Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(56)

As I was walking across the courtyard toward the cafeteria on Wednesday after biology, I noticed Jaxon sitting alone under a giant oak tree. Seeing him reaffirmed how much I’d missed him the last week and a half. He was so striking lounging in the shade of the tree. He had on blue jeans with a long-sleeved red shirt that made his skin look bronzed. His dark hair was poking out from under his black ball cap that was placed haphazardly on top of his head. He hadn’t noticed me yet because he was reading one of his textbooks.

I walked up next to him under the shade. I saw that he finally noticed me when his hand just slightly slid off the page of the book. His eyes trailed up my legs to my denim skirt, and I swear they left a trail of goose bumps as they roamed upward to my face.

The sexy smirk on his face was almost my undoing. “I was wondering if you would ever come talk to me again, Em,” he finally said.

Ouch. “Don’t do that. Don’t call me Em like everyone else; you’ve never called me that before,” I said quietly.

“Aren’t I just like everyone else to you?”

He was not going to let me off the hook easily. I had hurt him with my rejection and I needed to make it right. He deserved to know that he had been right all along, that I was just scared. When he called me out on running away from him and us, he was accurate, and I didn’t like that. I kneeled down in the grass as gracefully as I could with a skirt on. I wanted to be able to see into his blue eyes and apologize.

“Jax-“

“There you are!” I heard a girl interrupt from across the courtyard.

I turned to see that it was Audrey with her curly brown hair pinned to the top of her head. Jaxon cursed under his breath and slammed his text shut. Shit, does she go to school here now or something? I turned back around to face Jaxon, giving him a questioning look. He was too busy looking at her though.

“I’ve been looking all over for you, Jaxy.” Ew, I hated that nickname instantly. I don’t know if it was because it was coming out her mouth, or if it was just horrible in general, but I did not want to hear this. I stood up and grabbed my bag off the ground from beside me.

“What are you doing here, Audrey? I said I would come back to meet you at the apartment after my classes,” he sounded frustrated. I noticed that he had spun his ball cap to the back and he was standing up as well. I guess his quiet solace was entirely interrupted now.

“What, I can’t come hang out with my hubby? Besides, it doesn’t look like you’re in class, anyway,” she said while looking directly at me.

What the hell did she just call him? “HUBBY?” I gasped, looking at Jaxon. Was he married? Had he been married when we slept together? I started backing away from both of them.

“Audrey, shut the hell up!” Jaxon hollered. He pinched the bridge of his nose and when he brought his hand out toward me, I shook my head and continued walking away. “Emerson, please!”

I didn’t look back or respond, but I could hear him in the distance talking to Audrey in harsh clipped tones. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Who the hell gets married in college or did it happen before college? Why would Jaxon chase after other girls while he was married?

I ran all the way out to the parking lot, intending to run straight home or catch the bus if there was one waiting. Here I was once again running from Jaxon. When I got out to the lot, Jace was sitting on the tailgate of the truck reading from about four different textbooks again. When he looked up and saw my face, his dropped and he hopped off the back of the truck and came running up to me. He grabbed my shoulders and bent down to look in my eyes.