Page 60 of The Book Signing

Shut up, you dork! You’re trying to get her to like you, not fear you.

Abigail smiles and takes another bite, as do I, and we eat in comfortable silence, much to my surprise.

“Did you use any of those statistics in your book?” she suddenly asks.

I stop chewing midway, and the question sours the taste of my roll. But maybe it’s best I open up to her a little about the reason behind everything. I lied to her and if I want to see her again, I better start with the truth.

“Yes, but this one also had lots of anger and regret. Mainly anger. With a side of cynicism and a sprinkle of vengeance. I think that is why the book took off instead of the failed one I wrote before it. With this book, I put so much emotion into it that it must have resonated with many people so…” I pause and stare at the last bit of sandwich in my hands, thinking about how I got to this position in the first place. Glancing back to Abigail, who is looking at me, chewing her own sandwich. I exhale and add, “The truth is, betrayal actually led me to writing. The fact I added statistics just helped because it was a comfort zone of mine. I’m pretty sure most people don’t give a shit and care more about the rest of the content.” I force the words out, not having said that to anyone before. Maybe Greg once, but not to this extent.

Abigail finishes her food but says nothing. I can see she is mulling over what I said, and it makes me… nervous.

A waiter appears out of nowhere and asks us if we’re finished, so he can take the plates away. We force a smile and nod in unison. Once he’s gone, Abigail looks at me, holds my gaze and says, “I know the feeling. That’s what lead me to the bar that night. Led me to you, I guess.”

My mouth curves at the thought, even though the topic is bitter.

“Looks like the universe has been playing a little game with us.”

Abigail makes a quiet laugh but sobers up quickly, giving me that sense she is still wary of me.

She clears her throat, and digs into her purse, setting off alarms in my head, that she is gettingready to pay and leave, which is the last thing I want. So, I find myself doing something I haven’t done before.

“The anchor,” I blurt. “The tattoo you asked me about.”

Abigail stops sifting through her bag and looks up at me in surprise.

Shit, I’m really falling for her.

Chapter Thirty-Two

ABIGAIL

I can see Jaxon’s desperation to keep me here. His unease at wanting to open up to me, especially after how I went off at him. His haunted face frowns as he rubs the back of his neck. Something about the way his throat bobs feels like a hint that this is not a hot topic of his.

Shit, this must be so hard for him, whatever it is.

All I want to do is pull him into a hug. I don’t know what happened, but his demeanor changed, and I want to be there for him.

Jaxon clears his throat and says, “It represents my ex, Natasha. I looked at her as my anchor. Shekept me grounded, kept me sane and supported me throughout university and the first bunch of jobs. I was a goner for her, and when I saved up enough money and guts, I got it done.”

I give him a soft smile. “That’s lovely, Jaxon.”

His expression turns bitter as he says, “It was lovely until I found her in our king bed with another man. I literally caught her in the act.”

In a matter of seconds, my smile disappears and in its place is hurt for him. Knowing that someone he loved betrayed him.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, and place a hand on top of his, unable to keep it to myself.

He shrugs and cocks his head to the right, trying to avoid my gaze. “When I confronted her, she didn’t even sound like she had remorse for breaking my heart. I even had the ring ready and all,” I tsk and shake my head as I learn of the heartache.

“That’s why you want it removed.”

He nods. “Yep, I need to remove the reminder of what that bitch did. She torments me.” He then looks directly at me and says, “She is the reason I began sleeping around. See, I didn’t just take it badly when I found out she was cheating on me. A stupid part of me wanted to hurt her back, so I slept around too, and like a prick, let her know about it.I wanted her to know how it felt to find out what I’d been doing with other women. Younger women. Hotter women. I wanted to ruin Natasha by playing her game, and by rubbing it in her face.”

Hearing this, though, surprises me, and I remove my hand and discreetly tug a strand of loose hair behind my ear.

“Shit…” I sigh, although what I really want to do is to snap at him and say how stupid and unhealthy that was of him to do. That he just created a monster instead of saying goodbye to a total bitch, then licking his wounds privately.

Then I remember I did unhealthy and stupid things, too. So again, like Tiff said, it would be hypocritical to open my mouth and give him an opinion.

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