Page 116 of One Good Crash
Where was that muzzle when I needed it?
Jax said, "Ladies first."
Absently, I said, "What?"
"You tell me. And then I'll tell you."
I might've argued, except my own story was nothing spectacular, and I figured I might get it out of the way. Still, I didn't want to give in too easily, so I said, "Only if I get a bonus question."
"A bonus question, huh?"
"Yes. A bonus question." I smiled. "In advance, like a down payment."
The corners of his mouth lifted. "You're a tough negotiator."
Hardly.But I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass. I smiled. "Then you should probably take the offer, before it expires or something."
"Nice," Jax said with a slow nod of approval. "So what's the question?"
There were a million things I might've asked, but there was something specific I was dying to know – something that had been nagging at me for a while now.
Eager to put it to rest, I said, "The night we met,wasthat blood on your shirt?"
The question got me another raised eyebrow. "Blood?"
"Well, I don't mean a lot, like there was an ax-murder or something. But after you returned from that errand, or wherever you went, I noticed these little spots on your shirt. They weren't there when you left, but theywerethere when you got back. And I was just wondering, you know, out of curiosity."
I gave a nervous laugh. "I know it probably wasn't blood, but it just made me wonder." I bit my lip. "So was it?"
He looked at me for a long moment. And then, he answered with a single word. "Yes."
Chapter 48
Against all reason, his answer caught me off guard. Over the last few weeks, I'd been telling myself that those little droplets surely had been something else.
What specifically, I wasn't sure.
Wine? Brandy? Cherry soda?
Apparently not.
And now, I didn't know what to say. I reached for my wine glass and took a little sip, followed by another. Maybe if I sipped long enough, he'd expand on the single-word answer.
But he didn't. And soon, my glass was half empty.
Slowly, I set it down. "Well, whose was it? I mean, it couldn't have been yours, because you looked fine, unless..." I gave him a hopeful look. "You cut yourself shaving?"
Yes, the idea was ridiculous. Still, stranger things had happened, right?
But already, Jax was shaking his head.
And that's when I knew. "The blood wasn't yours, was it?"
"No."
I swallowed. "So whose was it?"
"My brother's."
