Page 201 of The Last Good Man

That’s how I felt on Monday after we fucked in the bathroom, and he spent an hour in the conference room.

We haven’t talked since.

I was happy he was gone and deeply unhappy that I couldn’t see how he and I could be together in real life.

And now, it seems even less probable.

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, and, in time, these things will take care of themselves.

We either find a way, or we don’t, and things unravel.

Maybe we’ll get bored, and other things will happen.

Being cynical or leaving things to chance is also unlike me, but I can’t see how this could work for us.

And I feel so bad about it that my eyes sting with tears. I look in the mirror and try to push back the conflicting emotions.

Later, I leave the restroom, reach the end of the corridor, and stop to look around the restaurant.

He’s not back at the table. Maybe he left.

Jax London issmart, cunning at times, and definitely a charming man, but he has a side to him I know nothing about and have never gotten the chance to see.

The people he is dealing with and the altercation at the diner are enough red flags.

Yes, he’d been attacked. But he knocked out that guy cold with a single well-placed jab.

Inattentively, I begin beelining for my mother’s table when I inadvertently encounter a waiter carrying a tray of food.

I halt and step back, allowing him to squeeze by before I spin around and collide with a man not far from my mother’s table.

We both turn around and lock eyes, and I wish I could vanish. From the get-go, I can tell Jax is not happy that he’s bumped into me here.

Completely taken by surprise, he can’t tear his eyes away from me. Andnot because I look particularly lovely today or that he missed me. But because he’s forced to weigh his options while trying to understand what isgoing on.

I hopehe's not under the impression thatI followed him here.That would be stupid.

So, to erase that feeling and clarify things for my mother, who’s watching us from the side, I speak first.

“Mr. London. What a surprise?” I say and he quickly gets the hint, not amused in the slightest.

Jax is a street smart man, so he quickly orients himself, following the direction of my gaze and noticing my mother.

Now you can’t tell at a glance that she and I are related, but hegets it thatI’m here with her.

“A surprise, indeed,” he says, shifting his eyes to me,and trying to read my expression as he usually does when he wants to know whether I’m okayor not.

I don’t think he can see much on my face other than I am tense and puzzled, just as he is.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he says in a harsh voice, his eyes drilling into mine.

“It’s a nice restaurant,” Itoss backa platitude.“Are you here with business?” Igo onin a biting voice, putting him on notice that I know about the men at his table.

Some of my simmering anger finds its way out, and he looks at me differently.

I’m sure wewould’ve had an argument about it if we weresomeplaceelse.

“What about you? Lunch with family?” he says, a tense smile tugging at his lips.

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