Page 46 of One Life to Loathe

I answered without hesitation. “Yes.”

“Well, we’re not going to a strip club.” He looked appalled at the thought. “Have you seen my fiancée? Why would I want to see anybody but her naked?”

He had a point, loath as I was to admit it. Daisy was snarky to thenth degree. She was beautiful, though. Not that I spent a lot of time looking at her. I only bothered to stare in her direction when she was with Sam, which was quite often. They’d definitely bonded.

“Just tell me where we’re going,” I complained as we hit the sidewalk in front of the hotel and turned to the left. “Is it a bar? I could use a drink.”

“It’s not a bar, although there will be cocktails when we get there.”

That was something to look forward to at least. “What kind of cocktails are we talking? They’re themed, right?” Leave it to me to put a damper on the evening. I could complain about almost anything. “Everything in this town is themed.”

“You get used to it,” Jax replied. If my attitude chafed, he didn’t show it. From all outward appearances, he looked like an easygoing man heading out for drinks with a friend. Me, on the other hand, I looked like his pouty friend. I was so grouchy in fact, all I was missing was a garbage can to live in. “Also, all the drinkswillbe themed.”

We headed down Derby Street. I hadn’t spent a lot of time learning the layout of Salem, but I knew if we’d turned in the opposite direction that we would hit the House of the Seven Gables. I’d yet to head inside—although Daisy said during our tour that it was a necessity—but the gardens and view had been magnificent. It was the sort of place where you could feel magic happening … and I wasn’t even the sort of guy who believed in stuff like that.

“This doesn’t strike me as your scene,” I said as Jax smiled at two approaching women and nodded his head in greeting.

“Hi, Jax,” they trilled together, giggling as they kept going. “Say hi to Daisy for us,” one of them called out.

“I’m on my way to meet her right now,” Jax promised. His eyes were heavy when they landed on me. “Why wouldn’t this be my scene?” he asked.

I shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. I should’ve kept my big mouth shut. I never did, though. “It’s just not a very happening town.”

“Actually, this place will be rocking for Halloween. I like that it’s quiet the rest of the year. And you know what? I never thought I would like it either, but there’s comfort in everybody in town knowing who you are. Like those women? Tomorrow morning, they will go into the yoga studio Daisy’s moms own and they will tell anybody listening about how they saw me with you.”

“So, basically you’re saying that you can’t risk cheating on Daisy because everybody in town will know your business,” I surmised.

His gaze turned dark. “Per usual, you’re missing the point. I would never cheat on Daisy.”

“Yeah, because you couldn’t keep it secret.”

“No.” He stopped walking and vehemently shook his head. “I have no interest in cheating on Daisy. She’s it for me. She’s … the one.”

I had never heard an individual outside of a movie set—we’re talking romantic comedy here—use the term “the one” before, and it threw me. “Do you really believe in that?”

“Yup.” He kept staring at me. “Some loves are so big they consume you, and it’s okay, because what follows is abject happiness. I never believed in ‘the one’ either. Then I met Daisy and everything changed.

“I don’t need a big city,” he continued. “I don’t need a twenty-four-hour pizzeria. I just need her. Well, and room service. We’re big on room service.”

All I could do was blink. He was deadly serious. “Aren’t you afraid that your feelings will change five years from now?” I asked finally. “How do you know she’s ’the one’ for forever and not ‘the one’ for right now?”

Jax shrugged as he returned to walking. “I just know. I feel it to my very bones. She’s the first person I think of when I wake up, and the last thing I think about when we’re falling asleep. I don’t care that she puts her freezing feet on me. It doesn’t bother me that she snores like a runaway freight train when she’s been drinking. I love everything about her.”

“You’re the dude they cast in romance movies,” I mused.

“Maybe so, but that doesn’t bother me.” Jax’s smile was as bright as the ones Sam had graced me with back when we were pretending to be friends for thirty-six hours. “She makes me happy. She fills all the cracks I didn’t even know I had.”

“But what if you ever wanted to leave this place?” I asked. “What would happen then?”

“Why would I want to leave?”

“Because … because staying in one place is a trap. You have to keep moving or you’ll settle, and that leads to sinking.” I thought of my parents, how they’d settled and drowned each other with the hate that built up over the years.

“Everything I’ve ever wanted is here,” Jax replied. “Why would I ever want to leave what makes me happy?”

It was a fair question. I didn’t have an answer, though. “Where are you taking me again?” I asked rather than respond.

He searched my face a beat longer and then—thankfully—let it go. “We’re here.” He gestured toward what looked to be an alley of some sort.

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