Page 17 of Needing You

“I crack my knuckles too.”

“Mom says I shouldn't, but I have to.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s when we went out there to tell you, but she didn’t.”

I nodded. I didn’t want to get into the why because it still felt like bullshit. I mean yeah, I’d been acting a littleAmerican Gigoloat the time, but I would’ve recognized her. If I’d seen her, I would’ve dropped everything and listened to her. I would’ve missed so much less.

But there was no going back. And I couldn’t say what I would’ve actually done. I guess move home, but would I have been mature enough to offer this kid anything back then? I was still a kid myself, still reeling from losing my own father and finding my place in a cutthroat, exhausting industry I both loved and resented at times.

“Maybe we’ll go back sometime. If you want. I can show you the good stuff.”

Jackson shrugged his shoulder. “I probably need to get to know you a bit better before we start taking trips together.”

I chuckled, a little surge of affection shooting through me. “That’s fair, and I hope we can work on that. A lot. I’ll work around your schedule. I know you have a life and a lot going on leading into your sophomore year, but I hope we can figure out a way to do this.” I almost saidright, but that didn’t make sense. There was no right here, except just trying. My mom and brothers and even Ellie had reassured me that just being here and showing up was the first step.

I could do that. Even if my past was a road littered with immature assholery and my temper was still a little hot for most people, I could show up.

“Yeah. I’d like that.”

“Good.”

“Maybe we could… mini golf? Or… fuck, I don’t know what you like to do. What would you want to do?”

He chuckled again. “I can mini golf. I’ll probably destroy you, so if you’re as competitive as you seem, maybe that’s not a great idea.”

“Oh, I see how it is. You’re already trying to shit-talk me?”

He laughed outright. “I’d never do such a thing. I’m just saying, you said yourself you’ve got a temper.”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I asked the question on my mind this whole time. “You don’t?”

He shrugged, his default gesture, or so I was learning. “Not really. I’m pretty chill.”

I studied him, looking for any sign of sarcasm. Not a lick of it. “Seriously? I have no doubt you’re my kid, especially after watching you crack the hell out of your knuckles like a maniac, but I am mystified by the fact that you didn’t inherit my temper.”

He snorted. “Disappointed?”

It may have sounded casual, but that soft tilt of his chin down, a slightly protective posture, told me the truth. He was worried I was disappointed by him. In what world? In what fucking world would I be anything but amazed by this person sitting across from me? And I barely knew him.

I leaned down on my elbows and caught his eyes, making sure he knew there was no bullshit here. “No. I’m relieved you don’t have that part of me, and everything else I’ve learned and seen so far only makes me more excited that I have a reason to get to know you. I’m grateful you’re letting me do that, Jackson.”

He swallowed hard. “It’s not like it’s your fault, right?”

I exhaled slowly, mind scrambling for a way to respond to that without throwing Kate under the bus. Thankfully, she came back in and set a tray of icy drinks and ridiculously pretty cupcakes in front of us.

“Here. Thought you two might want a snack.”

So we did. We ate and talked a while longer, and when I left, I knew one thing like I’d never known anything in my life before.Thiswas why I’d come back. I hadn’t known it at the time, but this was it.

I didn’t know what would happen with Eric and Walker’s. I didn’t know how things would go with Kate and me—if I could ignore the heat and wanting that sliced through me whenever I saw her, even with all my fucked-up feelings.

ButJackson?

That was simple.

I was here for him.

9

KATE

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