The guy that started it walked up behind her. “Is that any way to treat a woman? There’s no need to be rude just because you found a new piece of ass man.”
Amber crossed her arms and looked past Jaxon to me. “You aren’t special, you know. He does this with everyone. Don’t think you’ve got some advantage because you live together.” Everyone around us was listening and watching.
“Man, you’ve gotta learn how to treat a lady,” the guy said, walking toward me.
“I’m Bobby,” he said, putting his hand out for me to shake.
I backed up, looking for a way out of the whole mess. Bobby stepped forward and said, “I’ve heard about you, Iowa. You let me know if he gives you any trouble. We’ve got a support group for the girls he ditches. I could rehabilitate you. He touched my arm, but I pulled back. Before I could do anything else, Jaxon was in front of me, towering over Bobby.
“You touch her again and you fucking die. Got it?” He was utterly calm and completely terrifying as he said it.
“C’mon, Jax, you know you’re going to get sick of her. I just want her to know she has options.”
“Someone’s got to clean up your messes, Jaxon,” Amber snapped.
He turned to Amber with a look bordering on cruelty and said, “You pursued me. Let’s not pretend it was any other way. My patience is gone. I’ve tried to let you go nicely but you just don’t get it. Get back to that posse of idiots and leave my fucking friend alone. It’s not her fault that you make bad choices, got it?”
Again, his voice was steady and quiet, but the rage wasn’t hidden. She scrunched her eyes and started to open her mouth, but caught herself and headed back to her friends.
“Not nice, Jacky. Your new lady’s gonna think you’re a bit of a bastard,” Bobby said. He turned to me to say something else. In a flash, he was on the ground. Jaxon loomed over him, fists at the ready.
“Whoa, Jacky, calm down. We’re just having a friendly conversation,” he said, shielding his face with his hands.
“He’s not worth it,” I said to Jaxon, placing my hand on his chest. “Let’s get out of here.”
His arm twitched with the urge to throw a punch, but he stood up and relaxed his fists. “I’m sorry about that, Toots. No one should ever treat you that way, no one,” he said to me.
He put his hand on my back, guiding me away from the drama. His hand was warm with power, and it covered the small of my back like the paw of some massive creature. I never really had anyone rush to my defense other than Tiffany. Cole wasn’t that kind of guy. It was impressive, but intimidating.
Adding up the fight after the race, last night’s confrontation with Cole, and this morning’s events, made it seem like Jaxon had serious anger management issues. I began to wonder how much control he really had over his temper. For the first time, his Herculean build didn’t seem as appealing.
Chapter 15
My morning was strange and class was grueling. I was happy to have a break at lunch to sort things out in my head. Trying to listen to my professor’s lecture while Jaxon popped in and out of my head, was overly difficult. I found a quiet spot under a tree and took out a book but kept thinking about Jaxon.
Was he sexy because he seemed dangerous?
Was I that girl?
I heard the tinkling sound of too many bracelets approaching from behind and turned, expecting Tiffany. I got Amber. She sat down without saying a word.
“I’ve got a lot to do, so I don’t have time for this drama. Jaxon and I are just friends,” I said.
“Whatever. We both know that’s bullshit. Even if it’s technically true, you look like a lovesick puppy whenever he’s around.”
“Think whatever you need to, but leave me out of it,” I said, not taking the time to look at her.
“Trust me, I don’t plan to hang out with you. We’re not going to get a cup of fucking coffee or anything. But you need to listen to me.”
“Why would I do that? You’re mad at him. It has nothing to do with me.”
“You’re damn right I’m mad at him,” she shouted. “That’s the whole point. And I hate your whole I’m-a-little-angel-from-Iowa act. But I hate him more. He’s an asshole.”
“Okay, are we done?” I asked, gathering my things.
“No. The thing is that you’re not special. You might think you’re special, but he’s already got, like, some big deal girlfriend back home. That’s why all he ever does around here is screw and leave.”
“It’s none of my business,” I said, ripping blades of grass out of the ground. “And it’s none of yours. I think he made his feelings perfectly clear this morning. Why do you want him if he has a girlfriend anyway?”
“Because okay. Now listen to me, because that’s the only way I’m gonna leave. And I can be a real pain in the ass. Just ask Jaxon.”
“Say what you need to say, so I can get back to work. I really don’t have time for this Amber.”
“You know he disappears, right? Like for days at a time? You must have noticed.”
“I don’t keep track of his schedule.” He was gone a lot, but I wasn’t sharing that with her. He obviously didn’t want her to be a part of his life. It should have been perfectly clear to her.
“He’s got some secret girlfriend. I think he’s even got some kid with her.”
“What?” I asked, surprised by the accusation.
“I saw his phone a few times Elana.”
“You saw it, or you went snooping through it?”
She glared at me. “The point is that he has all of these texts—like dozens of them. It’s some chick named Maggie. She’s always asking when he’s coming to visit again and if he misses Katie. She’s constantly saying that she loves him at, like, all hours of the night.”
“Is that your whole story? A single guy in college gets late-night texts from a girl? Are you going to tell me the sky is blue next, or should I just figure that out for myself?”
