Page 72 of I Just Want to be Yours

Yeah. Sorry, with Rae now. We just pulled into the apartment.

The three dots appear right away.

Jackson:

I miss you.

Margot:

Already?

Jackson:

Too much.

Rae parks her Jeep, but I can’t stop looking at his last message. It warms my chest in a way that only he can. It’s okay if he doesn’t want to say those three words. I feel pretty loved anyway.

Margot:

I miss you too.

43

jackson

“You didn’t tell her?”Mya practically yells even though she’s sitting right fucking next to me on the small couch in the RV.

“Would you keep your voice down?”

Dave pokes his head out of his bunk in the back. “Tell who what?”

Mya looks back at me, and I hope she can see how much I don’t want her to talk about this anymore, but she looks personally offended by this whole situation. The longer she looks at me, the more I see it. She jumps to her feet, crossing her arms as she walks over to Dave. “Jackson didn’t tell Margot he loves her.”

I’m too tired to deal with this. Rubbing both hands over my face, I stay where I am. There’s no point trying to beat Mya at her own game.

Dave tilts his head. “Like today?”

Mya looks back at me, disappointment seeping from her every pore. “Like ever.”

Dave sits up on the edge of his bed. “Wait.” He does a littlemath on his fingers before looking up again. “Haven’t you been dating her for almost a year?”

“Almost,” I answer dryly. When he says it like that it sounds pretty bad. “But we’ve been apart for most of it.”

He balks at me. “But you’ve never broken up, right?”

I shake my head, hating the thought. “No. Nothing like that.”

Marty hops down from his bunk, and I wish he were driving. I wish he was doing just about anything to keep himself busy and away from this conversation. “Better be careful, puppy. There are a lot of guys who would have no problem telling that girl anything she wants to hear.”

Staying put, I flip him off. Something about the way he just said that makes me think he’d be one of them, and I don’t need to be any closer to him than I already am.

Dave holds up a hand in warning to Marty. “Easy.” Looking back at me, he says, “If you’re not feeling it, why go through all the work of trying to keep her?”

Mya jumps in. “Heisfeeling it. He’s just scared.”

Marty laughs, and I shoot him a look before glaring at Mya again. “I’m not scared. I had it planned, but someone lost the cashbox, and everything got fucked.”

Her eyes widen and soften, realization sinking in.

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