He lay back then, with one hand behind his head and the other out beside him. “Now, lay right here,” he said, nodding toward his outstretched arm.
I lay back on his arm. He pulled me closer, and then he began playing with my hair.
“This is so much harder than I imagined,” he murmured into the darkness.
I sighed. “Being apart from your ‘air’ is never easy.”
He grinned. “No kidding. I’ve had a hell of a time breathing this week. I want nothing more than to tell you to forget this and leave with me. But I can’t do it. I want you to have this. I will be here for everything I possibly can. I want to experience all the stuff I missed, with you. I just want you to know there isn’t a minute that goes by I don’t miss you and think about you and wish I were holding you.”
I leaned up on my arm and stared down at him. “When it is over and I graduate, what happens then?” I needed to know.
He grinned, “Then I take you, and I don’t give you back.”
I laughed quietly.
His face got serious. “What do you want to happen when this is over?”
I thought about college, and my desire to be more than Jessica had been. I wanted to have a purpose in life. “I always thought I would go to college. But now....”
Jax pushed up on his elbows. “College is good, Sadie. There are plenty of colleges in California.” He paused. “Or were you thinking of staying close to home?”
I pretended to have to think about it. “Um, well, I guess I could go to somewhere in California, that is, if I get accepted.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Have you not figured out by now, I can move mountains?”
I laughed and shook my head. “You’re not moving mountains to get me into a college.”
He sat up and pulled me with him, and then took my face in his hands. “I will do whatever I have to do to be close to you. I am not going to lie. This year is going to be the hardest year of my life. When it is over, I want to get you close to me.”
I wanted that too. My future was Jax. Yes, I wanted to go to college, but I wanted to be with Jax more than anything else. If he could make both of those things happen, I wasn’t going to let my stubbornness get in the way.
“I want to be with you.” My words brought a huge grin to his incredibly beautiful face.
“You’re my present and my future, Sadie, I will use whatever power I have to make you happy.”
He leaned down and touched his perfect lips to mine, and my heart took flight. I would never get tired of his kiss. Jax Stone was my everything.
Abbi Glines began her writing career as a staff writer for a countywide newspaper while pursuing a major in journalism. She later moved on to freelance writing and has been published in several parenting, family, and travel magazines. Currently she lives in Fairhope, Alabama with her husband and three children. This is her debut novel.
The End
Finn straightened his tie. "Indeed I do."
He headed for the back of the nightclub and pulled open a door discreetly set into the crushed velvet that covered the wall. It opened up into a small hallway that ran in either direction before branching off at both ends. Finn turned left, and we zigzagged through a series of hallways before he stopped at a closed door. Finn knocked on it.
"Come in," a muffled voice said.
Finn opened the door, and we stepped inside an office.
Roslyn Phillips sat behind a wide, massive desk that would have made even Xavier look svelte in comparison.
A variety of pink and white papers lay scattered on the surface in front of her, along with what looked like an old-fashioned ledger book. A computer drowsed at her elbow, while a red light blinked on her phone. It was heart-shaped, with what looked like an arrow forming the headset. The phone matched the runelike shape of the clock on the back wall.
Finn held his hands out wide. A charming smile stretched across his face. "Roslyn, darling, so good of you to see me on such short notice."
An answering smile curved Roslyn's lips, showing her perfect, pearl-white fangs. "You too, Finn."