“You broke my heart one too many times,” I replied honestly.

“NO! Dammit, NO! I won’t accept that. You and me, we’re forever. You and me,” he ended with a sob.

Seeing big six foot four, muscular, tough Hank cry was always my undoing. I couldn’t stand it when the little boy underneath made his appearance. I patted his back. “Let me go and I’ll let you sleep on the sofa.”

“I want to sleep with you,” he said, sounding so defeated.

“No. You sleep on the sofa or you leave.” I was playing with fire here. If I hadn’t eased his temper enough, it could come back in full force.

“Just want to be close to you. Holding you feels so good.” Again, those were words that had once been my weakness.

I stepped back and he lifted his head. Tears swam in his eyes, and he didn’t look like the angry, brutal man I knew he could be. He didn’t look like the heartless player who had thrown my love back in my face while he’d slept with other women. He was a lost, hurt little boy who needed someone to care. I had cared once. Deep down I always would, but the love was gone. There was no getting that back.

“I love you,” he said with sincerity in his voice. I believed him—I knew that he loved that I cared about him. But Hank did not understand real love. Maybe I didn’t either.

JASON

Jax sat across the table with a cup of coffee, staring at me like I had lost my mind. News in this town traveled fast.

“You could’ve used my pool,” Jax said, a grin tugging at his lips. “Unless you actually got naked. You didn’t get naked, did you?”

I leaned back in my chair and glared at him. “How the hell do you even know about that? After the cop ran us off, I took her home. We didn’t see anyone.”

“It’s a small town. Sadie’s connected. You should just be glad you’re in Sea Breeze. That shit would’ve made it on TV had this happened in LA.”

I didn’t respond. Jax was just going to keep this up as long as it entertained him. Not to mention, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk about Jess with him—or anyone—yet. Although, I did plan on seeing her again. Probably wasn’t the best idea, but I didn’t seem to care. She was different.

“Amanda thinks you should be careful. Jess has issues you don’t want to get involved in,” Jax said, studying me closely.

What did he think I was going to do? I’d spent one evening with the girl. It was not like I planned on anything serious. “I don’t recall asking for Amanda’s advice,” I replied, more than a little annoyed. She was one to talk. I was pretty damn sure Jess’s issues didn’t hold a candle to Preston’s. Besides, I’d been under the impression the other night that Amanda was one of Jess’s only supporters on the female side of the group.

“Her ex is mentally off, I hear. She always goes back to him,” Jax informed me.

“Good. Whatever. I don’t care. I’m here to get away, not meet anyone. So lay off with the warnings.”

Sadie cleared her throat, and we both glanced up to see her standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, watching us. Her long blond hair curled naturally and fell over her shoulder. Her blue eyes, framed by thick black lashes, were focused on my brother. “Thought we weren’t going to say anything to him about it,” she said.

Jax jumped up and walked over to her. “Sorry. I know you said not to, but I thought he needed to know what she was like,” he told her, tugging one of her arms loose and pulling her toward him.

“Why don’t we let him make his own decisions?” she replied, going into his arms easily.

“If you two are about to make out, please give me time to get the hell out of here,” I snapped before standing up. One weekend with these two and I was tired of their constant affection.

Jax frowned and glanced back at me. “You’re in a bad mood. Maybe you should try going back to bed.”

Or I could leave. Get away from the lovebirds so I could think about my life some without having Jax’s life forced down my throat. “I’m leaving,” I replied.

“No need to. We’ve got a plane to catch in an hour. You’ll have the place to yourself. Maybe then you can figure out what the hell is eating at you and get over it.”

I could see the concern on Sadie’s face. She didn’t like seeing us like this. Normally, Jax and I got along well. I loved him. But right now everything in my life revolved around Jax and his fame. I was tired of it. I needed to figure out what I wanted for my life. My mother was convinced I was going to be a damn politician, and I was unhappy with life at school. Going back for the fall semester was gonna suck. Even at Harvard, everyone still seemed to care more about Jax than actually getting to know me.

“I’m sorry I’m being an ass. I just need some time alone to think,” I tried explaining.

Jax nodded. “I know. Figure it out. Then come home. I’m used to having you around in the summers. I miss you.”

Chapter Six

JESS

Momma was pacing back and forth in front of me while she smoked her third cigarette in a row. “I can’t believe you let that boy stay the night. Seeing his truck parked outside when I got home . . .” She shook her head, then took another long drag.

“Momma, he was passed out on the sofa. It ain’t like I had him snuggled up in my bed,” I replied, wishing she would sit down. It was never a good thing when Momma was pacing. It’s a miracle she didn’t put a bullet in Hank last night.

