Stay with Me (Wait for You, #3)(101)

“You did?” The frustration leaked out of his expression and he started to grin. “Nice.”

I was going to hit him. “It isn’t nice. Because she told Jase, who in turn told Cam, who then told Avery, who by the way are like the most awesomely adorable couple in coupledom, and they came up here to surprise me, but I also know they all have a hidden agenda, and that’s to check you out, because I opened my big mouth and told them about that.”

His grin spread. “Good friends. I like that.”

Actually, I was going to throat-punch him. “Well, I’m so glad you like that, but the first time they see you is when there’s another girl who has her hands all over you.”

Jax drew back, straightening.

“Yeah. That,” I continued. Now that I wasn’t bullshitting him, I was on a roll. “They saw you and they saw Aimee before I had a chance to even introduce you guys, and that . . . well, that sucked.”

“Babe . . .”

“Don’t ‘babe’ me,” I snapped, taking a step back. “I know there aren’t any labels between us and we haven’t known each other that long and maybe this is something casual to you, but I really wished that the first time my friends met you wasn’t when Aimee was giving you a breast exam.”

“Something casual?” he repeated, and I wondered if he’d heard anything I’d said. “Is this something casual to you?”

I started to say yes, because . . . well, because I wanted to be a bitch, and that ugly icy feeling was back in my stomach. My feelings were hurt and I was embarrassed, and I wanted to play that game, but that’s not what I said, because I had no idea how to play that game. “No. This isn’t casual for me. Not in the least.”

His expression softened as he stepped forward. “Baby, this isn’t casual for me, either, and the fact you think it might be blows my mind.”

“It does?”

“Honey, every signal, every act and word I’ve sent in your direction from day one says this isn’t casual for me,” he said, leaning his hip against the wall. “I know you don’t have a lot experience with relationships and that’s cool, but I really don’t know how else to show you that. And the whole label shit?” he continued as he curved his fingers along my chin. “I think you know what we are.”

The thing was, I didn’t. I might’ve had a guess Sunday night when I’d stripped down to my undies and he’d worshipped my body like I was some kind of goddess, and he did so every time since then, but seeing him with Aimee? Yeah, I was inexperienced when it came to relationships, but I wasn’t dumb and I wasn’t stupid.

And it wasn’t like he’d been caught making out with her or that he even knew my friends would be popping by, but there was still the fact that every night he worked, Aimee was here. And every night he worked, Aimee was up his ass. And every night he worked, as far as I could tell if I was being honest with myself and unless she was the densest chick alive, he didn’t really do anything to stop her advances.

And he let her touch him.

Repeatedly.

And that wasn’t cool.

The back of my eyes stung, because that was that. What was happening wasn’t a huge thing, but it was inappropriate. For f*ck’s sake, I worked right here. And I really didn’t know what to say right now, because I wasn’t okay with that.

I drew in a deep breath. “Look, I’ve got to get out on the floor. We’re busy.”

“And we’re not done talking.”

“Yeah, we are. For right now, okay? We can talk about this later or whatever.” I started to turn around, and his hand slipped off my chin.

“I never thought you’d be the jealous type.”

My feet came to a complete stop as I turned back to him and stared. Oh boy, that was the wrong thing to say. “I’m not jealous.”

He arched a brow.

I narrowed my eyes on him. “Fine. Maybe I am. Is that so surprising? I mean, I just said this”—I waved my hand between us like I was having a seizure—“isn’t casual, so yeah, I’m not going to like seeing a girl get all up on you night after night. Especially a girl you’ve hooked up with.”

Jaw tensed, he inclined his head. “You have nothing to be jealous of, Calla.”

A dry laugh burst from me. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. And the fact of the matter is all you have to do is trust me. Not her. But me. And if you trusted me, then you wouldn’t be jealous.”

I gaped at him. Part of that made sense. It took two to tango and all that jazz, but seriously?

“And if this is going to work out between us, you’re going to have to trust me,” he continued, and that—the if this is going to work out between us—caused my stomach to drop. “Because your financial aid came through and you’re going back to school in August, there’s gonna be some miles between us, and all we’re going to have is trust. You get what I’m saying?”

I totes-ma-goats got what he was saying. Half of my heart did a little jump and squeal, because he was planning for when I returned to school and that was great, but the other part of my heart was somewhere in my stomach. Trusting him was one thing, but this wasn’t okay. I could trust him all I wanted, but that didn’t mean I had to be cool with him letting the chicks feel him up and chalking it up to me being jealous.