Page 37 of Heartbreaker
No.
“Look, I’m just checking on a friend.”
Checking on a friend, my ass. I rolled my eyes.
“He one of those wrestlers or something?”
“Yes.” I sighed. “He’s afriendfrom work.”
“Just a friend?” A sly smirk crossed Jaxon’s features as he placed the straw on his tongue.
As much as I’d like to say otherwise, I can’t. That’s exactly what Brooks said the other night. He wants to be friends…justfriends. But the way he kissed me last night at the Taco Drop was the opposite of how you treat someone who’s just a friend. He and Brody were gone by the time I found the others. Raelynn told me they left before midnight to go back home, but I knew that was only partially true.
“Not that it matters, but yes, he’s just a friend.”
For now. No, for good. I can’t risk screwing things up at EWE, and getting involved with another wrestler seems like a fast track to derailing my career before it ever truly gets started, especially if that wrestler is John “Brooks Taylor” Brooks.
Jaxon’s following huff ground away at my nerves. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to see just how far he could push before I exploded.
I sighed. “I’m going to regret this, but what?”
“He just seemed really into you, is all. For just a friend,” Jaxon said. “You fucking him?”
I practically spat the drink of hot coffee I’d taken. “What is wrong with you?”
He laughed. “That’s not a no.”
I stared at him for a brief moment before I shook my head, running my finger over the rim of my coffee mug. “Why did you really want to meet up, Jax?”
“Catch up.” He shrugged.
“That’s all?” I asked, shocked by the lack of typical Jaxon charm and decorum I’d become so accustomed to over the years.
“And maybe to get under his skin a little.” Jaxon’s lips pulled into the devilish smirk I had come to know all too well over the years, and it made me sick to my stomach. “You should’ve seen the way he looked when I suggested you and I hang out. You’d have thought I’d stolen his favorite toy.”
Unbelievable. Why had I agreed to this? Oh, right, because I was trying to prove a point to myself and John. Instead, I was only reminded why I had ended things with Jaxon for good in the first place.
“You haven’t changed one bit,” I said with a soft laugh.
“Never said I did, Sweetheart.” Jaxon shrugged and popped a bite of egg into his mouth.
The pet name sounded bitter when he said it and made my skin crawl. It was completely different from the way it rolled silky smooth off John’s tongue, gently caressing my skin as it wrapped around me.
With one final roundhouse kick to the heavy bag, I plant both feet on the ground and slump forward against it.
Taking a deep breath, I push away from the bag, ready to start another set of reps, but I’m interrupted by a soft chuckle. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
My head whips toward the loft door, where the same man who has consumed my thoughts stands with an amused smirk.You’ve got to be kidding me.
“From the beating that thing just took, I’d say your date didn’t go well,” John says and steps a few feet inside. He folds his arms over his chest, glancing around at the converted gym. It’s nothing fancy, just a small part of the hay loft Papá had walled off and added a window air conditioner to give us kids somewhere to weight train or work out when the weather was shit. He even installed a mirror with a ballet bar on one of the walls so I could work on my form for cheerleading and dance.
“It wasn’t a date.” I take a sip of water and tighten my ponytail before craning my neck side-to-side, earning a crack of relief on both sides.
“No?”
I check the tape on my wrists even though I know it’s still in place. “No,” I say, planting my feet and raising my hands, geared for another round.
“Wanna talk about it?” His words cement my feet to the ground.
