by Cassie James
Patrick grunts back in greeting, and Jax shoots him an annoyed look. I would think he was looking out for me, except he doesn’t seem any happier to see me than Patrick does. Cool. I love being stuck in a room with two dudes who look like they wish a hole would open up and swallow me.
“Dr. Knight decided we weren’t making enough progress and needed a mediator. Patrick volunteered.” Jax cuts him a side-eye, clearly not thrilled with this new development. Patrick just stares blankly at me, literally giving away nothing. I can’t imagine what would have possessed him to volunteer. Maybe he didn’t know it would be us he’d be dealing with. “So he’s going to mediate and then he’s gonna fuck off.”
“Gladly.” Patrick leans against the big study desk, his eyes meeting mine, and holds out his hands. “Tell me what you’ve got so far.” Jax starts to answer, but Patrick puts a hand up. “Not you. Her.” He looks expectantly at me as my mind goes completely blank.
The problem is, I’ve mostly avoided facing Patrick head-on, and so I’ve been able to somewhat ignore how impossibly attractive that he is. Now that his honey-colored eyes are focused solely on me, I feel like I’m melting. There’s just something about his bright eyes against the contrast of his beautiful, smooth dark skin that really does something for me. It’s too bad that he’s always such an asshole, because I would lick him like a snack if ever given the chance. Yeah, I seriously have it that bad. At least, until he opens his mouth. That always has a way of ruining it for me.
“How the hell are you passing your classes if you can’t form a simple sentence? Hello?” He waves a hand in front of my face. “Is anyone home?” What an asshole. I’m the worst combination of embarrassed and angry, my chest feeling like it’s caving inward as my whole body flushes.
I’m stuck between two evils. On one hand, I hate the smug face Patrick is making, but on the other hand, Jax and I might never actually finish this project if someone doesn’t give us a good shove in the right direction. Every decision we have to make we’ve argued about. With no other real choice, I give Patrick the run-down of what we’re planning to cover in our presentation. He looks aimlessly around the room while I talk, as if he’s not even paying attention now that I’m giving him an answer. That only infuriates me more, and eventually it starts to look like it’s getting to Jax, too.
“Great, so that’s covered,” Jax interrupts. “Are we done now?” He looks ready to carry Patrick out of the room himself if he doesn’t go soon. I’ve always assumed the two of them were friends since they run around with the same group and eat lunch together every day, but now I’m not so sure. Jax doesn’t look any happier with Patrick than he usually does with me. To be fair, that might just be how Jax is; I have seen him being an ass to people more often than not. He’s not a people person.
“What are you doing about costuming?” Again, Patrick looks to me for the answer.
I stutter over my words. “Wh-What costuming?” It’s a school project, not a Broadway musical. Why on earth would we need costuming? Patrick looks to Jax like he wants to share in ridiculing me, but Jax’s expression hardens.
“I’m taking care of it.” Jax crosses his arms but there’s no pose in the world that would make him so unapproachable that I wouldn’t question the fuck out of him. I take a step closer, lowering my voice because I wish Patrick wasn’t privy to this right now. I’m really, really hoping he doesn’t have to report back to Dr. Knight. There’s no way this project meeting would reflect well on our ability to work together. Damn Jax for picking me as his partner in the first place.
“What? What do you mean you’re taking care of it? Why didn’t you mention we needed costumes?” There’s no way in hell I’m letting Jax dress me. Not in this lifetime. “I can get my own, just tell me what I need to get.”
Jax tugs my hair, Patrick’s signature move with other girls, and I know he does it on purpose because he stares right at Patrick when he does it. He only responds to me once he realizes he’s not getting anything more than a stone faced glare out of Patrick. “Don’t be ridiculous. I had to order them a month ago to make sure they’d be done in time. You can’t just walk into a Halloween store and pick up what we need. Our costumes are being custom-made. The designer’s basing them off Lincoln and his wife.”
“Mary Todd,” Patrick and I both say at nearly the same time. Our eyes meet in surprise, and for a second he looks like he hates me slightly less than usual.
