Chapter Ten
Marty
Jax and I chatted so much over dinner, we hardly touched the food we’d ordered. I spent some time talking to our waiter, seeing as how he apparently worked with Jax, and I prodded him for a story or two. It’s easy for people to portray themselves as one thing, but be something completely different with their friends, and a part of me was curious as to how genuine Jax was being.
Especially when his hand felt so good wrapped around mine.
“Yeah, he gave me a chance when no one else would, and I’ve been working with him ever since. Almost ten years now, and still going strong.”
“Jake here likes the older ladies,” Jax smirked.
“I can’t deny it,” Jake sighed. “There’s just something about their experience.”
“Hey, if you like being a granny-banger, then good for you,” I smiled.
Jax’s jaw unhinged at my comment and Jake moved to give me a high five. I slapped him a good one before we both started laughing and Jake went off to get our check before I turned my attention back to my date.
Yes, Jax Weatherspoon and I were on a date.
“Well, holy shit, Em.”
“What? You think I can’t hang with the guys?” I asked.
“I’m impressed,” he grinned.
“You better be. I dated your ass in high school.”
“What that got to do with anything?” he asked before he took the check from Jake.
“She means she’s still trying to impress you,” he smirked.
“Hey, I thought you were on my side!” I feigned pain as I threw my hand over my heart.
“Sorry. When it comes to the boys, I’ll always have their back. Bros before hoes,” Jake laughed. “Well, I’ve got to go check on some tables, but it was nice meeting you…”
“Marty.”
I watched Jake stop before he blinked in my direction, and just as quickly as he had paused, he took my hand in his and brought it to his lips.
“Marty,” he murmured before lightly pressing a kiss onto it.
“Ah, a charmer. The old ones really go for that,” I whispered to Jax, who sputtered out a chuckle before Jake broke out into a smile.
“You don’t have to be old to appreciate romance; isn’t that right, Jax?”
But the look Jax gave him told me there was something I was missing.
“You two enjoy the rest of your evening,” Jake nodded before taking our check away.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“Hell if I know.”
I always knew when Jax was lying, but I decided not to call him out on it. Whatever it was, it clearly made him uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to ruin the evening that was ahead of us. I was still looking forward to that pontoon boat ride he’d promised me, and part of me was wondering if he’d let me cuddle in close to him.
“Here you go,” Jake said as he handed Jax the check back. “Come back and see us again soon.”
“Oh, hell yes. And I’m bringing Chip as my date next time,” Jax smiled.
“You would, you dick,” Jake smiled back.
My heart swelled with happiness. Back in high school, Jax didn’t have many friends. People knew of him, and people wanted to hang around him when he had cigarettes, but no one actually wanted to just…be around him. The girls followed him around because he was hot and guys wanted to be around him whenever they were trying to impress a girl, but someone was always using him for something, and it always made me so damn angry.
It was so great to see that he had friends; faithful friends that actually gave a shit about him.
“Oh, here. Let me leave the tip,” I offered when I saw him set the check down onto the table.
“No, Em, that’s not—”
But when I took the check holder and flipped it open, my eyes bulged when I realized Jax was leaving Jake a $400.00 tip.
“$400 dollars?” I whispered to him.
“Just…come on,” he murmured before he grabbed my hand and quickly led me to the door. “If he sees it, he’ll come after us before we can get out of here.”
“But $400.00 dollars?” I said as we stepped out onto the street.
“Pontoon boat. Yes?” he asked, but he didn’t give me a chance to answer. He started pulling me down the street, weaving us into a crowd of people, and when I looked back, I saw Jake bust out onto the street and begin looking around. I kept my mouth shut even though my mind was whirling, and I stayed silent until we got to the pontoon boat register just by the lake.
It was eerily silent tonight. Usually, this place had been crawling with teenagers looking for a place to grope each other in private, couples getting engaged and older married folks looking for a romantic night out, but with it being a random Thursday night, I could see why it had been a little slower than usual.
“Pontoon or rowboat?” the tired attendant asked.
“I’ll take a rowboat, please,” Jax said. He quickly paid the fee and took off toward the boat, yanking my hand while I tried desperately to keep up.
