the boiling rage to a bubbling simmer. Lashing out again won’t do me any favors. To Jaxon Reyes, life is one long game of poker. A series of bluffs and discards. He plays people like hands of Texas Hold’Em, using whatever he’s dealt to win. Adapting his strategies for maximum personal gain.
I’ve already revealed far too many of my own cards by letting my temper get the best of me. I should’ve played it cool. Kept my vulnerabilities hidden.
“You’ve changed, Archer. You’re much more violent than I remember.” He pauses, head tilting in thought. “Or is this rage only triggered because I threatened your pretty little girlfriend?”
My muscles tense, but I manage to keep my expression empty.
He thinks he can wield Jo against me like a weapon?
I’ll just have to take that weapon away.
“She isn’t my girlfriend.” I force a laugh. “Don’t tell me that’s why you thought she’d help you? You’re even dumber than I thought.”
He stares at me for a long beat. “Dating or not, that girl will do anything for you. Anything.”
“Maybe back when we were kids. You’ve been away a long time, Jaxon. Things change. People grow apart.”
“Bullshit,” he mutters. “I was gone two years, but I haven’t forgotten the way you look at that girl.”
“How’s that?”
“Like she’s the light at the end of a very dark tunnel.”
“God, you really must be high.” I roll my eyes, selling the lie with every fiber of my being. “You think I actually like being her friend? I tolerate her for exactly one reason: her parents paid my tuition to Exeter. As soon as I walk across that graduation stage, I plan to keep on walking, right out of her life.”
Jaxon’s eyes flicker back and forth across my face, attempting to discern fact from fiction. I make sure to keep my expression clear of every emotion but one.
Indifference.
Inside my chest, my heart pounds twice its normal speed. My voice is eerily level as I speak the greatest lie of my life.
“Jo Valentine means nothing to me. Nothing.”
There’s a long moment of silence. Jaxon weighs my words, doubt scored deeply across his features.
“If she’s nothing to you, why did you come here looking for her?” he asks slowly. “Why did you just throw me against a wall for coming near her?”
Damn it.
He may be high, but he’s not a total idiot.
I shrug. “I heard you took her from the party. I thought I might be able to intervene before you did something to land yourself back in jail — not to mention, get our family tossed out on the streets.” I pause. “You realize Vincent Valentine is close friends with the State Police Superintendent and more than a few members of foreign intelligence, don’t you? Kidnapping his only daughter isn’t a smart move if you want to stay on the right side of the law. And what do you think will happen to Ma and Pa if you piss off their employers?”
Jaxon pales. “I didn’t think…”
“Of course you didn’t. You never think.” I shake my head. “I just hope you didn’t do anything to harm her. For your sake.”
“I didn’t touch her! I swear!”
“Then where did you take her?”
“She’s down at the boathouse. She said she wanted to look at the stars for awhile.” He sucks in a jagged breath. “I walked her there to be nice. I was on my way back to my car when I saw you up here on the terrace.”
Relief floods me; I’m careful not to let it show. But deep inside my heart, where Jaxon cannot see, two words chase one another back and forth through every chamber — a thudding underscore to every beat.
She’s safe.
She’s safe.
She’s safe.
Chapter Seventeen
JOSEPHINE
The moon crawls across the sky in slow degrees. I lay on the dock, flat on my back, staring up at it as waves roll gently beneath me. Trying to sort out my thoughts.
They feel as unfathomable as those distant stars; a lightyear away from reality.
It’s been a strange night, to say the least. I’m not sure what’s a greater surprise — Ryan Snyder turning out to be the biggest asshole on planet earth, or Jaxon Reyes swooping in as my unexpected knight-in-tattooed-armor.
I haven’t seen Jax since he went to prison. I didn’t even know he was out on parole. Apparently, Archer didn’t feel the need to inform me of his early release. I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t sting to realize I’m no longer the person he confides in.
There was a time he