“You’re a real bitch. I’m just trying to help you out. There’s no reason we should all have to suffer because of that bastard.”
“Well, thank you for your altruism Amber. Have a nice day.”
“Whatever.”
She snatched up her things and stomped away. I resisted the urge to hurl a clump of dirt at her head. Jaxon was lucky to get away from her, unless she was actually right.
Maybe I’d be lucky to get away from him.
I met Tiffany at the cafe after my last afternoon class. I needed some pleasant conversation, hot coffee, and fresh pie. I finished up homework while I waited for her. The bell rang that was attached to the main door causing me to look up, it was Tiffany.
She strode over and asked, “So, what’s new?” She slid into the booth on the opposite side of me.
“Nothin’ much. Classes. Tests. You know the drill.”
“Uh-huh. So, you’re eating pie with two scoops of ice cream before dinner because of classes?”
“People eat pie all the time. Nobody needs a reason to eat pie.”
“If I had a pie chart showing why you eat pie, there would be one little sliver of ‘pie is good’ and the rest of it would be ‘having a bad day.’”
“Ha ha. Pie chart for pie eating. You’re hilarious.”
“Just spill it before they run out of pie,” she laughed. It was gratifying to have someone know me so well, but it was impossible to hide anything from her.
“What do you know about Jaxon?”
“Ah, so it’s one of those conversations.”
“No, it’s just that I heard some things. I live in his apartment, so I’m allowed to be curious, right?”
“I’ll be honest with you; I know what you know. Lance is his oldest friend, but we don’t talk about him. I know something big happened before they came to school, but I’ve never asked for details. They’re guys. They probably don’t even talk about it in front of each other.”
“Well, does he—” I stumbled over the words. “Does he have any—does he or coul
d he, maybe, have a kid or something?”
She started laughing so hard that she choked on her coffee. “Jaxon? Jaxon?!?”
I waited for the laughter to stop.
“No. No, Jaxon does not have a kid. Where did you get an idea like that?”
“You know, people talk.”
“Which people?”
“Amber.”
“Not exactly a reliable source.”
“No, but a convincing source,” I pointed out.
“Listen, I don’t know his whole deal, but I know you. He may be more than you can handle. You’re kind of innocent.”
“I am not. I’m as mature as you are.”
“I don’t mean it as an insult. You dated Cole through all of high school, so your guy experience is a little limited. You just graduated and moved across the country. You’ve been through a lot. I’ll support anything you want to do, but do you really want to deal with something like this right now?”
No boys, no drama.
He was making me forget my promises to myself.
“No, not really.”
“Elana, you’re gorgeous. Hot guys are a dime a dozen. Have fun. Have all the fun you can, but be careful.”
“Are you gonna order? I recommend the cherry,” I said, changing the subject.
“Ok, girl. You wanna eat pie; we’ll eat pie.”
I watched her place her order. The waitress smiled like she was talking to an old friend. Tiffany had that affect on people. I was lucky she actually was my old friend. She was right about Jaxon. I had so many plans for myself and I didn’t have time to renovate some mess of a guy, even a guy that hot.
When I got home, nobody was there. I walked from room to room, turning on the lights. I had this need to check the rooms when I was alone. Even if I knew nobody was home, I wanted to see for myself.
I dragged my backpack to his desk and sat down to do some homework, but I wasn’t motivated. My stomach was filled with pie, and my thoughts were filled with Jaxon. There probably wasn’t a kid, but there was definitely someone. He disappeared for two or three days every couple of weeks. It wasn’t for racing because Lance always went on those trips. There was something else.
Looking for an extra pen, I pulled open the top drawer of his desk. There wasn’t much in the drawers—a couple of pens, loose change, a movie ticket stub. I grabbed a pen but realized I needed a highlighter, so I had to keep looking. The bottom drawer on the left was filled with paper files. The top drawer on the right was practically empty.
The center drawer on the right had a framed portrait in it. The girl was beautiful. She had long brown hair and dark eyes. There was something familiar about her, but I couldn’t place her. I tried to remember if she was one of the girls from his fan club at the party.
I noticed another picture at the back of the drawer, unframed. It was Jaxon and the same girl at the beach. He had his arm around her and she was resting her head on his shoulder. They both squinted in the sunlight with huge, toothpaste smiles on their faces. After staring at the pictures for a moment, I put both back and closed the drawer.
Who was she? Was it his girlfriend back home that he doesn’t tell anyone about? Maybe it was his baby mama. Amber might be right. I didn’t want her to be. Otherwise, he was cheating on some girl who likely didn’t have a clue. Plus, I never liked guys who were taken.
I opened my books and started on my homework, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the picture of the girl. Why’d I have to find it. I wasn’t going to dare confront him about her because I wouldn’t want him to if I was in his position. There wasn’t any other way to find out though.
Once, when I was looking for hidden Christmas presents in our basement, my mother caught me. She told me nobody ever found happiness by snooping.
Boy was she right.