I’d only seen this side of him once, and it was the day his mom had called the school and told him there was an emergency at the hospital. I’d been making out with him in the girl’s locker room and the gym teacher found us, and I knew something was wrong when she didn’t scold us for what we were doing. She took Jax to the office, and he came barreling back out, yanked my hand, and dragged me all the way to his house where we got into a car he was just barely allowed to drive.
That was the day hospice stepped in and told him and his mom they could either take a hospital bed home or transfer him to the hospice care wing of the hospital.
I know it changed Jax completely to watch his father die at home.
Jax maneuvered the boat onto the water, and I couldn’t help but eye his back and arms as his muscles flexed underneath his shirt. He was strong; much more than he had ever been in high school. The first time we’d ever made love, he tried picking me up and propping me against the wall like you see in the movies sometimes, but he dropped me and I ended up bashing my head against the corner of his bed. I had a knot on the side of my head for a solid week.
I didn’t realize I was giggling out loud until Jax asked me what was so funny.
“Remember the first time we had sex?” I asked.
“When I thought I was such a porn star, but dropped you straight on your head?”
“I was just thinking about that,” I admitted.
“What got you thinking about that?” he asked. I watched as he stuck the paddles into the oarlocks mounted on the edges of the boat before he situated it against the dock, and I couldn’t help but continue to stare at him. His thighs were thick, and I could see their outline through the sides of his slacks. His shoulders were broad, pulling the fabric of his shirt taut across his chest, and I bit my lower lip as I thought back to the first time Jax had ever gone down on me. His grip on my thighs had been tight back then, but with his new and improved physique?
I shuddered at the mere thought of it, pressing my knees together.
“Cold?” Jax smirked.
I knew I’d been caught, so I simply kept my mouth shut. My chest was panting faster than I would’ve liked, and I could feel my cheeks burning underneath the pale moonlight of this random Thursday night. Memories of high school and the ecstasy he poured over my body surfaced with every twitch of his muscles, and the comment Alyssa made to me before I left to go get ready kept rattling through my mind.
“You should ask him to the wedding,” she had said.
“Come here,” Jax murmured.
Before I knew what was happening, I felt his arm at the crook of my knees. I squealed and wrapped my arms around his neck as he effortlessly lifted me into the air, my eyes growing wide. The teenage punk I had grown to love in high school was nothing compared to the man who was holding me in his arms now, and I couldn’t help but flutter my gaze up to his as my body melded into his touch.
“Wouldn’t drop you now,” he murmured.
And all I could do was shake my head.
He slowly stepped the both of us onto the boat and I clung to him because I feared the boat would simply tip. He held me close to his frame and I could feel the warmth of his muscles radiating through his clothes. I nestled my head into the crook of his neck while he slowly sat down onto the seat, and when I finally chanced to move my face up to meet his, our lips were so close, I could feel the pulsating of his breath against my skin.
“I’m gonna paddle us out to the middle,” he said.
I reluctantly got off his lap and swung around to sit in the seat across from him while he took the paddles in his hands and began to row, and I watched as his biceps flexed, contracting and expanding with the effort it took to get us out to the center. The lake seemed small when you looked at it from the shore, but when you were out in the middle, it seemed so expansive. The shoreline receded on all sides and the stars reflected in the rippling waters, and the question rolling around in my mind blurted out before I could filter it through my brain.
“Why did you give him such a huge tip?”
Jax remained quiet until we made it out to the middle of the lake, and then he used the paddles to slow us down before the boat came to a dead stop. Silence fell around us as my gaze danced along Jax’s face, and something that looked like hurt began to waft behind his eyes. I leaned forward, crouching to get down on my knees, and I took his hands within mine before I craned my neck to look up at him.
“What’s happening, Jax?”
“I’m wondering if Jake—or someone he knows—is in trouble; I couldn’t see him working in a place like that otherwise. Maybe he’s trying to bank extra cash to pay off some bookies. Or maybe he’s trying to help someone who’s sick.”
“Why would you think that?” I asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck and paused for a moment. “Well… I mean… that’s why I got a second gig. I’m only working at the club to help my mom. It’s fucking humiliating, but the money’s good—and she sure could use it.”
“I don’t understand. What… what’s wrong with your mother?” I asked lightly. And I regretted even asking the question before he murmured that repulsive word.
