Abbi Glines - Misbehaving

Since when did Jax have time to stalk my private life? “Get to the point.”

“Touchy. So you two are back on again,” he replied. I pulled my phone back and checked my text messages. I wasn’t in the mood for this.

Jax had sent me a photo of Jess sitting beside a guy, smiling up at him while he was saying something to her. Jax had texted: Look who’s got a date to Preston Drake’s birthday party.

“What the hell is this?” I asked, standing up and taking several deep breaths while I tried to decide what to do.

“You saw the text? That’s who sat across from Sadie and me during dinner tonight.”

“Where are you?” I demanded, walking to grab my keys and wallet from the dresser beside my bed.

“Sea Breeze. Preston and Amanda’s place. Everyone else is inside still eating, but I thought you should see that. Not sure what your relationship is with her, but you need to know she isn’t sitting around Sea Breeze waiting for you. But then, you had heard the stories about her. Don’t want you to get hurt.”

I opened the door to my apartment and slammed it behind me.

“What are you doing?” Jax asked.

“Going to the airport,” I snarled, unable to mask my anger.

“So you two are seeing each other. Is it exclusive?”

I stopped stalking toward the elevator. Was it exclusive? That one question had been like a slap to the face. What was wrong with me? I had been ready to go get on a plane and demand Jess explain herself. But I couldn’t do that.

“No,” I replied, and leaned up against the wall to let the heaviness settle on my chest. “We aren’t. Exclusive, that is.”

“Then I guess she isn’t doing anything wrong. Didn’t think she would right in front of me, but I still wanted to make sure you weren’t being screwed over.”

She was with a guy. Someone else. Was she going to kiss him? Had she already kissed him? Was she seeing him, too? Fuck.

“You still there?” Jax asked.

“Yeah. I’m here.”

He sighed, and I felt the big-brother lecture coming on, from the sound of his sigh. “Guess it’s time you deal with reality, then. I gotta go. Sadie will start wondering where I went.”

“Yeah, okay. Wait, did she . . . did Jess say anything to you about me?” I asked, holding on to the hope that I was on her mind.

“No, she didn’t,” he replied.

I hung up, letting the phone fall to my side. She was on a date. This was my fault.

I turned and went back to my apartment. Studying was going to be impossible now. I grabbed my overnight bag and threw some things into it while calling to book a flight.

JESS

Under any other circumstances, having a rock god like Jax Stone staring at me would be thrilling. However, this was entirely uncomfortable. Twice tonight I had come close to telling him that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. That I wasn’t sure what he knew or what he thought he knew, but Jason and I weren’t exclusive. Not that I didn’t want to be.

Sadie apparently noticed Jax’s interest in me and Jeff, Preston’s friend who I had been seated with during dinner, and she kept trying to break the tension by talking to me. To make things even more uncomfortable, Willow Hardy wasn’t exactly happy with me being here. I felt like pointing out that Marcus was holding their kid in his lap while gazing at her like she fell from heaven just for him.

“Excuse me,” I said to Jeff before standing up. He was talking baseball with Preston, and Amanda had slipped out a few minutes ago, followed by Sadie. I was going to find Amanda and make an excuse to leave.

“Sure,” Jeff replied with a dimpled smile. He was cute and had those pitcher’s arms going for him, but he wasn’t Jason.

I walked in the direction that Amanda had gone in and overheard her and Sadie talking in the kitchen. Knocking on the door frame, I stepped into the kitchen. Both girls’ heads snapped up, and Amanda put a much-too-bright smile on for me.

“Hey, Jess,” she said.

I didn’t wait for her to say any more. “I think I’m going to head out, if that’s okay. Since dinner is over.”

Amanda took a quick glance at Sadie, then back at me. “Oh, um, okay. You sure you don’t want to stay for cake?”

“No. I think I’ll forgo the cake, but thanks for the invitation. I . . . enjoyed the evening.” Which wasn’t exactly true, but I didn’t want to be rude.

I could feel Sadie studying me, and I moved my gaze to hers. I wanted to say something to her about my relationship with Jason, but then if he hadn’t told them, he may not want me to. Instead I forced a smile, then turned to leave.

“I didn’t know about Jason,” Amanda said before I could walk out of the room.

I stopped and turned back around. “What about him?” I asked, trying to sound as if it was no big deal.

