The colors in the painting were soft and serene, swirling together to create the form of a woman lounging on a porch as she gazed out over a secluded lake. As I stared up at the calming work of art I felt Jax walk up behind me.
“That’s my mother,” he said quietly. “When I was young she used to take me to the lake house while my father went away on business. It’s one of my favorites…reminds me of a simpler time I guess.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said. “Who painted it?”
Jax shrugged as if he couldn’t care less. “I don’t know; it’s not important.” Then he threw his arm around my shoulder and steered me out of the room. “Come on, I’ll give you a tour.”
After a walk through the modern kitchen area and a stroll around the corner to a nook with a library full of books, we headed up the L-shaped flight of metal stairs. The bedroom was large and open like the rest of the rooms, and the bathroom was probably the best room in the house. There was a huge free standing shower made entirely of glass, and at the far side of the room stood a bath tub built right into the floor like a small pool.
The place was nice, but after the tour, we ended up right back in the living room where we had started. It looked like a regular old apartment to me; well, aside from some of the high-end stuff Jax had added in. But I didn’t see anything top-secret about the place. Then again, I’d once been to a house in Laguna Beach that appeared completely normal to the untrained eye, when in reality it concealed an underground prison cell and a bunker full of Voss Hasting’s weapons.
“Wait, so…is that it?” I asked. “This is just an apartment? What’s so top-secret about that?” But just when the words came out of my mouth, I caught a glimpse of an odd-looking door partially hidden from my view behind a large cabinet in the far corner of the space.
I started walking towards it. “What’s in there?” I asked.
“Nothing. It’s just a closet,” Jax said as he ran ahead of me and threw his back against the door.
I shook my head. “Seriously?”
“Sorry. If you’re going to stay here, this room is off limits. That’s my only rule.”
“Jax,” I said plainly, “you know the minute you turn your back for even a second this is the first place I’m going to run, so you might as well just show it to me now.”
His eyes squinted as one side of his mouth curled up into a smirk. “That sounds like fun. When do we start?”
“Jax, please?” I said, realizing he probably would find that game just a little too entertaining. “I promise I won’t tell a soul. You can trust me.”
Jax brought his face close to lean in on me. “You tell me your secret…then I’ll tell you mine.”
I looked down at my shoes. “Jax, I can’t—”
“That’s what I thought,” he said. He swung one leg over the other casually as he leaned back further against the door. “You know…I’m in pretty good shape. I bet I could stand here all night if I had to.”
“You can’t stand there all night,” I protested.
“Why not? Are you planning to use one of your super spy moves on me to force me out of the way?”
I looked away then back again. “Um, maybe…”
“Well, then let’s see it, love. Show me what you’ve got.”
I crossed my arms to my chest, not wanting to give in, knowing I had absolutely no moves whatsoever. I backed a few steps away from the door.
“If you stand there all night you’ll be miserable,” I finally said. “So why don’t we just call it a truce?” I held out my hand to offer a handshake. Jax paused to read my face, and then stepped away from the door to take my hand. As soon as I saw a clear path to the door, I darted forward in a final attempt to sneak past him.
In one quick movement, Jax had his arms around me, blocking my path. “Nice try,” he said.
His arms lingered around me just a little too long, and the air froze in my lungs at his touch. It felt foreign…and wrong. The only arms I wanted wrapped around my body were Rayne’s.
I shoved Jax away. “Fine; you win,” I said, sulking back a few steps. “I don’t have any spy moves or anything, okay? I promise I won’t try to sneak into your secret room or whatever it is. Let’s just worry about getting a hold of the Ambassador so we can help Rayne.”
I started to turn around, but Jax jumped forward, reaching for my wrist. “Sadie, wait,” he said. “I was just teasing you. Look, there’s nothing top-secret behind that door. I’ve just never shown this room to anyone before. It’s sort of…special to me.”
My gaze softened. “What do you mean?”
“I mean there are some things about me that nobody else knows—private things.”
“What kinds of things?” I asked.
Jax looked down and ran his hand through the peaks of his lofty white hair. “Sadie, I live my life in the spotlight ninety-nine percent of the time. And the truth is…it gets a little exhausting, even for me. That room is my only sanctuary from it all—my escape. It’s where I go to strip away the shiny clothes and the autographs and the whole playboy act…and just be me. The real me that no one else knows.”
Suddenly, it all seemed to make sense; Jax seemed to make sense.
I looked at him thoughtfully. “Jax, I realize that you don’t know me very well, and now that I know what this is all about, I completely understand why you don’t want to show me. But just so you know, if you ever did decide to let me in, I would never betray your trust.”
He examined my face. “You know…I think I actually believe you.”
“I mean it,” I said. “I won’t go in unless you ask me to.”
For probably the first time, Jax looked at a loss for words. He scratched his side awkwardly, glancing away as he finally mumbled, “Uh, right. Thank you…for that.”
I started back toward the living area, ready to let the whole secret-room-thing go. “So, what do you have to do around here?” I called back.
Jax followed me around the corner. “Actually,” he said, with a new burst of energy. “Maybe we should go in.”
