“Yes, well, speaking of partying,” she said, “I’m having a birthday party for Preston tonight at the house. I just found out that even the single guys coming are bringing dates. And Preston just ran into a former teammate of his in town for the weekend and invited him. He has no date, and I don’t want him to feel like the odd one out. So I was hoping . . .” She trailed off.

“That I would come and make this an even number,” I finished for her, thinking that I would rather poke needles in my eyeballs.

“Yes, please? Rock and Trisha will be here. I know you aren’t a big fan of this whole crowd, so if you don’t want to, I understand,” she said.

That was typical Amanda. She was giving me an out in case I didn’t want to do this. She hated making anyone uncomfortable. I knew Marcus Hardy’s wife, Willow, didn’t much care for me, and honestly I didn’t blame her. I’d been an ass to her once. I had been so full of anger back then with my life in general, thanks to Hank. Probably time I apologized to the woman. Then there was Cage York’s wife, Eva. We had only had one run-in, but I had been a bitch then, too. I’d never had my sights set on Cage. He’d been more screwed up than Krit, but then he’d met Eva. Cage was so completely different now.

“I’ll come,” I said. This had always been a crowd I didn’t fit into but watched from the outside.

“You will? Thank you so much!” she replied happily. I listened to her tell me about the details and wondered if this was a major mistake. What if Jason had planned to call tonight and I was at this party and couldn’t talk to him?

After I hung up the phone, I sat there staring at it, wishing Jason would just call.

JASON

I had a test to study for and a paper to write. All week I had focused on my classes and making sure I was caught up and ahead of the game. My goal was to be available to leave for Sea Breeze by next Friday to spend time with Jess. Tonight I intended to call her, but I was going to get done with my course work first. I knew once I heard her voice I would be too distracted to think about anything else.

Only an hour into my studying, my phone rang, interrupting me three times in thirty minutes. I reached over and picked it up to see that Jax was the determined caller.

“What?” I asked irritably. He was wasting my limited time.

“Glad you could answer. I called three times,” he replied.

“I’m busy. What do you need?”

“Studying, I gather. You always act like an ass when I interrupt your study time.”

“Yet you kept calling after I ignored you the first time.”

“Did you get my text?” he asked.

“No. I was ignoring you.”

“I was just passing along some information that I thought you might find interesting, but then again, maybe not. I just figured since you were using my beach house so much lately, there may be someone bringing you there.”

Was he talking about Jess? “You have my attention. What is it you know or think you know?”

“You haven’t talked about it since that night in the limo. You were pretty upset about the alternative-looking guy. But since you were back in Sea Breeze last weekend and I have it on good authority that you took Jess into the house and kept her overnight, that things between you two are back on again.”

Since when did Jax have time to stalk my private life? “Get to the point.”

“Touchy. So you two are back on again,” he replied. I pulled my phone back and checked my text messages. I wasn’t in the mood for this.

Jax had sent me a photo of Jess sitting beside a guy, smiling up at him while he was saying something to her. Jax had texted: Look who’s got a date to Preston Drake’s birthday party.

“What the hell is this?” I asked, standing up and taking several deep breaths while I tried to decide what to do.

“You saw the text? That’s who sat across from Sadie and me during dinner tonight.”

“Where are you?” I demanded, walking to grab my keys and wallet from the dresser beside my bed.

“Sea Breeze. Preston and Amanda’s place. Everyone else is inside still eating, but I thought you should see that. Not sure what your relationship is with her, but you need to know she isn’t sitting around Sea Breeze waiting for you. But then, you had heard the stories about her. Don’t want you to get hurt.”

I opened the door to my apartment and slammed it behind me.

“What are you doing?” Jax asked.

“Going to the airport,” I snarled, unable to mask my anger.

“So you two are seeing each other. Is it exclusive?”

I stopped stalking toward the elevator. Was it exclusive? That one question had been like a slap to the face. What was wrong with me? I had been ready to go get on a plane and demand Jess explain herself. But I couldn’t do that.

“No,” I replied, and leaned up against the wall to let the heaviness settle on my chest. “We aren’t. Exclusive, that is.”

“Then I guess she isn’t doing anything wrong. Didn’t think she would right in front of me, but I still wanted to make sure you weren’t being screwed over.”

She was with a guy. Someone else. Was she going to kiss him? Had she already kissed him? Was she seeing him, too? Fuck.

“You still there?” Jax asked.

“Yeah. I’m here.”

He sighed, and I felt the big-brother lecture coming on, from the sound of his sigh. “Guess it’s time you deal with reality, then. I gotta go. Sadie will start wondering where I went.”

“Yeah, okay. Wait, did she . . . did Jess say anything to you about me?” I asked, holding on to the hope that I was on her mind.

“No, she didn’t,” he replied.

