Page 17 of Undeniable Love

Lucy glanced toward the pub. “Okay, seriously. What’s going on in there?” When she started to walk away, Gemma stepped in front of her. “Gem?”

“I can’t let you just walk in there blindly, Lulu. I just can’t.” Letting out a long and very dramatic breath, she stared Lucy in the eyes. “It’s almost wall-to-wall people in there, but there’s a section that is roped off and they’re waiting for you.”

Her stomach sank. Was this some sort of pity party because she called off her engagement and wedding? Was this something that was maybe already planned before her life crashed and burned and they all decided to get together anyway?

“Who’s waiting for me?”

Another sigh. “Ty, Wyatt, and…Jax Wylder.”

It took a moment for that to sink in.

“Wait…what? Jax…um…why? Just…why?”

“Honestly, I don’t know the specifics,” Gemma said. “All I know is that Ty texted me and said it was important that I get you here.” Pausing, she shook her head. “Mike was the one who told me that Jax was in town and that’s why I tried to get you to go for pizza instead. I had no idea this was all going to happen.”

Groaning, Lucy’s first instinct was to turn around and leave, but…again…her curiosity wouldn’t let her.

“Fine. Whatever. Let’s go see what this is all about and as soon as I say I want to leave, I’m going to need you to back me up and not let my brothers stop me. Deal?”

“Deal. Let’s do this!”

Every inch of her body tensed up as they made their way into the pub. It was loud and crowded, but it was like Moses parting the Red Sea as soon as they walked in—like everyone knew that she was coming and needed to make way for her.

Awkward…

As soon as they got to the back corner of the pub—that was apparently the newly-titled VIP section—she spotted her brothers. Ty smiled innocently at her as he got to his feet. If he wasn’t already permanently injured, she would have considered doing that to him right now.

“Hey! Thanks for joining us!” He gave her a big hug and kissed her cheek.

Then Wyatt stood and came over to do the same.

“Hey, Wy,” she said, hugging him longer than necessary, mainly because she wasn’t ready to face Jax yet.

“Um…this feels weird,” Wyatt whispered in her ear. “Like…really not appropriate. Can you…?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she mumbled, but hugged him tight one last time before pulling back.

And sure enough, there was Jax. Standing there smiling like he was thrilled to see her and they were long-lost friends.

“Lucy!” he said excitedly, arms opened. “Holy crap, look at you! You look amazing!” And when she didn’t move, he simply swooped in and wrapped her in his massive arms. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Um…”

When he finally let her go and pulled back, he was still grinning. “I can’t believe you’re the same kid I saw all those years ago! And you’re a pediatric physical therapist? That is incredible! Good for you!”

Yeah, it was kind of hard to hate someone when they were heaping this kind of praise on you, but Lucy was determined not to be swayed.

“It’s nice to see you too,” she said blandly, refusing to look at his face, before turning toward her brothers. She took the seat between the two of them and sat down. Gemma sat down next to Jax. “So? What’s this all about?” The question was directed at Ty, and her eyes almost hurt from not looking at Jax.

Tyler frowned at her before relaxing his expression. “Jax is looking to open a sports camp here in South Creek. It would be for disabled kids. We’re looking at the Ramsey property and this could be the kind of thing that really puts the town on the map!”

“I’d like to see multiple facilities on the property,” Jax chimed in. “A little something for everyone, so it wouldn’t just be like a football camp…”

“Hard to play football when you’re disabled,” she said with more than a hint of sarcasm. “Injuries normally end people’s football careers.”

The look Tyler shot her told her he knew exactly what she was doing.

Jax, however, seemed completely oblivious.

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