Page 53 of False Confidence

“I would call Cal sexy to Liam’s face. His moms too. Actually, I’m pretty sure I have.”

“Poor guy. He really does have his work cut out for him with you, doesn’t he?”

Jazz knew she was joking, but Maggie’s words stung. “He says he likes that about me,” she said, a touch more defensively than she would have liked. She hated how close to the surface the doubt was, that Liam was going to wake up one day and wonder why the hell he’d wasted so much time hanging out with her. It had been easier to hide from the inconvenience of insecurity before he’d been so nice to her.

“Obviously he likes that. It’s you. What’s not to like?” Maggie said, the words doing nothing to stop the dark cloud that had been creeping over her since Maggie told her about Nadia. “How are things going with him? Any closer to an orgasm?”

“Nope,” Jazz replied, the word surprising her as it slipped out without a thought. She’d planned to tell Maggie over brunch. What difference did it make doing it over the phone? But something in the back of her mind told her to keep it to herself. “But it’s going well. We’re having fun.”

Maggie hummed, concern clear in her voice. “Are you sure you shouldn’t get a second opinion with another doctor? Maybe this has something to do with your awful periods.”

“I’m not super worried, but I’ll keep it in mind,” she answered dismissively.

She knew that if Maggie found out that talking about her parents had been the key to helping her let go, she would have exactly one recommendation: therapy. It was a universal truth, in Jazz’s experience, that whenever someone you knew started going to therapy and found it helped, they wouldn’t stop until everyone they knew was in therapy and thriving. Sure, she’d seen the incredible changes in Maggie since she’d started seeing her therapist, but that didn’t mean it was for everyone. She didn’t even like talking about shit with Liam.

“Hmm. Well, as long as you’re having fun and Liam’s being—shit. Nadia’s calling. I need to answer in case it’s about breakfast. Can I call you tonight?”

“Liam and I are going out tonight, but we can catch up next week.”

“Perfect. Love you, bye!”

The call cut off and Jazz let her hand drop to her side, clutching her phone with more force than necessary. It was fine. Maggie was doing better than ever. She had new friends—grown-up friends who did things like going to Sunday matinees, juggling incredible careers, and families. She was happy, and that’s all Jazz wanted for her. Just because Jazz wasn’t there yet didn’t mean Maggie wasn’t interested in her anymore. She didn’t want those things anyway. She had plenty of time to figure it all out.

A buzzing sound caught her attention as the neon sign on the door of the tattoo shop lit up:

Open. Walk-ins welcome!

Jazz pushed off the wall, peering in through the window of the shop. Their work was beautiful—detailed portraits and color work to die for—but it was one little tattoo in the corner of a flash sheet that caught her attention. It was stupid and reckless and completely unhinged, but it had been a while since Jazz had done something like that. Truthfully, she was overdue a little chaos.

The bell above the door jingled as she stepped into the tattoo shop. A girl with bubblegum pink hair and a matching gemstone on her front tooth smiled at her from the desk.

“Hi,” Jazz said, pasting on a smile. “Do you have any space for a walk-in? I’d love one of your flash designs from the window.”

Was it still a date if you didn’t technically ask the other person to go on a date with you? Probably not, but Liam was taking it as such anyway, and holy shit, he was on a date with Jasmine. Language and labels seemed like a moot point when they spent more or less all their free time together, and all of their nights in either her bed or his. They’d gone way beyond their initial pact, way beyond friends with benefits. As far as he was concerned, they were well on their way to their hypothetical Hallowedding not being so hypothetical.

He might be getting a little ahead of himself.

Could he have just asked Jasmine on a date? Sure, but they were twenty-four hours out from her being more vulnerable with him than she had been with anyone in years, and the last thing he wanted to do was overwhelm her.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, nestling into his side and scanning the menu in his hand, even though there was one sitting on the table in front of her. He slung an arm around her shoulders so she could snuggle in closer.

Never, in years of dating India, had they shared the same side of a booth in a restaurant, but Jasmine had slid right in beside him like it was second nature.

“I’m torn between the buffalo bites and the mini tacos. What about you?”

“Everything looks delicious,” she mused, and Liam’s gaze fell to her lips. “Why don’t we order both and split them? And maybe a side of crispy potato skins?”

“Good plan. Let’s do that.”

Sharing dishes: something else India would never have done. Liam wasn’t sure why she kept crossing his mind. He supposed if they were counting this as a date, and he was, then it was technically his first date since they’d broken up. There had been the almost-date with Maggie but, after she’d called it off and he realized he wasn’t ready, he’d just never asked anyone out again, sticking to casual hookups instead.

Liam had loved India, but things had never felt as natural with her as he did with Jasmine.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going after dinner yet?” Jasmine asked when they’d placed their order.

“Nope. It’s a surprise, but I promise you’ll love it.”

“I assume whatever it is involves getting messy, since you told me to wear clothes I didn’t mind ruining.” There was an eager twinkle in Jasmine’s hazel eyes. Between that and the flecks of gold, it was like her eyes were full of stars, sparkling constellations prettier than anything in the sky.

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