I had to hold onto that. She and I had a connection we couldn’t deny. I wasn’t going to be able to fight it for long. Hopefully, she picked me soon.
I knew it would be difficult with Braddox putting things out there like he really didn’t want to disrespect her or make her feel like she was an answer to his physical needs.
Well played, Braddox. Well played.
Chapter 22
Olivia
Somehow, I’d slept after Jaxon left. I must have been exhausted from my double dose of O’Donnells throughout the day and night.
Jaxon had a point. I couldn’t expect either of them to do what I wanted when I hadn’t chosen one. It wasn’t fair to ask them to share me when I wouldn’t want to share them, either.
Just the thought of another girl with her hands on either twin was enough to make me clench my fists at my sides and huff out air on an infuriated whoosh.
I picked up around the apartment, aimless in my tasks. I wasn’t sure what to do. Stephanie had mentioned going somewhere with her dad but that could always change. She’d probably message me when she got back. Who knew what was going on with her? I felt bad she was pregnant and dealing with so much, but I couldn’t solve her problems for her. All I could do was be there for her as much as she needed or would let me.
I checked my phone for the sixteenth time in the last hour, ignoring the late afternoon lighting outside. Of course, I was checking for a message from Stephanie, but a part of me wanted to hear more from my mom than anything. Was I surprised I hadn’t heard from her yet? It wasn’t like I’d returned her messages from the weekend and Monday. It wasn’t like I’d made any moves to connect with her. I was still mad though and I wasn’t sure how to push my pride aside and ask her when she was coming back.
Food in the pantry and fridge mollified me somewhat, but I didn’t know what was going on with her or her job or anything else. Since we’d moved, I felt like the distance between us was growing more and more and not physically so much as metaphorically.
In my room, I bent over in my closet and pulled out a pair of my favorite faded jeans and yanked them on. I wasn’t going to sit around in leggings all day, waiting for someone to ask me to hang out. I pulled on a soft cotton peasant shirt with wooden buttons and hand embroidered designs around the collar.
My jacket fell to the floor from the chair by the dresser and I picked it up, leaving behind a box Braddox had handed me the night before. He’d said something about not opening it until I’d gotten home.
When I’d walked inside, I’d been too tired to even think about what might be in the box, but as I carried it to the couch, I took a deep breath. What was he giving me? It wasn’t light or heavy, but more somewhere in between. Maybe he’d bought me a pair of shoes. Not that that would be a bad thing. Shoes were always welcome, but he wouldn’t know my size or even what my style was.
I preferred Converse and low-profile shoes that had simple colors – bright or otherwise.
Braddox struck me as the type of guy who would like his girls in stilettos that could spear through you like a sword.
What if he got it wrong? What if he didn’t pick out the right thing for me? Would that mean we weren’t a good match? It might make my choice easier as I struggled between who I should be with – him or Jaxon. It was a fair problem to be stuck in.
Maybe I needed to use whatever Braddox gave me as a deciding factor. If he gave me shoes that fit me, it might be a clue that he knew me better than I thought and it was time for me to give him a full chance, only being friends, if that, with Jaxon.
I lifted the lid of the box with both hands and pushed aside the white tissue paper folded carefully over the contents.
The paper folded back, revealing rubber banded bundles of hundred-dollar bills.
I blinked. My throat tightening and constricting as if I could somehow breathe through a hole the side of a straw. What the hell was he doing, giving me money?
I reached with shaking fingers for the post-it stuck to the tissue paper and narrowed my eyes at the message.
I never back down and that was one hell of a dance. Ten grand as promised.
Images from that night I’d previously forgotten flooded my mind. I’d danced for him, agreeing to do so after I’d been promised the ten thousand dollars. I hadn’t known or cared if it had been Jaxon or Braddox. I’d wanted him to do whatever he could to close the distance between us. I’d stripped my clothes off, until all that had been left had been underwear and bra.
