Rebound (Bending the Rules #1)

by A. M. Wray

  “Yes. I am. I’m still smarter than you, though,” I said. I couldn’t believe the childishness of the conversation.

  “Oh, are you? Please, do explain.” He crossed his arms and leaned in, exaggerating the level of attention that he was paying to me.

  “I may be taking him up on his offer to talk about things, but I’m not dumb enough to bring him to family functions.”

  “Hmm. You’re right. You certainly are much better than I,” he said.

  Rolling my eyes, I walked away.

  “Goodbye, Jax,” I said.

  Chapter Nine

  Nervous was a bit too mild of a word to describe what I was feeling about going out with Kevin. Anxiety was much better. I was terrified, but excited at the same time. My heart still had a place for him, but I knew better. God, did I know better. Still… I couldn’t seem to stop myself. If he was as upset over me as he said, then it was possible that he’d learned his lesson. I didn’t expect much. Treat me nicely and don’t sleep with other people. Not that hard, I didn’t think.

  My heart was fluttering and my stomach felt like it was rolling around with every step closer to the theatre that I came. Kevin was standing outside, smiling as I approached.

  “What?” I said.

  His smile widened. “You are incredibly beautiful. You look amazing.”

  A slight sting hit me along with a moment of warning, but it was quickly replaced with excitement at his compliment.

  “Thank you,” I said. “So what are we going to see?”

  Kevin reached his hand out for mine. When I took it, he pulled me close.

  “I thought we’d see something you’d like to see,” he replied.

  My eyes darted over in his direction. I’m sure the look of shock on my face was enough to kill a horse, but he didn’t let it bother him.

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Of course,” he said. “What would you like to see? This night is all about you.”

  We made our way inside, and I looked at all of the posters. There were several action movies and a couple of rom-coms. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to see, but I chose one that I knew we would both like. It was an action movie with a lot of humor. Movies like Red, The Expendables, and anything else like that, I enjoyed. Quite a lot, actually. It turned out that Kevin liked those, too. It didn’t come as a shock to me, as I knew he liked those. He just never watched them when we lived together. He always wanted to watch sports, or something he knew that I didn’t like. He’d apparently never figured out what I actually did like, or the fact that it was very much in common with his own tastes. That, despite the fact that I’d told him many, many times.

  I sighed, but let it go. No need to point out the obvious. I allowed him the momentary joy of his recent “discovery” and moved on.

  As we moved over to the concession area, I saw a very familiar face. One that I did not need at that very moment.

  “Elizabeth,” Jax said, his eyes a bit wide. They shifted between looking at me and then over at Kevin. He was standing with a young woman that I could only imagine was Becky.

  “Hey,” I responded. “How are you?”

  “I’m doing well,” he said, giving a nervous smile.

  “Are ya gonna introduce me?” the girl next to him said, a thick Northeastern accent present. I had a hard time discerning between Boston/New York/Jersey accents.

  “Uh, yeah. Sorry,” Jax said. “This is Becky.”

  “Hi, Becky,” Kevin said, beating me to it.

  Good. Because I didn’t want to say anything to her. She’d hurt him multiple times and I didn’t want to see him with her, though as I thought that, I realized that he would say the same about me and Kevin.

  “Hi, yaself,” she said with a smile. “Nice to meet ya.”

  “Kevin, this is Jax. Jax, Kevin,” I said.

  I hated that. It was awkward and uncomfortable. Jax and I didn’t actually share anything real, but I knew how I’d felt about him in the past. How I still felt about him if I’d let myself…

  “Well, we don’t want to be late for our movie,” I said, grabbing hold of Kevin’s arm. “You ready?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Sure.”

  We started to walk away and Kevin stopped me.

  “We wanted something to drink. I can grab it, if you’d like,” he said. “You can pick our seats out.”

  I smiled. I didn’t want to be around Jax anymore, so it was good enough for me. I doubted they’d say anything real to one another, especially with Becky there.

  “Okay,” I said. “That sounds great, actually.”

