Karlie nodded and Jax continued. “I got this tattoo of her favorite flowers. I got it only a few years ago actually.”
“Why's that?” Karlie turned her body to look at him, leaning in closer to look at the details.
“My mom is probably my best friend,” he said, his face heating.
“Why are you blushing? That’s super sweet! Most guys wouldn’t admit that.”
He smiled and looked away from her to the water.
“What about this one?” Karlie asked, brushing her finger lightly over Jax’s right bicep.
He flinched at her touch, surprised when he turned to look at her that she was hanging over the side of her chair to eye it.
It was another flower, this time a red rose with different items scattered around it: a guitar, pencil and notebook, what looked like a school building.
“I, ah, got that when I was eighteen. My first one actually.” He swallowed against the thickness in his throat.
“Oh, what does it mean?”
Jax licked his lips and shifted in his seat. “Uh, just represents a few things in my life that were important to me as a teen.”
“School was important to you?” Karlie asked, laughing.
Jax smiled wanly. “No, it wasn’t. It’s more what I found there.”
“Oh, what’d you find?”
Jax was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer. “Well, I…uh…my high school sweetheart.”
“Oh,” she said, sitting back. “You had a high school sweetheart?”
He nodded, but couldn’t find a way to form words to say anything else. Seeming to sense this, Karlie nodded and didn’t say anything either while he gathered himself.
“I thought about having it changed or removed, but it represents a part of my life I don’t want to forget. It helped push me to pursue music seriously and I met Harry right after.”
Karlie nodded but didn’t comment. Jax sighed, realizing the conversation had taken an overly serious turn and he needed to move on.
“And, that’s it,” he said with a smile.
“Do you have plans for any others?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t plan to get these, they just happened. What about you? Any ink?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Want any?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe if there was one that struck my fancy, I might get it.”
He nodded and they lapsed into silence. He snuck a glance at her from the corner of his eye and sighed. She was the whole package it seemed. She was smoking hot and intelligent. She was exactly who his parents would want him with and that frightened him a bit. Relationships weren't a part of his vocabulary normally, so the prospect of something serious with her was daunting.
Yet, he couldn’t shake the idea that trying a relationship with her would be worth it. That it might change him for the better, and he might finally find happiness. After Melissa, he never thought he’d find contentment again. He certainly never thought he’d enter into another serious relationship again.
But here he was, with Karlie, not thinking about the past and hurt that lived there. Instead, he was concentrating on the future because she was worth it.
Chapter Nine
Karlie
Karlie winced as she sat at a small table at Common Ground. Even though she kept applying sunscreen the day before, it wasn’t enough and she was burned on her back and legs. She tried to smile at her waitress, though she was sure it was more of a grimace, and ordered an iced coffee and water while she looked over the lunch menu.
“Fancy seeing you here.”
Karlie glanced up and watched Harry plop into the chair across from her. She hissed in pain as she moved and her skin tightened further.
“Hey.”
“You okay?” he asked, accepting a menu from the waitress when she returned with Karlie’s drinks. Harry ordered his own iced coffee before the waitress walked off again.
“Just in a bit of pain. I’m sunburned.”
Harry winced. “Yikes. You put something on it?”
Karlie sipped her drink and sighed in happiness. The cold coffee slid down her throat and made her shiver. “Yeah, last night and this morning. Hasn’t done much yet though.”
“Sunburns are the worst.”
“It is. I always try to be careful, and still end up looking like a lobster.” She laughed, then groaned.
Harry chuckled. “Do you remember when we were kids and our parents took us to the beach. We refused sunscreen.”
Karlie groaned. “Don’t remind me. Didn’t we both get sun poisoning?”
“Yeah. Neither of us could move for a week. We just laid in our rooms, hoping it would get better.” He paused and shook his head as he chuckled. “From then on, we let them slather it on.”
Karlie laughed. “It hurts to laugh and remember that, but man, that was bad.”
The waitress sidled up to the table, dropped Harry’s drinks and took their food order before leaving them alone again.
“You had fun yesterday?” Harry asked, sipping his coffee.
“I did. It was nice to hit the beach.” Karlie thought back to it. The day had been beautiful and it was a lot of fun to hang out with Jax and get to know him better.
“And spend time with Jax.”
Karlie flushed. “Yes, and spend time with Jax.”
Harry leaned back and threw an arm over the back of the empty chair next to him as he slouched. He pursed his lips as he looked at her. “How’s that going?”
“What do you mean?”
“You and Jax. You’ve been out twice now. Is there a third date in the future?”
Karlie shrugged and concentrated on her iced coffee.
“He hasn't asked?”
Karlie glanced up and saw the surprised look on his face.
“Nope. Dropped me off yesterday and that was that.”
She continued to study Harry's face, which still reflected surprise. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he relaxed and raised a brow at her.“That was it?”
She nodded.“Yep.”
“Nothing else? No kiss? Nothing?”
Karlie shook her head and took a long sip of her coffee. While nothing had happened besides a small kiss on Karlie's lips before leaving, that didn't mean she hadn't wanted something to happen. She'd spent her shower last night thinking of all the ways she could have gotten Jax to join her inside.
