Jagged Harts, page 28
“Don’t worry about that one. Those two are like siblings. Nothing more.”
I give him a sharp nod and look back at them. I don’t buy it. I don’t think it is possible for a man to not want Aubrey. Soon, she is dragging him back to meet me and I admit that I squeeze his hand a little harder than I probably should before I sling my arm around Aubrey possessively. To his credit, he doesn’t bat an eye, just smiles affectionately at her and respectfully at me. I’m still watching him, though.
We spend a good amount of the day hanging out with the guys at the gym. Aubrey even sparred with Julian and won their first round. I shot the shit with the guys that were training, and the craziest part was that some of them were asking for my autograph. Gary was boasting about how I was the future champ and how the younger boys needed to take lessons. It was fucking surreal.
I asked Aubrey if she wanted to visit her mom down the road, but she shut that idea down real quick. Fine by me, honestly. I am not sure that I would have been able to hold my tongue if I came face to face with the woman now knowing what I know. What kind of mother could constantly put her daughter into dangerous situations like she did and not give a shit? I clench my fists at the thought of her. Fucking bitch.
We grabbed some street tacos from a little taco shack that makes the tacos back home taste like dirt before catching our flight home. Aubrey passes out on my shoulder on the plane, and I smile down at her as I watch her sleep. I can’t help but think about how much has changed since we got on the plane Friday. Anything that was separating us before has been obliterated. It was scary as fuck for me to open up to her at first just like I am sure it was hard for her, but now it just feels amazing.
We make it back to my house a little while later and start unpacking. I cleared out a couple of drawers for her in my room so that she can have somewhere to put her stuff. It is also my not-so-subtle hint at wanting her to move in. Maybe I can just move her in without her even realizing and avoid the inevitable freak out that she will have over it.
“I am so grateful for you, baby,” I say as I put away the last shirt in my bag.
She looks surprised for a moment, like she has never had those words spoken to her before. I guess I am going to have to say it more often. She gives me a melting smile as she zips up her suitcase.
“I am grateful for you, Dax. You know everything about me now and still, here you are. I never thought that I would find someone like you. Someone that would love the broken jagged pieces of me just as much as the rest. I didn’t think that what we have even existed. So, thank you.”
I stride over to her and cup her face in my hands, running my thumb over her smooth skin as I pull her in for a gentle kiss. This girl is fucking everything, and I can’t wait to spend forever with her.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN
AUBREY
It is the following Sunday and Marcus is closing down The White Oak early tonight to have a party for Dax to celebrate his huge win in LA and his shot at the title. It is such a big deal, and I am so fucking proud of him. The next few months are going to be intense training as he gears up for the fight. I even had to talk him out of dropping out of school several times because he wants to spend every conscious minute at the gym. But to drop out three months before he graduates is so asinine, even he saw the light.
Because of our little impromptu trip to California, I pushed off my American History project and now it is due tomorrow, so I have to head back to my dorm to finish it up today. If I stay at Dax’s, I know that I won’t get anything done.
“What time do you want me to pick you up tonight, baby?” Dax asks while holding me as I try to escape to my car.
I shake my head.
“Don’t worry about me. I am not sure what time I will get done. I know things are starting at 8. I promise I will get there as soon as possible.”
He sighs and nuzzles against me, placing kisses up and down my neck making me giggle as I try to squirm away, but his arms lock down around me even tighter.
“Well hurry, if you take too long I am going to break down your door and drag you out with me whether you are finished or not.” His face grows a little more serious for a second. “This night is for both of us. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. You challenged me to want for more, to get my shit together and go after my dreams. I never would have been able to pull myself together if I didn’t have you by my side.” He strokes my jaw lovingly as he looks deeply into my eyes. “This is just the start for us, Bree. The possibilities are endless. And I swear I am going to spend my life taking care of you and spoiling you rotten.”
I laugh at that.
“No, thank you. I can take care of myself, and I don’t need to be spoiled. But I will take having you by my side.”
“Forever,” he whispers as his nose grazes mine and he gently kisses me one more time. I reluctantly pull away and get into the car to head back to campus.
I then spend the next ten hours barricaded in my room, pouring every ounce of energy I have into this project that I should have been working on for weeks now. Procrastination at its finest folks. I look up to my clock when I hit save and see that it is 8:15PM. Not too bad, I’ll take a quick shower and be there before 9.
Once I am out of the shower, I give my hair a quick blow dry and throw on a pair of jeans and one of my band t-shirts. I check my phone as I am leaving and see that I don’t have any messages or calls from Dax which is kind of odd since we usually can’t stop talking. He must have been trying to leave me alone so that I would actually get some stuff done. I do see that I have a missed call from Kayla and Cole. Whatever, I will see them in like three minutes.
Ever since Dax told me about his mom, I stopped walking to The White Oak and started driving. He never asked me to do it, but I could practically see the relief in his eyes every time he saw my car in the parking lot. I would do anything to put his mind at ease. Besides he is protective as fuck enough as it is, which I secretly love but will definitely never admit to.
