Page 130 of Right Number, Wrong Man
“Who fucking cares about my mask kink or your insecurities right now?”
I tug on the cloth and Jax pulls on my arm.
“Let go!” he orders.
“No,youlet go!” I hiss.
We struggle, slinging curses at each other. Suddenly we’re on the dusty ground, engaged in a full-blown, bloody wrestling match. Our limbs tangle and Jax weakly pulls myhair, but it doesn’t hurt. He must be in more pain than he lets on because I end up on top, sitting on his hips.
“I win, you lose!” I singsong, ripping the mask off.
And just like that, my world shatters.
49
COLT
“Youare Jax?”Hailey asks, tears turning her eyes glassy.
For a moment, I swear I see myself in them like a mirror. I’m a cruel, bloody monster. Not for the lives I’ve taken, but because I hurt her, even if I never meant to.
I clutch my side, wincing. Red soaks my shirt, dripping through my fingers. “It was a misunderstanding at first! Please, Spitfire, let me explain?—”
“I’m so stupid!” Hailey shouts. She jumps up, wiping over her eyes, smearing dirt and my blood across her flushed face. “I guess that saying is true: Everythingisbigger in Texas. Especially the liars, and you’re the biggest fucking liar of all! Why did you do this to me? How could you be such a heartless bastard?”
“Because you stole my heart sixteen years ago.” A boulder of emotions closes my throat, but I force my voice past it. “Cause it’s always been you.”
She blinks, sparkling tears clinging to her long lashes. “What?”
“Because I fell for you when you showed up at ourdoorstep with a plate of cookies and introduced yourself as the new neighbors’ daughter.”
Her jaw slackens. “You were in love with me when we were kids?”
“I neverstoppedbeing in love with you. Not when you fell for my brother. Not when you hated me. Not when I left with a broken heart so you could live your life happily without me. I still loved you. Silently. Hopelessly. Unconditionally. No matter how often I’ve tried to shut the door on this love, a crimson thread connects our souls. Call it fate, call it chance, call it whatever you want, but it always pulls me back to you—bloodied and bruised, but yours. Cause I’m always, eternally yours.”
Hailey presses a hand to her trembling lips, staring at me while I push to my feet. The bullet wound hurts like shit. So does my heart. I want to hold her, but she’d probably be disgusted if I touched her now.
Instead, I spill my guts cause it might be my only chance.
“The night Jax—the nightIgot the first text from you, I was checking Mike’s phone for Christmas pictures. Momma asked me to. I canceled his contract right after the funeral, but the company made a mistake. They added his number to my account and put me on some stupid family plan.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t believe this! Why didn’t you tell me instead of making up a fake identity?”
“For a lifetime of lonely nights, I dreamed of touching you in the waysInever could. But Jax could. Every time you called me by his name, it ripped my heart to pieces. Still, the pain was better than not having you at all.”
Hailey hides her face behind her hands, shoulders trembling as she cries.
“When you married my brother I lost you the firsttime, and I couldn’t lose you again. It would’ve killed me. I love you too much to risk what I had with you as Jax. You make me weak. You tempt me. You make me selfish.”
She scoffs, lowering her hands, a storm of emotions raging in her eyes. “Are you saying this ismyfault?”
“No, but I need you to understand why I fucked up like this. Why I lied. All I wanted was to have you to myself for a while and I’d wait another sixteen years for a single day with you. For a single touch.”
“Was any part of Jax real or did you play a role to trick me?” she asks, voice quivering.
“It was all real, Spitfire. Every moment. Every touch. Only one thing wasn’t true: this between us was never casual for me. It never could be.”
Hailey’s palm meets my chest in a slap. “You’re the dumbest piece of shit I’ve ever met!”
