Page 66 of Jig's Last Dance

“Tell me you’re okay,” she says when we stop outside my class.

“I’m not, but I’m going to be,” I say.

She frowns, and impulsively I hug her. She’s the only person who loves me for me, and I so desperately need that connection right now.

“Now I know something’s wrong,” she says. With a snort, I don’t disagree, but I also don’t answer, leaving her at the door and finding my seat.

After class, I skid to a stop when I find Jig waiting for me in front of the school. Bastard is leaning against the SUV, pretty as you please. So much for asking me to come by later.

“Don’t you have a job or something?” I demand, stopping before him.

He smiles, his eyes lighting up with devilish fire, and I gulp. He really is a pretty specimen.

“You’re my job, sunshine,” he says, opening the passenger door.

“How so?” I ask, climbing inside.

He rounds the vehicle and puts it in drive before smirking, “All eyes are on you, baby.”

My mouth sours, and I give him a good glare before rubbing my brow. “Great. Where are we going?”

“Home.”

I’m relieved to find we’re alone, but this also ratchets my paranoia because I’m not sure I trust myself alone with him. He’s like fucking fire, and I’m drawn to the flames.

Too bad they’re deadly in the end.

I follow him into the kitchen, where he grabs a beer and offers me one. Shaking my head, I sit down at the bar and watch as he takes a drink. Shit, even the way his throat undulates is sexy.

Fuck me.

He sets the beer on the counter and looks me over with his bright eyes. “What happened? Why didn’t you go to school?”

Evading his stare, I trace a circle in the granite. “Jig?”

“Hm?”

“The night I met you, I was a simple girl. Maybe I partied too much, and I was a bitch to my brother, but everything was easy.”

I glance into his eyes, glowing back at me, and suck in a sob. “I know my dad was a bad guy, but he was still my dad, you know? Now . . . Well, now I can’t remember what he was like. I can’t feel him here,” I say, touching my heart. “Did I imagine it all?”

His eyes soften, taking on a deep blue hue before he rounds the corner and gathers me into his arms. With a shiver, I snuggle into the warmth while he rocks me and I sniffle.

After a moment, I lean back and meet his gaze. “Is it wrong to love him?”

His eyes darken and he goes rigid. Chilled, I fall back before he grabs me up and hugs me to him. But I shiver when his arms tremble around me. “Sunshine, whatever else he may have been, he was your dad. Never forget that.”

The knot in my chest unfurls, and I slump. With Jig’s words, I don’t feel like such an asshole. I can’t change who he was, but he was my dad, and I do love him anyway.

“Jig,” I murmur, my heart warm. The last three days in a fucking closet are inspiring me to be stupid, but with Jig, I feel free, and I want to hold on to that for as long as I can.

I mean carpe diem, right? I could’ve been left there to die.

“Hm?” He cocks his head, and I blink into his blazing blue eyes.

“Maybe for a while, we could pretend we’re not, you know, enemies?” I ask shyly, my skin heating through.

“How so?” he asks, batting his luscious eyelashes.

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