Mom leans in with a look of sheer malice. “And that goes double for me, young lady. I dare you to look this tall, dark, and handsome young man in the eyes and tell him that those precious words you exchanged meant nothing to you.”
I glance to Jax with a heavy heart. “I didn’t mean a word of what I said,” I whisper like a child about to break down in tears after being scolded.
“Neither did I,” he says it so low it sounded like a series of clicks.
There you have it. He didn’t mean any of it. My heart might be broken, but my blood is beginning to boil.
“I’m glad,” I flatline. “Because I think you’re an egotistical, self-absorbed womanizer that can never be tamed.” I couldn’t help it. Getting the last word in has always been my Achilles’ heel.
His lips purse as he winces at me a moment. “And I think you’re a cold-hearted brat who holds on to grudges because they make you feel like you’re in control.”
I step into the man I just professed my love to with a newfound annoyance. “And what exactly would this grudge be regarding?”
A tiny smirk tugs at his lips as his eyes grow heavy with sudden disdain. “The fact you didn’t have me.”
A wild cry of frustration that’s been bottled up for the last five solid years escapes me.
Mack pokes her head between the two of us and smiles over at our mothers. “It’s nice to see things have gotten right back to the way they used to be.Gotcha! Andthat, my friends, is a wrap!”
“It’s a wrap all right.” I take off for the door, threading my way through the crowd. I spot Sadie in the foyer and pull her right out the door with me.
“Where are you off to in such a rush?” she shouts as I drag her into the night.
“The Denver airport. I’m headed back to L.A.”
Goodbye, Oak Grove.
You willneversee me again.