  I turned then and began walking across the massive lobby to the theatre hall. Before I made it all the way there, I looked back to see how long the lines were. If they weren’t too bad, I wanted to wait for him. If they were, I’d head on.

  When I turned, I saw him shake hands with Becky first, then Jax. Odd. Why would he bother? I shook my head, clearing my mind. Jax and Becky started heading my direction, toward the theatre hall, so I decided not to wait any longer for Kevin and just shuffled my way as quickly as possible to the movie that we’d come to see.

  It took almost no time at all for Kevin to catch up. He’d grabbed one large popcorn for us to share and each of us a drink. When he returned, he handed my soda to me before kissing my forehead and sitting down. Part of me was convinced that it was all a show, but the other part of me was very happy and impressed. I couldn’t tell if I was happy because my heart was buying all of that, or if I was finally getting what I’d always wanted from him. I wasn’t exactly sure, but I tried not to think too much into it. I was there to see a movie for the first time in a long time. I wasn’t about to ruin it.

  The movie started and the medium-sized crowd went silent. The lights dimmed down and my heart started jumping as my excitement grew. I loved action movies. They were my favorite. In a theatre, I always felt like a kid. I don’t think that I ever grew up in that way.

  The script was fantastic. The entire theatre would erupt into laughter and then almost immediately into gasps. I liked an interactive group, though I didn’t like the noisy teens sitting in front of us. They were rather annoying. Facebook can wait young ma’ams.

  About an hour in, Kevin’s vat of soda hit him and he needed to excuse himself. I’d only sipped on mine, so I was doing fine. He took forever and had missed a really awesome scene. I looked down at my phone and realized he’d been gone for twenty minutes. Apparently, I had been a little more engrossed than I’d thought.

  Once the action was over, I took the chance to sneak out. I moved as quickly as I could without looking like I was about to pee my pants, and made my way out into the large hall. The bathrooms were forever away it seemed, and I wondered why they didn’t have them at that end of the hallway, too. I reached the opening of the lobby area where the ladies’ room and men’s room was, but I saw nothing. He wasn’t getting snacks or around talking to anyone. My heart sank a little as the back of my mind began acting up again.

  If he left me here… I thought to myself. Then I thought, no. Not even Kevin would do that.

  I walked just a few feet closer to the lobby and still saw nothing.

  “Where the hell is he?” I quietly asked myself.

  I turned to head back to the theatre, but stopped when I heard a loud squeak. It was a strange sound, especially coming from the direction of the men’s room. I moved closer, trying not to look like a creeper as I listened. I heard a grunt then. Now… Coming from a men’s bathroom, that could be many things. In my head, however, it was only one.

  I was happy that I’d worn sneakers because at that moment, I was doing some sneaking. I darted into the entryway to the bathroom, hoping that no one saw me. Then I quietly made my way inside the main area. I saw the wide-open urinals, then down a little further I saw several stalls. There was a low grunt again, it was faint, but it was there. I bent over and saw men’s feet. Only one set. They were in the last stall on the left and they were facing the wron
g direction for someone to be using the toilet.

  My heart was racing, rage filling my chest. There was no way. None. It couldn’t be happening. Who? And how?

  I kicked myself for not having paid attention to the shoes that Kevin was wearing when we came in. Those shoes were new. They didn’t look familiar and they were facing the side stall wall. Not the front, not the back. I took a deep breath, realizing that I was about to bust someone, and I had no idea if it would be Kevin, or someone else. I took my phone from my pocket and sent a quick text.

  You okay babe? I typed just before sending.

  Ding.

  “Shit,” I heard him say.

  “What is it?” an accented voice asked.

  “That’s gotta be Elizabeth.”

  Ah. There it was.

  The confirmation that I needed.

  Without further hesitation, I brought my right knee up to my chest and kicked that stall door hard. It busted open and there he was. Becky backed against the stall wall, her legs wrapped around his waist and him buried inside her.

  I said nothing.

  I did nothing.

