Page 219 of The Last Good Man

No one knows the woman in the compact car is me.

When he pulls into the driveway, I can’t breathe.

Both doors slide open, and his brother climbs out.

When Jax moves out of the driver’s seat, I feel physically sick.

It’s like he’s locked me outside his world and tossed the key away. I could walk to him right now, and he would talk to me. I know he would. Perhaps he’d even smile.

Maybe he’d introduce me to his family as his… friend. And then I’d get the hint and say goodbye, leaving with my tail between my legs.

I lost my power over him, and I’m a queen without a king.

He leisurely wraps his muscular arm around his brother’s shoulders, and Noah gives him a full-mouth grin.

Rylee meets the boys at the bottom of the stairs and hugs Jax. He holds the back of her hair like he used toholdmine, and they talk to each other and their mother, who coordinates the event.

I expect them to enter the house or stroll to the backyard when Jax looks up the road as if waiting for someone, and I get a rush of adrenaline.

A car moves down the road and signals to a stop before the driver parks it next to Jax’s car.

A few young men, a woman, and an older gentleman climb out.

Jax’s mother greets the older man while Jax and the younger men greet each other.

His mother invites everybodyinthe house before inching closer to the young brunette.

The woman’s feet are pinned to the ground while she stares at Jax, fascinated.

She is shorter than me, and her hair is dark and long like Jax’s sister, yet her gestures are demure.

She’s not a teenager. She is close to his age and his motherintroducesher tohim.

A knife falls through my heart. It doesn’t take an Aretha Stenson to see how much his mother likes this woman.Jax flashes a smile, his eyescurious,warm, his hand extended.

Their fingers connect,andthe blade in my heart twists, making me drown inregrets.

I deserve every bit of pain.

My eyes stay on his face while he gives her his undivided attention.

She is lost when he speaks to her, and he smiles, flattered.

Why wouldn’t he be?

Her hourglass figure could stop traffic. She’s pure, sincere, and ready forhimin a way I couldn’t be.

And maybe this is the girl his mother would like to have as her daughter-in-law.And maybethis is also life offering him something better than me.

Their hands disconnect, and they all walk as a group in the house while I absently turn on the engine and leave the area as if running away from a cataclysmic event.

42

MELODY

The second report from John Levine arrives in my inbox in the evening, an hour or so after parking my car in a private garage and walking to my apartment, haunted by what I’ve witnessed in Queens.

According to the report, Jax London worked as a bodyguard for Marco Costa before becoming a business partner and running a part of the company.

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