Page 108 of Jax

I frowned.

What—

A second, loud beep had me jumping again as I turned to see the car had disappeared from beside me and moved to the entrance/exit of the drive. A group of boys were laughing and pointing in the direction of the house, shoving and pushing at each other like a pack of hyenas.

My frown deepened.

I sent a glare to the boys hanging at the front, and catching the look, they sent me defensive ones back, but cleared the area and scrambled away. The rich girl, whatever her name was, blew me a kiss, as if I did it for her, before she pulled out the drive and disappeared down the road.

My feet carried me down the path of invisible footsteps until the dirt road turned to a bed of green and brown pine needles crunching under my feet. It didn’t take long before I found the big white rock that sat at the edge of the tree line and overlooked the cliff face.

I observed for a moment, brown hair draped around her face, knees tucked under her chin, and the quiver to her shoulders.

“Don’t tell me you’re crying?” I grumbled, stepping out into view.

Her hair flung into the air as she snapped her gaze to face me. Her little red eyes were swollen and puffed with her unshed tears, the brightest parts of her green irises shiny and glossed with moisture.

“Don’t be silly.” Ronnie sniffed, tugging on her sleeve as she shoved the material against her eyes and scrubbed so hard I was surprised she had any skin left. “I wasn’t crying.”

“Hmm…,” I grumbled. “Are you sure?” I dropped my shoulders until I teetered into her line of sight from her little rock. She tried to avoid eye contact, but I followed her gaze until she got fed up and fixed me with her stubborn glare. “Ah! There you are.”

“Who do you think you are? My dad?” she hissed. “Stop acting so stupid. I’m not six anymore.”

“Six? Fifteen? Does it make that much of a difference?” I shrugged.

“I’m sixteen.” She glared, shrugging her shoulders with that teenager attitude we all knew and loved.

“Ah, I see.” I nodded. “Well, I don’t actually. You haven’t really changed. You still look six to me.”

Ronnie rolled her eyes, and it was at that point, I noticed the black smudges under her eyes.

“What in God’s name are you wearing on your face?” I grunted, grabbing her by the chin to turn her face to me. The dark smudges of mascara smeared under her eyelashes with some of it clumped on her lashes in uneven streaks.

Ronnie tore her chin from my hand, her warm skin replaced by the dry heat, as she went back to scrubbing off her face. “It doesn’t matter.”

Ah. That’s why the boys were there. They were making fun of her.

“You shouldn’t wear makeup. It doesn’t suit you.”

“Thanks for joining the majority opinion,” she hissed, turning her body away from me.

“Hey!” I grabbed her by the knee and moving her with ease back to facing me. “Don’t give me that kind of attitude.”

“Like I said,” Ronnie hissed. “Stop acting like my dad.”

I growled. If I could throw this girl from this cliff….

“Look,” I sighed. “Girls only wear makeup because they want to attract boys who are into that kind of shit. You don’t need to be trying to get fellas like that.”

“You hypocrite,” she grumbled. “You like those kinds of girls. Even though that girl who just left was a total cake face.”

“Yeah, and you don’t need a fella like me.” I pocketed my hands. Even I knew what a piece of shit I was to girls. The amount of hearts I broke wasn’t news to me. I just wished I cared. Which I didn’t. And neither did the other guys who were like me.

“I don’t care,” Ronnie argued back. “I’ll like whoever I want to like…” Ronnie’s face dropped down to glare at the ground, and I almost missed the quiet follow up. “…even if they’re exactly like you.”

I felt the realization dawn on me and it all made sense.

“Don’t tell me…,” I groaned, my hand rubbing down the length of my face. “You still haven’t gotten over your crush on me?”

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