I hung up, letting the phone fall to my side. She was on a date. This was my fault.

I turned and went back to my apartment. Studying was going to be impossible now. I grabbed my overnight bag and threw some things into it while calling to book a flight.

Chapter Twenty-One

JESS

Under any other circumstances, having a rock god like Jax Stone staring at me would be thrilling. However, this was entirely uncomfortable. Twice tonight I had come close to telling him that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. That I wasn’t sure what he knew or what he thought he knew, but Jason and I weren’t exclusive. Not that I didn’t want to be.

Sadie apparently noticed Jax’s interest in me and Jeff, Preston’s friend who I had been seated with during dinner, and she kept trying to break the tension by talking to me. To make things even more uncomfortable, Willow Hardy wasn’t exactly happy with me being here. I felt like pointing out that Marcus was holding their kid in his lap while gazing at her like she fell from heaven just for him.

“Excuse me,” I said to Jeff before standing up. He was talking baseball with Preston, and Amanda had slipped out a few minutes ago, followed by Sadie. I was going to find Amanda and make an excuse to leave.

“Sure,” Jeff replied with a dimpled smile. He was cute and had those pitcher’s arms going for him, but he wasn’t Jason.

I walked in the direction that Amanda had gone in and overheard her and Sadie talking in the kitchen. Knocking on the door frame, I stepped into the kitchen. Both girls’ heads snapped up, and Amanda put a much-too-bright smile on for me.

“Hey, Jess,” she said.

I didn’t wait for her to say any more. “I think I’m going to head out, if that’s okay. Since dinner is over.”

Amanda took a quick glance at Sadie, then back at me. “Oh, um, okay. You sure you don’t want to stay for cake?”

“No. I think I’ll forgo the cake, but thanks for the invitation. I . . . enjoyed the evening.” Which wasn’t exactly true, but I didn’t want to be rude.

I could feel Sadie studying me, and I moved my gaze to hers. I wanted to say something to her about my relationship with Jason, but then if he hadn’t told them, he may not want me to. Instead I forced a smile, then turned to leave.

“I didn’t know about Jason,” Amanda said before I could walk out of the room.

I stopped and turned back around. “What about him?” I asked, trying to sound as if it was no big deal.

Amanda shifted her gaze from Sadie to me. “That y’all were dating,” she said, looking at me apologetically.

I shrugged. “Not many people do. It’s a casual thing.” I hoped my voice didn’t give me away.

“Oh. So y’all aren’t serious?” Amanda asked.

“Who’s not serious?” Eva asked, walking into the kitchen with Willow. Both of them were carrying dirty plates. Willow was the first one to notice I was in the room. She tensed up and glanced at Eva. I had pissed them off, and although they were now married, they still hated me for flirting with their men back then.

I ignored Eva’s question since she hadn’t been speaking to me, and looked back at Amanda. “Nope. He’s got his life at Harvard, and I’m here in Sea Breeze. Jason isn’t interested in serious with me.” I hadn’t meant to say it like that, but trying to fix it would only make me look more pathetic. “Thanks again, Amanda. I’ll see myself out,” I told her so I could escape before they asked me anything else. Just before I walked out, I turned to Willow and Eva. “I’m sorry. I know y’all don’t like me, and I deserve it. Just wanted you both to know that I’m sorry about how I acted back then.”

Willow’s eyes went wide in surprise. I decided to just leave it at that and walk away. I had said what needed to be said. They really didn’t owe me a response.

“Okay. Thanks,” Willow replied in a soft tone. Her expression was still one of amazement.

“Yes, thanks for . . . that,” Eva said, her face almost friendly and slightly amused. I smiled and decided I liked having that weight off my shoulders.

“Bye,” I said, then left the kitchen.

On my way out I called out a bye to everyone in the living room. I didn’t make eye contact with Jeff. It hadn’t been a real date, and I had no desire to get to know him more.

Driving home, I tried not to dwell on the fact that Jason still hadn’t called me. He did say he would be busy this week. The fear that he’d gotten back to Harvard and forgotten about me was nagging at me. I hated feeling this way.

Tonight had been a mistake. That wasn’t my crowd. I loved Rock and Trisha, but his friends weren’t my friends. I didn’t really have friends. Hank’s friends had been mine for so long that when it was over I had pushed everyone else away.

Hank hadn’t been back to my house since he’d had to get married to keep his kid. It was a relief not to have to worry about him beating on my door in the middle of the night. Talking him down from being an angry drunk was tiring. I knew this wouldn’t last—he would get tired of doing what Carrie said, and he’d be back. I was enjoying the break while I could.

The knocking on the door started just after midnight, and I stared at the ceiling in my bedroom, thinking this couldn’t be happening. I had just been thinking about how great it was not having to deal with Hank.