Amanda shifted her gaze from Sadie to me. “That y’all were dating,” she said, looking at me apologetically.

I shrugged. “Not many people do. It’s a casual thing.” I hoped my voice didn’t give me away.

“Oh. So y’all aren’t serious?” Amanda asked.

“Who’s not serious?” Eva asked, walking into the kitchen with Willow. Both of them were carrying dirty plates. Willow was the first one to notice I was in the room. She tensed up and glanced at Eva. I had pissed them off, and although they were now married, they still hated me for flirting with their men back then.

I ignored Eva’s question since she hadn’t been speaking to me, and looked back at Amanda. “Nope. He’s got his life at Harvard, and I’m here in Sea Breeze. Jason isn’t interested in serious with me.” I hadn’t meant to say it like that, but trying to fix it would only make me look more pathetic. “Thanks again, Amanda. I’ll see myself out,” I told her so I could escape before they asked me anything else. Just before I walked out, I turned to Willow and Eva. “I’m sorry. I know y’all don’t like me, and I deserve it. Just wanted you both to know that I’m sorry about how I acted back then.”

Willow’s eyes went wide in surprise. I decided to just leave it at that and walk away. I had said what needed to be said. They really didn’t owe me a response.

“Okay. Thanks,” Willow replied in a soft tone. Her expression was still one of amazement.

“Yes, thanks for . . . that,” Eva said, her face almost friendly and slightly amused. I smiled and decided I liked having that weight off my shoulders.

“Bye,” I said, then left the kitchen.

On my way out I called out a bye to everyone in the living room. I didn’t make eye contact with Jeff. It hadn’t been a real date, and I had no desire to get to know him more.

Driving home, I tried not to dwell on the fact that Jason still hadn’t called me. He did say he would be busy this week. The fear that he’d gotten back to Harvard and forgotten about me was nagging at me. I hated feeling this way.

Tonight had been a mistake. That wasn’t my crowd. I loved Rock and Trisha, but his friends weren’t my friends. I didn’t really have friends. Hank’s friends had been mine for so long that when it was over I had pushed everyone else away.

Hank hadn’t been back to my house since he’d had to get married to keep his kid. It was a relief not to have to worry about him beating on my door in the middle of the night. Talking him down from being an angry drunk was tiring. I knew this wouldn’t last—he would get tired of doing what Carrie said, and he’d be back. I was enjoying the break while I could.

The knocking on the door started just after midnight, and I stared at the ceiling in my bedroom, thinking this couldn’t be happening. I had just been thinking about how great it was not having to deal with Hank.

He wasn’t banging on the door, so there was a good chance he wasn’t drunk. That could be even worse. At least when he was drunk I could calm him. Sober, he was dangerous. When my phone started ringing, I reached over and picked it up. Jason’s name was on the screen. Sitting up in bed, I cleared the sleep from my voice and took a deep breath before answering. I had been waiting on this call all week.

“Hello,” I said, a little too anxiously, into the phone.

“Are you gonna make me stand out here all night?” he asked.

It took me a moment to understand what he was saying.

“Is that you knocking?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I jumped up and ran to the door. When I jerked it open, Jason stood outside with his phone still at his ear, but he wasn’t smiling. He stuck his phone in his pocket and stepped inside before putting his hand on my hip and backing me against the wall. My heart had just enough time to flutter before his lips touched mine.

This made up for no calls all week. It more than made up for it. I opened my mouth when his tongue slid across my bottom lip. The pleased growl that came from his chest made my entire body feel hot and flushed. I slipped my hands into his hair and leaned into him as his minty taste invaded me. He always tasted so clean. I loved that. It made me want to crawl into his arms and never leave. There was a security with it that didn’t make sense. Just because he tasted good did not make him less dangerous to my heart than anyone else.

“You had a date tonight,” he said against my lips as his hand tightened on my waist.

I started to shake my head and stopped. He meant Jeff. Jax had called him and told him. Was that why he was here? Could he get here that quickly? I grabbed his shoulders and broke the kiss enough to catch my breath.

“Did you come because I was at Amanda’s with Jeff?” I asked. I was torn on how I wanted him to answer this. He had said he wanted to keep this casual. We were doing that. Me dating someone else was okay, but if he had come all this way because he was jealous, then I liked that. I liked it a lot. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted him here because he missed me or if I wanted him jealous.