He’d picked me up, redressing me and then holding me.
Braddox had only held me and I’d been almost naked on his lap.
Did that mean he didn’t crave me like I wanted him? Maybe that meant we weren’t a good match, I didn’t want Braddox to not be turned on by me. If I couldn’t control myself and he could, then maybe there was nothing there.
At least Jaxon seemed as attracted to me, as I was to him.
I stared at the money, uncertain just what to feel about it. Did I keep it? I’d earned it, hadn’t I? But then that made me feel uncomfortable with the relationship I was working on with Braddox. Was that what he saw me as? A prostitute? Isn’t that what happened? First it started with stripping and dancing, then morphed to sex and other tricks for cash.
Or maybe Braddox expected me to give him so much more with that payment? Maybe he thought it would soften me toward sleeping with him and everything he said was some kind of game to get me looser toward him.
I didn’t know and that only frustrated me. I wasn’t going to be bought.
That kind of money… I had to give it back. I nodded, standing from the couch to grab my phone and tell him I wanted to see him when a knock came at my door.
I slid the lid back on the box and tucked it beneath the coffee table. Approaching the door, I wiped my hands down my pants.
Pulling open the panel, I bit my bottom lip.
Jaxon stood there, holding flowers and what looked like a box of chocolates.
Cocking my head, I smiled in confusion. “Did we… hi?” He’d left the night before like he was mad at me or the situation or something. I hadn’t been sure what to think or do and I’d all but shoved everything between us to the back of my mind. Thinking about Jaxon left me confused and hungry for something he refused to give me.
Dressed in dark blue jeans and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows that only made him look more rakish and bad ass, Jaxon offered me a side grin that made my stomach flip. “I’m taking you out. Proof I want more than just heat with you.”
He wanted to take me out and he was there with the traditional flowers and candy. He was coming at things old school, walking to my door and bringing me red roses.
I motioned toward my clothes. “I’m not dressed to go out.” Especially, if he tried taking me anywhere in the same caliber his brother had.
Honestly, I didn’t want to go high end that night. I was tired from the night before and running all the scenarios of the last few weeks through my mind all day.
“Nope, you look perfect. Let’s go. I’m starved.” He winked, stepping inside to put the flowers in a mason jar he found in a cupboard and setting the chocolates on the counter. He held out his hand and quirked an eyebrow at me. “Come on. Let me show you how good we are together.”
We hadn’t even known each other long enough to know that but I had to agree with him, there was something inherent about being around him. Like my body missed him and my soul remembered him from a time before we were on the earth.
“I don’t think you know how good we are together, either. I think we’re too new to know that.” I grabbed a hoodie and followed him from the apartment. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to go with him.
He stopped and turned toward me, taking my hand and staring into my eyes with an intoxicating intensity. “I can feel how good we’d be together. Getting to know you is a bonus.” He pressed his lips to my cheek and then turned to lead me to his car, not letting my hand go.
/> He had a possessiveness to his displays between us that I’d wondered about. Would he really do that with me in public? He’d apparently heard what I said the night before and he was acting on it.
It was the first time I felt like I’d actually been heard.
Sure, Braddox seemed to care that I thought I was just someone he wanted to jump, but I’d offered myself to him. He was most likely abstaining because he wanted to get in my pants.
Settled in the car beside Jaxon, I mentally berated myself. I didn’t have to think badly about Braddox because he’d dropped that money off. He hadn’t treated me like a whore, so I had no right getting upset with him. And yet… I couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking by giving me a box full of cash.
Either he thought of me as a whore or he felt sorry for me because I lived on the east side of Shores. Either way, it didn’t make me feel good about myself or him.
I didn’t want a pity boyfriend and wasn’t that what he was? If I did something with him and then he disappeared, he would prove my suspicions that he was only out for one thing. If he didn’t, then I couldn’t help worrying that he was only with me because he felt sorry for me and I was a charity case.
