Read Online Tempt Me Twice 1 by Kate Laurens - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Kate Laurens
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that you weren’t on great terms, but I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t help you.”
Oh boy. I’d deliberately left out that bit of the story, but Jax wasn’t giving me an inch.
“Nick wants us to get back together,” I finally admitted quietly. Drawing my spoon through my ice cream, I divided it in two, then smushed it back together into one big mound. I wasn’t sure how Jax would take the news, and sure enough when I finally scraped together the guts to look up, I caught the flash of hurt in his expression. It was quickly covered up, hidden behind that inscrutable expression, but it made me uncertain about what I was about to ask.
Was Jax still nursing feelings for Nick? Not that I was one to talk, but the idea that I might be set aside in favor of my ex-boyfriend—that I would just be counted out of the equation—was hard to take.
“I’m guessing that since you’re here, you didn’t take him up on that.” Jax’s eyes narrowed as he spoke.
“Aah... we had a fight. So, no. I didn’t.” What I didn’t add was that I hadn’t actually said the word ‘no’... but after Nick’s reaction to Jax texting my phone, I couldn’t imagine that there was any hope left for us.
“And where do I come in?” Jax laced his fingers together and leaned on his elbows; I couldn’t look away from his stare no matter how much I wanted to.
Every time he looked at me, I felt like he saw straight through to my very core.
“I’ve told you about my family,” I started slowly, pushing my plate away and twisting my paper napkin in nervous fingers. Last summer, when Jax and I had spent so much time together, I’d told him about my needy mom, about all of my siblings, and even a bit about life back in Louisiana.
I hadn’t told him everything, though.
“I know someone in my family took my money.” I explained briefly about TJ, about how he’d just gotten his girlfriend pregnant, and about how I’d caught him going through my laptop.
Unlike Nick, Jax didn’t immediately insist that the bank would be able to do something for me. Instead he tilted his head to one side, listening intently, and gestured for me to continue.
Sucking in a deep breath, I blurted out the rest of it.
“My brothers and my sisters, my mom, my mom’s boyfriends... they always want something from me.” Resentment towards the group of people who were supposed to love me no matter what surfaced, and I felt my brow furrow. “I’m sick of it. And I really need that money back. I don’t know if the bank will give it to me.”
Drawing every bit of bravery that I possessed around me like a cloak, I laid my palms flat on the table, drew in a deep breath, and looked Jax square in the eye.
“I’m going to go home to stand up for myself.” My fingers trembled against the vinyl of the tabletop; even Jax’s quick smile of approval couldn’t stop that.
“There’s a... reason... that I can’t go by myself. A person I can’t be around. So I want—I need—someone to come with me. You.”
Given what I knew about Jax, I’d expected him to demand to know who it was, exactly, that I couldn’t see. I’d envisioned the rage that he’d feel, that he’d show, on my behalf. Not that I needed a champion—I’d survived on my own—but it would have been nice for someone, anyone, to be angry on my behalf. To care .
I hadn’t expected that Jax would look stricken, or panicked, or disgusted.
“Kayla... I can’t leave Fish Lake.” There was a darkness in his words that I’d never heard before, and my gaze flew automatically to the faint silver scars that striped his knuckles. “I’ve told you that before.”
“I...” I’d pushed it out of my mind because he’d never told me why he couldn’t go, but I now remembered the conversation well. We’d been sitting on a bluff overlooking the lake, and Jax had shown me his scars. He’d alluded to the fact that some bad shit had gone down the last time he’d left town, and that because of
Oh boy. I’d deliberately left out that bit of the story, but Jax wasn’t giving me an inch.
“Nick wants us to get back together,” I finally admitted quietly. Drawing my spoon through my ice cream, I divided it in two, then smushed it back together into one big mound. I wasn’t sure how Jax would take the news, and sure enough when I finally scraped together the guts to look up, I caught the flash of hurt in his expression. It was quickly covered up, hidden behind that inscrutable expression, but it made me uncertain about what I was about to ask.
Was Jax still nursing feelings for Nick? Not that I was one to talk, but the idea that I might be set aside in favor of my ex-boyfriend—that I would just be counted out of the equation—was hard to take.
“I’m guessing that since you’re here, you didn’t take him up on that.” Jax’s eyes narrowed as he spoke.
“Aah... we had a fight. So, no. I didn’t.” What I didn’t add was that I hadn’t actually said the word ‘no’... but after Nick’s reaction to Jax texting my phone, I couldn’t imagine that there was any hope left for us.
“And where do I come in?” Jax laced his fingers together and leaned on his elbows; I couldn’t look away from his stare no matter how much I wanted to.
Every time he looked at me, I felt like he saw straight through to my very core.
“I’ve told you about my family,” I started slowly, pushing my plate away and twisting my paper napkin in nervous fingers. Last summer, when Jax and I had spent so much time together, I’d told him about my needy mom, about all of my siblings, and even a bit about life back in Louisiana.
I hadn’t told him everything, though.
“I know someone in my family took my money.” I explained briefly about TJ, about how he’d just gotten his girlfriend pregnant, and about how I’d caught him going through my laptop.
Unlike Nick, Jax didn’t immediately insist that the bank would be able to do something for me. Instead he tilted his head to one side, listening intently, and gestured for me to continue.
Sucking in a deep breath, I blurted out the rest of it.
“My brothers and my sisters, my mom, my mom’s boyfriends... they always want something from me.” Resentment towards the group of people who were supposed to love me no matter what surfaced, and I felt my brow furrow. “I’m sick of it. And I really need that money back. I don’t know if the bank will give it to me.”
Drawing every bit of bravery that I possessed around me like a cloak, I laid my palms flat on the table, drew in a deep breath, and looked Jax square in the eye.
“I’m going to go home to stand up for myself.” My fingers trembled against the vinyl of the tabletop; even Jax’s quick smile of approval couldn’t stop that.
“There’s a... reason... that I can’t go by myself. A person I can’t be around. So I want—I need—someone to come with me. You.”
Given what I knew about Jax, I’d expected him to demand to know who it was, exactly, that I couldn’t see. I’d envisioned the rage that he’d feel, that he’d show, on my behalf. Not that I needed a champion—I’d survived on my own—but it would have been nice for someone, anyone, to be angry on my behalf. To care .
I hadn’t expected that Jax would look stricken, or panicked, or disgusted.
“Kayla... I can’t leave Fish Lake.” There was a darkness in his words that I’d never heard before, and my gaze flew automatically to the faint silver scars that striped his knuckles. “I’ve told you that before.”
“I...” I’d pushed it out of my mind because he’d never told me why he couldn’t go, but I now remembered the conversation well. We’d been sitting on a bluff overlooking the lake, and Jax had shown me his scars. He’d alluded to the fact that some bad shit had gone down the last time he’d left town, and that because of
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