Before You (Before You #1)(83)

“Come on. I really want the green tea ice cream. I’ll order one for both of us.” Cam flagged the waitress to the table.

“You hate ice cream, and you hate green tea,” Bre said, shaking her head.

“Maybe I’ll like them combined.” Cam looked up at the waitress. “Two green tea ice creams, please.”

“Okay, whatever you think.” She had the distinct impression Cam didn’t want to go home. “But let’s hurry up and eat it. I really want to leave. Maybe you can drop by Jax’s place and get my things…” Bre’s voice trailed off when she saw Cam cringe. “Never mind. I’m sure this is awkward. I can’t believe you’re being nice to me.”

Distracted, Cam looked over her head. “Bre, we both made mistakes. Let’s not talk about it anymore tonight.” Cam tapped his spoon on his plate a few times, and then pushed the plate away from him.

Bre ate a bite of her ice cream. She hated that she’d hurt Cam. He cheated on her, but she wasn’t innocent. She held on to him long after she should have let go, and she was with Jax, one his best friends. Admittedly, that wasn’t one of the most thoughtful decisions of her life, but from the moment she’d met him, he sucked her into his life, and she couldn’t resist him.

“Bre,” Jax’s low voice interrupted her thoughts. Bre jerked her gaze away from Cam’s untouched ice cream to find Jax standing at the edge of their table. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair looked like he’d ran his hands through it hundreds of times in the last hour, but he still looked absolutely perfect to her.

“Jax,” Bre whispered, at a loss for words. Seeing him made her insides hurt with anger and longing. She hated the contradiction of emotions flying through her body. She wished she could be firm, but she could feel the edges of her anger melting under his hypnotic stare.

Cam leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Bre grabbed his hand, her heart racing at the thought of being left alone with Jax. “No. Don’t leave. You don’t have to go.”

“Yes. I do. You can do this. Give him the chance to explain. He loves you.” Cam winked, then peeled her fingers away from his hand. When he stood up, he slapped his hand on Jax’s shoulder. “Take care of her.”

Jax nodded. “Thanks. I will. I owe you.”

Bre looked between the two of them, blinking as if she didn’t understand what had just happened. Cam looked at her for a moment and the tenderness in his expression was almost like a caress. She’d known him for so long that she instinctively understood that look was goodbye. Then he turned around and walked out the door of the restaurant without looking back.

Jax sat down next to her, pressing the side of his leg into hers. As much as she wanted to wrap her arms around him, and beg him to tell her he wasn’t engaged to Katie, she refused to be weak. Bre threw her napkin onto the table and started to slide out of the booth. If she hurried, she could still catch Cam.

Jax wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her back toward him. “Bre, please give me a few minutes to explain, and if you still want to leave when I’m done, I’ll drive you back to Cam’s,” Jax pleaded.

“Cam told you where to find me?” Bre asked, confused.

“Yes,” he answered without further explanation.

“Why would he do that?”

Jax pushed her hair behind her ear. “He thought we should talk. I owe you that.”

Bre shivered, hating the implication of his words. Was this the part where he confirmed his engagement and tore out her heart and handed it back to her, broken and bleeding? If so, she didn’t want a lengthy explanation, she wanted facts. “Fine, but first tell me if you’re engaged to Katie.”

“I’m sorry…” he started, and she gasped, scrambling out of her seat. Oh my god, it was true! She didn’t need to hear anything else.

“I don’t need to hear the details, your confirmation was sufficient.”

“Wait,” he said, grabbing her elbow. “We. Are. Not. Engaged.” His voice was firm as he enunciated every word.

She rubbed her eyes. “Anymore? Or not ever?”

“Not ever.”

“But the ring?” Bre questioned, her gut twisted at the thought of the words etched into the band of the ring.

“It’s my mom’s.” Seeing Bre’s puzzled look, he added, “My mom’s name is Katrina and my dad’s name is James. That’s the J and K.”

“But why does she have the ring?”

Jax looked at the ceiling and shook his head. “It’s a long explanation, but basically my parents got the idea that I wouldn’t commit to a relationship with Katie because of my dad’s ultimatum, or their mess of a marriage, or whatever…it doesn’t really matter.”

“The one that required you to work for him and marry Katie?”

“Yes. Only the other night, he stopped by with Katie, saying he would ensure the band was signed if I married Katie. I refused.”

“You did?” Bre asked with a ghost of a smile.

“Of course I did. Even though you wouldn’t give me reason to hope we could be together, I couldn’t marry Katie knowing the way I feel about you, and even if you didn’t exist, I wouldn’t marry her.”