“Cancer.”
My heart sank in my chest. “Oh god, Jax. I’m so sorry…”
“Yeah, she’s been sick for a few years. After my dad died, she just wasn’t the same, and soon enough, I was taking her to appointments all over the state to figure out what was wrong with her.”
“I—I had no idea.”
He stared at the bottom of the boat and let out a long, deep sigh. “As her health declined and she couldn’t work any longer, I took it upon myself to find the best paying side job I could, just to help keep things afloat over there.”
I scooted closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist before I laid my cheek into the dip of his chest. “I’m sure she appreciates everything you’ve been doing for her,” I told him. His body was tense against mine, and I thought of an idea that might help him to relax a bit; to just breathe and talk to me.
“When the rain is blowing in your face,” I started to sing, “and the whole world is on your case, I could offer you a warm embrace to make you feel my love.”
His body started to ease beneath my arms, and I continued to lightly sing the tune I sang to him over and over again until he finally admitted those three little words to me back in high school.
Those three little words that would always change a girl’s life.
“When the evening shadows and the stars appear—”
“—and there’s no one there to dry your tears, oh, I’ll hold you for a million years to make you feel my love,” Jax sang.
His arm hooked around my back before he began running his fingers through my hair, and the gruff, angelic voice that had just graced my ears stunned even me. I lifted my head and looked up at him, and he was staring out at the water with the stars shimmering in his eyes. He panned his gaze down to mine while he continued to sing, and I didn’t even realize our faces had been inching closer and closer together.
I felt his hand grasp the back of my head before his lips lightly descended upon mine, and my body succumbed to the strength and darkness of Jax Weatherspoon underneath the spying moon on that glassy lake. His voice was smooth, his hands were comforting and his kiss was intoxicating.
He was intoxicating.
My hands grasped his shirt and his hands dropped to my waist, and I felt myself being pulled from my knees while his tongue begged for entry. His hands were firm against the small of my back and his legs were strong beneath my hamstrings, and soon I was straddling the lap of the man who was far from the boy I’d fallen for in high school.
He finally broke the kiss and I leaned my forehead into his. I was panting, gasping for air in the breathless bubble I’d created solely for Jax and I, and another thought popped into my head and flew out of my mouth before I could filter it.
“You should sing at Marianne’s reception.”
I fluttered my eyes open and caught his wild stare, and when I slowly pulled my face back, I realized I meant it.
He needed to come sing for her reception.
“She’ll pay you well, and you can use the cash to help out your mom. The DJ we hired took some damn trip to Europe for some concert or whatever. All I know is I sent him a scathing email and he refunded Marianne’s deposit of $4,000.00”
“$4,000.00?”
“It’s yours if you come sing. Your voice, Jax. Dear God, where did you learn to sing like that?”
“You mean I didn’t sound like this in high school when we’d sing along to the radio?”
“Not even a little bit,” I murmured. “It’s a two-hour set, so it’s sort of long for someone singing—”
“—And playing guitar,” Jax interjected.
“Wait. What?”
“Singing and playing guitar,” he said.
“You play guitar?” I squealed.
“I putz around,” he nodded.
“Can you strum more than four chords?” I asked.
“Can’t every guitar player?” Jax asked.
“Fuck, no,” I breathed.
“Well, I can,” Jax smirked.
“The job’s yours if you want it. $4,000.00 for a two-hour set at Marianne’s reception. I can fill the rest with the music on my phone. The only songs already picked out are the song she and Brad chose for their first dance, the one for the father-daughter dance, and the song Brad and his mom will be dancing to.”
“Brad’s the lucky guy?”
“Definitely the lucky guy,” I grinned.
“Please say you’ll do it,” I pleaded. “It’ll save me a day tomorrow where I don’t have to rush around and find a musician at the last minute.”
“If I say yes, will you spend your free day with me tomorrow instead?” he asked.
“It’s Friday. You’re not working?”
“I mean, I’ve got lunch and the evening free.”
“No dancing?” I asked.
“Nah. I’ll call in. Gotta prepare for some music gig or something,” he smirked.
And I threw my arms around him as he pulled me in closer and held me tight.
“Thank you so much, Jax,” I whispered into his ear.
And he kissed the crook of my neck in return.