Page 70 of Southern Storms

His eyes grew somber for a split second, and the small smile on his lips began to fade. “I could never hate you, Kennedy. Trust me, a long time ago, I tried.”

His words rocked me sideways as I narrowed my eyes. “Wait, what? Why would you try to hate me?”

He shook his head and cleared his throat. “Doesn’t matter, it was a long time ago.”

I reached across the table and placed my hand on his. “No, Jax. It does matter—to me at least. Why would you try to hate me?”

Before he could reply, a voice cut us off. “Seriously, Jax?”

I looked up to see a beautiful woman standing in front of us. She had wavy brown locks of hair and deep brown eyes that matched. She was wearing nursing scrubs, and the sadness in her features pained me, even though I didn’t know who she was.

“Amanda,” Jax said, his voice stern.

She didn’t say anything, but her eyes fell to my hand resting on Jax’s and then she looked back at him.

He reluctantly pulled his hand away from mine. “Listen, Amanda—”

Slap.

It took me aback watching her hand make contact with his cheek. Jax was also stunned based on the way he shook his head in shock.

“Screw you, Jax,” she said as her eyes filled with emotions. “You told me you weren’t seeing anyone.”

“I’m not,” he said.

My hands flew to my chest. “Oh, no. We aren’t—he and I—” I stuttered, unsure why I felt so nervous.Is that what she thinks? That Jax and I are seeing one another?“We aren’t seeing each other. We are just friends.”

She eyed me up and down as she crossed her arms. “Yeah right, new girl. Everybody knows Jax doesn’t have friends. He doesn’t know how to be a friend, the same way he didn’t know how to be a boyfriend.”

“Now wait a minute,” I started, but Jax held a hand up.

“It’s okay, Kennedy. She’s right.”

No, she wasn’t.

I stayed quiet out of respect for Jax, but inside my blood was starting to boil. I couldn’t believe how nasty this woman was being just because she saw Jax and me out with one another. It was clear they used to be in a relationship, but it was over and done with. For her to belittle him—to slap him—was completely uncalled for.

“Good luck,” she told me, pushing her purse strap up her shoulder. “Don’t be surprised when you try to open him up and you’re hit with a cement block. He’s the definition of emotionally unavailable.”

She turned to him and huffed loudly. “I should’ve known you’d turn out to be just like your father, you heartless prick.” She walked off, leaving a heaviness floating around us.

I saw the invisible knife that she’d shoved deeply into Jax’s chest. His body cringed from the painfulness of her words before he looked up at me. He seemed completely deflated as his lips parted. “I think we should head out.”

“Yeah, okay.” I grabbed my purse, and we walked back to his truck. As we drove, I didn’t close my eyes once. I couldn’t stop staring at Jax, wondering what was going through his mind. I wanted to ask, but I also didn’t want to come off as needy. His knuckles were pale white as he gripped the steering wheel in front of him and his mouth twitched every now and again.

As he pulled up to my house, he turned the truck off and looked my way. “Sorry about all that.”

“You did nothing wrong.”

“Yeah, all right. Well, I guess I’ll talk to you—”

“Do you want to keep hanging out?” I offered. “I know that was a lot back there, and I could tell she got under your skin, but we can still hang out. It’s early, it’s Saturday, and the weather is nice. We can sit in my parents’ convertible and just talk, or not talk—whatever you want to do.”

He flicked his nose with his thumb. “I feel like I want to be alone for a while, Kennedy.”

“Yeah, of course. I get you wanting to be alone—truly, I do…but just be alone with me.”

He hesitated for a moment, so I figured I could make the pot even sweeter.

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