“Fucking nerds.” Jax picks up a pink sheet of paper and shoves it against Patrick’s chest. “Sign this and go already.” He looks so ridiculously angry that part of me doesn’t actually want Patrick to go and leave me alone with him. At least Patrick’s disdain for me is rooted in this idea that I’m somehow beneath him. I’m pretty sure Jax just likes being an ass for no reason.
“You haven’t told me anything about your actual presentation. What format are you using? Are you going to do a skit? A presentation? An interactive game show? You should have that figured by now so you can start rehearsing. There are only a few weeks left before you’ll be expected to have this perfect. Dr. Knight doesn’t play around, he won’t pass you for subpar work.” Patrick’s making my head spin. I didn’t realize they take their silly projects so seriously here. It’s just schoolwork, there’s plenty of real life to worry about on the outside. I can’t believe how caught up everyone is in something so inconsequential. Yet another reason that I hate this new life where I’m expected to show up to classes regularly.
Jax grinds his jaw back and forth, and I’m pretty sure whatever answer he’s going to give isn’t going to be one I like. “We’re gonna do a presentation,” I blurt out, hoping to beat him to the punch. A presentation seems harmless enough. Of course Patrick looks less than impressed, like I’ve given the wrong answer to a trick question.
He looks away from me to look at Jax instead and asks, “So, which one are you going to do?” My jaw falls open as Patrick patiently waits for Jax to answer, even though I’ve just answered for us.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” My mouth widens even further, is Jax seriously about to stand up for me? “You can get any other girl to drop her panties for you. I’ve told you once she’s off limits, so it’s about time you back off.”
Patrick smirks. “I haven’t done anything.”
“Yeah, that’s the fucking problem isn’t it? You’ll flirt with anything with a pulse and then drop those girls like they’re nothing. Now I’ve got something you want and you’re gonna play this stupid shit where you pretend you’re not tripping all over your own tongue to get to her? I’m not falling for that bullshit, and neither is anyone else.” Jax is up in Patrick’s face now, and I’m more than a little confused. I do know for certain that this is not Jax standing up for me. Is he seriously insinuating that Patrick is interested in me? I’ve seen the way he flirts with Sadie, and nearly every other girl in the school, but he’s never once looked at me like that. Jax is hallucinating if he thinks otherwise.
Patrick stands up from the spot where he’s been leaning since I arrived, his eyes passing over me with the usual disinterest. “Your daddy might be governor, Woods, but you don’t run anything. You’ll run her off just like all the others, and when you do, I’ll still do whatever I want—just like I always have.”
Jax is still fuming as Patrick slams open the study room door and leaves, leaving behind an uncomfortable silence in his wake. I nearly jump right out of my skin when Jax kicks the desk, heaving it several inches across the floor. He curses, turning away from me as he slams his hand against the wall for good measure, too.
I can’t help myself. I never can. “What was that?” I ask. I must be missing something, because that seemed like it had to do with me, but that doesn’t make any sense. When Jax turns back around, he stomps right up to me, getting into my face.
“What was what?” He’s daring me to ask him about it. I’m sure he can tell how uncomfortable I am, and I’ve figured out he likes that. A little too much, if
you ask me.
“You sounded jealous.” His eyes flash, and I have to admit that I’ve hit on something, as baffling as it is. “Over me? Why are you acting jealous over me? Patrick didn’t do anything, he barely tolerates me.” Or, at least not that I could tell. Even after spending months with these people, there are still plenty of things they do and say that seem to go right over my head.
Jax shakes his head, his eyes never leaving mine. “You’re awfully naive for a girl plucked out of the ghetto.” His words make me bristle, just like they always do. He really knows how to hit me where it hurts. “If flirting worked with you, Smith would be a lot further along than he is now. Patrick’s using a different tactic, playing the asshole because he knows girls like you don’t want what’s good for them.”
What. The. Fuck. “Is that what you’re doing, too? Playing the asshole?”