  Rage filled me. My eyes became hot as my blood pressure rose and as the air got to them from my lack of blinking. My hands balled up into fists. He stood there, wide-eyed, staring at me doing the same to him. My brows furrowed and my eyes narrowed as a dark smile spread across my face. I turned and walked out. I could hear them both struggling to get their clothing together.

  As soon as I was to the entrance of the bathroom, I ran for it. I took off toward the first theatre that I saw. I was going to get Jax. He needed to know, too. I planned to scream his name from the doorway if I had to. In every single Theatre. I had no shame at that moment. None.

  I walked in and rounded the corner to where all the seats were. There were hardly any people in there and I could easily tell that none of them were him. Also, it was a Pixar movie, so I doubted he’d be there. I made my exit and went to the second theatre room. As I rounded the corner, I ran right smack into a large chest. I looked up and saw Jax peering down at me.

  “Elizabeth,” he said, shock clear on his face.

  “Just the man I wanted to see,” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  I didn’t answer. I just pulled him behind me. As I exited the theatre entrance, Jax in tow, I saw Kevin and Becky both standing in the large lobby archway looking around. I was willing to bet that Kevin was searching for me, wondering where I’d gone. He had the keys, but it was too far for me to walk home. He must have known that I was still there, but he clearly didn’t have a clue where to start looking. Boy, was he an idiot.

  “What’s going on?” Jax asked as we approached the philanderous couple.

  Kevin and Becky were both startled to hear Jax’s voice.

  “Oh!” Becky said. “Hi, Sweetie.”

  My eyes narrowed so much that they were little more than angry slits. I couldn’t believe her. She was just as bad as Kevin. They deserved one another.

  “Don’t you, ‘Hi, Sweetie,’ him. You traitorous bitch,” I hissed.

  “Elizabeth,” Jax said, voice calm.

  I looked over and saw him looking down at me. His dark brown eyes and beautiful face was completely unreadable. He didn’t look angry or sad.

  “Please tell me what’s going on,” he said.

  Becky started to open her mouth, but he held up his hand, never taking his gaze off me. It shut her up very quickly.

  “Kevin went to the bathroom and was gone for over twenty minutes,” I said, voice shaking a bit from anger. My hands were once again in fists at my sides. “I went to see if he was okay and found him pinning her to a men’s room stall. One of his friends once told me that he kept business cards on him – which I knew about – but that he would slip them to girls when I wasn’t looking. That part I didn’t know about, and I couldn’t allow myself to. It was impossible to believe someone could be so calculated and cruel. I’m assuming earlier when he shook her hand that he slipped her one of his cards. They were able to text out a meet up time. I saw him on his phone, but wasn’t nosy. I realize now that I should have been.”

  Jax didn’t say anything at first. His eyes only stared into mine. He looked as though he was searching for the answer to something, but I had no answers. I had no idea what to do with the situation at hand.

  “Baby,” Becky said. “Don’t listen to that girl. Who ya gonna believe? Huh? That lyin’ skank? Or me?”

  His brows furrowed a bit as his expression changed. It was disappointment. If it was anything like mine, then it was disappointment in himself for having trusted her, knowing that he shouldn’t.

  “Her,” he said finally. “I trust her.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Becky said.

  “With my friendship, I trust her,” Jax said, stepping away from me and toward the busted twosome.

  With every pointed word he spoke, he took a step forward.

  “With my family, I trust her. With my LIFE, I trust her. With my heart, I trust her. For you… I do not, nor will I ever have any trust. You do not understand what it means to work every day to keep it. You only know how to destroy it,” he said.

  “Lizzy,” Kevin said, his face pleading.

  “No,” Jax said as he rounded on Kevin. “You do not get to talk to her right now. You do not get to lie to her right now. You’ve blown it time and time again. It’s best for you if you leave. Both of you.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” Kevin asked. “I’m her ride anyway. I’m not going anywhere without her. It’s none of your damn business what I say to her.”