I stopped. “But, you just said…”
He shrugged. “I know what I said. But maybe…maybe I want to show it to you now.”
“Jax, no. It’s okay. You don’t need to feel obligated. I understand why it’s private.”
Jax grinned and pulled on my hand. “I’ve always secretly wished I had someone I could bring here—someone who wasn’t just using me to get something in return, you know?”
My eyes fell to the floor. I wasn’t the right person for Jax to open his private life to. The only reason why I called him in the first place was because Rayne told me Jax could help me find my father. I was only there because I needed something from him. I was just as bad as everybody else.
I pulled back. “Jax, you should save this for someone special; like a girlfriend or something.”
He stopped and looked away. “There isn’t anyone special, Sadie. Almost every person I meet knows exactly who I am and knows exactly what they want from me…money, fame, connections…I’ve learned how to tell which ones are actually interested in more than what I can offer them, and those people are pretty hard to come by.” Jax turned back toward me. “But you…well, I could tell right from the start that you didn’t care about any of those things. In fact, you’ve made it pretty clear that you don’t want anything from me at all.”
I never thought in a million years that I would feel bad for a guy like Jax Bennett, but here I was, feeling completely sorry for him.
“Jax, I’m sorry if I’ve been a little rude to you in the past, but you have to admit, you didn’t really give me a choice. The way you talk to me…most of the time I feel like you’re trying to undress me with your eyes or something. What was I supposed to think?”
Jax pressed his lips together. “Um, yeah…I guess I probably owe you an apology. I’m just used to putting on a show, you know what I mean? I’m not even sure who I really am anymore. The people want the act, so that’s what
I give them.”
“Actually, I think I know how you feel,” I said. “Let’s just say, I know what it’s like to have to hide who I really am. And for a long time I thought I knew who that was, but now that girl just seems like a blur…like a memory.”
Jax’s violet eyes seemed to glow even brighter. “So, let me make it up to you then,” he said. “Consider it a peace offering.” He pulled me forward to the door that was off limits only a few minutes earlier. “But I have to warn you,” he said. “Now that we’ve talked this thing up into some big deal, there’s a good chance you’re going to feel disappointed.”
“Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out,” I said. I placed my hand on the doorknob and pushed the door open.
A flood of natural light hit my eyes when we entered the room. I looked up to find streams of sunlight glaring down through a ceiling made almost entirely of window panels. My breath caught in my chest as I walked to the center of the room and took in the throng of colors surrounding me. Almost every inch of the towering walls were covered in floor to ceiling paintings and sketches. Easels and art supplies and all kinds of paintbrushes were scattered around every corner of the room.
“You’re…an artist,” I breathed.
Jax moved up beside me. “So, what do you think? Am I terrible at it?”
I took in the array of artwork all around me. Some were big and bold with movement and colors, others soft and thoughtful with whimsical lines like sketches of inner thoughts. It was a room full of magical places, of intensity and emotions, people experiencing the world through Jax’s past and imagination.
I shook my head. “No, not even close. These are seriously incredible.” Then I thought of the painting I saw earlier over the fireplace. “And the one of your mother,” I said. “Is that one yours too?”
“Yeah. That was actually one of my firsts. Sorry I didn’t tell you before.”
“No, I understand,” I said.
I walked up closer along the walls and looked at a few of the pieces more closely. “Wow, you’re really talented. You’ve never shown these to anyone before?”
“No,” Jax said. “They’re better this way. This way, no one can turn them into a spectacle; like Banya did to me.”
I looked at Jax with sad eyes. “You’re not a spectacle, Jax. You’re just…very successful, and people are drawn to that. They want to know what it’s like to live in your shoes.”
Jax dropped himself into a chair a few feet away. “You don’t have to pretend to be nice to me just because I showed you a few paintings.”
I looked at him. “That’s not what I meant.”
Jax jumped up from the chair and shrugged. “That’s okay. I think we’ve had enough girl-talk for one day, don’t you?”
Jax threw his arm around my shoulder and ushered me toward the door, as if the trip to the secret room had never happened in the first place. “I think I’m getting hungry,” Jax went on. “Should we go out and grab a bite? There’s this little food stand down in the market at the park that sells the best meat skewers you’ve ever tasted in your life.”
I decided maybe Jax could only handle being serious in small doses, at least for now. So, I let the room full of paintings disappear behind us. “Sure,” I said. “I could eat.”
Since we were planning to walk around outside, right in the middle of a crowded market full of people, Jax thought it would be best if he toned down his usual look. I just hoped he could tone it down enough that there wouldn’t be any screaming fans recognizing him on the street. It seemed to me like Jax could use a break from all that, and I didn’t want any misguided attention to somehow end up on me. I doubted there was anyone out there that would recognize my face, but I figured it wasn’t a good idea to take any chances.
“How do I look?” Jax said as he trotted down the stairs in my direction.
The words caught in my throat, leaving me speechless. He looked so…normal…and handsome. The make-up was gone, his hair was styled but natural, his clothes were classic and casual in a well-groomed sort of way. And for once, his violet eyes looked soft, even gentle, almost like Rayne’s, like he was happy to see a friend, not trying to seduce me into the bedroom.