At least with Jaxon, I didn’t have to worry about that. He didn’t have more money than me. And he held himself back from doing what I wanted.
The twins were fast getting on my nerves. Didn’t they know that the fastest way to a girl’s heart was to do what she wanted?
I thrummed my fingers on the armrest of the door, looking around at the interior. “This is nice. Is it leather or vinyl?” I trailed my other hand along the seat of the bench between us. I loved the style of the classic cars and it gave me something to talk about with him that didn’t have to do with his brother or the sexual strain between us.
“It’s vinyl. Leather doesn’t work when it’s three times the worth of the car.” He grinned at me, pulling out into the street and driving toward the center of town.
We passed the short ride with teasing banter between us that left me feel unstressed and like I was hanging with a friend. I needed to feel like I wasn’t all alone and stuck with a hot guy who wanted only one thing. He had no idea how much it meant that we could just relax around each other.
He pulled up in front of DeGuido’s Pizza and I gasped. “Oh, my word! DeGuido’s?” I hadn’t been there since right before my dad died.
I blinked back tears, staring out the window at the brightly lit sign above the restaurant.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jaxon leaned across the seat and gently rested his hand on my shoulder.
I patted my knuckles under my bottom eyelashes and shook my head. “It’s… this was the last place my dad and I went together before he died. We got in a small argument; you know? And… well, I didn’t want to talk anymore about it.” My dad and I had fought about me dating Braddox and the way Dad thought I was getting too serious for my age.
I swore Dad didn’t understand. But as I sat there in the car staring at the sign, I had to admit my life would be a whole lot simpler, if I could have stayed away from both of the O’Donnells.
“We can go somewhere else, if you’d rather.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, compassion softening the lines around his eyes.
I shook my head again, smiling over-brightly at him as I reached for the door handle. “No, it’s okay. It’s a good memory. Nothing morbid or anything.” I hadn’t shared the memory with anyone and the fact that I’d shared it with Jaxon meant something. I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to inspect what.
After being seated, I glanced around the interior of the restaurant, grateful that nothing had changed from the wooden tables and chairs to the checkered tablecloths and the lantern sconces above each booth along the walls.
Jaxon ordered a pizza “with everything” and two drinks. We waited together at the booth we’d been sat at.
Kids from both schools claimed seats on opposite ends of the restaurant. It was one of the only places that was considered neutral. Neither side was willing to give up the deliciousness that was DeGuido’s. And no one could blame them. Even top-ranking officials from the capitals of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California flew in to eat DeGuido’s pizza.
“I hope you like everything. I’m not picky when it comes to well-made pizza.” He leaned back in the booth, watching me with a grin.
I glanced self-consciously around at the students from both sides of town and then at Jaxon. “Aren’t you worried they’ll think we’re together?” Part of me wondered what people would think about it after I’d claimed he sucked in bed. Another part of me worried what Braddox would think. Unless of course, no one thought it was Jaxon I was with. At least the people from West Shores would think I was with Braddox. The people from the east side would think I was with Jaxon.
A perky blonde in a skin-tight leather skirt and top that looked like it was intended to be an undershirt approached the table, trailing her finger across Jaxon’s shoulders as she reached us. She was obviously not wearing a bra.
She sliced her gaze to me, narrowing her eyes as she took in my curly dark hair and the easy way I sat with Jaxon.
Jaxon didn’t look at her as he reached out and flicked her hand off his arm. “I don’t know you.”
The blonde pressed her hand to her overflowing chest which made me a little self-conscious about my own covered breasts. It had to be hard to be attracted to me when there was a strutting hormone show standing at the table beside us.
As if his words didn’t penetrate, the girl purred and scooted onto the bench seat beside him, cuddling up against his side. “Ah, Brax, you weren’t saying that last night. In fact, you weren’t saying much at all.” She sent me a side smile and did something with her hand under the table that made Jaxon cut his gaze to her.