When I pull up to The White Oak I can hear the music bumping from outside and see that the parking lot is packed. Sometimes I forget just how popular Dax is, how many people are desperate for even a moment of his attention. To me he is just Dax, my Dax. He is kind of an asshole but a hot asshole, so I will keep him around.
I open the door and walk in to see throngs of college kids swarming the space. I look around for a few moments but don’t see any sign of Dax or Kayla. I make my way to the front of the crowd and see that Cole is bartending. We make eye contact, and his eyes widen as I give him a wave. What the fuck? He stops what he is doing and rushes over to me quickly.
“Hey, have you seen Dax?” I ask.
“Let’s go to the break room for a second. I need to talk to you,” he replies, ignoring my question.
“Yeah, ok. Just let me say hi to Dax so that he knows I made it. He is probably fucking pissed that I am already an hour late.”
I step around Cole and start weaving my way through the people when Kayla frantically rushes in front of me.
“Hey, Kayla. Have you seen Dax?”
I try to step around her to look towards the back of the bar, but she mirrors my movement. When I glance over my shoulder, I see that Cole is standing right behind me with his hand on my elbow, gently pulling me backwards. I furrow my brows. Something is definitely up.
“What’s going on guys?” I ask warily.
They exchange grimaces as they look to each other for a moment. I take their momentary distraction to peek around Kayla. My eyes instantly land on what they were trying so hard to keep me from seeing.
Dax is sitting in a corner booth with Chase and some other girls, and there straddling Dax’s lap with her tongue down his throat is Julie. She is grinding on top of him while his hand is resting on her ass. Ice fills my veins as I blink slowly, trying to wake up from this horrible dream. This can’t be real, right? There has to be some logical explanation. That can’t be my Dax cheating on me in plain sight at a party that he knew I would be at just hours after we were in bed together and he was telling me he would love me forever.
It fucking is him though and it is fucking happening. Bile fills my throat, but I quickly shove it down before I storm past Kayla. I hear her and Cole shouting for me to stop but I can’t, I don’t know if I could physically stop at this point. Chase is the first to see me and he gives me a smug grin and raises a questioning eyebrow, but I don’t have time for his bitch ass tonight.
I spin to face Dax and grab a handful of Julie’s red hair before I rip her off him and toss her onto the floor. She lets out a yelp before her body slams to the ground and I can’t help but give her a solid punch to the face before I turn back to my piece of shit boyfriend.
A confused Dax looks up at me as if he doesn’t understand where his make-out buddy went. Un-fucking-believable. Before he can say anything, I punch him with everything I can, making his nose explode from the impact.
“Woah!” he shouts as blood begins to pour down his face.
“How could you!” I roar in his face.
He just sits there blinking while attempting to hold his bleeding nose. Did this asshole really think that I wouldn’t catch him? Or does he just not give a fuck? Based on the lack of excuses or explanations I would guess the latter. Well, fuck him and fuck this. I knew all of this shit about love was complete and utter horseshit. A guy like Dax could never settle down with one girl and I clearly needed the harsh reminder considering the naïve bubble that I was living in.
I rip the forever bracelet off my wrist and throw it at his face. He makes no move to grab it while he looks at me blankly with a haziness cloaking his eyes. I look around at all of the beer bottles on the table and shake my head. Great, he is so shit faced that I can’t even effectively yell at him. I close my eyes and blow out a long breath.
“You said that I could trust you,” I say quietly, the anger still oozing from my words. “You said that you wouldn’t crush me. But no one has ever hurt me like you just did, not even him. Don’t ever come near me again.”
I turn around to see Julie standing there with a Cheshire grin on her rapidly swelling face while her phone is pointed straight at me as well as some of her cronies’ phones. I snatch her phone from her hand and smash it under my foot before I head butt the bitch.
The screech that she lets out could probably be heard from all around the world, so I decide to do everyone a favor and shut the bitch up by pulling my knee up and burying it into her stomach until she gasps for air.
I shoulder check some other bitch out of my way as I begin to storm towards the door. Kayla and Cole flank me on either side, each wrapping an arm around me. I brush them off and hold my head high as I march out of the bar even though I can fucking feel all of the eyes on me. Dax already made me look like a fool. I won’t let all of these fuckers see me crumble.
Just before I go through door, I glance up and make eye contact with Marcus. Sympathy and disappointment fill his expression as he shakes his head sadly and wipes down the bar top. Yeah, I am disappointed in him too. But most of all, I am disappointed in me.
I pull out my keys and try to put the key in the lock three times before I step back and realize that I am shaking so bad that I can’t even put the damn thing in. Cole cautiously wraps and arm around my shoulders and walks me over to the passenger seat of Betty before he goes around and gets into the driver’s seat. Kayla gets into her car and follows us back to campus.
