JAX (The Beckett Boys #2) - Olivia Chase Page 0,15
and he thought he was going to have to fight his way out.
Smith told me he invited them because they’re family.
We don’t need fucking family like that around us.
Shaking off my sullen thoughts, I fetch shots and pour beer and fetch and pour and flirt with the ladies to rack up the tips.
I still haven’t found those damn wedding rings. So all of my extra money will go toward paying the vault back. Thankfully it wasn’t a thousand bucks, like I’d feared, but several hundred for the set of two rings is still a lot.
Luckily, Smith and Aubrey didn’t notice the old switcheroo.
“Jax! Jax!” a black-haired woman in a tight shirt shouts at me from the middle of a cluster of women. I think her name is Veronica. She’s not one of my regular hookups, but we did make out in the backseat of my car once. She’s waving dollars in my direction. “Hey, what’s a girl gotta do to get some attention around here?”
Something about her pushiness grates at me. I don’t know why, but rather than finding her forwardness sexy, it’s…too much.
My heart gives an uncomfortable lurch, and I force myself to keep the smile plastered on my face. I’m just in a funk, is all. Since my brother’s wedding, shit’s been off for me. Probably because he’s now in blissful la-la land.
I’m sure my emotions have nothing to do with Brooklyn, whom I haven’t seen or talked to since that night. Brooklyn, with her big green eyes and sexy mouth and tight pussy and breathtaking smile. And the way she’s so proper and yet has that wildness right beneath the surface, begging to be released.
God, she let me finger her at the reception. That has to be one of the hottest fucking moments in my entire life. I get a raging hard-on every time I think about that night. I’ve jacked off God only knows how many times remembering the look on her face as she came all over my fingers.
And then afterward, we just sat in the gazebo and…talked. Not really about anything important, and not for long. But I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a non-sexual encounter with a woman.
On that day, I had more than one encounter with her, including us going to get the rings.
What the fuck. That’s not my usual style at all.
Veronica comes over to me and flops the money on the bar, interrupting my thoughts.
My smile grows dangerously thin. “Do you want something, hon?” I say in what I hope sounds like a patient tone.
She eyes me. “I thought we were gonna go out. You haven’t even called me.”
Ah, so that’s what this is about. Not drinks. She wants to talk. “Been busy. You know how it goes.”
“I heard your brother got married,” she says. Her eyes narrow. “Didn’t think any woman was able to tame the wild Beckett boys.”
“Evidently one could.” A little flare of unease slivers down my spine at the thought of marriage. Being hemmed in with someone, day in and day out. Never knowing if there was someone better out there for you.
Someone who wouldn’t just up and leave your family without a word, the way my mom did when I was only three. That’s fucked up.
No, I’ll never let myself be that vulnerable emotionally with someone.
“So…” Veronica winds a lock of hair around her fingers. “About going out…when are you free? I know you don’t work all the time.”
“Don’t know. We’ll see, I guess.” I take the money and get her regular drink, a rum and Coke.
Truth be told, none of the women I’ve seen around town since the reception have interested me. And more to the point, I want to find Brooklyn and see if she’ll go out with me. See if I can open that wild side up again. Because tasting her mouth was like getting the first hit of heroine. I’ve been craving it ever since.
I finish out my work shift, and when we close the bar down at the end of the night, Aubrey strolls in wearing nursing scrubs. She looks tired, but her eyes still light up when she sees Smith sweeping the floor.
Smith, her husband.
I still can’t wrap my brain around that. Guess Mom’s abandonment didn’t fuck him up like it did me. And Aubrey’s a tough cookie. She had to go through a lot to get to where she is, and it’s impossible not to respect her for that.