JAX (The Beckett Boys #2) - Olivia Chase Page 0,34
challenge. I can do that.
I give her my biggest charming grin. “Hon, It’s a date. I’ll see you then.”
Late Saturday morning, my arms are full as I walk up the dorm room stairs and head to Brooklyn’s room. I kick the bottom of the door, and when Gail opens it, she eyes me in surprise and gives a huge belly laugh.
“Okay, Jax,” she says, looking at the massive flower bundles in my arms. “You might be laying it on a bit thick for Brooklyn.”
I peer over the top of the flowers. “Oh, these aren’t for her.” I thrust the mass into her arms. “I wanted to make a good impression for our second door-date.”
Gail just shakes her head, chuckling for several moments. “You do have a way about you. I can see why she’s drawn to you, Jax. You’re trouble, that’s for sure.” She disappears for a moment, then comes back, her arms empty. “Brooklyn isn’t here.”
“I kinda figured, since I haven’t heard any other sounds in the room behind you.” I was hoping she might be, but of course it isn’t going to be that easy. No doubt Gail told her I was going to come around today and she vanished early.
I can’t blame her for avoiding me, but fuck if I don’t want a chance to see her anyway. I slept for shit last night, thinking about how I could have played things differently on Thursday night.
Gail leans toward me. “Sorry, bud. I promised her I wouldn’t let you know where she is.”
“Oh, you don’t have to,” I say. “I’ll just go to every building on campus and ask around until someone tells me.”
“You’d do that, just to talk to her?” Something flickers in her eyes.
“I need to,” I say baldly. Truth is, I miss her. I grew used to our silly chatter in text. I want to smell her skin again, taste that beautiful mouth. I want to hear her give me shit for being vain.
She sighs. “Fuck. This is going to get me in trouble, so you’d better not fuck it up. She’s in the library. Probably at her usual spot—third floor, in the back stacks at a small group of tables. It’s quiet there.” Gail’s jaw hardens. “Don’t make me regret telling you, Jax. I’m not kidding. I don’t like seeing my friends get hurt, and you don’t want a pissed-off lesbian on your ass.”
I can’t help it; I blurt out, “I dunno, that sounds kind of sexy.”
Gail’s laugh is genuine, and the tension on her face eases. “You’re fucking nuts. Go. Get out of here, asshole. And I don’t want to see you here again if you don’t make it up to her.” She spins me around and shoves at my back.
I walk with purpose back to my car, grab the other massive bundle of flowers I stuck in my backseat, and walk to the library. Try not to feel like my next move is one of the most important I’ve undertaken in a long time. When’s the last time I cared this much about fixing a mistake?
This isn’t like me. But Brooklyn isn’t just some girl.
I walk through the library’s massive double doors and get quite a few interesting looks. I saunter up to one of the girls standing near the entrance and say, “Where’s the elevator?”
She points to the back corner. “Over there.” A pause. “Those look like apology flowers.”
“Here’s hoping they work,” I admit.
That makes her laugh. “Good luck,” she calls to my back.
When the elevator reaches the third floor, my heart gives a small lurch and I step out. Move toward the area Gail pointed me in, and there she is, her dark hair spilling over her shoulders, upper body hunched as she writes furiously in a notebook. Even seeing her in profile steals my breath. She’s so fucking gorgeous it makes my chest ache.
Get your shit together, I warm myself. This isn’t the time to dissolve into some sappy, spineless fuck. I walk toward Brooklyn, putting the flowers up high enough that I can barely see over the tops, and then clear my throat.
She looks up, blinks in surprise, clearly taken aback. When I drop the flowers down and reveal my whole face, the surprise fades to a multitude of emotions—none of them good. Brooklyn turns back to her material and sighs as she closes the book and notebook. “Gail caved, I see.”
“She ran me through the wringer, to be fair,” I murmur.