Chapter 16
I still had the apartment to myself the next night, so I settled onto the couch with my homework. I pulled my drawing pad onto my lap and stared at the sketch of Jaxon. With the charcoal in my hand, I gently rubbed the outlines of each muscle and his lips, working on the shading. It was impossible to add the full detail to his tattoos, but I filled in what I could remember and fit.
His left arm had a car of some sort, some barbwire, chains, and an instrument, like a violin. The right had blue that looked like water and some kind of angel or maybe a pinup girl. His damn body was so distracting that I could barely recall the details of his ink. Tribal tattoos were mixed in to fill each sleeve and also merged onto his chest and upper back. If only I could draw his scent, I had that memorized for life.
Taking a break, I tossed the pad on the table and turned on the TV. Although people rarely find anything good, snooping was extremely addicting. I wanted to look at the photo again. I wanted to pull everything out of the closet and hire a forensics team. Living in his apartment made it impossible to put him out of my mind, but I hadn’t pushed the university to find me a dorm room in a while.
My phone rang, waking me up. I managed to sleep all night on the couch, and now I was late for class.
“Hello?”
“Hey, babe, it’s me.”
Cole.
“So, we said we’d get together. How about dinner, tonight?”
“Um, tonight?” Jaxon’s drawing was staring at me from the table.
“Yeah, dinner and whatever?”
“Sure. Yeah, that’s great. Dinner,” I said yawning and wiping my eyes.
“How’s eight?”
“Perfect. Great.”
“Text me the address, and I’ll pick you up.”
“The address. Yeah, sure.”
“Are you okay? You sound kind of strange.”
“Yeah, no, I’m fine. I was up late studying and overslept. Good thing you called and woke me up.”
“I’m glad I could help! I’ll let you get back to doing what you were doing,” he said.
“Thanks.”
“See you later.”
“Okay, bye.”
My heart was racing from the sudden wake-up call and my impending tardiness. I rushed down the hall to change for class, leaving my books sprawled across the table and sofa. As I struggled to find something clean, I heard the front door open.
“Honey, I’m home,” Jaxon called.
Shit.
“Hey, I’m just getting dressed. I’m really late.”
I pulled a cotton dress over my head and tried to slip my shoes on as I shuffled down the hall. Jaxon was in the living room with my sketch in his hand.
“Who’s this sexy beast?”
“Cut it out. It’s not done yet. I couldn’t remember all the tattoos,” I said, grabbing the notepad from him.
“It looks great. That professor won’t remember what my ink looks like any more than you do.” He walked toward the hallway with his duffel bag, stopping to kiss the top of my head.
What was that for? I tried to ignore it.
“Everything okay while I was gone?”
“Totally.” I tried to busy myself organizing my bag, but he was still standing there, watching me.
“What’re you doing later? Wanna get dinner or something? Catch-up?”
“I have plans for dinner.”
“Ooh, does someone have a hot date?”
“Not really, it’s just dinner.”
“Is your date a secret?”
“No.”
He stared at me. “Then who is it?”
“It’s just Cole. He’s still in town for some reason.”
“Oh,” he said, letting the bag drop. He rolled his neck from side to side and cracked his knuckles. “How long is that guy sticking around?”
“I’m not sure. He left for a few days to go to some business meeting in Miami, but he came back.”
“Lucky us. I wish he’d just leave already. He’s only causing problems.”
“What problems?”
“Problems for you.”
“Me? I think you’re the one having problems with him being arou
nd.”
“Whatever! I could care less about him.”
“Okay.” I smiled. “Well, anyway, class. I’ve gotta…” I picked up my bag and jerked my head toward the door. “Have a good day, we’ll catch-up soon.”
“Sure, soon.”
I hurried out the door. Halfway down the stairs, I realized that I hadn’t even brushed my teeth. It was going to be a long day.
Chapter 17
After class, I went home and took a long, steamy shower and finally brushed my teeth. The shower was the best part of my day. I hated to rush out in the morning without one, but the delay always made me appreciate the warmth and seclusion even more. I closed my eyes and pushed the pressures of class, my pointless attraction to Jaxon, my ambivalence toward Cole, and everything else out of my head. I knew all of those things were waiting outside the shower, but I needed a break from thinking about them.
Back in my room, I pulled everything out of my drawers, searching for the right outfit for my date. I wasn’t sure what was going on between us, but I wanted him to regret breaking up with me. Thankfully Tiffany had agreed to help me out. As I waited for her, I searched for the right outfit but didn’t have a clue what to wear. I went through both my suitcases of clothes trying to find the perfect outfit. By the time I was finished, clothes were scattered all over the bedroom. I stared at the floor of clothes hoping an idea would come to me.
"What are you doing?" Tiffany asked, walking into the bedroom.
I jumped back startled, holding my hand to my chest. "I should be asking what you are doing. I could've thought you were an intruder by not knocking. How did you get in here without a key?"
"Uh, Jaxon let me in," she said.
"Jax is here?" I asked astonished.
"Well he was walking in as soon as I got here. He picked something up and then left."
"Do you know what it was?"
"I didn't really pay attention. It doesn't matter does it?"
"No, I guess not," I said.
"You have a huge mess in here," she said, tiptoeing through the clothes that were sprinkled on the floor.
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