Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(109)

“Right now, I’m glad it’s you,” I smiled at him.

“Wow, thanks.”

“Hey, I have to head out to work, but you should come by tonight. I’ll give you some free drinks for helping out.”

“I just might take you up on that offer.” He winked at me and walked me out to my car.

Later that night, I was cleaning off the bar top and talking to Micah about the order of events that we needed to make sure happened tomorrow. I watched as Mark checked the IDs of Cole, Jace, Quinn, and Jaxon. They all smiled at me as they walked in, except Jaxon, who just glared at the back of Micah’s head. I pointed them to the pool table closest to the bar that I usually tried to save for friends. Cole and Quinn came in most often, Jace would come every once in a while, but Jaxon hadn’t been here in over a month. I wish he hadn’t come tonight, no matter how much I liked looking at him. The way he was glaring holes into Micah’s head gave me a pretty good idea that all he was going to do was cause me a headache tonight.

“What can I get you guys?” I asked as they approached the bar. Micah spun in his seat to see who was behind him. He tapped knuckles with Cole and Jace but just stared at Jaxon. They all gave me their drink orders. “I’ll bring them out to you.”

When they walked away to their table, I started prepping glasses for their drinks and pulling out bottles to pop the tops. Micah continued talking to me about the lineup for tomorrow, and I laughed out loud when he made a joke about one of the girls in the auction. He even made the annoying high-pitched noise she makes when she’s upset. Then I noticed Jaxon making his way back up to the bar.

“Better watch out, Em. If you’re not careful, you might pass your three-limit rule with him,” he jeered.

“What the f*ck’s your problem, man?” Micah spun in his stool to scowl at him.

“Leave dude, before I kick your ass again,” his voice was barely above a whisper, but I knew what he’d just said.

“If I remember correctly, you guys broke up. I’m pretty sure I watched you do it in the middle of the damn courtyard at school for everyone to see,” Micah threw back at him. “If that’s the case, you don’t have any hold over her. She’s my friend and I’ll sit here and talk to her however long I want.”

“Have you raised your limit, Emerson; gone back to your old ways with this guy?” He may as well have called me a whore right here in the middle of my bar.

I turned my cold eyes toward him and I watched his face fall in horror as the weight of his words hit him. “Fuck! I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean that at all, I swear to God.”

“Leave right now before I ask Mark to escort you out.”

I saw that my cold voice was making him panic so I decided to escape into the back room. Before I could get the door closed to lock it, I was being shoved backward. Jaxon’s giant frame took up the entire door as he came into the room behind me. He grabbed me by the hips, lifted me up, and without thinking, my traitorous legs wrapped around his waist as if they had a mind of their own. They knew where they wanted to be, as much as my head didn’t agree. My chest was heaving from my anger at what he had said earlier and he just kept staring into my eyes.

Before I knew what was happening, he pulled the back of my head toward him and his lips were crushing mine, attacking them mercilessly. My body instantly responded to his fiery passion and the heat emanating off his body. I squeezed him tighter with my legs and threaded my fingers through his hair roughly. I needed this. I needed to release my anger and hate out on him the only way I knew how. He walked forward until my back hit the wall of the storage room.