Page 192 of The Last Good Man

MELODY

He looks like he has just stepped into my office while I still work on my bow.

“You look all right,” he says, running his gaze down, and this is not a compliment.

I look all right, as in I don’t look as if I had my legs up and had been pounded with a vengeance.

Yes, I look all right, considering my hair is damp, my panties are soaked with semen, and my bra is crooked.

Maybe it isn’t, but it feels that way.

I put my blazer on and look in the mirror, running my fingers down my skirt.

“It’s all right. Don’t worry, baby,” he murmurs, reaching inside his jacket.

“No smoking in here,” I quickly say.

A lazy smile drapes over his lips.

“I wasn't reaching for a cigarette.”

He extracts a small jewelry pouch and pulls out a necklace with a pendant.

“There are things more valuable than money…” he says, sliding the jewelry pouch into his pocket.

He then unfastens the necklace and nudges me around so he can put it around my neck.

We lock eyes in the mirror, my hand going to the pendant.

“In case we’re not making it…” he says, his eyes glinting with a smile while he fastens my necklace.

“What does that mean?” I murmur.

“Nothing in particular. If we’re not making it, this will stay with you. If you want to…”hesays, tiltinghischin toward my chest. “It looks good,” he adds while I run my fingers over it.

“It’sreally pretty,” I say, engraved words scraping my fingertips. “What does it say?”

“We can’t have twice what only comes once.”

My eyebrows wiggle with surprise.

He replaces his seriousness with a smile.

“No. That’s not what it says. It saysMelody and Jax.”

He tosses the words nonchalantly like this is a trivial thing, ubiquitous, yet something tightens in my chest.

Is that simple, isn’t it?

Two people falling for each other, doing things for one another. With alittleluck, growing old together.

Emotions swirl in my chest at the worst possible time.

It’s Monday. I’m at work. I’m in the bathroom. And I just had sex. And now I’m emotional?

But something hurts inside and makes my eyes water.

He brings his fingers to my cheek.

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