“Are you ready to go?” I heard Jax say.
I caught myself staring at him and fumbled for my composure. “Oh, um…yeah. Let’s go.”
By the time we walked across the street to the huge park at the center of the city, I was starting to miss Rayne more than ever before. As Jax and I strolled down the path, I had a clear view of the Court of Ambassadors building a few blocks away. Rayne was probably in there, and it hardly felt like I had done anything to help him. I hated waiting. Why wasn’t my father back yet to take care of this? Didn’t he care what happened to us?
I knew it had only been half a day since Rayne was taken in, but it felt like half a day too long. I wished there was something I could do right now. I wanted to march right up to that building and break Rayne out of there myself. How could I think about strolling out to the city for something to eat, when Rayne was stuck in there somewhere?
I stopped on the sidewalk. “Jax, maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
“Oh, come on, Sade. We’re almost there. We’ll just grab the food and go back, okay? No one’s going to recognize us. There are hundreds of people out here for us to blend in with.”
I hesitated for a minute but finally gave in. “Okay, but can you at least check with your friend to see if he’s passed through the border to call the Ambassador?”
Jax agreed to make the call, but his friend didn’t answer.
“Don’t worry,” Jax assured me. “He’s probably over there as we speak, that’s why he didn’t answer. Let’s just hurry and get our food and then we’ll go right back to waiting for his call.”
I didn’t know what else to do, so I followed Jax further across the park until we reached the food stand he had told me about earlier. Of course the line was long, which seemed really frustrating to me at the moment, but Jax moseyed to the back like it was nothing unusual.
He leaned over my shoulder and whispered, “Normally, I don’t have to worry about lines, but since I’m here in disguise, we’ll have to wait just like everyone else.”
I never thought being seen with the celebrity version of Jax sounded very appealing, but now, the idea of skipping to the front of the line was actually pretty tempting. The idea wasn’t exactly smart, though, so I would have to wait in line just like everybody else.
When we were finally just a few people back from the front of the line, I felt Rayne’s phone buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out and examined the name and number on the screen. It was Rayne’s sister, Violette. For a second I thought maybe I should answer, but I quickly changed my mind. If Rayne wanted his family to get involved, or if they could help him in any way, he would have given me instructions before he left.
It was probably better that they didn’t know where he was anyway, stuck in some prison cell at the Court of Ambassadors. There was no reason to make his family worry. We were going to get him out of there as soon as possible, and he didn’t deserve to be there in the first place.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Jax said.
“No, I’ll just let it go to voicemail.”
Jax stole the phone right out of my hand. “Why not? Who is it?” he teased.
I reached for the phone, struggling to take it back, but before I could do anything to stop him, Jax answered the call.
“Sadie’s phone…” Jax said in a musical tone. “Rayne? No he’s—”
As soon as I heard Rayne’s name, my eyes bulged and I shook my head, trying to make it very clear that I didn’t want Jax to tell Violette anything about him.
“Um, actually…” Jax continued, following my lead, “Rayne can’t come to the phone right now, but Sadie’s here if you want to talk to her.”
I grabbed the phone from Jax’s fingers as soon as I could. “Violette…hi…” I began. “No, that’s
no one. He’s just a friend of Rayne’s. We’re all back in the city now.”
Luckily, Violette wasn’t that concerned about talking to Rayne directly. She was just calling by the request of her mother to announce that Ivy and Flint’s baby was born and Rayne was the proud uncle of a little baby girl.
“That’s so great. I’ll be sure to tell him,” I replied.
“Oh, one more thing,” Violette added. “There was this guy here looking for you when we got home, but I can’t remember his name. Sorry.”
“There was someone at your house looking for me?” I repeated aloud, so Jax could hear.
Jax caught my message, and whispered, “Ask her if it was my father.”
“Um, was it—” I started to say, but I realized I didn’t know his father’s name.
I looked at Jax, who squinted at me suspiciously like I should have known, but answered for me anyway by saying, “Councilman Orion Bennett…”
I repeated the name to Violette.
Violette laughed. “Councilman Bennett? No, I think I would have remembered if someone like that was asking for you. This guy wasn’t anyone I recognized.”
Violette didn’t seem to have any useful information on the subject, so after a few unproductive questions, I finally let her go.
I turned to Jax, feeling uneasy. “Something doesn’t feel right,” I said to him. “I think we should go back.”
But just then, the man in front of us moved to the side, and it was finally our turn at the front of the line.
Jax turned to me quickly. “I promise this will only take a minute. We’ve already waited this long.” He pointed to a table at the side of the food stand. “You see that container of sauce over there? Why don’t you fill us up a few cups, and our food will be here by the time you’re done.”
Reluctantly, I agreed and made my way over to the table with the sauce, but I couldn’t help feeling paranoid after the phone call. Who could have been looking for me? If it wasn’t anyone Violette recognized then it couldn’t have been my father. I started looking back and forth at the crowd of faces around me, nerves beginning to tense.
Ambrosia Shore (The Water Keepers, Book 3) Page 8
