Page 43 of Attraction & Repulsion

Gravity took over when she noticed the time on the clock hanging just above the bathtub. Jax would be arriving any second.

“Shit!”

How long had she been in this stupor? Flicking the bloody blade fromher fingers, Carson jerked away as if it had just bitten her. She hissed at the new pain in her arm, no longer a pleasurable ache.

Repulsion.

Almost ripping the rod from the wall, she yanked a towel off the rack and pressed it to her arm with as much pressure as she could. Lifting her wrist to her shoulder, she was able to hold the towel in place while she hurriedly shoved the razor into a drawer, hiding it beneath the makeup clutter, and wiped up the blood with another rag.

Sprinting into the laundry room, Carson threw the two towels into the washing machine, not caring there was freshly washed clothes still in there, waiting to be transferred to the dryer. She activated the rinse-and-spin cycle to wash away the remaining evidence.

The bleeding didn’t stop. Dashing back into her bathroom, she knocked every item out from the cupboard under the sink to find her first-aid kit. Just as she was cleaning the excess blood from her skin, there was a knock on the door. Her heart lurched into her throat, choking her.

“One second!” Carson yelled, her voice was shaking with panic. She needed to get herself under control.

There was no time to properly bandage her arm. Slapping on a large Band-Aid, she shoved everything back in the cupboard and pulled down her sleeves. It would have to do until she could sneak back into her bathroom and apply a more substantive dressing.

Before opening the door, she took in three deep breaths to calm her frazzled nerves. Air in. Air out. She could do this.

Jax was waiting patiently for her on the porch with a plastic grocery bag hanging from his hand. Against the desert backdrop, he looked handsome in a black polo and gray slacks. Carson grinned at his choice of shoes—Vans—wondering what her boss, hisattorney, Garrett, had thought about them in the courtroom.

“Sorry, I meant to unlock the door for you,” Carson lied, stepping to the side to let him in. She wasn’t sorry at all about the door being locked. As if to show she wasn’t hiding anything, she pointed to the flowerpot on the edge of the porch. “There’s a spare key under there.”

Confirming she was losing her touch, her voice continued to quiver, unable to go from one world to another.

Giving only a glance at the flora, Jax stepped up, gave her a peck on the lips—could he taste the lies there?—and walked into the kitchen. The bag’s contents spilled out when he set it on the counter. A variety of sprinkles, frostings, and cookie dough. Decorating cookies to celebrate Halloween wasn’t her thing, but she’d agreed anyway when he’d suggested it.

“So?” Carson pressed.

Jax’s eyes flashed a brilliant aqua before a giant grin split his face in half.

“Does that mean you won?” she guessed.

His smile grew impossibly bigger. “I won.”

Carson’s squeal echoed in the kitchen, and she flung herself into his arms, mindful of her injury. Jax had to step back to brace for impact. For a second, Carson forgot all about her sins, leaving them in the bathroom.

“I told you you had a chance. I knew it.” She kissed him, elated for his victory and relieved for his freedom from his ex-wife. For the first time, she appreciated the length of his hair as she could grip his inky mane between her fingers to better pull him closer to her.

Unexpectedly, Jax hoisted her up and sat her on the kitchen island. When his hands dropped down to her waist, she strategically guided them away from her scars and placed them on her neck.

Desperate to know what happened, Carson broke away from his lips. “Tell me everything.”

“It was going pretty much the same as the first trial we had,” he began. “Then, when Kristen was on the stand, she said she quit her job.”

“She quit her job?”

“To claim disability.”

“What?” Carson said, voice rising with surprise.

“It was the first time we had heard about it. She alleged that being a hairdresser did something to her wrist.”

“But she only worked at the salon for a few months.”

Jax gave Carson a pointed look.

“The judge caught that, didn’t he?”

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