended a party,” he said, and then his eyes turned to me. “And I guess it really wasn’t a