“Hmmm...” Harry said, breaking Karlie from her thoughts.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Karlie narrowed her eyes and decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. If he was going to grill her, then she'd do the same to him.“So, how about you?”
“What about me?” he asked, sipping his drink and moving his eyes from her to look at something else.
“You and Bailey. That on again?”
Harry sputtered and coffee hit Karlie in the face. She should obviously think that through in the future. Getting hit with Harry's flying spittle was not high on her list of things to repeat.
Harry coughed and Karlie passed him a napkin and grabbed one for herself. “You good?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, voice strained.
She sat back and waited.“Well?”
Harry’s eyes darted around the cafe as he said, “Nothing.”
“You think I believe that?”
He brought his eyes back to hers. “Why wouldn’t you?”
Karlie barked out a laugh and flapped her hand. “Please. You two always do this dance.”
Harry shifted in his seat and lowered his gaze to his glass, running his finger through the condensation. “Yeah, and?”
“What’s going on?”
Harry worked his jaw and Karlie felt a little niggle of guilt over bringing it up. Bailey and Harry had a tumultuous relationship that started in college. It wasn’t something that was discussed often, even more so when they weren’t dating or barely speaking.
“Same as always,” Harry admitted with a sigh, giving in. Karlie cheered internally. “We’re dancing around each other, but Bailey won’t let it be anything,” he continued.
“Well, you do know what she’s like.” Memories ran through Karlie’s mind, most of them involving Bailey being hard-headed and obstinate, refusing any sort of relationship with Harry.
Harry shrugged. “Yeah, but I can still hope it’ll change; she’ll change.”
Karlie winced. “Do you think she will?”
“She’s your best friend. You tell me.”
Their eyes met, and Karlie looked away. As much as she loved Bailey and Harry and as much as she loved them together, Bailey was a major commitment-phobe and Karlie wasn’t sure Bailey would ever be able to settle down.
“I’d like to think yes,” Karlie finally said.
“You and me both,” Harry said with a sad smile.
Karlie reached across the table and squeezed his hand.
She pulled it back when the waitress brought their lunches and Karlie changed the subject to lighter topics, asking Harry about upcoming gigs and his family. By the time he left her at the table with a smile and a wave, she had almost forgotten the start of their conversation.
Unfortunately, left to her own devices, her mind immediately turned to Jax. The two dates she'd had with him were great and she wanted to get to know him better. However, she couldn’t reconcile the side she saw when they were alone with the guy that had girls falling over him at the gigs. Which was real? Could she trust Jax to be faithful to her and only her?
Karlie’s front door opened, making her jump and wince as her sunburn pulled.
“Why are you laying on the couch? You’re always doing something.” Bailey slapped Karlie on the back.
“Ouch!” Karlie jerked as the sting of the slap escalated into an intense burning sensation on her back.
“What’s your problem?” Bailey dropped into the armchair.
“I have a sunburn,” Karlie moaned as she shifted trying to get comfortable again. No matter what she tried, she just couldn’t find a position that didn’t hurt.
Bailey winced. “Sorry…didn’t realize.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Karlie muttered, settling into a semi-comfortable position on her stomach.
“What crawled up your butt and died?” Bailey leveled Karlie with a hard look.
“Nothing.”
Bailey snorted. “Sure, okay. Want me to order pizza while you work out what that nothing is?”
Karlie waved her hand at Bailey but didn’t say anything. She closed her eyes and listened to Bailey order a pizza and cheesy bread. She heard rustling, footsteps, and the clinking of glasses.
“Here,” Bailey said.
Karlie cracked her eyes open and saw a wineglass hovering in front of her face. She slowly sat up, wincing as she shuffled around so she didn’t press on her burn, and accepted the glass. “Thanks,” she said with a small smile.
“Do you need me to put some aloe on your back?”
Karlie opened her mouth to decline, but realized Bailey would be able to get it on there better than she could. “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
“No problem.”
Bailey grabbed the aloe from Karlie’s bathroom. “Take your shirt off.”
“Just what I wanted you to always say to me.” Karlie rolled her eyes as she pulled her shirt over her head.
“Girl, I’ve seen more than what you’re showing me right now.”
Karlie laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. Remember my twenty-first birthday?”
“Before the blackout, yes. You ran into the ocean naked. I can’t unsee that.”
“You joined me.”
“I couldn’t let you make bad decisions alone.”
Karlie winced as a dollop of cold aloe hit her back. She immediately sighed in relief as Bailey carefully rubbed it into her back. While the sunburn was still painful, the addition of aloe helped to soothe it. Instead of intense burning and pain, it was now just a mild, aching throb.
“I’ll leave this out and do another layer before leaving tonight.” Bailey snapped the tube shut and placed it on the coffee table. Karlie slowly pulled her shirt back on.
Bailey reclaimed her spot in the armchair and sipped her wine while staring at Karlie. “So, want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?”
