Before You (Before You #1)(54)

“Sorry, Bre. Katie dropped by as I pulled into the parking lot and I didn’t want to intrude.”

Bre’s stomach dropped. She was such a fool. She closed her eyes and turned her head for a moment so she could hide her emotions from Cam. “I thought he was seeing some girl named Anna.”

“Anna, Katie, who knows. We’ll stop by his house this morning to pick up your purse… it’s on the way. We’ll find you a dress, and we’ll eat lunch when we’re done. We’ll make a day of it.”

“Okay,” Bre replied half-heartedly, still feeling emotionally hollow.

“Maybe Jax will want to tag along,” Cam suggested as he picked up his phone and shoved it in his pocket.

“I thought you wanted to spend some time alone.” She didn’t mind not being alone with Cam all day, but the idea of Jax tagging along sounded worse than spending a day in purgatory.

“Jax won’t bother us.”

“Sure. Whatever you want. Let me grab my phone and we can go.” She walked back into Cam’s room, shutting the door behind her. She leaned against it, rubbing her temples to ease her frustration. Several minutes passed before she could find the motivation to move.

She hoped Jax had enough sense to decline Cam’s invitation to tag along today. Most days she would have been grateful for Jax’s presence, but today wasn’t most days. She didn’t understand what Jax wanted. One minute he claimed he wasn’t the right guy for her and the next he begged her to spend the weekend with him. His moods were giving her whiplash.

***

Jax was sitting at his kitchen table drinking coffee when Cam and Bre walked into his house, hand in hand.

“Hey, Jax. Bre said she left her purse in your car yesterday,” Cam said as he patted Jax on his back.

“She did. I guess she was so excited to see you she ran off without it,” Jax remarked, his voice unnaturally flat. Jax looked pointedly at Bre and then to their intertwined hands. “It looks like you two patched up your differences. That didn’t take long.” Jax slid his coffee away from him.

“What did you expect? Bre can’t resist me,” Cam responded, smiling at Bre.

“That’s great.” Jax shoved his chair back, making a loud noise and Bre flinched. Propping his ankle on his opposite knee and lazily leaning into the back of the chair, Bre noted that he looked angry and tense.

Cam cleared his throat. “What’s wrong with you today?”

Jax ran his hand through his hair. “My dad’s being a manipulative ass again.”

“So you’re talking to him again?” Cam asked.

“Not really. He thinks he found a new way to manipulate me,” Jax said, his voice thick with anger.

“Are you okay?” Bre asked, knowing it wasn’t her business, but she hated the pain etched on Jax’s face.

Jax looked Bre and his face softened. “Yeah. My dad offered to pull some strings to get Chasing Ruin signed by a record label.”

“Dude, that’s awesome. What label?” Cam asked animatedly.

“I’m not interested. His price is too high,” Jax said, his eyes simmering with resentment.

“But—” Cam blurted out.

“I’m not doing what he wants, not even if it’s the only way we get signed. Don’t bring it up again.” Jax clenched his teeth.

“Fine, but you owe me an explanation later.” Cam sighed. “So what happened with Katie last night? I stopped by, and I saw her going into your building with your dad. Are you already moving on to the family dinner stage?”

“Something like that,” Jax mumbled.

Bre felt tears stinging her eyes and she swallowed hard. She couldn’t believe she actually wanted to say yes to Jax’s proposition yesterday. Women really were interchangeable in Jax’s mind. When she refused, he moved on to the next person in line. God, she was na?ve. “I didn’t realize you were still seeing Katie.” Her voice quivered, and she bit her lip, wishing she could recall the words.

“I’m not,” Jax said curtly, his gray eyes darkening.

Cam laughed. “You do realize you’re never going to get rid of her if you keep giving her reason to hope you’ll change your mind.”

“She can believe what she wants. I’m not interested. I’m pretty sure she gets that now.” Jax ran his hands through his thick brown hair and turned to look at Bre with a cynical smile. “I told her I’m interested in someone else, but that doesn’t look promising. I heard she reconciled with her ex.”

Bre covered her mouth and turned away.

“Move on. You’re not short on options,” Cam said. “I’m lucky I have Bre—I don’t have to deal with that shit.” Cam kissed Bre on the top of her head.

Bre was pretty sure her cheeks were flushed from embarrassment. “Cam, we need to go.”

“Right, babe. Hey, Jax, we’re heading to Santa Monica Boulevard to go shopping and have lunch. We thought you might like to come with us,” Cam offered.

“Thanks, but I have plans,” Jax replied briskly.

“Come on, Jax. I need some male companionship. You can’t expect me to suffer alone while Bre shops. I’m sure that violates some sort of man code of conduct. Thou shall never abandon your fellow man on a shopping trip or something like that.” Cam laughed.