When we get there, Cole jogs out like normal to get my door. I stand to get out as everything suddenly hits me all at once. I can’t push it away anymore. The hurt is absolutely debilitating, and I crumble into a heap on the parking lot ground. I let out harsh loud angry sob as Cole immediately scoops me up into his arms and starts carrying me like a child. I cling to his shirt and bury my head into his neck as I bawl my fucking eyes out.
We make it up to my room and Cole sits down on my bed, still cradling me when I notice that Kayla has followed us in. She immediately walks to my mini freezer and pulls out a gallon of ice cream. When she tries to offer it to me, I turn my head away and burrow deeper into Cole. I can’t do anything but cry right now and I know for a fact that Cole holding me is the only thing that is keeping me somewhat together.
At some point I hear the door shut and I assume it was Kayla that decided to head home. Cole only moves once to lay down and once I get settled underneath his arm we don’t move an inch all night. I stay pressed against him like he is my lifeline.
I inhale the smell of laundry detergent and fresh pine until my breathing evens out. My tears finally run out hours later and for the rest of the night I lay there numb. I can’t believe I was so stupid to willingly give my heart up to someone like him. Everyone told me this would happen, and I didn’t listen. I believed the lie. I fell for the bullshit. I can’t even convince myself to be angry at Dax anymore, this is just who he is. If he walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…then I am clearly a fucking idiot if I expect him to be anything other than a fucking duck.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
DAX
I wake up and instantly regret it. Holy shit. I have never been this hungover in my life. I look around to see that I am in the breakroom of The White Oak. Did I pass out in here last night? What the fuck?
I go to stand but fall back down instantly. I feel shaky as fuck and my stomach is rolling. My heartbeat thunders in my chest like a motherfucking drum as my mouth waters. Oh fuck. I quickly lean over the trashcan to the side and puke for what feels like fucking hours. When I finally stop, I rest my head against the wall. Damn. I didn’t think I even drank that much last night. Although honestly, when I try to think really hard about last night it’s pretty much all a blank. Guess it was a hell of a party then. Fuck I am going to need one hell of a hangover cure to shake this shit off.
Slowly, I try to stand again and am thankful that I finally can without collapsing, progress. I hold on to the wall as I open the door and carefully make my way through the bar. When I step out from the back, I see sunlight streaming in through the front windows while Uncle Marcus is getting ready to open the place.
“About time that you woke up, princess,” he says gruffly, not looking my way.
“What happened last night?” I rasp, my voice hoarse and my throat dry as fuck. I walk over to the soda fountain and pour myself a water, downing it in two gulps before refilling the cup and repeating.
“You made the biggest mistake of your life, that’s what.” I furrow my brows in confusion and look at him before he continues. “You know, I thought that I raised you to be a better man. I damn well know that if your mother was alive, she would beat the hell out of you after the shit that you pulled.”
He shakes his head in disgust and my temper flares at the mention of my mother.
“What happened?” I grit out.
I walk over to one of the stools at the bar top and lower my pounding head into my hands as I try to think about what happened last night. I remember getting to the party and the place was already fucking packed. Everyone was there. Even Chase.
“Hey, man,” Chase says as he walks up to me with his shoulders hunched and his hands buried in his pockets.
I glance at him skeptically. I thought that I made it very clear that I never wanted anything to do with him again. I am pretty sure that pulverizing someone’s face and then taking off on them is a universal sign for that. Chase must be able to read my mind because he lowers his head in resignation.
“I’m sorry for everything I said. I was being an ass. I guess I didn’t really understand how strongly you felt for Aubrey. I get it now and you had every right to beat the hell out of me. I would have done the same. But we have been friends for over a decade, man. Don’t let me being a dick ruin that. I am really sorry.”
I watch him carefully for a few moments. Chase does not own up to his shit easily, if ever, so this is big for him. He must have realized he really fucked up. And he is right, I have missed the fucker. As long as he never opens his mouth about Aubrey again, we are good.
I give him a nod, accepting his apology as he claps my shoulder and hands me a beer with a relieved smile. I accept it and drain it in quickly. We shoot the shit for a while and have a couple more beers while I wait for Aubrey to get here. I am about 5 minutes away from hauling her over my shoulder and dragging her here whether her stupid project is finished or not. I might have to walk though because I am already feeling kinda fucked up.
Julie has been annoying as shit tonight. She keeps scooting towards me, trying to get as close as possible. I keep shrugging her away, but the bitch is persistent as fuck. I grab another beer before I head to the bathroom. Then…nothing.
I must have blacked out after that because no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember one more tiny detail until I woke up this morning. Just before Marcus goes to speak, my phone dings with a notification. I pull it out and see that I was tagged in a video.
I click on the notification and the screen changes to what looks like the party from last night. The video starts off directed right at me while Julie is grinding on top of my lap. We are making out like the world is about to end while my hands cup her ass.
Oh my fucking god.
My eyes widen and my stomach drops to the ground at the sight. Suddenly, Julie’s hair is ripped backwards as she falls to the floor. I don’t have to keep watching to know who ripped her off my lap, but I can’t look away.
