Page 73 of Please Remember

“We’re here now,” Jax says, and he cups my face, forcing me to look at him. “We’re here now.”

“We were supposed to—”

“It doesn’t matter. Everything we were going to have, we can have now. I’m just happy to have you back, Allie. That’s all that matters to me. You’re back. Really back.”

He’s right. There’s no point dwelling on the past I can’t change. Whatever we were supposed to have before now can be had now. I just have to figure out how to move past it. Forget that so much was taken from both of us. That’s what hurts the most. It’s not just me this happened to.

Almost like it just hit me, I step out of Jax’s embrace and look at him.Oh my God. "You were engaged to Laura? Laura Dawson?"

Grimacing, Jax nods his head but says nothing.

"Huh," I say and look at Sage. "Wow."

She hugs me, laughing. "That's a whole lot nicer a reaction than the rest of us gave, that's for sure!"

Benji and Drew each take their turns hugging me tightly, and Drew cups my face with his hands. "We're pretty sure Laura played some voodoo magic shit on our boy to get him to date her, let alone propose to her."

"Played on his grief or something. It was creepy. And really disturbing," Benji says.

"Considering some of the girls you date, that's kind of impressive," I say.

He pulls me into another hug. "Girl, I've missed you. Not your sarcasm disguised as cruel truths, but I have missedyou."

I laugh and turn to Jax. "I just... I'm having a hard time picturing you two together. Like that. I mean, she was always with you, but notwithyou."

"Please stop trying to picture it," he says and sighs. "She was there. Every day, she was there."

"Well, yeah. That's kind of what life was like even before Allie vanished on us. She'd just pop up out of nowhere," Drew says.

Jax shoots his best friend a look, but he quickly turns his attention back to me. "I kept getting told I should move on. That it was what you'd want me to do, and it seemed, I don't know. Easier? I was already spending all my time with her by default, but she kind of helped lead me into the idea that we could be more than just friends."

"Did you sleep with her?"

He casts his eyes to the ground and says nothing. Images of the two of them in bed form in my mind, and I'm torn between jealousy and disbelief.

Instead of being upset, I opt to laugh. Jax looks up in surprise. "You're not mad?"

"I was locked in a cellar for seven years with no one knowing if I was alive. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised you didn't turn into Benji and sleep with half the town. I just... I can't quite put it together in my mind. It almost doesn't compute."

I laugh again as he pulls me into his arms. "Please stop trying to picture it."

"She probably let him do all sorts of things you're not into. She seems like the type. You know, offer herself up on a silver platter, do things most guys want but can't get their partners to agree to," Sage says.

The expression on Jax's face as he looks at the ground tells me that's pretty much what happened. "Oh, gross! If that's true, at least you gotto do some weird shit. Just... Let's not tell me what those things were, okay?"

"I'm never telling you anything about that. Ever," he assures me. "I'd rather forget myself."

Detective Parsons walks over to us. "You're certain you don't remember who it was who called out your name? Nothing sticks out about them when they hit you?"

I shake my head, all joking aside now. "It was raining, so I was in a hurry. I feel like I recognized the voice through the thunder because I turned around, but it all happened so fast. It was dark, and I think the streetlights wasn't on yet. They were taller than me, but that doesn't narrow much down. The next thing I knew, I was lying next to my Jeep."

"You don't remember being in the car or anything to that nature? Being put in it?"

"No, the last thing I remember was a few moments on the ground watching the blood wash away in the rain. Then I was in the cellar. But since my Jeep is gone, that's how they had to have gotten me there, right? When people came looking for me, it wasn't here. That kind of really pisses me off."

"Why?"

"I loved that Jeep," I say.

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