Misbehaving (Sea Breeze #6)(53)

Only an hour into my studying, my phone rang, interrupting me three times in thirty minutes. I reached over and picked it up to see that Jax was the determined caller.

“What?” I asked irritably. He was wasting my limited time.

“Glad you could answer. I called three times,” he replied.

“I’m busy. What do you need?”

“Studying, I gather. You always act like an ass when I interrupt your study time.”

“Yet you kept calling after I ignored you the first time.”

“Did you get my text?” he asked.

“No. I was ignoring you.”

“I was just passing along some information that I thought you might find interesting, but then again, maybe not. I just figured since you were using my beach house so much lately, there may be someone bringing you there.”

Was he talking about Jess? “You have my attention. What is it you know or think you know?”

“You haven’t talked about it since that night in the limo. You were pretty upset about the alternative-looking guy. But since you were back in Sea Breeze last weekend and I have it on good authority that you took Jess into the house and kept her overnight, that things between you two are back on again.”

Since when did Jax have time to stalk my private life? “Get to the point.”

“Touchy. So you two are back on again,” he replied. I pulled my phone back and checked my text messages. I wasn’t in the mood for this.

Jax had sent me a photo of Jess sitting beside a guy, smiling up at him while he was saying something to her. Jax had texted: Look who’s got a date to Preston Drake’s birthday party.

“What the hell is this?” I asked, standing up and taking several deep breaths while I tried to decide what to do.

“You saw the text? That’s who sat across from Sadie and me during dinner tonight.”

“Where are you?” I demanded, walking to grab my keys and wallet from the dresser beside my bed.

“Sea Breeze. Preston and Amanda’s place. Everyone else is inside still eating, but I thought you should see that. Not sure what your relationship is with her, but you need to know she isn’t sitting around Sea Breeze waiting for you. But then, you had heard the stories about her. Don’t want you to get hurt.”

I opened the door to my apartment and slammed it behind me.

“What are you doing?” Jax asked.

“Going to the airport,” I snarled, unable to mask my anger.

“So you two are seeing each other. Is it exclusive?”

I stopped stalking toward the elevator. Was it exclusive? That one question had been like a slap to the face. What was wrong with me? I had been ready to go get on a plane and demand Jess explain herself. But I couldn’t do that.

“No,” I replied, and leaned up against the wall to let the heaviness settle on my chest. “We aren’t. Exclusive, that is.”

“Then I guess she isn’t doing anything wrong. Didn’t think she would right in front of me, but I still wanted to make sure you weren’t being screwed over.”

She was with a guy. Someone else. Was she going to kiss him? Had she already kissed him? Was she seeing him, too? Fuck.

“You still there?” Jax asked.

“Yeah. I’m here.”

He sighed, and I felt the big-brother lecture coming on, from the sound of his sigh. “Guess it’s time you deal with reality, then. I gotta go. Sadie will start wondering where I went.”

“Yeah, okay. Wait, did she . . . did Jess say anything to you about me?” I asked, holding on to the hope that I was on her mind.

“No, she didn’t,” he replied.

I hung up, letting the phone fall to my side. She was on a date. This was my fault.

I turned and went back to my apartment. Studying was going to be impossible now. I grabbed my overnight bag and threw some things into it while calling to book a flight.

Chapter Twenty-One

JESS

Under any other circumstances, having a rock god like Jax Stone staring at me would be thrilling. However, this was entirely uncomfortable. Twice tonight I had come close to telling him that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. That I wasn’t sure what he knew or what he thought he knew, but Jason and I weren’t exclusive. Not that I didn’t want to be.

Sadie apparently noticed Jax’s interest in me and Jeff, Preston’s friend who I had been seated with during dinner, and she kept trying to break the tension by talking to me. To make things even more uncomfortable, Willow Hardy wasn’t exactly happy with me being here. I felt like pointing out that Marcus was holding their kid in his lap while gazing at her like she fell from heaven just for him.

“Excuse me,” I said to Jeff before standing up. He was talking baseball with Preston, and Amanda had slipped out a few minutes ago, followed by Sadie. I was going to find Amanda and make an excuse to leave.

“Sure,” Jeff replied with a dimpled smile. He was cute and had those pitcher’s arms going for him, but he wasn’t Jason.

I walked in the direction that Amanda had gone in and overheard her and Sadie talking in the kitchen. Knocking on the door frame, I stepped into the kitchen. Both girls’ heads snapped up, and Amanda put a much-too-bright smile on for me.

“Hey, Jess,” she said.

I didn’t wait for her to say any more. “I think I’m going to head out, if that’s okay. Since dinner is over.”