Page 46 of Savage

A silence stretched between us. “Do you miss her?” The words were out before I could stop them.

Jaxon placed the now empty bottle on the glass table in front of him and then shot me a dark look. “Not really. I don’t have that many memories of her, to be honest.”

Another beat of silence passed between us.

“What was she like, from what you remember I mean?” My question wasn’t unreasonable, but Jaxon instantly switched to defensive mode. I watched as he moved one of the sofa cushions onto his lap, like a shield.

There was a beat of silence as he played with the edging of the cushion before throwing it aside.

“I know what you’re doing and it isn’t happening,” he huffed, pushing to his feet, and staring down at me through narrowed eyes. He spoke to me as if he thought I had a hidden agenda.

I too stood up and stared at him across the short space that separated us. “And what am I doing, Jaxon? Making conversation. Showing an interest in your life? Apologies if that’s not allowed. You didn’t seem that bothered about it in the car earlier. You were all smiles then. So, what the heck happened between then and now?”

“You mean apart from you groping me in the kitchen?” Jaxon rudely reflected with raised eyebrows. Shit! Well, I had to ask.

“I don’t mean that. That was a moment of insanity. Blame it on the mustard fumes. You were a cock to me when you came in the door. Can’t we just talk like normal people do?”

He moved around the coffee table and took a step toward me. He was so tall and powerful, his shoulders casting a shadow over my slight form. I didn’t back down though. Not this time.

I raised my eyebrows and strummed the back of my hand across my nose. “Well?”

“No, we can’t talk like normal people. Not when you’re being a nosy bitch and clearly want something.”

“And what the hell is that? If you say to try and get into your pants, you can forget it. That ship has sailed,” I informed him with a biting look.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say, although you can’t say there isn’t truth in that.” I ignored him, sighing in frustration as he carried on, “You’re trying to draw an emotional response from me by raising a subject you think I’ll find painful.”

What the actual heck? The boy was clueless. There was no doubt, he was borderline paranoid. “I’m not doing that at all. I just thought it would be nice to know a bit more about each other. Talk about something normal like our pasts.”

“What happened to my mother isn’t normal,” he snarled. A vein in his neck throbbed.

“You make everything so antagonistic all the time. I didn’t mean that, you’re twisting my words. I was just interested and there’s nothing wrong with opening up to people.”

“If I feel the need to open up little sister, it certainly wouldn’t be to you.”

Wow. That told me. I exhaled as we were now back where we started. The car journey to the hospital and the moment in the kitchen were lost and unsalvageable.

“Fine. I doubt there is a person on the planet that could make you do that. You’re as hard as a rock. Have you ever even cried at any movie?”

He puffed out his chest, ignoring my question.

“You’re just pissed off because I won’t allow you to get under my skin or wrap me around your little finger like you have my father. Fuck me, he’s fonder of you than Molly and that’s saying something.”

I exhaled, looking at the ceiling in silent prayer before allowing my ratty in. “You know, there are times when I could just thump you,” I informed him crossly, lowering my head.

He smirked as he placed his thumbs into the belt loop of his jeans. “At seven stone and built like a little doll, I don’t fancy your chances,” he said arrogantly. How I’d love to knock him off his sanctimonious perch.

“I’m not trying to wrap anyone around my finger, Jax. I’m just being me.”

My stepbrother’s expression softened slightly and his eyes dipped to my lips and back.

His voice came out as a throaty purr as he pointed out, “Jax. That’s the first time you’ve ever shortened my name,” he put out with a quirk of his head. “The way you say it like it means something to you. And so, it should. But you will never mean anything to me, Wynter. So, lose the fucking girlish crush and in future, keep your hands to yourself.”

Pig! Jaxon was toying with me. Using my attraction to him against me but I would not allow him to do that again. “I can safely say that I will most certainly be keeping my hands to myself and could I suggest you do the same; since you were the one who started all that shit. You see, you and your name mean nothing to me either.” I then turned so quickly I almost fell over, storming away and feeling the urge to burst into tears again, but Jaxon’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

“ET,” he shouted. I stopped; my shoulders stiff as I slowly turned back to face him with a mixture of annoyance, upset and bewilderment.

“What?” I shot out, my eyebrows threaded.

---