I might’ve ended my engagement a day ago, but I was still a red-blooded woman in her prime. Jonah was the exact opposite of Boyd.
Jonah looked like he could rend me limb from limb, and Boyd hated when his fingers were sticky. Yet Boyd was the more dangerous of the two.
“Doesn’t the TV work?”
I yelped and slammed my hand to my heart. “Oh my god, Jonah. How are you so quiet?”
When I spun, I caught a flash of embarrassment. His damp hair was slicked off his face, revealing dark scruff. The ends of his long strands brushed the top of his collar. He was in a loose green flannel shirt and blue jeans. He leaned on a cane I’d seen propped against the wall by the stairs.
“Rubber bottom,” he said gruffly.
I was a creepy intrusion, and now I could add insulting to the description. “That’s not what I meant.” His expression remained neutral. He didn’t believe me and explaining I’d been dwelling on the quick glimpse I’d caught of him in a towel wasn’t an option. “The TV’s fine. But everything kept coming up wedding themed.”
“That sucks.”
“Tell me about it.” My ten-thousand-dollar wedding dress was sitting in a heap in the corner of the guest bedroom. I had plenty of reminders I’d been a bride the day before.
He went to the couch and grabbed the remote. Gray socks were on his feet like the ones I’d found upstairs. He propped his cane against the cushions and guilt wound inside me. Autumn had said she thought he rarely came to town because of his injuries. She’d seen him inthe grocery store once and a kid had loudly asked his momHow did that guy get his scars?
Jonah was flying through the options, subscribing to the most popular services.
“What are you— You don’t have to do that. How much will all that cost?” He’d already put himself out enough for me.
The air in the room grew frosty, and he slid his icy gaze toward me. “A guy doesn’t have to be an investment banker to be able to afford a few things.”
“And a guy doesn’t have to think that just because I dated a guy with money means I’m superficial,” I snapped, then stiffened. There I went again.
He reclined against the back of the couch, a small flicker of satisfaction in his eyes. “There she is.”
“Who?” I looked outside. Was someone taking chances on the blanketed roads in the dark?
“The annoying girl I used to know.”
A large part of me sparked alive. A smaller but significant part of me cringed. “You’ve called me worse.”
He sat forward, his expression stricken. His right leg was bent more than his left, but he rested his arms on his knees. “When?”
“At the hospital. After the funeral.”
His face paled under his scruff and the scar stood out even more. With a sinking stomach, I realized why he’d kept the scruff. His facial hair hid the worst of his scarring along his jaw.
When he’d been rehospitalized for an infection in his knee and the doctors had been worried they couldn’t save his leg, the jagged scar on the left side of his face had been hard to look at. Still fresh and not completelyhealed, the pink and red puckered flesh had been as furious as the rest of him.
I didn’t know what I had thought, visiting him. Perhaps I did know and that was even worse. I’d deserved to be driven off.
“I, uh . . .” He clenched his teeth together.
“You were in pain. Angry and grieving.” We’d all been, and that was why my last interaction with him had sat so poorly for so long. And because I’d believed him. His words rang clear. I still remembered what he’d said perfectly.
I don’t have the fucking time to deal with you, Summer. Eli spent every damn day worshipping the ground your arrogant ass struts on and yet he’s dead because of the poison your family makes. He got a taste for it because you taught him all about bourbon, Little Miss Know It All. What’d you think coming here? I’d want to steal my brother’s girl? If you want a guy to follow you like a lovesick puppy, I ain’t it. We aren’t friends, and we aren’t family. Now we never will be. Get out of my goddamn face and don’t ever let me see you again.
Jonah cleared his throat. “What I said...” He clenched his jaw.
“It’s fine.” I regretted saying anything. That day topped one of the more horrible ones of my existence, but at least no one had lost their life. I’d eaten some humble pie, and then I’d gone back to college. I’d moved on and tried not to think about how right Jonah had been. I’d forced myself to continue on and never look back. “I didn’t think about how it would look and I should’ve.”
There were so many things I should’ve done differently then. So damn many.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” he said roughly,his denim eyes on mine. “I wasn’t in my right mind, and I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.” His gaze dropped to the floor. “I knew better. I knew you weren’t there out of more than concern, but I was mad at the world. I’m sorry.”
