Page 44 of The Last Good Man

“So?” He opens his mouth to speak, but I’m faster than him, wagging my finger at him. “And no… You don’t like me. You know nothing about me. I don’t like myself most days, and you think you like me based on what? We have nothing in common. You’re probably into women who…”

I lose steam quickly while his eyes glint faintly with a knowing smile.

“You like me too,” he says. “You liked me from the second you ran into me at that woman’s office.”

Words fail me.

“You know what?” I finally say. “I don’t have time for this. I don’t like games. You’re playing with words.”

Hetakes my hand again, and candor flickers through his eyes.

“This is not a game,” he says. “And this is not me playing with words,” he adds while I grapple with a surge of heat and apprehension.

He can’t be serious.

Although he looks dead serious.

“I don’t want to scare you,” he says, aware of my struggle. “But that’s why I said what I said. That’s the basis of my claims.”

I ponder his words.

“Even if that were true, simply liking someone can’t be the basis of anything. There are so many other things that go into that. And it doesn’t give you the right to mess with my date.”

He looks at me like I make no sense.

“Your date? He let you go home alone.”

“I asked him to do that. And it was mainly because I didn’t want more chaos in front of his building.”

He sets my hand on his thigh, not far from his bulge, and rests his fingers on top of mine before peeking in the rearview mirror as a car approaches us and moves past us.

“I don’t care about thatThomas–guy. I said what I said because of you,” he mutters, and I shift in my seat to face him.

“Jax London…” I say quietly, taking unusual pleasure in uttering his name. “You know nothing about me. I don’t knowa lot ofthings about myself, and that’s precisely why I’m seeing Dr. Stenson. You can’t possibly read me so well and know what I like and don’t like. And even if I’m not a great match for thatThomas-guy––as youlike tocall him––I have to make my own mistakes, or I’ll never learn. How do you think I’ve survived all this time?”

He flashes a charming smile.

“Seeing a shrink?”

“Oh, my…” I shake my head on the cusp of giving up.“Seriously, now,” I say. “You could’ve gotten yourself arrested. And for what? To have me in your car?”

“Would’ve. Could’ve. Whatever. It didn’t happen.”

A few moments pass.

He stares out the window, evading my eyes.

“Listen…” I say. “Maybe you have your own issues––I don’t want to pry––but using me to get arrested is not something I want to be a part of.”

He moves his eyes back to me, making himself comfortable in his seat.

“You know nothing about me, Melody Hill,” he says, cold anger flashing through his gaze. "I hated the time I spent in jail. And I don’t plan to go back there anytime soon, especially to prove something to a beautiful woman. It wouldn’t make any sense.”

I wait for him to continue.

“I did what I did tonight because life can be so fucking boring sometimes… Especially for people like you. Look at you…”

It’s not what I thought he’d say, but I know where he’s going with this. And no. I don’t need to look at myself.

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