Abbi Glines - Misbehaving

“Would have been smarter had he done that when you weren’t here,” Rock replied, shooting an annoyed glare Jason’s way.

“But it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun,” Dewayne added.

Trisha slapped his arm and scolded him.

“Krit’s gonna go apeshit,” Dewayne said in a singsong voice.

“Shut him up,” I whispered to Rock.

Jason approached the table, and I did my best not to stare at him. I smiled. “Hey again.”

He didn’t look as easygoing as before. “Hey.” He turned his attention to the others at the table. “Rock, Trisha, Dewayne, good to see you,” he said, then looked back at me. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“Bad idea. Her man won’t deal well with it. Just let it go and save me the hassle,” Rock answered for me.

Krit’s arm settled around my shoulders again, and he set my drink down in front of me. His gaze was locked on Jason, but he lowered his head to kiss the side of my face. “Company?” he asked in a bored drawl, even though he knew exactly who Jason was.

“Krit, Jason Stone. Jason, Krit,” I said, unable to look at either of them. I glanced to Rock for rescuing.

“Jason, it’s good to see you again and all,” Rock said. “Hope life’s treating you well, but due to your past with Jess, this isn’t the best time.”

“When is a good time?” Jason asked, looking at me and ignoring the glare I knew Krit was directing his way.

“Never,” Krit replied.

This was not me. I didn’t hide behind men to protect me. How had I let this one guy completely change me? I was stronger than this. I grabbed Krit’s hand and made him look at me. I had been going to tell him to let me talk to Jason, but the look in Krit’s eyes stopped me. He didn’t deserve that.

“It’s okay,” I told him softly, then pressed a kiss to his lips to try to ease some tension from his body. Then I turned my attention to Jason. “We talked, Jason. You’ve said all you wanted to say to me before. Let’s just be friends and leave it at that,” I told him.

Jason started to say something else, but I shook my head and then stood up. I wasn’t arguing with him in front of everyone. I didn’t want him to say anything around them that would prove what an idiot I was. How I had taken something so small and made it much bigger. It was my humiliation. I wanted to keep it that way.

“Dance with me,” I told Krit.

“Gladly, love,” he replied, and I watched him cockily salute Jason as I pulled him toward the dance floor.

JASON

“She’s a hot little number. Completely blew you off, though, for the singer dude with the eyeliner,” Finn said as he leaned over in the limo, unable to sit up straight.

I wasn’t in the mood to discuss Jess with either of them. They didn’t know what had happened with us, nor would they understand.

“Don’t know why you didn’t dance with one of the many other babes who asked you,” Hensley said. “Hell, that redhead was hitting on you so hard she was about ready to crawl into your lap. Sucks that I can’t have a rock-star brother. That one group of girls knew you right away. They were squealing and shit, like you were the fucking rock god, not Jax. ’Course, I got to fill that girl up. When you weren’t showing interest, she moved on over and climbed into my lap. Sweet tits. Really sweet tits.”

I closed my eyes and tried to block the guys out. But then again, if I thought too hard, all I’d be able to see was that fucker’s hands all over Jess like she was his. But then, she was his. I didn’t have any claim to her.

“I don’t know why we can’t take home those slutty ones. I woulda been getting lucky right now,” Finn grumbled.

“Oh, I don’t know, Finn, maybe because we’re staying at Jax’s summer place, and he doesn’t want rabid fans to know where it is,” Hensley replied.

“We coulda drove around and fucked in the limo,” he complained.

“You need to sleep this off. No orgies in the limo. We aren’t that drunk,” Hensley said.

She had said that she’d hurt him for me. I had thought that meant she wanted me more than him. That she didn’t love him. But then she’d chosen him over me at the table. I couldn’t figure her out. Had she gone to the back and changed her mind? Was my fuckup in New York it for her? I had sent her home like she asked and not contacted her once. I had stared at her number enough times, thinking about it. But I’d never actually gone through with it.

“She was watching you when she thought you weren’t looking. When she was dancing with him, the rocker dude,” Hensley said.

I opened my eyes and lifted my head to look at him. “Jess was looking at me?” I asked, needing to make sure I hadn’t just imagined that.

“Yep. She looked at you a lot. But then the rocker dude caught her one time and she stopped. Then we left.”

Shit. This was all kinds of fucked up. I needed to let this go. She had obviously moved on. I had to get back to school Monday, and staying in Sea Breeze to make something happen with Jess was impossible.

“Doesn’t matter. She doesn’t fit into my life,” I said, more to myself than anyone else.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Hensley agreed.

“Dude could sing, though,” Finn said with his eyes almost closed and his body leaned over so far his head was touching the seat.

Maybe I needed to get that drunk. Then I wouldn’t care.

JESS

Throwing myself back into school and work was the only thing that got me through the next week. Krit realized I was pulling away, and he was letting me. I wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t holding on so tight after Jason’s showing up at Live Bay. Part of me felt like I should go apologize to him, tell him I was sorry about how I was acting, but I couldn’t. I needed time to deal.

When Friday night came back around, Krit called three times. I didn’t answer. I wasn’t in the mood to face Live Bay tonight. I had brought home some things to alter from the shop. Focused on that, I almost ignored my phone the fourth time it rang. But it could have been Momma. Glancing over at it, I saw Jason’s name flash on my screen, and I dropped the pants I was holding and grabbed my phone.

Standing in my room, I stared at it. Why was he calling? I didn’t think about it too hard. I just answered.

“Hello,” I said, wondering if he had accidentally called me. Maybe he had meant to call a Jessica or a Jocyln.

“Hey, can you talk?” His deep voice came over the line and my insides went all warm, despite my better judgment.

“Uh, I . . .” Could I talk? Could my heart handle it? “Yeah, sure.”

He let out a relieved-sounding sigh. “Good.” There was a smile in his voice. I could visualize the way his lips curled up in amusement. “I’m sorry about last weekend. I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that. I just . . . I hadn’t been prepared to see you again.”

I wanted to laugh at that. He hadn’t been prepared to see me? Ha. Did he have any idea how he had affected me? “You surprised me,” I replied.

“You surprised me, too.”

“How did I surprise you? Surely you knew I would more than likely be there.”

I sat down on the edge of the bed, trying to calm my shaking hands. Talking to him like this was making me nervous. It was silly and ridiculous and I should have ended this call, but I didn’t.

“I wasn’t expecting . . . him.”

Oh. So he’d thought I was sitting here pining for him. Even if it was for selfish reasons and it made me a terrible person, I was thankful for Krit at the moment. If Jason had expected me to still be alone, I was glad he saw I was desirable to some people. “Why?” I asked, needing to hear him explain it.