“Me? Hell no.” He throws his head back and laughs, a throaty sound that echoes in the small room and sends a warm feeling spreading through my belly. “What you see is what you get, sweetheart, I am an asshole. When you give in to me, it’s going to be because you can’t help yourself. And you’re sure as hell not going to be thinking about Patrick-fucking-Dupont when it happens.”
This is way too much. It’s not like I’ve forgotten the undressing incident in the hallway, but being turned on by someone is still a far cry from being interested in anything more than that. Besides, I can’t help but bring up the elephant in the room. “What about Smith?”
“What about him?”
The two of them are friends. “You know Smith flirts with me, why aren’t you being a jackass to him about it like you just were with Patrick?” It’s no secret Smith’s been showing an increasing amount of interest in me. He flirts with me all the time at lunch, right in front of Jax’s face. As far as I can tell, Jax hasn’t given him shit about it.
“It’s different.” He really seems to believe that, though I don’t personally see how it’s not the exact same thing.
“How so?” I can’t make sense of all of this unless I have all the information. Dragging answers out of Jax is such a headache. He only wants to give away as much as he wants to give away, no more and no less. I huff at him. “Just tell me.” He can’t just start dropping bombs like this and then not give me any real answers. I’m not his own personal plaything to use for his amusement as he sees fit. Despite what he seems to think, I am still a living, breathing human being.
Jax grabs me by the waist and before I can protest he’s setting me down on the desk. The cold wood reaches me even through my tights and I shiver. Jax steps in between my legs, resting his hands on my thighs in a way that feels way too possessive. “Why are you so worried about what I’m doing?”
I roll my eyes at him. “I wouldn’t be if you’d stop doing things that involve me.” It feels like he just wants to dodge my question. “You didn’t answer me. Why is Smith different from Patrick?”
“You really want to know?” He leans in and I nod. Damn those dark eyes of his, they’re hypnotic. His hands slide dangerously higher, to the point that if my skirt wasn’t between us, this would be obscene. How do I keep ending up in these situations with him? “The thing is, sweetheart, it wouldn’t be the first time Smith and I have shared.”
Jax wraps my hair around his hand and pulls me closer. There’s no meeting in the middle, he’s forcing me to come to him. He’s kissing me even before I’ve gotten a chance to grasp what he just said, which means that revelation comes while his tongue is wrapped up with mine. I try to pull back, clarify what he just said, but he pulls my hair harder, forcing me to stay where I am. I whimper into his mouth as his grip starts to sting my scalp. Still, he doesn’t let go until he’s good and ready, and I’m just along for the ride.
The moment he lets go I gasp out, “I’m sorry did you just say you and Smith have shared a girl before?” That’s not a thing people do… is it? He has to be fucking with me.
“Picture it.” He runs one of his hands up over my hip. “If I can make you feel like this.” He keeps moving up, his thumb eventually brushing the side of my breast. My whole body shudders with pleasure. “Just imagine how it would feel with us both.” He kisses me again, closed-mouth this time, but with every bit as much intensity of the other kisses we’ve shared. “Smith knows how to take his time, work you over until you’re begging for it.” He inches the hand on my thigh down so that he’s touching my thigh through my tights instead of my skirt. “And then I’ll remind you who’s really in control.” With one hand on my thigh and one on my waist, he jerks me forward—and then I’m feeling his hard-on pressed against me for the second time since we’ve met.
I have no idea what’s happening right now, but it feels so fucking good. His words are barely making it to my brain, and I still can’t wrap my mind around the arrangement he’s describing, but he’s making it so easy to picture.
“That’s the bell.” Jax steps back, and all I can think about is how quickly I miss the contact. No one’s ever touched me quite the way Jax does.
“Hmm?” Wait, what did he just say?
“First bell. Time’s up. I have to go to my locker before class.” And that’s how he leaves me, still panting on the edge of the desk with my skirt pulled halfway up. I blink several times, confused about how I ended up here. Plus, why the hell didn’t Jax just go to his locker before we needed to meet? Wait, no, that’s not the right thing to be thinking. I should be glad he needed to go to his locker, so that whatever this was stopped before it went any further. I groan as I stand up and fix my skirt. Jax is a monster, but damn if I didn’t like seeing that particular beast come unleashed.
