a hint of a smirk there. “So, I hope this isn’t out of line, but you tried to help me once and now I want to do the same for you.”
“Jax,” Oakley says as she slides her hand over the top of mine. “Don’t give up on him. I know it’s not my place to say, but it’s easy to see you’re both in pain. You’re both good men. You deserve all the happiness you can get.” Why did that statement bring sadness to your eyes, sweet girl?
“What about you, Oakley? Do you have anyone in your life, because you deserve it too, you know.” The smile she’s had all day falters, and she averts her gaze.
“I don’t need anyone. It’s just been me for a long time and I’ve learned to be okay with that. Not everyone gets their happily ever after, Jax,” she whispers.
Challenge accepted, sweetheart.
Challenge accepted.
CHAPTER 14
JAX
“What do you mean you aren’t coming to dinner?” Fuck. Mama’s tone borders on hysterical. As though turning down dinner is one of the worst sins imaginable in the Mendez house.
I sigh. “Mama—”
“Don’t you Mama me!” The tapping sound in the background tells me she’s holding her wooden spoon with a death grip, tapping it on the counter in an attempt to calm herself. “I am getting old, mi hijo. Each day Padre Santo lets me wake up on His earth is a blessing. And yet you waste time with your mama? You cancel dinner…”
I roll my eyes at her dramatics. “You’re in perfect health, Mama. As a matter of fact, the last time we visited your doctor he wanted to know your secret,” I remind her.
She gives me a huff of indignation. “The secret is staying busy. Book club, church. Cooking for my children.”
God, I’m glad she can’t see my face right now, there’d be no way to hide my smirk. “In that case your wrinkles will be happy to cook for me again tomorrow night, si?”
“Wrinkles?!” she gasps before praying in Spanish, asking God to give her patience with unappreciative children.
The real reason for my call shoves the laughter down and replaces my smirk with a sigh. Emotions wage war inside me. Hope clashes with fear and doubt. When I’ve been silent too long, Mama speaks again.
“Talk to me, my boy. Something is wrong, si?”
I clear my throat, trying to dislodge the lump that’s formed there.
“I’m meeting Maddox,” I admit, staring through the windshield of my truck while sitting in the parking lot outside Corrupt.
Mama hums under her breath. “Did he ask for this?”
I look away from the building and trace my finger around the leather stitching on the steering wheel. “Yeah. Said he wanted to talk.” And I couldn’t say no.
“Maybe the time away has done him good,” she suggests.
I snort. “We’ve broken up plenty enough times for him to know what it’s like when I’m not around.” I sound like an ass, but the truth is, the pain from our breakup still lingers. My heart is still in pieces, and most of those pieces are lodged somewhere inside Maddox.
“True,” she agrees “But maybe it took you walking away from him this time. Now Maddox might realize what he lost.”
Mama’s words hit me like a battering ram. I thought—hoped—the same thing myself when I saw the text on my phone earlier tonight. But hope is a dangerous thing, and I’ve been burned one too many times to have any sense of hope when it comes to Maddox.
It’s been weeks since I closed the door on him, and still, the pain tears at my insides, shredding me apart with each fleeting thought, each memory of his touch. Everything hurts like a motherfucker—everything aches, and he’s the only one who has the power to take it away.
“Do you still love him, mi hijo?” Mama asks.
I’ve loved Maddox for so long I can barely remember a time when I didn’t live and breathe for him. No amount of space and time will ever lessen the love I have for him.
“Mama, I have to go, love you.” Before she can continue her questioning, I promise not to miss tomorrow night’s dinner, then I hang up, focused only on the man I need to see.
***
I spot Rhys behind the bar as soon as I walk into Corrupt. “How’s it goin’, man?” I shake his hand over the bar.
“Good, I haven’t seen you around much lately, been busy?” he asks.
Clearly Maddox hasn’t made it known we’re no longer together. If he had, Rhys would