  “Maybe not,” Jax said. “And later on, when I’m not around, she can make her own decisions. But that girl has done more for me in the few short weeks that I’ve known her than anyone has in my entire life. I’d be no better than you if I didn’t stand up for her now. If I just walked away when she needed a friend. She came to get me for a reason.”

  “Yeah, to rat us out,” Becky said. “Don’t be lookin’ into nothin’. Especially with that girl. She’s here with another man. She doesn’t want you.”

  “Funny,” Jax said. “You were here with another man, too, weren’t you? But here we all are.”

  “Lizzy,” Kevin said again.

  Jax looked to me. His hands were also in fists. He wanted to hit Kevin, but he was looking to me first. I didn’t want a fight to break out. It was all stupid. We’d all been stupid. Mostly Jax and me, for believing them.

  “Kevin, you need to leave,” I said. “Jax will take me home. You can take Taylor Swift here back to whatever hell hole she crawled out of.”

  “You’re going to pick him over me?” Kevin said.

  I looked at him incredulously. I started to respond twice, but was so dumbfounded by his unbelievably idiotic question that I couldn’t do it. He suddenly made me dumber just for having heard his words.

  “Go,” Jax ordered. “Now.”

  Kevin laughed. He stared at me, but responded to Jax.

  “Well, I’ve had them both. Choosing her is a bad idea, if you know what I mean,” Kevin said, still giving that smug smile. “She’s not that great to look at. You kind of have to force yourself through it night after night, but I guess you’ll figure that out the hard way, buddy. You’ll probably be in my shoes soon enough.”

  My heart wanted to fall out on the floor. My chest burned, but not with rage. Kevin knew exactly how to hurt me. My anger instantly dissipated as tears filled my eyes. My entire chest and stomach grew even hotter with the self-hatred that I felt.

  Jax looked to me once again, his dark brown eyes finding mine full of tears. Hatred immediately flashed across his face as he turned and landed the hardest hit I’d ever seen in person. I heard bone give way as Kevin’s nose broke. He hit the floor hard. Jax stepped over him, both of his legs straddling Kevin as he reached down and grabbed his shirt. Jax pulled his arm back and punched Kevin in the face one last
time before standing up.

  “You were clearly never taught how to respect a woman. That’s why you’ll never keep one,” Jax said. “Come on, beautiful. Let’s go. I’m going to take you home.”

  I nodded and stepped forward. “Can we stop for milkshakes?” I asked. “I need one to calm my nerves and refill my big fat ass.”

  I was sad and angry. There was nothing more degrading and disheartening than being spoken to in that way. I said that last bit loud enough for Kevin to hear.

  Jax smiled. “Yes. We can stop and get one for you. Because if that’s what’s making that ass so perfect then I’ll buy you all the milkshakes you want.”

  His response made me smile. I hoped that Kevin heard that, too. Not only was it sweet, given the situation – because I knew he didn’t talk to women like that any other time – but it was also a middle finger to Kevin. Just because he was a pig and didn’t find me attractive, didn’t mean that I wasn’t attractive. I didn’t care what he thought. I planned to get the biggest, chocolatiest milkshake they had and drink it until I wanted to throw up. Because chocolate soothes the soul. Well… Mine anyway.

  Chapter Ten

  When Jax pulled up to my house, he parked and leaned back against his seat. His head fell back against the headrest as he sighed heavily. Silence filled the car as I watched him stare at nothing on the roof of the car. Somehow, I felt worse for him than I did myself. Possibly because I went into that situation with a large part of me knowing it would end badly. I was skeptical from the beginning, but I only agreed because I’d been so angry at Jax. I stupidly wanted to prove that I could do whatever I wanted to do, especially if Jax was going to do the same. I deserved what I got. Only the dreamer in me expected more than what happened. It was possible that he believed that Becky was better than that. It was possible that he had full faith in her. I hoped not, though. I hated seeing him hurting.

  “Are you okay?” I asked finally.

  He looked over, an amused look on his face.

  “Me? I’m fine. My concern is more with you. Seriously… I don’t get it,” he said.