Wicked (Somerset University #2) - Ruby Vincent Page 0,37

us. “Why was it stuffed between the seat?!”

Jaxson shifted, grinning that grin. It wiped away with one look. His eyes bugged, darting from me to the thong. “Stuffed between the—”

“The seat, Jaxson.” I shook it. “Where— Who did this come from?”

“But— but— Isn’t it yours?”

“No, it’s not mine! I don’t leave my underwear all over the place. Unlike this bitch!” I flung the disgusting thing away. “Who is she?!”

“She?! It’s not— This isn’t— I swear—” Face paling, Jaxson stammered out something that was meant to be an explanation. “There is no she!”

Blinded by tears, my throat was so tight that if I cried, I’d gasp for air I couldn’t breathe. I lunged for the door. “I have to get out of h-here.”

“No, Val!” Jaxson shot in front of me, grabbing me around the middle. “I swear I don’t know where that came from. Look at it again, baby. It has to be yours!”

“It’s not mine!” I shrieked. “Who was taking off her fucking underwear in your car, Jaxson?”

“No one!”

I smacked the wheel. The horn ripped through our shouts. “No one was in your car today?! Then how did this get here?!”

Jaxson threw up his hands. “The fuck I know! I didn’t let—” He stopped. “Well, except for...”

“Except for who?”

“I... drove Beyond Berlin to Marchant—”

“Serena.” I didn’t recognize the hiss that came from my own throat. I balled my fist, nails piercing half-moons into my skin. “It was her.”

“Whoa, hold on.” He reached for me and my bared teeth returned his hands to his sides. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not what happened. Nothing happened. Baby.” Jaxson leaned in, slowly sliding arms around my stiff body. “Val. I would never cheat on you. Never. I don’t even picture other women when I jerk off. It’s you,” he whispered. “It’s always been you. Tell me you believe me. Please.”

“S-say—” My voice, and heart, cracked on a sob. “Say it again.”

“It’s you.” Jaxson took my face in his hands, filling my senses with him and only him. “I love you, Valentina. I would never do this to you.”

He repeated that to me over and over. Punctuating it with kisses. Rubbing my arms until my muscles unwound.

I sank into him, burying my face in his neck, wetting him with my tears and breathing them back in.

“We went to Marchant today,” he said. “I picked the band up at their place and found out they’re sleeping together. It’s possible while I was grabbing lunch, Serena had the same idea for car sex. That’s the only explanation because she wasn’t in here with me.”

“I’m not... accusing you,” I began, finding my voice. “But that doesn’t explain why it was left in here.”

“She forgot it.”

“Despite decades of manufactured movie drama, women don’t just forget their underwear. If she had time to straighten up and get dressed without you knowing what they did in here, she had time to fish her damn thong out of the seat and put it on.”

“You think she left it there on purpose? Why would she do that?”

I strangled his forearms tightening my hold. “I have to spell it out?”

“Val, I can’t imagine how pissed she’d have to be with me to pull some shit like that. And she wasn’t pissed. Not today. The whole band was buzzing for the interview.”

“Who says she had to be angry?”

Jaxson drew back. “What do you mean?”

My eyes burned peering into him. “She was hanging all over you the other day. Making those slick-ass comments about your favorite women.”

“She didn’t do that because she’s into me,” Jaxson replied, picking up straight off what I was hinting at. “She acted up because she’s a mean girl with a screaming need for attention. Like most tortured artists. When she doesn’t have that attention, as in when we’re alone, she’s never shown the slightest bit of interest in me.”

“Maybe she does and you don’t see it.”

“Maybe”—he pressed his nose to mine—“it doesn’t matter because I love you.”

I pointed at the bunched-up fabric lying on the floor. “It matters if she’s pulling shit like this.”

“Can’t argue with that,” he said under his breath. “How about this? The band members have their own cars and I’m not their chauffeur. They drive themselves from now on.” He kissed me again and that time I was in a better mood to receive it. “Nothing like this will ever happen again.”

“Okay,” I croaked. “But watch out for her, Jaxson. It’s a sneaky, cruel, manipulative person that would do something like this. And if she is after