“He’s trash, Jess. You know this. What is wrong with you? I thought you’d finally got that out of your system. He’s got a kid, for God’s sake. What more does he have to do to you before you wake the hell up?”

I ran my hand through my tangled hair and sighed. She wasn’t listening to me. She didn’t believe that I had let Hank sleep over because he’d been drunk. She thought it meant something more. “I don’t want Hank. It’s over. But he needed to sleep it off. I didn’t see any harm in it.”

“Any harm in it? Really, baby girl? That’s what you’re gonna say? Do I need to remind you that when that boy snaps, he goes to swinging his fists like you’re his damn punching bag? I won’t do that again. I won’t. I’ll go to jail for shooting his ass before I let him back into your life.”

She never did understand Hank. No one did. Not even the woman he shared a kid with. “I’m done saving him. He can’t be saved. I know that.”

Momma crushed her cigarette into the small dish sitting on the table and stalked over to the coffeepot. “I’ve told you since y’all were kids that he would end up in jail one day or he’d end up dead. You never listened to me, and he hurt you over and over again.”

Hank had been a point of contention with me and Momma most of my life. Momma wanted me as far away from him as possible. I, however, couldn’t seem to turn my back on him. “I know.”

We sat there in silence as she sank down into the chair across from me. “You’re beautiful. You’ve always been a looker. Use those looks, baby. Use them to get the hell out of this life. Don’t waste them on the likes of Hank. This ain’t a life I want for you.”

“I went out with Jax Stone’s brother last night,” I blurted out. I hadn’t been going to tell her that. I doubted I would ever hear from Jason again. I had tried hard to get him to make a move on me and he’d turned me down over and over. He had been so polite about it too. Like he didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Which had only made it that much worse.

“Jax Stone, the rock star? His brother?” Momma asked, to clarify.

I nodded.

“So that’s who you were skinny-dipping with last night?”

Rolling my eyes, I took a drink of coffee. Figures Momma would have already heard about that. “Walt come to Jugs last night?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. Told me he gave you another warning. I made it go away, though. He’s forgiven you.”

I didn’t want to think about how Momma made it go away. I tried not to think about that part of her life.

“So he wasn’t here when Hank’s stupid ass showed up?” she asked.

No, Jason wasn’t here. He had dropped me off and run. I shook my head.

“You invite him in?”

I could hear the unasked questions in her voice. She was wondering if I had slept with him. I stood up and walked over to the sink, then rinsed my cup before setting it down.

“Did you?” she repeated.

“Outta my league,” I replied, wishing I hadn’t told her about him. She would expect him to call me. She would question how I had messed that up. Momma didn’t understand that I couldn’t just make all men fall at my feet. Jason wouldn’t be my ticket out of this life. She didn’t need to get her hopes up.

“No one is out of your league,” she replied angrily.

I started to argue, when my phone rang. Holding my breath, I picked it up from the table and looked down at it. I had texted myself from Jason’s phone last night so I would have his number too. Not that I ever intended to use it.

His name lit up my screen. He was calling me. He had said he would call, but I hadn’t believed he ever would. Why was he calling?

“Is it him?” Momma’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I glanced up at her curious expression. I simply nodded.

“Well, you gonna answer it or stare at it?”

She was right. I needed to answer it. I wanted to answer it. Didn’t I? Nervously, I slid my finger across the screen and lifted the phone to my ear. “Hello.”

A pause. One just long enough to cause my stomach to drop. I had waited too long to answer.

“Jess?” Jason’s voice replied on the other end. It was him.

“Yes.”

“Hey, it’s Jason. Seems you left your bat in my car again,” he said in an amused tone.

My small amount of joy plummeted. Of course. He was calling about the bat. It was why he had come back yesterday. “Oh. I’m . . . Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“What are you doing today?” he asked.

“I have a class. I’m taking some summer courses,” I replied.

He didn’t reply right away. It was almost as if he was surprised. “What about later? Tonight?”

I knew I should tell him he could drop the bat off and that my mom would be here. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to see him again. “I have to go to my cousin’s kid’s football game. He’s eleven and he asked me to come. Rock would also come get me and drag me there by my hair if he thought I was going to let his boy down. But . . .” I stopped myself. Should I invite him? Was that stupid? It was a youth football league game.

“I like football,” Jason said.

“Oh, well, then would you like to come . . . with me?” I had never been this nervous with a guy in my life. But then, I had never asked a guy to something that didn’t involve me ending up in the back of his truck later.

“Love to. What time should I pick you up?”