“Karlie,” Bailey said, sounding exasperated, “you know what I’m asking. You’re surly and muttering. Something is eating away at you.”
They lapsed into silence as Karlie stared into her wine to avoid meeting Bailey’s eyes. “Well?” Bailey asked after a few moments. “Want to talk about it?”
Karlie grumbled as she sipped her wine. “Not really…”
“Too bad. Spill.”
She swirled her wine and continued to avoid Bailey’s stare. Bailey sighed. “Didn’t you enjoy yesterday?”
“Yeah, I did. It was a great day.” And it had been. One of the best actually.
“Then, what’s the problem?”
She continued to stare at her wine. “Karlie…”
“I don’t know!”
She glanced at Bailey and saw the surprise on her face. Karlie slowly blew a breath out. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I had a great day yesterday. Jax was caring, which was a bit surprising, and it’s one of the best dates I’ve had.”
“Why were you surprised he was caring?”
Karlie rolled her eyes. “You’ve seen him at shows.”
“Yeah, and?”
She cut her eyes to Bailey. “That’s not what he’s like.”
“You know that for a fact?”
“A tiger doesn’t change his stripes…”
“You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Are we exchanging platitudes?” Karlie asked.
Bailey shrugged and sipped her wine. “Just saying, is all. That’s him in a social setting where there are a lot of women. Of course he’s going to let them come to him. Why should he do all the work when they want to be with him?”
Karlie wrinkled her nose, but Bailey continued, “You’re saying he’s different when you’re alone?”
Karlie nodded, thinking back to what he was like on their dinner date. “Yeah, he’s…sweet?”
“And…that’s a bad thing?”
“Not really. But I don’t feel like I can trust it or him.” Karlie gave a half-shrug.
Bailey’s eyebrows rose to her hairline. “Has he given any indication that you can’t trust him?”
“Besides his revolving door of women?”
“Wow…” Bailey took a sip of her wine. “You’re assuming a lot, aren’t you?”
“How am I assuming if I’ve seen him with women?”
“How have you seen him with women?”
“They fall all over him at venues and he laps it up.”
Bailey shifted and cocked her head to the side. “Yeah, but that’s just talking. Have you seen him kiss one of them? Leave with one of them? Heard him talk about any of them?”
“Well…no…but—”
Bailey held up a hand to stop Karlie. She snapped her mouth shut. “You’re basing your assumptions on what hasn’t happened. That’s super judgmental.”
Karlie rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure my assumptions are accurate.”
“Your judgments you mean.”
Karlie rolled her eyes. “Call it what you will, but the fact remains that it’s true.”
“That might be, but is it wrong that he takes what’s offered?”
Karlie huffed. “I should have known that you wouldn’t understand.”
“I’m going to ignore that veiled insult and say this instead. I know you’re scared because of assface, but you can’t project those feelings onto Jax. You’re not giving him a fighting chance.”
Karlie worked her jaw, not wanting to admit Bailey was right. She glowered into her wine. Ever since her failed relationships with Rick, in which she'd discovered he was not
the monogamous type, she closed herself off to dating and romance. She’d go on one date, maybe two, and inexplicably make up an excuse to end everything.
Her doorbell rang, pulling Karlie from her thoughts, and Bailey jumped up to answer it. She dropped the pizza on the coffee table when she returned and walked into the kitchen to grab plates. Karlie continued to avoid looking at Bailey and sipped her wine instead. She took a deep breath and sighed at the wonderful smell of the pizza wafting toward her. Her stomach grumbled and she realized she needed to eat or the wine would go right to her head.
From the corner of her eye, she watched Bailey open the pizza box and grab two slices. The smell of the pepperoni pizza from their favorite pizzeria assaulted her nose with more intensity. Her stomach growled in protest when she didn’t get a slice for herself.
“Sulk all you want,” Bailey said between bites, “but you know I’m right. You’re trying to avoid anything having to do with Jax.”
Karlie ground her teeth and spoke through clenched teeth. “Yes, you’re right. It doesn’t mean I want to hear it.”
“I don’t want to hear you compare me to someone you don’t even know, yet here we are,” Bailey said flatly, picking at her pizza.
Karlie winced. “I’m sorry, Bailey.”
She finally looked at her best friend and saw the hurt in her eyes. “I was out of line,” she continued. “I’m just so conflicted. I want to know him more, but I’m so worried that it’s just a ruse. I didn’t fall at his feet initially, and I’m worried he’s just in it to get another notch.”
Bailey chewed and looked at Karlie thoughtfully. “Is that a terrible thing?”
Karlie sputtered and started to protest, but Bailey stopped her. “Hear me out first. You’ve played it safe ever since the fiasco with Rick in college. You’ve gone out with good guys that you’ve been bored with, and that’s not even taking into account the ones you’ve ghosted after a date or two. I’m not saying throw it all away for a bad boy, but playing it safe isn’t doing anything for you.”
Karlie snagged a slice from the partially open box and folded it in half, taking a bite and chewing before replying. “I get what you mean, but it’s hard. Jax represents everything that scares me.”
Jax (Southern Sands Book 1) Page 8