I still feel frazzled as I dip out of the study room a minute later. The first bell rings early, so I still have plenty of time to stop by the bathroom and check my hair before stopping by my locker. I’m sure Jax did a number on my hair the way he grabbed it. I’m so distracted worrying about how I look that I see Ace coming down the hall too late. He does a double-take when he sees me and then looks back over his shoulder where Jax is disappearing around the corner at the opposite end of the hall. Based on the way he looks at me next, I’m pretty sure he has some guess as to what just happened in there.
I try to focus on a poster on the wall so I don’t have to look at Ace as I start to walk past him. I’ve done a damn good job at avoiding him this long, I don’t want to end that streak now. He’s not having it this time, though. At the last second, he steps in front of me, causing me to either run into him or stop. I choose the latter.
“You need to watch out for that guy.” The ominous quality to his voice sends a shiver up my spine. There was a time at the start of the school year when I might have taken Ace’s word as gospel. Not anymore. I try to step past him, but he blocks me again. “You can’t trust Woods,” he tries again.
I laugh right in his face. “That’s rich coming from you, of all people.”
There’s a pink tinge to his cheeks as he shakes his head. “I know.” I’m actually surprised by how easily he takes my jab. He rubs a hand over his chin, thinking his next words over carefully, I guess. “I didn’t post those pictures, Juliet.”
I study those green eyes of his, surprised he’s finally bringing this up. It would be so easy for me to believe Ace wasn’t the one responsible for those photos, and to be fair, they barely made a stir around school. I’m not sure how scandalous the people around here actually thought they were. Sadie told me full-on nudes aren’t that rare of an occurrence, so my photos were incredibly mild by comparison. Still, I know Ace was the one in my room that night, and it’s taken him this long to decide to defend himself.
“Did you take those pictures?” I ask, because really that’s the only answer that matters. He sucks in a harsh breath of air, then blows it back out slowly until his cheeks expand like a chipmunk. There’s my answer, confirmed for good, once and for all. Even if he wants to put the blame on someone else for posting the pictures, no one made him take them in the first
place.
I breathe out an uncomfortable laugh because I don’t know how else to respond. This time, he lets me step past him. I make it several steps away before I pause, wanting him to know, “I’m never going to forgive you for what you did.” I’m still close enough to see his Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he swallows hard. He looks nearly as pained as I feel, but it doesn’t make me feel bad for him. I’m no stranger to be taken advantage of; it’s not the first time or the second or even the third. But those are memories I’d rather keep buried, and they don’t sting the way this does. I never felt safe in Nikon Park anyway, but in a well-respected community with a major police presence? This is a home I should have felt safe in, a place where I didn’t have to always be watching over my shoulder, and as far as I’m concerned, Ace is the one that stole that from me.
Chapter 15
In Nikon Park, there were two types of families. Those that spent the holidays together sharing what little they had, and those where holidays were lucky to be acknowledged at all. Me? I grew up seeing Thanksgiving on television. The closest I ever got to a Thanksgiving dinner was the year our school got a special grant to do a Thanksgiving lunch for the students to share with their parents. It wasn’t anything special, just dry turkey drowned in salty gravy and a scoop of mashed potatoes that tasted like cardboard. I still thought it was magical all the way up until the moment when my dad—who’d shown up high as a kite—broke down into big, sobbing tears because he’d just been let go from yet another shitty job that barely paid the bills. I was only eight or nine, and I had to be the one to console him because Mom never even bothered to show up.
On television, there are always those colorful scenes of families sitting down together at a table with bowls full of every food imaginable. And yeah, sometimes things still went wrong, but they were always together, and there was always that scene. Some part of me was convinced that Pearl and I would share some version of that scene for our own first Thanksgiving together, even though there were only two of us. It turns out I was way off. Way, way off.
