Page 45 of Finding Hope

“You told your friends?”

I scrunch my nose. “Yeah, they got pretty mad about what I did.”

“Your friends? From the club?”

“Yeah.”

His eyes dance with humor, something I’ve never seen in them before now. The other times I saw him, his eyes held mostly anger and sex. “Why would your friends get mad at you on my behalf?”

“Oh. No.” I laugh and relax into his presence. I forgot how magnetic he is. And he ain’t ugly. “They weren’t mad at me about you. They were mad at you, too. They were mad at me for keying a car. Anicecar.”

His chin dips in a solemn nod. “You did a pretty good job. Dug them in right down to the bodywork on the B and the second T.”

“Shit. I’m sorry.” Laughing, cringing, my emotions are a little out of whack. “Can I pay you back for repairs?”

Entertained by my offer, he digs his hands into his pockets and pops that dimple. “You’re offering to pay for damage to my car after I treated you the way I did? After I said those awful things. I called you a whore, Britt. I kicked you out of my house into a strange neighborhood at three in the morning… Jesus,” he groans painfully. “That sounds even worse now than it did last time I thought about it.”

Smiling, I step forward and place my hand on his forearm. His pained eyes snap to mine. “We’re cool, Jack. We’ll call it even. You learned your lesson. Don’t call women whores, and they won’t key your car.”

His eyes turn sad. “That was actually something I already knew. My sister taught me better. I wasn’t always such an asshole, I just had a… midlife crisis?”

“Midlife?” Stroking a thumb over his arm, I watch him watch my hand. “I hope you’re not midlife, yet. You’re pretty young, Jack. Dream bigger.”

He laughs bitterly. “Not everyone lives past their twenties. Some who do, go on to die in their forties. Sometimes, thisismidlife.”

Frowning at his words, I squeeze his forearm and wait for his blue eyes to come back to mine. “What do you mean your sister taught you better?”

His brows furrow. “Hmm?”

“You said your sister taught you better.”

“Oh, yeah.” He glances over my shoulder for a brief second. “Yeah, my sister basically raised me. You shouldn’t judge her parenting abilities on my behavior. I swear, she taught me better. She also kicked my ass on your behalf.”

I groan at his first sentence. “Your sister raised you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Your sister is Kit?”

He smiles. “Yeah.”

“Your sister whose husband I called hot,in front of them both,then I told her you had a limp dick…” God. This is humiliating. “That sister?”

“Yeah, that’s Kit,” he laughs. “Don’t worry, she thought you were funny as shit.”

“She did?”

“Yeah, they’ve had fresh new material to work with for months. Actually, do you wanna–”

Jack’s narrow-eyed gaze is all the warning I get before a hand lands on my hip and Brad possessively pulls me against his side.

He drops anI’m-pissing-on-your-legkiss on my brow and ignores Jack. “Hey, babe. I was starting to think you’d escaped out the bathroom window.”

I hold my chest for the second time tonight and turn to my date. “Brad. Sorry.” I look back and meet Jack’s curious eyes. “Um, wow, okay. Brad, this is Jack, my…”

“Friend.” Jack supplies easily. Extending his hand, he waits for Brad.

“And, Jack, this is Brad, my coworker.”

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