Misbehaving (Sea Breeze #6)(25)

Could he call me? Telling him I needed to think or that I needed time was probably best. Reminding myself just where I stood in this situation was important.

“Yes,” I replied before I could stop myself. I wanted him to call me. This thing, whatever it was, would mark me for life. Yet I couldn’t seem to let it go.

Jason cupped my face and pressed a simple kiss to my lips. “Later, then,” he whispered against my lips before stepping around me and opening the front door.

I fought to control my breathing. Just feeling him touch me was now making my heart do crazy things. “Okay,” I managed to reply.

He didn’t say anything else as I walked outside and toward the waiting car. The driver stood beside the car door and opened it for me as I approached. One more thing to remind me just how out of my depth I was.

Once I was inside the car, I looked up at the door to the house, but it was closed and Jason was gone.

* * *

The porch light was off, which meant my mother wasn’t home yet to notice I was missing. Every light in the house would be on if she had been here. The driver opened my door and I stepped out.

I thanked him for the ride, and he nodded but didn’t speak. With a smile I walked toward the house. There was no telling what the guy was thinking, about where he had dropped me off. No doubt this would be the gossip of the Stone employees’ mealtime. Jason Stone slumming it in Sea Breeze.

“Jess.” A hoarse whisper startled me and I jumped, searching the dark porch for the voice. Movement caught my eye, and I found Hank sitting on the floor, leaning up against the side of the house.

“What’re you doing here?” I snapped. I was so sick of this. Why couldn’t he just go away?

He shuffled his feet but couldn’t manage to get up, which meant he was trashed. Again. “I came to see you. You were with him, weren’t you?” he slurred before slamming his hand down on the porch.

“Where I was isn’t your business. I’m not your business anymore. Please stop coming here. Just leave.” I reached for the hidden key over the door and unlocked the door before he could figure out how to stand up.

“What happened to us, Jess? Used to be me and you against the world. We had each other. Didn’t need anyone else. You were my reason for laughing. For smiling. I can’t smile without you, Jess.”

I squeezed the door handle tightly and fought back the need to scream. Once this had worked with me. Once I had wanted nothing but Hank. Now his words were too late. Years too late. “You happened to us. You used me one too many times. I’m done with that. And I’m done with us. Go home,” I said with no emotion. Not because I was dead inside, but because he no longer touched my heart. He’d cut himself out. Or maybe I had finally cut him out.

“I won’t let you go. I’ll fight for you. He can’t have you. He doesn’t understand you.”

This was about Jason. He hadn’t liked seeing me with someone else. That was always the way I had gotten Hank back in the past. I’d made sure he saw me with another guy, and he came running back to my door. I’d trained him well. Now I needed to break that habit.

“He isn’t the reason this is over. I just don’t love you anymore. You made sure of that.”

“Fuck YOU, Jess! Fuck you!” he roared, pushing himself up but staggering forward until he caught the rail of the porch. At least he had drunk enough that he couldn’t hurt me. I could shove him and he’d fall over.

“You already did that, Hank,” I replied, and slammed the door in his face.

It was over an hour later when the banging finally stopped. He had either passed out or given up. I wasn’t brave enough to open the door and check, so I got in bed and closed my eyes, knowing that Momma would be home soon and that if he was passed out on our porch he’d pay for it.

JASON

I gave it three days before I called her. When I had opened my eyes the next morning, a part of me had decided to let it go. Not to call her. She had left, and it was the best thing for me.

After three very long days of reading and spending my time in solitude, I hadn’t come to grips with anything in my life. All I had done was think about Jess. The only thing to do now was get her out of my system.

Jess had picked up on the second ring. The fact that she hadn’t even been annoyed about me not calling her for three damn days made me more pissed off. Not at her but at me. I had just treated her the way she expected. The surprise in her voice had made my chest tighten. Why the hell was I wanting to protect her now? It wasn’t my job to change the way this girl thought about herself.

Maybe it was the way she’d said hello or the smile I could hear in her voice. I didn’t know what possessed, me but before I could stop myself I was asking her if she wanted to go to a party in Manhattan with me tonight. One of my friends from Harvard was turning twenty-one, and his girlfriend was throwing a huge bash at her parents’ place. I had been planning on going for over a week now, but the sudden urge to take Jess with me had hit. I wanted to see her in that part of my life.

After a few moments of silence, she said yes.

And I wondered if I had just lost my mind.

Taking her into my world was a bad idea. But then, facing those people who all wanted something from me without one person there who accepted me for who I was sounded so damn unappealing. I needed Jess there. Even if it was a terrible idea.