He grabbed her hand and all but shoved her from the seat. “I said I don’t know you.”
I slid from the table as it dawned on me. Braddox had seen her last night – after me. Only those close to him were allowed to call him Brax. How close had she been to think she could sit beside him in a booth across from another girl and feel him up?
I folded my arms across my chest. How dare she touch Jaxon or Braddox? Both were off limits until I decided which one I wanted.
The fact that Braddox had gotten a piece after leaving me the night before had a definite weight on my decision.
Redirecting my anger from Brax to the blonde in front of me, I narrowed my eyes. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. He was nicer than I’m going to be.” I jutted my jaw to the side, trying to tamp down the fury billowing through me. It wasn’t her fault. She thought he was Braddox and she had no reason to think he was taken. That was Braddox’s fault.
I’d deal with Braddox later. Right then, I had to claim Jaxon. Judging by the humor in his eyes, he couldn’t wait to see that.
If he only knew how jealous I was, he might not be so amused.
Chapter 23
Olivia
The blonde blinked at me as if she wasn’t sure if I was joking or not. She thrust her hip to the side and angled her head while narrowing her eyes. “I’m sorry, you are?”
“Olivia Ramirez. And you?” I would be cordial so long as she didn’t touch Jaxon again. If she’d already screwed Braddox, he was a lost cause to me, but Jaxon… I could at least claim one of the twins as my own, if only for a night.
Her narrowed eyes turned into a parody of a smile as she pressed her French manicured fingers to her almost-bare chest. “I’m Staci Stabler. I’m seeing Brax.” She rolled her eyes and leaned closer to me, glancing at Jaxon who hadn’t lost his amused expression. She motioned between them. “He’s not ready to admit the relationship yet, but when you’ve done the things we have, there’s nothing left but a relationship.” She giggled and reached out to put her hand on Jaxon’s shoulder.
I blocked her hand with mine and shook my head. Pushing her back, I smiled sweetly despite the fury seething beneath my exterior calm. �
�Wrong brother, sweetheart. You can have the trashy twin. I’m keeping the one with integrity.” Something I said brought Jaxon’s steamy gaze to my face with a snap.
Staci jerked to the side, pulling back like I’d slapped her with the back of my hand. Her hair swished to the side, the straight glossy strands a light blonde that made my hands itch to pull it. “There are two of them?” Her lips curled and she arched an artfully waxed eyebrow at Jaxon as she sashayed closer to the booth. “I’ve never done twins before. I’m interested in a threesome.”
Anger flooded me with a relentless determination to get my point across. I stepped closer to her, putting my hand on the small of her back and turning her away from the booth. “Staci, it was really nice to meet you. Go find Braddox and have playtime with him. I’m going to finish my date with Jaxon, okay?” I wiggled my fingers at her as she glanced a few more times over her shoulder at me and Jaxon. She made her way back to a table where an excruciatingly beautiful older blonde woman sat with two waters and the same amount of plates.
I watched Staci until she sat down with the blonde woman and then I slowly turned back to Jaxon, heat flooding my face. What had I done?
He was going to see I’d been jealous and read more into it then there was.
Or was there?
I hadn’t lied to him by trying to claim I wasn’t extremely attracted to him. I hadn’t denied wanting him in more ways than one. I’d just tried to convince myself that Braddox cared for me like I cared for him.
I tucked my chin, sinking back into the booth across from Jaxon who watched me closely.
Blinking back tears, I pasted a tight smile on my lips. “I’m sorry. I don’t… I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” But I did. Braddox said one thing but did something completely contrary to what he murmured to me.
Jaxon leaned over the table, reaching for my hand with his warm fingers. He wrapped my hand in both of his and studied me. “Sure, you do. It’s not hard to know what’s going on.” He studied me, his eyes tender and filled with understanding. I squirmed on the booth.
Forsaken: A bully romance (An Academy Twin Rivalry Series Book 1) Page 20